Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word…I beg to Differ, Mr. John. Goodbye is the Hardest Word!

As I entered the final week of my three-week stay in Vietnam, I still had a myriad of tasks and responsibilities weighing on my mind but I did start to think about my final days and the trip home. Remember, I was about a 3.5 hour trip away from Ho Chi Minh City. So I needed to start planning how I was going to get back to Ho Chi Minh City. Also, since I had an early (8:10 am) flight on Saturday and would need at least 3 hours to make sure I got checked in and made it to my departure gate, I wanted to return to Ho Chi Minh City on Friday and then locate a hotel close to the airport to stay the night prior to my departure the following day. I brought this up with Ms. Chau to make sure that I had a plan in place as the week came to a close and she allayed my concerns with a proposed idea and schedule.

It turned out that several classes from the high school would be making a field trip to Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, October 12 to attend an EducationUSA Fair, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The EducationUSA Fair is a venue that provides local students with information regarding the process and paperwork involved in pursuing opportunities to study at U.S. academic institutions. In addition, students would also learn about visa requirements and scholarship opportunities as well as be able to speak to representatives from U.S. colleges and universities who were onsite at tables with literature and information regarding their home institution. The plan was for me to travel with the students to Ho Chi Minh City and attend the EducationUSA Fair with them and then, at the end of the day as the students would prepare to return home, I would instead go to a hotel in preparation for my flight the next day. Perfect!

Now, to find a hotel close to the airport with reasonable rates. I searched online for such a hotel and found the Bao Minh Hotel.

You are probably looking at the confirmation notice with eyes bugged and mouth open. A hotel room for over 500,000 dollars? Yes, but in Vietnamese dollars which translates to $21.23 in U.S. currency. This is probably as equally as shocking – to find a hotel room close to a major airport for just over $20.00 but it was and a decent hotel to boot. With the plan in place and the hotel room booked, my attention was focused on packing and making sure that I did not forget anything.

            Friday, October 12 came upon me and I could tell that it was going to be a very busy day. The buses would depart the high school at 5:00 am so I got up at 2:30 am to make sure I had time to get ready, clean the room, throw away any trash and of course to make sure I had my suitcase packed without leaving anything important behind. I was probably ready by 4:00 am which was good because it gave me a little time to relax and to go over things once or twice more. At about 4:45 am, there was a knock at the door with two students who were on their way to the bus and asked me if I needed any help. What a pleasant surprise! They took my main suitcase and rolled it for me as I went with them with my remaining baggage – a backpack. As we approached the front entrance to the school, I could see other students and teachers starting to congregate around the two charter buses that were waiting to take us to Ho Chi Minh City. I hopped onto one of the buses and then as the bus filled with the students and teachers that would be riding on that bus, I wanted to document the momentous occasion with a selfie. Surprisingly, everyone looks wide awake!

It wasn’t long after that the bus drivers shut the doors and we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh City. Being able to sit back in a seat and enjoy the landscape via bus is a relaxing way to travel. The only thing I had to worry about is having my camera ready to take photos of something I found interesting. We were on the road probably about an hour to an hour and a half when we stopped for breakfast. It was a chance to stretch, use the restroom, and sit down for breakfast. Because it was going to be a couple of hours before we made it Ho Chi Minh City and a stop for lunch, I also got a drink to go.

As we finished our meal and everyone got a chance to walk around before getting back on the bus, I had noticed a steer (not a real one, but a life-sized one nonetheless). Ms. Chau had offered to take a picture of me next to the steer. 

We got back on the bus and settled in for the remainder of the trip. It was approximately another 2 hours before we made it to Ho Chi Minh City. The plan was to head to a local mall near the location of the EducationUSA Fair. The EducationUSA Fair was slated to begin in the afternoon which gave the students and teachers some time to walk the mall, window shop, and grab lunch. Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) is the largest city in Vietnam (next to Hanoi in northern Vietnam) with a population of approximately 8.5 million. In my limited time in Ho Chi Minh City which occurred at the beginning of my trip, I found Ho Chi Minh City to be very modern in many aspects. I have seen malls, and been in some very impressive ones, among them the Galleria in Dallas. But, nothing prepared me for what I would see when I entered the Van Hanh Mall.

