A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Life at Le Quy Don Jr. High -- Part 2

OK, to resume where I left off last week, when I get to LQD in the morning the kids are all in military formation wearing red white and blue uniforms and getting their extra homework checked. Once this is finished the evil part of the assembly begins, led by a bitter-faced man I privately refer to as Captain Bligh. He has "evil vice principal" written all over his discontented, hostile weasel-face, and is, as you can imagine, universally loathed by the students. He doesn't speak to me, but periodically he will come and glare at me and my class if we're being too noisy. I avoid eye contact.

The Captain stands at a podium in the front, in view of all students, and spends 10 minutes each morning (and the whole of the subsequent school assembly at 9:00) berating the students about how stupid and underachieving and monumentally useless they are, while teachers wander through the lines carrying long thin sticks (which I have yet to see used). Students who speak or laugh or otherwise misbehave suddenly find themselves the focus of the Captain's Skeletal Pointing Finger of Death: he points menacingly, then strides forward to grab the student by the ear lobe and haul him or her up to the front for a little public humiliation. It's really grim.

At 7:00 (or a bit later if Daily Harangue #1 runs especially long) the Captain signals a student assistant to begin the drumming, which in lieu of a bell system is how the students know when the next class starts or ends. All the kids march in formation to their classrooms.

OK, since I don't want you to get spoiled with long posts here at TravelerKaty, I'll leave the description of my actual classes for tomorrow. Besides, today on my way to school I was foolishly reading my book (the new Harry Potter, which is a knockoff photocopy and is already falling apart) and managed to do a face plant right on the sidewalk by failing to notice a slight rise in the pavement. No permanent damage, as usual, but since I broke my fall with my hands (only one bleeding) my right wrist is now killing me and I think I'll wait a few hours before I type again. Man, it's tough being a klutz!



Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 11:06 PM