Personal Preparations

Getting my Visa and plane ticket were my first preparation priorities, but there was (and remains) much more to do. I'll elaborate on classroom preparations in a later entry.

First, I had to find a Hanoi hotel to stay in for one night. Using comments left by users at Tripadvisor.com, I decided not to stay at the volunteer rendezvous hotel De Syloia, instead opting for Hanoi Elegance II--the latter is cheaper, offers free internet, and has better reviews.

I need a laptop computer on this trip, but the hamsters that power my school Acer (given to me in a Gates grant in 2002) are very old, slow, and unreliable. My husband's laptop is quite new but huge--a 17 inch screen, and after lugging it around in New York City with it for four days he recommended that I not bring it. So I looked around for a few weeks, asked for recommendations, and finally purchased one from HP. At under 5 pounds it should be relatively easy to carry, but what sold me was the cool black cover.

Because Vietnam uses a number of different electrical outlet plugs, I had to purchase an adaptor and voltage converter, so that I could safely recharge my computer, cell phone, and camera batteries (and blow dry my hair).

I'll be a volunteer for nine days, but the only laundry service is done by hand, and volunteers are warned that their clothes will return stretched a bit. So I decided to purchase clothing that wouldn't wrinkle much when packed or if washed in a sink and drip dried.

I also purchased Vietnam tour guidebooks, to learn about Vietnam's history, customs, simple phrases, and things to do and see (in case I get a bit of free time). In my readings I learned that I'll need sleeves (short or long) and a skirt or dress when visiting temples, that touching strangers' heads is not appropriate, and that common questions Vietnamese will ask include my age and marriage status. The teacher who traveled on this trip last year had an elderly woman grab her middle to feel her belly in an attempt to determine how wealthy she was. Too bad I lost 20 pounds the past year and a half on Weight Watchers!

Because we'll be in the mountains, walking every day, it's strongly recommended that we come in relatively good physical shape. Having walked 2 miles on our treadmill every day this winter has paid off. I've also started biking 14 miles a couple of days a week.

Finally, I've found three videos on Vietnam, only one of which is appropriate to show my students. The two I'm not going to show are both quite dated. One focuses too much on the war, and the other is a bit too graphic and upsetting (too many descriptions and pictures of customs and foods that are not considered acceptable in our society). I was particularly saddened by the animal markets, where anyone can, at any time, purchase monkeys, wild cats, even some endangered species, to make potions that are believed to cure ailments.