Terry Fox Run - HCMC 2015 & Christmas is Coming!

Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 6:00am, I woke up the kids,  because it was time to get ready for the Terry Fox Run. A couple weeks earlier we had a school run CISS. It was a really big deal!  I was surprised at how well the students know the story and mission of Terry Fox. It was a great day with great fun,  but it was only a warm up for the big community run in HCMC.

Junior division of CIS and BCIS...getting ready to go.

The Physical Education teachers (including me - I'm in the black shorts with the watch) were in charge of organizing and performing a warm up routine.  We had lots of fun with our student volunteers. 

Mr. Carey had everyone pumped up with his impromptu "Uptown Funk" dance. 

He included one of his students ...it was so great!

I ran with Eva (primary) and then with Veronika (junior). Stepan ran with Viktor (primary). David was on a trip to Indonesia.  One of the perks of teaching at the kids' school is getting to participate with them in these activities. 

These kids love running.  I practiced/trained with my classes in the weeks leading up to this event and the primary and junior classes -especially -  would always come to me and say, "Ms. Helen, I want to run."(don't forget to imagine the Asian accent. ..its so cute.) 

We had a great time.

Sunday morning was the big day,  the community Terry Fox Run in HCMC. I learned that the HCMC run is the third largest Terry Fox Run in the world (outside of Canada). That is something. And it did not disappoint. ..

Saigon sunrise. The view from our apartment.

I love getting up early and greeting the sun. 

Getting ready at the CISS gathering spot - the red and white balloons. We actually saw them bringing the balloons to the race. ..mode of transport,  none other than motorbike,  of course!  ;-) 

There were many corporate groups at the run. One of the largest were the KFC group.

Selfie at the start.

There were so many people there that the run ended up being more of a walk.  It was just  under 4 km.  Stepan was in Taiwan, so I was by myself with all 4 kids ( but not really by myself. ..our CISS family was there). Principals watched over the kids as I performed the warm up with our warm up team,  and later Veronika and Viktor  wanted to run, but I had to stick with Evi, so they ran with Ali, Flo and Ken (fellow BCIS teachers). 

The route well marked. 

David had blisters on his feet and was suffering from some abdominal issue, so he did not run,  but walked instead. We ran into Mr. Andrew - showing off some  special talents.

I saw groups of my students en route as well.

Always time for a selfie! 

The balloon people. ..very cool!  Cheering for everyone. 

Nearing the finish. ..it was a hot one. ..like every day. 

One of the local fast food chains, Lotteria, provided soft drinks and hamburgers for runners after the race.  I opted out,  but the kids were thrilled. I guess they earned it? ?? Lol. We finished of with ice cream and made it a complete breakfast of champions (oh well. ..back to better nutrition in the afternoon).

When we arrived home,  Stepan was already back from his trip. He bought some pretty awesome bikes. ..but that's another story.

It was quite the busy weekend.  It started Fri. night when the kids all went to a sleepover at CIS. The principals were so thoughtful taking into consideration that all the young families here were missing the help of aunts, uncles and grandparents, that they took it upon themselves to host a kids sleepover at school to give all the Canadian teacher parents a break. Yes,  they gave us a night and morning off from parenting duties to do as we choose.  It was such a great gift! It also just happened to coincide with the school trip to the Nutcracker on Friday night, so David and Veronika were lucky enough to go! 

The younger kids stayed at school for the evening and played games and watched a movie. Stepan and I enjoyed a quiet dinner out before he left for the airport with Jordan at 10pm. With Stepan in Taiwan and the kids at a sleepover, I scored some alone time,  which for me is very rare and very cherished. I enjoyed a quiet night alone doing one  my favorite things. ...researching travel destinations,  and in the morning I had the luxury of going to Saigon Square and the Taka Market in D1 all by myself.  It was awesome. 

Saigon Square is popular among locals and tourists.  It is a great place to find almost anything at bargain prices.  The best part of this market is that it is clean, air conditioned and the sales people were much more laid back and less forceful than some of those found at Ben Thanh Market.

Taka Market is just a little ways down the street. It is similar in offering to Saigon Square (mostly clothing,  jewellery,  shoes,  bags,  some winter wear. ...I still don't get this one. ..the temp doesn't really drop below 25 degrees here, and some techie gadgets. )I ended up buying three dresses for a grand total of 400,000 VND - about 25 CAD. I also tried some more local specialties. ..no clue what it was,  some  sort of fruit type, jelly like snack. ..It was good,  but I will have to find out more next time.  The time went by so quickly and I had to be back at school for noon to pick up the kids.  I called a "grab bike", to take me back (it's also the way I traveled downtown in the morning). There is a great app...similar to UBER, but for a grab taxi or grab bike you pay cash at the end of the ride. The cheapest and fastest way to get around town here is by motorbike, so as you may have guessed a grab bike is like a motorbike taxi.  You hop on the back, strap on your helmet and go.  It was actually the best part of my morning.  I loved the ride to and from downtown.  Swerving through traffic,  looking around and driving down little alleyways that I would have never ventured in on my own.  I find that every ride through Saigon is a sightseeing tour in itself. I hope it never gets old. 

