With the privilege and fun of blogging comes another responsibility - that of remember yet another username and password set. Since starting this blog, my record on this account has not been great, and hence my sporadic presence here. But I am back once again, after spending an inordinate amount of time trying to track this information down.
I suspect my initial impressions to Vietnam are not dissimilar to Kris's . The trip itself is, of course, quite tiring and demanding. Yet, this slide into complete exhaustion seems at least partially offset by the excitement of a new place, culture and people. We have not been disappointed. So much here is so different, so new to me as a former farmboy from Northern Wisconsin. It is so overwhelming that perhaps my only defense, if one can call it that, is to simply let myself be immersed within the culture. But almost everything we have encountered the last day and a half is so different than to which we have become accustomed. The food, the traffic, the style of life. It is tradition here to close down the offices from 11:00 - 1:30. But then they start at 7:00 and go until 5:00. We learned this the hard way today, as we tried to negotiate how we would spend our planning day. While we would have preferred to stay at the University and work through lunch, we were "encouraged" to join them for lunch, after which a driver would take us back to our hotel, and then pick us up again at 1:00 for the afternoon session.
Ann and Marilyn suggested that we be prepared to be flexible, and this we learned from the start this morning. It seems as if things change constantly, but it may only be that our initial impressions were not correct and our hosts are reiterating their position more clearly the second time. After an omlette breakfast and ice coffee (??? isn't this an oxymoron?). we headed to the University to meet with the Vice Rector and some of his staff. We met for about an hour, which helped us develop a little better sense of what he has in mind. We learned two new things this morning about the intent of our work here: 1) To provide participants with the foundations of adult education theory; and 2) To prepare them to train others in remote or satellite locations. Neither one of these foci were on our radar screen until this morning. It also seems clear that this group will not act as a team or curriculum committee to develop an adult ed program, but will be helpful in that regard. So we spent the bulk of the day reviewing and revising our plans, trying to move them in a direction that seemed to consonant with this sense of direction.
After lunch we returned to our workspace, only to find it occupied by young students from the United States. That was quite surprising. As we worked this afternoon, Kris remarked that it seemed strange to hear people in the next room talking with American accents. I said that I hadn't even noticed, which says something, I guess, about my cultural sensitivity or, more accurately, lack thereof.
The work is hard. While at one level what we are being asked to do here should be, for me, like falling off a log, language, custom, and uncertainties of the planning context contribute to modest levels of stress associated with this process (did I not mention the ovewhelming level of motorbike and bicycle traffic?). It is hard to understand and be understood by people who share your cultural background, let alone the residents here.
But is a challenge that brings the blood to the surface and reminds you that you are alive and well. Tomorrow we begin the first full day of workshop. We are both somewhat anxious about it but also eager to get started.
I am happy to report that I survived crossing the street this evening - twice. While it may seem petty, if you were here I think you would understand. I have never, never seen anything like it.
Sgay tuned for how Day One turns out.
I suspect my initial impressions to Vietnam are not dissimilar to Kris's . The trip itself is, of course, quite tiring and demanding. Yet, this slide into complete exhaustion seems at least partially offset by the excitement of a new place, culture and people. We have not been disappointed. So much here is so different, so new to me as a former farmboy from Northern Wisconsin. It is so overwhelming that perhaps my only defense, if one can call it that, is to simply let myself be immersed within the culture. But almost everything we have encountered the last day and a half is so different than to which we have become accustomed. The food, the traffic, the style of life. It is tradition here to close down the offices from 11:00 - 1:30. But then they start at 7:00 and go until 5:00. We learned this the hard way today, as we tried to negotiate how we would spend our planning day. While we would have preferred to stay at the University and work through lunch, we were "encouraged" to join them for lunch, after which a driver would take us back to our hotel, and then pick us up again at 1:00 for the afternoon session.
Ann and Marilyn suggested that we be prepared to be flexible, and this we learned from the start this morning. It seems as if things change constantly, but it may only be that our initial impressions were not correct and our hosts are reiterating their position more clearly the second time. After an omlette breakfast and ice coffee (??? isn't this an oxymoron?). we headed to the University to meet with the Vice Rector and some of his staff. We met for about an hour, which helped us develop a little better sense of what he has in mind. We learned two new things this morning about the intent of our work here: 1) To provide participants with the foundations of adult education theory; and 2) To prepare them to train others in remote or satellite locations. Neither one of these foci were on our radar screen until this morning. It also seems clear that this group will not act as a team or curriculum committee to develop an adult ed program, but will be helpful in that regard. So we spent the bulk of the day reviewing and revising our plans, trying to move them in a direction that seemed to consonant with this sense of direction.
After lunch we returned to our workspace, only to find it occupied by young students from the United States. That was quite surprising. As we worked this afternoon, Kris remarked that it seemed strange to hear people in the next room talking with American accents. I said that I hadn't even noticed, which says something, I guess, about my cultural sensitivity or, more accurately, lack thereof.
The work is hard. While at one level what we are being asked to do here should be, for me, like falling off a log, language, custom, and uncertainties of the planning context contribute to modest levels of stress associated with this process (did I not mention the ovewhelming level of motorbike and bicycle traffic?). It is hard to understand and be understood by people who share your cultural background, let alone the residents here.
But is a challenge that brings the blood to the surface and reminds you that you are alive and well. Tomorrow we begin the first full day of workshop. We are both somewhat anxious about it but also eager to get started.
I am happy to report that I survived crossing the street this evening - twice. While it may seem petty, if you were here I think you would understand. I have never, never seen anything like it.
Sgay tuned for how Day One turns out.
posted by John at 7:01 AM
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