Friday, February 6, 2015

2012 - 2015: In Vietnam

My father asked my brother about me. I emailed my brother the following outline a few minutes ago. I have been living in Saigon for 2 years now. I came to Vietnam Thursday, 2012-11-29. I taught at a school in a city (Bac Ninh) about 20 miles from the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, for 5 days.
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The manager didn't know much English. He fired me (without a proper reason) without pay. After that, I volunteered at a restaurant, Papa Foods, for 6 weeks. I washed dishes, mopped floors, helped, etc, & taught English to staff and to customers. I applied to schools to no avail.
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I taught friends in Hanoi for 2 weeks, at a museum in Hoa Binh for a week, and Thanh Hoa for another week during the Lunar New Year Festival (Tet).
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After that, I moved to Saigon 2013-02-10, Sunday.
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I signed a 6 months contract with a school and they gave me 4 months of work and wouldn't let me renew my contract and said that they had too many other teachers and that they couldn't give me more work and then they said that I was a bad teacher. With this school, I was sent to different kindergartens, preschools, and elementary schools in different districts all over Saigon.
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I also worked at a New Star Center in the Tan Phu District of Saigon for 6 months. In September 2013, I taught at an after-school American English program at a high school (Nguyen Thien Hien) in the Tan Binh District near the airport until February 2014.
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At the same time, I was also teaching at other houses and cafes, or what dad would call "Yard Clients."
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I lived in different districts at different times all over Saigon for the past 2 years. Where I have lived in Saigon includes the following places:
2013-02-10: Tan Binh District, TP.HCM
2013-02-17: District 8
2013-04-08: Pham Ngu Lao, Balo Backpackers Hostel, District 1
2013-05-01: Binh Thanh
2013-08-15: Tan Binh
2013-08-20: District 12
2013-09-20: Tan Phu
2013-11-15: District 1 & Chua La, Go Vap (sometimes)
2014-03-20: District 3
2014-04-01: Thu Duc & Tan Binh
2014-05-01: Remi Cafe: District 10
2014-06-01: Mr. Ribs, District 4 & District 7
2014-10-10: Old Ink, Pham Ngu Lao, District 1
2015: I am still renting the same room in District 1
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Students come and go. Sometimes, students are happy and sometimes they blame me for things that might be their problems. For example, if they're not learning well enough or fast enough, they sometimes say it's my fault.
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I begin volunteering with a small Christian club called FYG, the Fellowship Youth Group, in April 2013, and they begin paying me some money in November 2013. They paid money for my room for a year. As time went by, we added classes and I began making more money with them. They seem to be Christian as far as I know. I am not sure if they are related to Wayne of Oklahoma.
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I use to teach all over Saigon. I would spend hours each day on my bike going from place to place like dad. I lived and taught at different places at different times for weeks to months at a time per place or per class.
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Teaching at one place or in one area or district can be better and can save time.
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So, I begin canceling my classes in other districts and began only teaching in District 1 as of December 2014.
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I moved to my current room in an area full of backpackers, as in foreigners, on these streets here in District 1, as of October 10, 2014.
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I bought a $600 camera early in December 2015. This camera is not a camcorder but it has a video button. This was my first camera-camcorder I ever bought in my life and the most expensive.
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Before this, my last camcorder-camera that I bought was for $200 at the Wall Mart near Whiz Bang near our house and near Rick's Tires. My brother's name is Rick.
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That camcorder was a camcorder first and it was also able to take pictures.
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It seems that this camera/cam has better lens that are a little more analog or more focused with the zooming than some camcorders.
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Now, I only teach near my room in District 1. I mostly only teach at a milk tea shop near the park that I go to each day.
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I meet people in person at this park that is smaller than Central Park in NYC. Now, the students come to me.
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Things are better in some ways because I don't need to ride my bike to my classes now. I like to save more time.
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Before, I was more scared and was thinking that I can more students and more job security if I were to go around more often to my students.
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But I think what I have now is still better. My new life in Vietnam is a long story with many twists and turns, but I believe that God wants me here at least for now.
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Jo Arnold: Ja English: American English Speaking Club: Oatmeal English: Funny English: Rick Arnold
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  • Lovesick Prince · Friends with Trà Chanh
    I feel sympathy towards you...i dont know why a native-speaker like you was not accepted as an official teacher ....i live in city center of bac ninh province where u used to work .just let me know if. U go back here in someday.i will provide accomdation for you and recomend the job for you.
  • Joey Arnold That school was the New Star International Language Center in Bac Ninh. I met a female teacher there who was from the Philippines on the internet in 2011 or maybe early in 2012. She encouraged me to come. I emailed her school and the manager began to email me. He asked me to come.
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    He refused to give me work contracts or plane tickets. He asked me to come early in 2012. He used Google Translate in order to communicate with me. He only knew a few English words.
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    On Thursday, the 29th of November, 2012, when I came to Vietnam, that school already had 2 teachers. Earlier this month, they hired a second female teacher from the Philippines and they told students that those teachers were from Singapore.
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    The manager emailed me and said that he only wanted two teachers. He told me that before I came to Vietnam. He was still asking me to come. The first teacher went back to the Philippines at the end of December 2012. They needed me for January 2013.
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    The manager fired me via an email. He said that I was not good at English speaking, teaching methods, and that students hate me. I was also gaining weight. My hygiene was declining due to poverty as well.

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