When I first arrived, I felt uncomforable talking to the Vietnamese on the streets. I had heard, that all they wanted was your money and the second you refused them, they were completely unfriendly. Well, this was a little bit of an exaturation, but I could only work with the information that I had at the time. Now that I have been here a few weeks, when a Vietnamese talks to me, I talk back and treat him or her like a student. While most of them are trying to peddle products of some sort, they are also trying desperately hard to learn English, so if I have a few minutes to spare, I slow down my pace, and my speech and try my hardest to have a conversation with them. Once they hear, or see(because its mostly through pantimime that I speak to them) that I am an English teacher, I all of a sudden have an eager pupil wanting to meet me again to speak English. Since I am only here a few weeks, I have had to refuse, but a few of the long term volunteers have done this repeatedly and have made lots of local friends in the process. While some are jaded by the two faced-ness of the Vietnamese, I see that they on the whole very eager to learn, very smart but cunning and just trying to enjoy life as we all are.
So I have not spoken much about teaching, because while its my intent for being here, it only takes up an hour or two of my day, and I wind up doing many other things while I am here. Since I only have a few more days, I thought I'd fill you all in on what is going on in the teaching realm of my travels.
So Jade and I teach a group of teenagers. They are absolutely adorable. Full of personality, 
charm, charisma and general intelligence. Our expressed mission here is to work with these "street kids" in order to keep them away from pedophilia. While we don't see too much of that, that doesn't mean that these kids aren't deserving of our attention. They might not be propositioned on the street, but that does not mean that they aren't on the streets; selling postcards, cigarettes, food...whatever they can to make them and their families a living. Education is not compolsury here, and thus is private and expensive in terms of their meager earnings. For one student to go to school for a year, its about 3 million dong, or about $250. This might not sound like a lot, but you have to get out of the US dollar mindset.
charm, charisma and general intelligence. Our expressed mission here is to work with these "street kids" in order to keep them away from pedophilia. While we don't see too much of that, that doesn't mean that these kids aren't deserving of our attention. They might not be propositioned on the street, but that does not mean that they aren't on the streets; selling postcards, cigarettes, food...whatever they can to make them and their families a living. Education is not compolsury here, and thus is private and expensive in terms of their meager earnings. For one student to go to school for a year, its about 3 million dong, or about $250. This might not sound like a lot, but you have to get out of the US dollar mindset.One student of mine is around 15, he is a postcard seller. He begins his day at 930 when he has to walk his brother to Crazy Kim's bar for classes with Ryan and Naena. Then he attends his class with me and Jade at 1030. After class he hits the beach with his satchel of postcards, asking any tourist he can find if they want memorbilia of their trip to Nha Trang. If he sells three packets of postcards, for about 25, 000 Dong each, he's done pretty well. 75, 000 dong, while hardly enough to pay for two meals for my western appetite, could easily buy him, and his brother about three meals for the day. Although these meals consist of a bowl with rice or 
noodles, a few pieces of meat and some cucumber, for about 10, 000 Dong each. His mother sells Jewelry on the beach front and also has similar successes, making less then 100, 000 Dong. His father is a motorbike driver. Motorbike drivers essentially taxi a single person around the city. For example, today I hired a motorbike driver(with the help of the student I'm speaking of actually) to drive me about 3 miles away to the mud bath spa. He then waited almost two hours for me to come out and drove me back to my hotel. For two hours of his time and more then 5 miles of gas and wear/tear on his bike, I was charged 35, 000 Dong, which is enough for him to buy him and one other person a meal, basically, albeit a little nicer meal then I described early. So you can imagine spending 3 million dong on something that doesn't give them any income in return, does not seem to be the most logical choice. Therefore, while I do not necessarily see the whole child-sex tourism to be a huge presence, I still do see it as a worthwhile cause.
