[text]While I was in Hanoi, I spent some time in Hoan Khiem district. Hoan Khiem is nearby the train station. I walked and thought and took photos. I was there to wait for the train that would take me home to Phan Rang. I wandered around the lake and that area. Near the lake, there is a well-known ice cream shop. Usually there is a long line, but at that time it was not busy. I got 2 ice creams…
[TEXT] txt1: “This morning I went for a walk in a pottery village.” txt2: “I was actually looking for a coffee shop and I didn’t know that I was in a pottery village. I kept seeing pottery studios and weirdly no coffee shops.” txt3: “Bat Trang is a traditional crafts village. There are many different kinds of crafts villages in Vietnam and pottery is just one kind.” txt4: “I’ve never seen so much pottery in one place. It was a…
I did my visa run by land this time. I booked with a company that manages the trip for foreigners doing this. We got on a sleeper bus in Nha Trang. I had never been on a sleeper bus before. I rode in that 10 hours to the Moc Bai border near Saigon. At Moc Bai, I stood in lines and went through all the exit and re-entry procedures. After that, we had to drive all the way back to…
When humans sleep, their minds dream. Human dreams aren’t the only dreams though. I’ll tell you what other minds dream. Octopi dream. We know that octopi dream because their skin changes color when they are dreaming. Their color patterns while sleeping reveal what they are dreaming about. For example, it may be they are hunting in the dream if their skin shows the same color patterns. Rats also dream. When rats run through a maze, brain cells fire in a…
I am thinking about making the private tutoring online slides the same format as the free group class online slides. I like that the free group class online slides have the 3 consecutive images in the middle of the lesson, which can be used for free talk. The inputs for the group lesson format are different from that of the 1-on-1 format. The group lessons have up to 6 images including a sidebar image, whereas the 1-on-1 lesson has 5…
Lately I’ve been developing some new (and old) things with my lesson materials. This was caused by recently becoming a private tutor again. First, I got some online students through a friend with a connection to these students in Taiwan. I redesigned the lesson structure and content somewhat to be more appropriate for 1-on-1 and for communication skill teaching. It follows more of a hierarchical outline structure rather than the often stream-of-consciousness style of the free group class content (for…
I was invited to join a group that was going to someone’s farm for a picnic. It was about an hour out of the city. They had prepared many different foods for us. There was a sour green fruit that I didn’t know. I got to walk around in an orchard. There were many species of fruit tree growing there. It was a fun trip! Q. tell me about a memorable meal you had. Q. what is something that you…
Since we came to Phan Rang, my cat has been really scared to go outside. In Thai Nguyen we used to go out and play a lot. Now she just wants to stay home. But it’s not good for her health to stay home all day. So I want to expose her to the outdoors little by little. This will help her get used to Phan Rang. I got a new cat backpack. It has a clear plastic window so…
I saw grapes for sale and bought some. The seller said that they were grown in Phan Rang. I wanted to try them because I know that this region produces grapes. I’ve seen grape fields around here. The koi fish at the coffee shop all expect me to give them food, I think. They’re all gathered and they’re looking at me. They look like delicious dumplings. Q. What does your region produce? What do you produce? Q. What do you…
Every day this week I’ve gone to the cafe to work on my computer. The weather has been nice. I took the cat to the cafe today. I had been leaving her home because new cities are scary for cats, but now she is ready to ‘đi chơi’, I think. The staff at the coffee shop all do crochet. Whenever business is slow, they pick up their crochet hooks and yarn. One of the staff made this necklace for my…