Moving on - to Hue and Nha Trang

One of our last academic stops in Hanoi was the Hanoi Vocational College of High Technology. Somewhat similar to our community college, this college requires a high school diploma to enroll. Their curriculum is described as "30% theory and 70% practice."

In this college you see many things you clearly wouldn't see in the classrooms at MSU. The college has a very interesting partnership with a Korean company, which has a full time person on staff in the school.


On May 15, we left our beloved Romance Hotel and our bubble bus for the airport.
While there was much more to see and learn about in Hanoi, it was time to move on to the next location on our itinerary, the ancient city of Hue, located in the north central part of Vietnam.


In Hue we visited with students from the College of Education, 

listened to members of the Guitar Club, and introduced them to line dancing

Within the Forbidden City in Hue is a wonderful theater, with wonderful dancers and musicians providing a wonderful performance for us.

Despite the sweltering heat outside, this performance had a calming and relaxing effect on us.

 The country is attempting to rebuild much of the city, destroyed over the years in repeated attacks and bombings.

At lunch in Hue, Todd and I were treated to royalty, sitting in the king's chairs and preceding over the meal. Symbols like this remind us how entrenched Vietnamese society in tradition and culture.

The experienced opened a gender analysis which has continued through the trip :-)

Another great immersion experience - taking the train from Hue to Nha Trang. Here it comes - finally! We waited for about an hour in the train station but it was a wait well worth it because it provided us lots of opportunities to observe and reflect on people, customs, traditions, etc. And we also got additional time to spend with one another.




Twelve hours on a train can make for a great bonding experience! Our delegation is scattered throughout Coach 1, finding their various ways to cope with this experience. Yet, all seemed to find it a valuable experience. Lots of country side that is not immediately accessible to us when we are in the cities.





The Vietnamese workshop. How many ways can you think of to pronounce "ma"? Turns out at least six, at least all but two were completely obscure to most of the workshop participants. Yet, our patient teacher persisted and some developed some insights into how we might detect and pronounce the subtle differences.

....and a good way to spend time on the train!

Sunrise in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Need we say more?