| Teaching
and Travelling |
| By Donna
Morang |
| August
2006
My life was
finally everything I thought it would be; my art gallery was full of wonderful
artists, including me; I had just finished restoring my house; I had lots
of friends…. but then my daughter sent me a magazine about classes for
ESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and something in me
just clicked!
So when I told
friends and family that I was closing my gallery, renting out my house
and going to Mexico to take a class in ESL, so that I could travel the
world teaching English they thought I had gone crazy. My daughters
thought it was cool!
I soon emerged
from a month of studying in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico with my teaching certificate
and my passport to the world! Wow! |
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| I had decided
on Costa Rica, but never actually made it and ended up in Zihuatanejo,
Mexico instead. A week later I was teaching classes four hours a day.
In my very
first class I had a mother and son; the son was a new-age kid with purple
hair, baggy pants, an attitude and wasn’t the slightest bit interested
in learning English – which made me feel a complete failure. One
day while swimming, I was stung by a strange fish. It hurt like a
bugger and so I told my students about it and asked them what the fish
was. This boy, who acted like he never heard a word I said, jumped up,
grabbed a marker and started drawing, and explained to me what kind of
fish it was and how it stung me. He thought I was really brave not
to have cried or gone to the doctor and from that day on we were great
buddies. It was a great learning experience for me - you just
have to find the right switch to click on the interest, even if it takes
a painful episode to do it.
I taught English
at several locations in Mexico, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo,
and San Jerinameto. |
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| Getting a
teaching job in Mexico is quite easy if you are just a little patient….it
usually took about a week in the cities, but longer in one of the
smaller towns; the people are poorer and so less able to afford classes
even thought they are desperate to learn English. Often, the local
school is a good place to start. I had a great time teaching in Mexico;
wonderful students, great friends, good cervesa, great tacos, and life
was good, but I had a great desire to see the other side of the world and
Vietnam was calling to me.
When I told
people I was going to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, some asked why, others
asked if it was safe, and a few were openly disgusted. Didn’t
I know we fought a long and protracted war with Vietnam? YES, I remembered
the war, and that was why I was going. I didn’t really know how safe
it would be or what to expect, I just knew I had to go. |
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Offshore
Resources Gallery
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| By fluke
I read an advertizment in a Seattle newspaper for an ESL teaching job in
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I interviewed for the job and was
hired, but when my contract still hadn't arrived a few weeks later I went
anyway.
I must admit
it was a bit foolhardy and I really didn’t know what I would do if the
job didn’t materialize. I had plenty of time to think about that
though - twenty four hours on a plane plus an enforced stopover in Taipai
where a typhoon closed the runway...separated from our passports till the
next day, when we continued on our way. I was lucky enough
to have struck up a friendship with Viet Kieu (a Vietnamese who lives
in the US) who seemed more nervous about me being alone in his country
that I was - I was too excited to be worried, but nevertheless he
made sure I had good accommodation and plenty of his family’s contact numbers
should I need them.
My first introduction
to Ho Chi Min City was full of happiness and love, and, for me, this
never changed. My hostel, owned by the crazy and loving Madam Cuc,
could not have been more homely. The girls who worked there were
so helpful and kind, despite their long shifts, sometimes as long as 20
hours, they were always concerend for my wlefare. |
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| Ok, I had
come here to live and teach, but I thought that before I accepted the contract,
I would check out some other schools. I spent the first week doing
this and then I had dinner with the director of American Pacific University
and accepted the original job offer. I was to start the following
week, so with a few days to fill, I decided to see other parts of Vietnam
and take a side trip to the Mekong Delta, and Vung Tau which is only about
an hour by hydrofoil…a great place for weekends out of the bustling city.
The only way
to get around HCMC is with a xe om driver ( xe means motorbike
and om means hug or hold). From the first day I had two drivers
that waited outside my hotel and if they weren’t there when I needed them,
they had someone else waiting for me. When I moved to an apartment
a few blocks away my old driver arranged for his cousin to drive me.
Every driver has his own area and special riders. I arranged to be
picked up at 7:30 Monday-Friday and a driver was alwaysthere on the dot. |
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Offshore
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| It took about
thirty minutes to get to my school and cost about five dollars a week.