noodles, a few pieces of meat and some cucumber, for about 10, 000 Dong each. His mother sells Jewelry on the beach front and also has similar successes, making less then 100, 000 Dong. His father is a motorbike driver. Motorbike drivers essentially taxi a single person around the city. For example, today I hired a motorbike driver(with the help of the student I'm speaking of actually) to drive me about 3 miles away to the mud bath spa. He then waited almost two hours for me to come out and drove me back to my hotel. For two hours of his time and more then 5 miles of gas and wear/tear on his bike, I was charged 35, 000 Dong, which is enough for him to buy him and one other person a meal, basically, albeit a little nicer meal then I described early. So you can imagine spending 3 million dong on something that doesn't give them any income in return, does not seem to be the most logical choice. Therefore, while I do not necessarily see the whole child-sex tourism to be a huge presence, I still do see it as a worthwhile cause.So in an effort to leave the students with a long lasting impact of our brief stay here, Ryan, Naena, Jade and I (although honestly, since I was gone this past weekend, they put alot more energy into it then I have, I'm just an eager supporter) have created a way for the students to gain more money and respect for themselves and their families. We are helping them create their own tour group, where groups or solo travelers pay the students to give them a tour 
around the city. Since it is not expressly affiliated with the bar(although we are using their name for reputability. Although its a good cause, I don't think I would "rent" a street kid for a day to do tours, without knowing there was something secure behind it, such as Crazy Kim's bar.) 100% of the proceeds go to the students, plus they get to practice their English and stay off the streets. We are working now on advertising, hats, and bringing them around to the sites so they can get as much information as possible. It's been great, because we get to hang out with them more and allow them to practice their English more. While in Thailand, I really liked my "students"(who as you remember were teachers), they were all the way in Udon, a 30 minute drive, and aside from the one field trip and a few emails, I never hung out with them outside of the school setting. These kids, who are the target age I like to work with have endeared themselves to me so much so, that I do not want to leave. I really want to see this through and see them succeed, and not leave them only a short time after I arrived. I guess I should have thought about that before I made the plans. I honestly didn't think that I would bond with them that much in such a short time. Most of them call me "crazy" because they didn't learn my name right away, but simply observed my teaching habits. For those of you who have seen me in the classroom, know that I am a little off my rocker while I teach. Then when they finally learned my name, they had trouble pronouncing it, and kept calling me Lazy instead. Since lazy and crazy rhyme it stuck. My favorite student, who's name is phuoc(and pronounced like a four letter word rhyming with duck) honestly refers to me as crazy and not as Lacy at all. It's funny.
around the city. Since it is not expressly affiliated with the bar(although we are using their name for reputability. Although its a good cause, I don't think I would "rent" a street kid for a day to do tours, without knowing there was something secure behind it, such as Crazy Kim's bar.) 100% of the proceeds go to the students, plus they get to practice their English and stay off the streets. We are working now on advertising, hats, and bringing them around to the sites so they can get as much information as possible. It's been great, because we get to hang out with them more and allow them to practice their English more. While in Thailand, I really liked my "students"(who as you remember were teachers), they were all the way in Udon, a 30 minute drive, and aside from the one field trip and a few emails, I never hung out with them outside of the school setting. These kids, who are the target age I like to work with have endeared themselves to me so much so, that I do not want to leave. I really want to see this through and see them succeed, and not leave them only a short time after I arrived. I guess I should have thought about that before I made the plans. I honestly didn't think that I would bond with them that much in such a short time. Most of them call me "crazy" because they didn't learn my name right away, but simply observed my teaching habits. For those of you who have seen me in the classroom, know that I am a little off my rocker while I teach. Then when they finally learned my name, they had trouble pronouncing it, and kept calling me Lazy instead. Since lazy and crazy rhyme it stuck. My favorite student, who's name is phuoc(and pronounced like a four letter word rhyming with duck) honestly refers to me as crazy and not as Lacy at all. It's funny.Half the reason I wrote this is because I really haven't mentioned too much about it, and really do think that we are doing some good work and it is one of the reasons I absolutely love it here and am hating that I have to leave. The other reason is because two new volunteers just arrived this weekend, and they are already leaving because the kids aren't "street" enough. Which I think is complete bullshit. I guess they are art therapists who don't really like teaching english
(then why are they in a program to teach English??) who are trying to tap into the kids psyches and reveal their deepest darkest secrets. When only stories of a few molestations and some hunger came out of this art therapy session, they decided that they wanted to go to an orphanage or other area where there are "real problems". In one way I can understand because they do think that they will have a bigger impact in a more higher needs population. I mean, I feel the same way about teaching in the innercity. But at the same time, they are here for one month, and have made a commitment for that month and two days later decide that the kids aren't "street" enough. I don't know about you, but no one in my family ever touched me inappropriately and I never went a day without food in my belly. These kids might not be dirty and bleeding, but they are still in definate need of the education that we provide, and it really insulted me that they said that. Especially since I am so bonded to these kids and want only the best for them. But I guess if they aren't wanting to work here, then they might as well leave now, before the kids suffer.
(then why are they in a program to teach English??) who are trying to tap into the kids psyches and reveal their deepest darkest secrets. When only stories of a few molestations and some hunger came out of this art therapy session, they decided that they wanted to go to an orphanage or other area where there are "real problems". In one way I can understand because they do think that they will have a bigger impact in a more higher needs population. I mean, I feel the same way about teaching in the innercity. But at the same time, they are here for one month, and have made a commitment for that month and two days later decide that the kids aren't "street" enough. I don't know about you, but no one in my family ever touched me inappropriately and I never went a day without food in my belly. These kids might not be dirty and bleeding, but they are still in definate need of the education that we provide, and it really insulted me that they said that. Especially since I am so bonded to these kids and want only the best for them. But I guess if they aren't wanting to work here, then they might as well leave now, before the kids suffer.
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