Teacher Week – Part II

Phil departed for home during Teacher Week. I think he was glad to leave…primarily because of the constant ROAR on campus. On his last day we had dinner at the “family restaurant” I eat at several times a week. The university president’s driver picked up Phil and me at our room and he drove us to the airport. I wanted to go along –primarily to see what the check-in process was. I will be taking the same flight home and wondered how chaotic it would be.

Things seemed to be ok at the airport --Phil was in line and had his luggage on a cart. So the driver and I departed and headed back to Hanoi. On the way home he asked me if I liked singing. I said sure…so he then wanted to know if I would like to hear singing. “Sure” I replied not quite knowing what he meant. I wondered if he was going to take me to a karaoke bar or something.

At this point I need to report on my attire for the evening. I was only taking Phil to the airport…so I had on some grubby black pants--old yellow shirt and the sandals I wear everyday—which are moving towards the “marginally wearable” category. But I was only dropping my love off at the airport-- so no need to dress fancy--right? No—big wrong!

So instead of dropping me off at the hostel where I live, the driver took me to the big building on campus that is a facility for basketball, volleyball or badminton games and tournaments. It is similar to an arena and probably can seat 500-700 people when it is full. We pull up to the building and hundreds of people are milling about outside. Why? Because there is a big shindig going on inside with several famous Vietnamese singers, dancing companies and a big rock band. The crowd outside couldn’t get inside because it was full.

Thinh, the university president, is outside waiting for me with a guard next to him. I get out of the car and the guard pushes and clears a path through the mass of people into the big building. It is packed and on stage is a famous Vietnamese singer doing her thing. We walk down the aisle to the front row and take our seat right at the front. The singer lady comes over and swoons over Thinh and all the spotlights are focused on Thinh and me. Everyone, of course, is dressed in his or her finest outfits. Snazzy suits and traditional Vietnamese dress.

So the lady sings...and then they have about 5 other professional acts. This was a big production. A band, dancers, famous singers, etc.

At the end of the event, Thinh gets pulled on stage.....AND HE GRABS ME AND DRAGS ME UP THERE TOO! I was mortified. They gave me flowers and took pictures and the spotlights were still there...focused on me and my dumpy outfit.

This was “Act II” of TEACHER WEEK. I guess they have a big entertainment event every year to celebrate the universities role in education and teaching in Hanoi I didn’t know anything about this event and when I took Phil to the airport I didn't expect to end the evening on stage with a rock band blasting behind me. I wish I had pictures…but I didn’t have my camera and didn’t expect to end the evening this way. My only regret was that Phil wasn’t there (in his dumpy clothes) to experience this event with me!

But that is not the end of the story. I was given a formal invitation to celebrate teacher week in the geography department. I knew that I should dress up for this event—and I did. On Wednesday afternoon, all students, faculty and staff of geography gathered in a huge lecture hall on campus. All the students were there and the place was packed. In addition to the entire faculty, they invite back all retired faculty to this event. It was very neat. As the ol’ guys and gals walked into the room, the students stood and clapped and cheered. What bothered me was that I received this treatment too! Must be Old……..or close to it –whatever “it” might be!
Picture of the packed lecture hall and the retired faculty sitting next to me!

At this point I discovered why all the singing and dancing practice around the dorms for the past three weeks. From 2pm-4pm a series of student groups sang, danced and talked to the entire geography student body and all the faculty and staff. It was pretty neat and the pictures below are from this event. The Dean of Geography talked about each and every retired faculty member there…and I guess told funny stories because he had everyone laughing a great deal.





At the end of this event the students left and the faculty walked into the hall area for a HUGE food feast! Vietnamese food…tables and tables of it. I learned that you picked a spot along a table and used your chopsticks to pick a piece of this…and a piece of that. They even served wine! I stayed for a couple of hours and walked home feeling no pain! It really was a wonderful afternoon…..all in honor of teachers!

WAIT—THERE IS MORE!
The next day—Nov. 20th—is actually the official TEACHER’S DAY. I discovered that all classes are cancelled and the students deliver flowers and gifts to their teachers. Wow…no school! Several students delivered flowers to my room…and I received several small gifts that day and one from the students in class the following day. They also sent me email cards….
Flowers! They were beautiful!!!

So….now I understand teacher day! I wished I had a better grasp of it prior to the event, but there is something magical when things evolve and you don’t know what to expect. I had a great week and am VERY happy to report that the campus area where I live has returned to its usual pattern of being noisy only some of the time. Phew…it was quite a week!!