After a relaxing weekend, we headed back to work this morning. At least the temperature was a bit cooler and the air seemed less humid. Our schedule at the University is similar to last week, so it was gratifying to greet some familiar student and faculty faces this morning. Vietnamese students are not so different from American students: only two of 30 had completed the assignment to bring in a visual aid to use in a presentation. Their teacher said to me: "they are lazy", so they will have to do the work now! Breaking up into small groups, they were able to be very creative in finding or making up visual aids out of every day items. During our lunch break, I took a short walk around "college town", the few blocks right near the school. Mostly small street side cafes(aka plastic stools with street vendors) book stores, food markets, and places to have a haircut.
After class in the afternoon, 6 student volunteers hosted us in a trip to several wonderful Hanoi sites including theTemple of Literature, where we were treated to a performance of traditional dance and marching, as well the oldest pagoda in Vietnam. The students were so accomodating, really wanted to please us, and very enjoyed speaking English with us. We hope to host some of them some day in the United States.
Dinner was a special treat: a Cha Ca restaurant, where fish and vegies are grilled right at the table, eaten over noodles and sauce. A quick walk home ended with a lovely cooling rain.(with a quick stop at a magnifcent art gallery where we saw oil paintings by a wonderful Vietnamese artist, a relief to see some real art amongst all the souvenirs).
Off to bed, more tomorrow,
Barbara
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