Once Upon A TYPE…

It’s quite an exciting day for me and my students last Wednesday - we went to Cu Chi Minority Village to study history (of course not me but them :P) The trip started early to avoid heavy traffic, 20 Yr9 students tagged along with three teachers(me, Van Anh & Ms. Oanh) That day, I was a bit annoyed, I was not in the mood to participate in this kind of activity! So on our way, I took my ipod and listened to the music loudly! Halfway through, we stopped to eat breakfast, while waiting I saw the face of my students - gloomy!  Van, Nhi & Xuan Anh were just frowning (they said they were still sleepy)  and since I’m not in the mood, too, I joined them!  Waiting for the food made the situation even worse…my girls waited for their sunny side up for a century before it arrived. Everyone was almost done when they served it, grrrr! they wasted time! After a not so appetizing breakfast, we headed back to the road. Cu Chi is not so far from the city, it’ll be around 2 hrs going there (+ the traffic).

When we arrived, kids immediately went inside the museum, old artifacts are displayed and we took the chance to take some pics.

 this is a replica of an old house in the northern part of Vietnam. Normally it has a very high roof made from dried coconut leaves. People believe that when you go out of this house, you must go down backwards, because, they believe that it’s badluck if you don’t do so! (quite similar with the famous bahay kubo in the PI).

native clothes of men and women (looks like the Igorot clothes up in Banaue).

 robe worn by high ranking people in the village.

 dead water buffalo, no joke! it’s just a replica…I was trying to make a funny pic so I decided to look like I was carrying it, hehe!

Xuan Anh, Nhi & Van - copying Ms. Joyce!

 next, we stop at the auditorium where they usually conducts ceremonies. Old instruments are displayed. I wondered if long time ago they also have microphone, hehe! Never knew that they like karaoke, too!

die hard! tambuli queen!!!

another replica of an old man, weaving…oops sorry, i mean old woman! her look’s so decieving, even you will be mistaken! my student commented - “teacher, luckily she doesn’t have any lice on her hair, hahaha”. You bet!

school of fish! we liked this one a lot! we enjoyed feeding them for they keep on slapping one another just to get the feeds in the water.

monkey bridge, used in early days for crossing river. It’s made from bamboo, the catch here is that the bamboo that you have to step on is only one. If you can’t balance right, the water will be very much happy to catch you.

I tried it and some of my students as well, were supposed to do it w/o our shoes so it’s easier to balance but due to the hot weather, we put it back or else our feet will be burned. It’s pretty exciting, though!

 In the middle of walking, we decided to have a group pic, there I am, the pasaway teacher in black!

lunch soon came, we took our break for a while and feasted with seafood and vegetables, sorry I got so excited I didn’t manage to take pics. We ate a lot and truly were all full out of it. After some rest, we went to the playplace and tried to take more pics. One of my student, who’s eating a snack saw the cage of a pair of monkeys, she tried to feed them with her food, the monkeys got excited and fed so fast. But the food wrap was out of the cage, what I did is I went near them and tried to push it in, to their surprise, thinking that I might be stealing it away from them, they hurriedly pull till the snack fell off the floor.

out of my pity, I leaned over and tried to pick up some of it. To my delight they took off my new cap! Arggh, it’s my first time to wear it and it’s a gift! I was so annoyed but can’t do anything. They went wild when my students tried to take it away from them using a stick! Desperately, I went to see the keeper to ask some help. The man arrived and gave me back the cap. My only remark is - how did they put the monkey in the cage when there’s no door? They were trapped inside by cyclone wire! Kinda cruel I think!

playplace, here we come, yihee! the fifteen y/o students acted like 4 y/o’s hahaha, well, even the teacher did the same

I rode the lion, since I’m too heavy it turned sideways, nyehehe!

a student asked me to try the swing and asked her classmate to push me, it’s nice coz it’s really fun but the push was so hard that I started to feel the butterflies in my tummy!

soon after, i felt like I’m going to puke, I asked Kiet to stop it and I wanna go down immedietely before something bad happen!

relieved I stood up again and headed to see-saw, hehe!

do I look like surfing??? hell yah! surfing see-saw. It’s Mai Anh and Thao with me

this one is the hardest game I’ve played! narrow and painful! my sister told me I look like a monkey here, amp! fortunately, I finished it although I got hesitant in the middle of the way. I got a black patch on my knee afterwards!

push me away! all you have to do is sit on the chair and let other people push you to reach the other end. Im quite sad coz it’s just a short distance!

going down but I want more

after the push-me-away-swing, it’s push-me-away-ball next…i wont let this pass on me!

too heavy, I got stucked in the middle!

it’s over! but I still want more!

leaving the playplace made us sad, once in a while, playing like a kid soothes our heavy feelings and took us far from the busy shedule we have at school. I wonder how much will I spend for this kind of playground in our house? I guess it’s too big, maybe miniature will do! hehe!

I’m really enjoying my time now! but it’s not yet over!

we went back to the auditorium to watch a cultural dance. Eventually all of us danced the afternoon away!

the ipitin-mo-ang-paa dance a.k.a. tinikling!

last activity, com lanh eating…glutinous rice cooked inside the bamboo, partnered with bbq and cold water!

We arrived back at school exactly 4.25pm, although I was a killjoy at first, I will still say that it was FUN after all! Thanks to Van Anh for choosing me to come with them rather than going to the other trip next Wedneday! Conclusion: I learnt, I enjoyed, I got full and I felt like a child one more time!