The Van Hanh Mall has everything – well pretty much everything. As you can see from the collage above, the mall had eight levels with over 200 shops and plenty of parking space. Once we entered the mall, everybody left in groups to begin their own shopping expeditions. I was with Ms. Chau, her son, Bui Huu Nhan, and Ms. Van as we set off to explore the shops. One place that we spent a lot of time in was the Phuong Nam Book City bookstore. As you can see from the photo collage below, it was very unique and engaging. I did find it interesting from a cultural perspective that Halloween was celebrated in Vietnam! 

After we left the bookstore, we did more browsing and then began the tough decision of finding a place to eat. After going through the various types of cuisine available from restaurants in the mall, we decided on a seafood restaurant, Chang Kang Kung. The tables at the restaurant have a rounded fixture that uses a unique application of steam to cook the various dishes and vegetables.

During our time in the mall, I had a chance to talk with several of the students on the field trip and take a couple of photos. 

It was time to start heading to the bus and to the venue that we were there for in the first place – the EducationUSA Fair.

The EducationUSA Fair represents an important opportunity for high school students to learn about the process and all logistical and procedural aspects of continuing their academic studies at institutions in the United States. The Fair was presented at the Nikko Hotel Saigon, a hotel fairly close to the Van Hanh Mall that we had just visited. We all arrived, checked in at the registration booth and found our way to the first slated item on the agenda – the opening session. Following the informative session conducted by representatives from the U.S. Consulate, everyone then moved to a rather large area with rows and rows of tables – each table staffed with representatives from various colleges and universities in the United States. Interestingly enough, one of the universities present at the Fair was the University of Texas at Arlington, which is, as they say in Texas, “in my neck of the woods” and I have had former students attend there as well. The room was jam-packed with students and parents traveling from table to table, collecting brochures and speaking to the representatives from that institution. 

After several hours of hearing the speakers and gathering information from the various U.S. colleges and universities, it was time for the students to start making their way to the bus and head home. Remember, they had a 3 – 4 hour trip back to Cao Lanh awaiting them. It finally hit me that this was the end of my time as a Fulbright teacher in Vietnam. I had to say goodbye to the teachers and particularly the students who were very warm, friendly and opened their hearts and minds to an American teacher. I did just that. I responded with words to the entire group of students that conveyed my thoughts and feelings and ended with a simple goodbye. It was then time for one last group photo.

After the picture, it was time to go our separate ways. As I mentioned in the blog entry on Vietnamese cuisine, one of the teachers, Bui Huu Nhan, resided in Ho Chi Minh City and he had planned to stay over the weekend before he would return to Cao Lanh on Sunday. I touched base with Mr. Bui and he accompanied me to the bus to get my belongings. As I stepped off the bus with my luggage, one of the students came up to me and asked if they could present me with a special gift. So, as I approached the students, they told me that they had prepared a special song that they wanted to sing for me. I then immediately pulled out my cell phone so that I could record them singing the song.

 To see the video of their song to me, click here.

I did not have a clue as to the song that they had prepared for me. My first thought was that it would be a traditional Vietnamese song. But the first words that I heard were English. The entire song was in English which they sang very well. In fact, as they sang the song, I knew it sounded familiar but did not know the name of the song or the name of the singer. Part of the lyrics below were what they sang:

It’s been a long day without you, my friend.

And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.

We’ve come a long way from where we began.

Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again.