I picked up the kids.  We went home and had plans to go buy a Christmas tree and spend the afternoon decorating. Everyone was so excited. ...except Viktor, who apparently woke up super early with Sammy and missed the memo about the schedule Mr. Mark put out that wake up time was 8am..lol...Within 5 min.  of coming home he was asleep on the table. ..no exaggeration. We had to wake him up to go for lunch. 

We shopped around the mall for Christmas stuff. ..not much available.  But it was no surprise,  because the Vietnamese, unless they are Catholic, do not celebrate Christmas. It's actually quite curious to see that many shops  are decorated with Christmas trees, maybe it's just too early!?! We found that many of the decorations were equivalent to dollar store items at 5x the dollar store price,  so we opted to buy only a few decorations and we will be making the rest. The kids love crafts;  so its a win, win. 

At Vivo City...We had to take a picture in order to get a free sample of ice cream. ..of course we did it! 

David planning a trip to the movies. 

Treat time!  Girls chose bubble tea from Hot & Cold.

Boys had this crazy Korean icecream cone.

Yes...we have to try it all! 

Evi, not very happy with her choice. ..I told her to wait for ice cream. ..I didn't cave on this one. 

Veronika's fave - Mint milk bubble tea.

We ended up buying a tree.  This year is the first year that we will not have a real tree. We're going fake,  so we went really fake. ..and got a white tree. We won't really be home for the holidays anyway.  We'll just stop over to see what Santa has left on our way from Cambodia to Phu Quoc Island. Yes, this year Christmas will be nothing close to traditional. We will definitely miss our big family and big dinner,  but it will give us a chance to bond together...just the six of us. It will be exotic and I can't wait to see how it unfolds...adventure at its best. 

20.11. - Happy Teachers' Day

The 20th of November is Teacher's Day in Vietnam. It is celebrated nation wide, and although some of my colleagues had hinted that it was a big deal,  I didn't quite understand the scope of it,  until I had the chance to live it.

A few weeks earlier signs started popping up around the city. They could be seen outside language schools,  restaurants and even corner stores.

On Tuesday after school our Board of Directors (BOD) hosted a ceremony and dinner for all the teachers at our school.  There were speeches and thank yous, and CIS principal Sheryl Freeman took the time to explain to us how respected and valued teachers are in Vietnamese society.

The Vietnamese believe that one of the traditional values of the Vietnamese people is the promotion of learning and the respect for teachers. In the Feudal and Colonial periods, teachers were seen to have more importance than parents; their position was “only lower than the king” (Worldbank, part 1.paragraph 1, 2010). 

When I heard this for the first time,  I really felt a new level of responsibility.  I had a renewed realization of the potential value and impact that a teacher can have on a student's life. It's something that we all know, but at that moment in time,  I could feel it. 

 We all received a gift of 500,000 vnd from the BOD and enjoyed a social dinner. 

Stepan, and some of his crew. 

Viktor and Sammy...enjoying the dinner. :-) It wasn't really a kids event,  but hey,  it was right after school,  and where are we supposed to put them?  ;-)

It really did feel like everyone was celebrating Teachers' Day.  We even received a basket of flowers from or real estate agent, Thao. 

Flowers from Thao (our real estate agent).

Students of all grades prepared songs,  dances,  musical theater, a speech and a great video. Teachers did no teaching on this day.  One of the students was appointed teacher for the day,  and actually led the classes for the day.  All students were dismissed at noon, right after lunch.  The philosophy of the day was to give all the teachers a break and show them appreciation. 

Some of the gifts we received.  Stepan and I are not classroom teachers with our own classes,  but we were still thanked for our contribution to the students school lives. One of my students brought me pearl earrings (from his parents' company - Hoang Gia Pearl). I'm serious. ..I was NOT expecting that one!  Some teachers had so many gifts they could not even carry them all.  Flowers,  cakes,  money,  dresses,  Channel lipstick...and the list goes on.  It was actually quite overwhelming.  One of the Vietnamese TA's told me that this is nothing...She said that teachers at public schools are treated to a weekend away or trip (overseas). Can you image going away as a whole staff! ? 

It was quite the day. ..Teachers' Day, a first for me on many levels.  Everyone loves to feel appreciated; it was fun being the guest of honor for the day. 

