Awesomeness

Today was very amazing. I woke up at 8 am and walked down the street to the closest internet cafe. If you order a drink, the wireless internet is free. I sat down, ordered watermelon juice, and got to work. I posted two blog entries and a bunch of my favorite pictures. I was feeling badly because the internet situation is very bad here and I was a day behind on my blog. Then Andy got online and we got to actually speak to each other over the talk feature on instant messenger. It was very exciting and it almost felt like we were hanging out again. This is except for the fact that, as he put it, "I'm in tomorrowland." Yeah, it's like the freakin' Jetsons over here in 'Nam.

Thankfully, Jill brought me an egg sandwich brunch as I sat there. After three and a half hours in the internet cafe talking to people, posting on the blog, and organizing my photo files for tomorrow's assignment, I went back to the room. I continued to attempt to make my photo files match what the professor wants and then took a quick shower. After changing into nicer clothes for my interview at the school I'll at which I'll be teaching, I burned my 25 pictures for the photo assignment onto a cd. It took two tries, of course.

At 2:00, I walked downstairs and met the other four people also working at the school. We took a taxi with once of our Vietnamse friends who is helping to set up the internships. We arrived at the school a bit early and waited outside for the women who will monitor our teaching. They finally showed up and they are incredibly nice! They took us a block away for iced coffee and moon cakes. Apparently the school has over 4,000 kids- 2,000 in the mornings and another 2,000 in the afternoons. It's one of the biggest schools in Hanoi and we're going to work Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. I'll be in charge of 50 kids on Mondays and 28 kids on Wednesdays. We discussed the goals for the students' English skills like pronunciation, short songs and poems, and a lot about American culture. We have to teach them an American song and dance for them to perform on National Teacher Appreciation Day and we also have to plan and execute a giant Halloween party for 200 children. I am so incredibly excited for all of this teaching and partying. I will tell about my family and then they can tell about theirs! Then we can play games from camp! We asked what we should wear to teach and if we should wear the traditional ao dai (women's pants and a very long silk top that they have tailored to fit you). The teachers were very excited that we wanted to wear them and said that the school will pay for us to be fitted and purchase a blue and white ao dai, since those are the school's uniform colors. They are also buying us a couple of cell phones so we can stay in touch with them. I have to start making lesson plans and thinking up games to play with them!

We then spent about half an hour walking through the school and solidifying some more plans for the parties and English skills. We left at about 4 pm and spotted our professor and his wife across the street. They came over and took some pictures of us in front of the school sign. We all piled into another taxi and got back to the dorm by 4:30. I went to one of the dorm rooms on the second floor where most of our group was hanging out and putting together their photography projects for tomorrow. I was able to give my opinion when asked and tell the rest of our group about my rockin' internship. Then Jackie, Jill, Leah and I went around the corner and found our favorite eatery. I ate pork, greens, and some tofu on rice. The two girls who run the family business are our age and always sit around us and speak to us in Vietnamese.

Currently, I have been sitting in the same internet cafe I spent lots of time in this morning. Since 7:00 pm I've been playing computer games, making a loose syllabus for the next five or six weeks of teaching, and posting this blog.

Feel free to comment on how excited you are about my awesome internship! :)