Last Day of Vietnamese School

The kids with their teacher, Co Van (Ms. Van)

Today is the children's last day in Vietnamese school.  Thanks to Co Van (Ms. Van), the other teachers, and administrators at the Little Rainbow School we completed one month of Vietnamese school.  They were incredibly patient and welcoming to us and our kids.  We'd show up late to school every day (around 9:00 AM), disrupted the class because the students would rush Jared, Peanut, and Rocky with very loud and repetitive "hello, hello, hello, hello", and then leave while Peanut was crying and of course, it meant Miss Copy Cat Rocky had to do the same.  (Co Van knew we were on vacation and didn't fault us for wanting to sleep in a bit.)  

It is true that Peanut adjusted to school but going from full-on tears to making distressed faces daily still isn't easy for a teacher (or parent).  Every day, Co Van and her teacher's assistants did their best to get our kids excited about the day.  They were incredible and worked really hard to make this Jewnamese family comfortable.

What have they learned?  Peanut and Rocky understand me a lot better when I speak Vietnamese or perhaps they're not tuning me out as much because they understand.  They've used a few phrases which they learned at school such as time for sleep, change your clothes, may I eat, may I have a kiss, you're so lovable, and I am sure they know some others which I haven't discovered yet.  Last night, I even heard Rocky singing to herself in Vietnamese while in bed.  

Another thing my kids learned over the month is the Vietnamese tradition of bowing and greeting your elders.  I hated doing it when I was a kid because I had to go up to every single adult with a greeting and bow upon my or their arrival and my departure.  If my parents took me to a party, it could mean going up to 60 people!  I'd spend half the party bowing hello and the other half bowing goodbye.  Sheesh.  However, adults ate-it-up and I was always known as such a polite young lady who knew the traditional ways.  Little did they know (cue evil laughter).  Even though the bowing got old, I learned the names of all the adults and they knew me, which meant at Lunar New Year time, I was the one that got the red envelopes full of money.  Also, it taught me patience, good manners, and how to act respectfully. 

I'd like to keep this tradition alive.  So, to all my friends and relatives, remind me to get my kids to bow to you if I forget.  It takes a village.

Goodbye party

These incredibly sweet and loving teachers threw our kids a goodbye party with a spread of white and red dragon fruit, lychees and rambutan, and cookies and lollipops.  

This fellow classmate's going to be trouble!  Check out how he holds his cookie.

August 2014
Little Rainbow School
Vung Tau, Vietnam
Peanut and Rocky ages 3.5 and 6.5 years old

We gave each of the kids boxes of crayons and donated additional boxes to the school as a way to say thank you.  From the "I'm so over it" expression coming from the girls in the front row, you can't tell that they were actually very excited to receive their gifts.  Peanut's friends are the rowdy boys in the back row.  In addition to a wonderful party, the teachers also gave our kids each their very own activity book - written entirely in Vietnamese.  Little did the teachers know that I too will be learning from my 3 year old's activity book to build upon the Vietnamese reading lessons I've had here.

P. S. - did you see the image above Peanut's head in the classroom photo?  It's a drawing of Uncle Ho as he's known here (Ho Chi Minh) embracing a young child.  His image is in every classroom and at other schools, there are posters over 10 feet tall hanging by the entrance.