When I see you again”

I later googled (yep, I am using the verb form of Google) the lyrics of the song that they were singing and discovered that the name of the song was See You Again by Wiz Khalifa. The words and the chosen song were very touching to me and I was taken by their performance. Everything was going fine for me until midway through the song. For some reason, at that point, the emotional impact of this final gift was beginning to sink in and a tear began to form in my eye. I thought, Oh, no. I have to keep my composure. Please, no crying! But it was all good because I was hiding behind my phone as I was recording the song and also I was about 10 feet away from them. The song ended and I was able to inconspicuously wipe my eyes and it was all good. 
            As you can see at the end of the video, one of the students grabbed two items and approached me with her classmates to present them to me as gifts. They gave me one of their class shirts (the light green shirts) which they had all signed, and a traditional Vietnamese palm-leaf conical hat (Non La). This was very touching and all of their gifts meant a lot to me. But I was still fine and composed – I made it through with no additional tears. I turned around to retrieve my bags and head toward the car when one of the students asked me for one last picture. That was it – I basically broke down, being overcome with emotion. 

They all approached me and tried to comfort me. This gives you an idea as to how much these kids and the experience in general impacted me. It must have been quite a scene as hotel personnel came out into the parking lot to see what the problem was and to make sure everything was OK. It took me several minutes to regain my composure and, afterwards, posed with the students for that last picture.

After we said our final goodbyes, I left with Mr, Bui in a taxi who first dropped me off by my hotel and then took Mr. Bui to his residence. He returned later that evening on his motorbike for one last dinner in Vietnam at Dau Homemade restaurant. 

Although I described the meal in detail in the blog entry on Vietnamese cuisine, the following collage serve as a reminder of the meal with a special teacher and good friend. After the meal, Mr. Bui dropped me back off at my hotel to retire for the evening because the next day would be a long one.

As I noted earlier, I was scheduled to leave Vietnam on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City at 8:10 am en route to Tokyo, Japan and would then board a second flight in Tokyo for my trip to Dallas/Fort Worth. Because I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to get my baggage checked, pass through security and get to my departure gate, I was awake very early and arrived at the airport at about 5:00 am. I will not bore you with the details but it was a long day with approximately 20 hours spent on a plane and several additional hours sitting in airport terminals. Once I arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth, the lines to get through passport control seemed to stretch for miles. But there were many kiosks to accommodate the many passengers that just landed from foreign destinations and I made it through the entire process within two hours.

It felt strange and, at times, overwhelming as I returned to the classroom at Richardson High School and my students. I was asked questions by a number of students and teachers about my time in Vietnam and my response was almost automatic and consistent. It was life changing. The following month, I was honored to be recognized by the Richardson Independent School District School Board for being named as a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher.

Being named as a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher with an assignment to travel to Vietnam was truly – and yes, I will say it again – a life-changing experience. As a teacher, it provided me not only with a global perspective of education, but also opportunities to share my curricular knowledge of physics with my physics teacher colleagues, instructional strategies for teachers to present student-centered lessons, activities, and projects, as well as technological applications for students to conceptualize and comprehend physics content taught in class. 

As I have had time to reflect on my time in Vietnam, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the faculty and administration of Nguyen Quang Dieu Gifted High School. I would like to thank you for your willingness to take me in as part of your faculty and treat me like a member of the family; greeting me with smiles and hugs every day and every time we met, inviting me into your homes and sitting at the table with me as we enjoyed meals, and engaging in conversations which allowed me to learn a wealth of information about Vietnamese culture; giving up valued family time in the evenings and weekends to show me the local sights and landmarks in Vietnam; and allowing me to meet, teach, and interact with your students - an extraordinary group of young men and women who possess an enormous amount of potential and promise as they pursue their career goals. I will keep each of you in my heart and in my mind, and will always remember fondly the lasting memories and friendships developed during my time spent in Vietnam. I wish each of you the best in all of your future endeavors.

Disclaimer: The blog, "Dr. H's Fulbright Experience", is not an official site of the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State. The views expressed in this blog are entirely those of George Hademenos and do not represent the views of the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or any of its partner organizations.