Dorm life in Vietnam

After class yesterday several students asked me if I would like to see their dorm room. I had wanted to see what the rooms looked like for months....and so I was overjoyed when they asked me to visit.

There are around 8 large buildings ( 4 stories ) and probably 5-6 single story buildings. My building is in the center of the complex and has five floors. The first floor is the cafeteria. The second floor houses the residential life main office and six VIP rooms. I say VIP, because after seeing the student rooms...which are EXACTLY the size of mine, I am living in splendor compared to the students. As I said early in this blog....my room reminds me of a Comfort Inn or Super 8 type of motel room. It is about the same size and has similar type of furniture and bathroom. My building is the picture below. It looks pretty nice!!!


The student's building and rooms are much more "basic". This is a photo of the hallway of the dorm.



In each room twelve...yes twelve students live in the same size space that I live in. Basically they have six bunk beds on each side of the room. Each bunk bed is the "space" for the student. They have their computers, books, clothes and everything else on that tiny bed and in that small space.




When I looked carefully at the bunks I realized that they had no mattresses. Instead, the students sleep on a thin grass mat...AND A BOARD!!! I heard that rumor earlier but didn't believe it. Well...this picture confirms this fact.


I was impressed that each room had a private bathroom. Well....imagine 12 kids in one room and "private" is something of a misnomer. The bathroom consists of an outer room for their personal stuff. Dishes, washing supplies, and general bathroom things girls have were in plastic bins in this room.



Then further in is a larger room where they do the laundry. It had many large tubs of water in it and lots of stuff hanging on the walls and from the ceiling. I also have included a picture of "the dryer". Ha ha...big joke! There isn't one. The kids hang their laundry outside the buildings.





Then there is the toilet. A squatty-potty! This is a very typical type of toilet in Southeast Asia. You will find them in most public places. My big question always is .... do you face the wall or do you face the door. I didn't ask the girls...and guess I missed my opportunity to do so!

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Next to the toilet was the "shower". Well....shower probably isn't the right term to use. All that was in there was a spigot on the wall and a big plastic tub on the floor. I asked about how they bathed...and this picture is a demonstration. You wet yourself down....then soap up...then rinse off. Pretty simple and easy.


The kids did have computers, but as you can see they were the older basic PC models. You may wonder what happens to the old CRT monitors that the US dumps all the time. Well...they probably are shipped here! I see them everywhere. In internet cafes....on the street for sale....in houses and as you can see, in dorm rooms.

It is pretty special to have a computer and this room had five...so five out of twelve girls had one. But...no internet is available. The kids have to pay and use the computers in the campus internet cafes if they want access to email and the web. The cost is 2000 dong per hour... or about twelve cents. Not alot, but when you are trying to live on $20 a month, twelve cents can be huge.

Desk space consists of taking a metal hanger and straightening it so you can make a "hook" to hang your lap desk on.



I keep imagining what US students would do if they had to live in these conditions. I am sure most of them would freak out. But as I walked down the hallway as I was leaving, I looked into many rooms. I was amazed that they all were very tidy and clean. The kids are very clean. Their clothes are spotless. One thing that has amazed me since I got here....in very, very hot and humid conditions..... there are no bad smelling people! Everyone takes much pride in keeping everything clean and tidy. Again, remembering how some kids in the US come to class, I shake my head. I had a class several years ago of all boys. I called them the "sweat hogs" because when I walked into the classroom it smelled like a barn. I told them too! Didn't make any difference!!!! They just laughed at me.

Below are several pictures of the girls who live in the room. They are 4th year students...so most of them are 21 years old. In an earlier blog I mentioned that the dorm buildings are locked WITH CHAINS each night at 10:30pm. They are unlocked at 5:30am. They also have a wall and gates around the dorm complex and these also have gates that are locked.



So....I have one more class on Friday afternoon and that will be the end of my teaching here. I am very, very sad to leave these kids. I am hopeful that some of them can continue to improve their English and come to Missouri for their MA degrees. All them would love the experience, but the competition for scholarships is very tough and only the best and brightest make the cut. I watch how hard they work and the level of what they do and understand and am amazed. Couple that with their home and university living conditions and the material things they lack....it is truly amazing.