It is a wild and crazy ride as there are over eight million cycles in HCMC,
and I think they are all on the street at 7:30 in the morning. I
grew to love my ride to school, it was a good wake-up call, with the most
amazing, exciting things to see every day. I still miss it.
The streets are full of cycles and no stop lights to speak of, with rules
of the road that a foreigner will never understand.
Ho Chi Min
City is huge, some 8,ooo,ooo people, but it feels so much smaller.
I hate large cities, but loved this one. It is alive and interesting
each street has something different. One area may be China town and
the next area could be nothing but shopping for dogs or carpets or
it could be the elegant down-town. You must see to believe.
My school was
fantastic. We received fifty new students the first week I was there, so
there was a lot of juggling of teachers and a bit of confusion but all
went well. I had ten to twenty students, young men from Vietnam
Airlines and four young women. The school was contracted to improve
their English so that they could pass English exams and be accepted into
an aviation school in the US. I’m proud to say that all fifty of
our students, after 8 months of learning, were accepted and are now
living and being educated in Seattle, Washington. These young men,
aged from twenty to thirty, were from all over Vietnam. Some already
spoke fair English, others none at all; but they became like my family.
We sang karaoke, ate dog meat ( yes, dog meat) and took road
trips and I had the best time of my life. I still get e-mail and
telephone call from several of them. We at times discussed the Vietnam
war, known in Vietnam as the American War. They were
much more understanding of the war that I was. I never encountered
any animosity towards Americans, in fact I was shown great love by my students
and my neighborhood. The only reason I left Vietnam was that my students
left for Seattle, otherwise I’d still be there. I think it is a great place
to live and a good place to buy land. Foreigners can buy houses and
land and it is all very reasonable and the economy in Vietnam looks good.
It is just beginning to realize the tourist impact and the government is
moving in the direction of the dollar.
Sadly, I boarded
the plane the day after my students left for the US. As I watched
Ho Chi Min City disappear I knew it would always remain in my heart.
My next
destination was Nicaragua - Managua to be exact, though I left my travel
guide behind. Although I knew I needed to catch a bus out of the
city, I didn’t know where the bus station was. I was lucky once
again - I saw a young guy reading a travel book which I borrowed, and we
ended up travelling to Granada together. It was pretty manic trying
to get on board…the drivers want to sell you a ticket even if there is
no room for you, and if you don’t keep your back to the wall, it and everything
on it is likely to disappear. My travelling companion arrived in
Granada minus his wallet.
Once in Granada
we found a great hostel.I was going to go to a beach town to look for a
job, because I love the ocean, but the girls at the hostel convinced me
to stay in Granada and sent me to the school they had all attended.
They thought that the school needed foreign teachers who spoke English
as their first language. So off I went to ABC (American British
College) and after a short conversation with Director, I was hired
then and there.
The students
had never had a foreign teacher, and looked petrified when I first walked
into the class…..an hour later I couldn’t shut them up! They just
wanted to 'talk' to a real American! I was assigned to four hours
a day and the Director wanted me to go to each class and just talk to the
students, because this was such a new experience for them. I later
learned that my first class told all of the students how cool it was and
not to be afraid of the new teacher. This class was the most advanced
and spoke very good English, but I also taught lower levels that didn’t
speak any English. After six months we had to hire two other foreign
teachers because the students demanded ESL teachers. This was
a huge step for Granada schools and it will continue to progress.
Granada is
a quiet, small town and very safe if you use good judgment of where to
go, especially at night.. The people seemed happy to have American influence
and were very welcoming. They are looking towards greater tourism
and investment from foreigners. The real-estate market is booming
and will change the country, rapidly. I enjoyed my life there, but
found it to be a bit to sleepy for my taste. Safe, secure, goes to
sleep at ten every night, but gets up at four in the morning. OK, where
next????
Thailand?
….. I’m leaving tomorrow.
Just for your
information: I am a 62 year old, single woman. I had a home, a business,
and a good life. Now I have an ESL certificate, a back-pack, and
a great life with friends all over the world. Teaching ESL
has allowed me to travel and give back a little to countries less
fortunate than the US. I feel I am a Lucky Lady.
ALSO:
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Article
Index ~ Mexico
Index ~ Overseas
Teaching Jobs Index ~ |