X-Rock and life is good

Saturday morning was parent teacher interview time at CIS. The kids had received progress reports at the end of the week and we were excited to chat with their teachers about how the year was going.  A few things were different for us this time around: we work at the school our kids attend,  so we already know the teachers (actually we socialize with them too, so there is already a familiarity,  which is nice), the interviews were on Saturday...can't see this happening in Ontario...can only imagine what the unions would have to say about it, and it is the first time our kids have attended an English school,  so we were curious to  see how they were transitioning from an all French school to an English school, and also to ask about how we could help them maintain their French,  because neither Stepan nor myself speak French and we speak Czech at home with the kids. So yeah, alot going on. ...

We were so happy to find out that all four  are progressing well. ..their language skills are where they should be and as teachers say "they are a pleasure to have in class"...David keeps the discussions interesting and has great ideas. ..Veronika is a leader. ..Viktor is oh so sweet - and smart,  and Eva loves singing and dancing and art.

Stepan and I are proud and happy parents!

Saturday night we had a bbq at Riverside (our apartment complex) with some of the teachers and their families from school.  It was nice to chill and chat.  We grilled all sorts of things....hamburgers,  pork chops,  chicken,  squid. ..but no steak (streak is extremely expensive here. ..even the burgers set us back way more than at home,  but they were delish). The kids played. .way past their bedtime, but it was great to catch up about life and share ideas and stories.

Sunday morning we didn't really have much planned,  but Mr. Jean (Veronika's teacher) texted me asking if we, or Viktor (Viktor and his son Sammy are good friends) wanted to go rock climbing.  I had never tried it and Veronika and Viktor  had gone on a school trip earlier in the week and loved it, so we decided to go.

It turned out to be an awesome day. The six of us squished into a small UBER and met Jean and his boys downtown.
We went to x-rock in D3. It's a rock climbing facility attached to a larger sport  complex in the center of the city.  The prices were quite affordable,  especially when we compare The cost of rock climbing in Canada (105,000 vnd for two climbs,  150,000 vnd for a one hour pass and 220,000 vnd for a full day pass). The staff were very easy going and helped us find rock climbing shoes for everyone, and before we knew it we were climbing.  Veronika was like a pro. ..can she ever climb! Getting our climbing shoes on. 

Everyone made it to the top. ..multiple times! 

David, Veronika and I...climbing together.

Stepan, aka Spiderman

Viktor and Sammy...coming down. 

Eva...We could not believe what a great climber she is - 5 years old! 

The climbing crew. 

After climbing we were all hungry,  so it was time to take a walk and find a place to eat.  Noon is nap time in Vietnam...you can see people napping everywhere. ..in their shops,  in hammocks they've strung up on the side of the road, under palm trees...even on motorcycles. .. ;-)

There is no such thing as a bad place for a nap. 

On our walk back to D1.

Great restaurant! 

Strawberry smoothie for Eva

Noodles with beef.  David's favourite meal.

Vietnamese pancakes filled with veggies,  shrimp and pork. 

Grilled squid...my favourite!

Veronika showing off beautiful glass vessels of Vietnamese wine. The decor and ambience of the restaurant were beautiful. 

Saw this sign down the road from our restaurant... you see some pretty strange deals here.  I guess it's go big or go home! 

Look at the root system  of this tree.  Incredible.  The kids are working off their lunch at one of the many outdoor exercise parks around the city.   They are very common here. 

Lady at Ben Thanh Market, sitting beside a huge jackfruit.

We finally made our way Ben Thanh. We wanted to buy some dried fruit,  especially dried mango,  ginger and coconut.  We got a lot of attention and heads were turning to look at us.  You see,  we were a big group.  2 men (Stepan and Jean) 7 children, and myself. On every corner, I was being asked if they were all my children. ..it was so funny!  I would just shake my head, put up 4 fingers and say "only" 4 , and I would still receive nods of admiration...4 children is not very common here. Most families have one or two, sometimes three.

Just around the corner from the Ben Thanh Market, on our way to the bus stop,  we passed a Japanese festival, complete with giant Pikachu. 

Attempted selfie...We need practice.

We tasted  a few Japanese specialties, saw some crazy comic characters and made our way to the bus.  It was just rounding the corner as we were nearing the stop so we all broke into a run - yep, all 10 of us...The bus driver let us get on,  which was great, because sometimes they don't even come to a complete stop and you are literally hopping  on.  We found seats mostly at the back of the bus and the kids started singing.  It was so funny.  Everyone was looking back - and the bus was full.  We were obviously the only white people on the bus and we were the entertainment. ..again.  I have no doubt that every single person on the bus thought I had seven kids. ..it was just too funny. Luckily the bus driver came to a complete stop when it was time to get off,  so we all made it home safely and had another great day in Saigon.