Flowers are actually far more common than butterflies on Teachers' Day. Flowers are everywhere and students are very gleeful and sincere in wishing all teachers (even strangers in the hall) all the best and Happy Teachers' Day. Even Floor 5's ca phe establishment had a bouquet in honour ... I think I counted 10 kinds of orchids in this arrangement! Gorgeous.
So much excitement in the halls! My class festooned our class with balloons and gave me a very thoughtful gift ... a keychain with a little chick on it. They had asked me about my unusual name when we first met last week, and so we had laughed at its uniqueness. Their gift made me laugh out loud. They gave Jeff, their other L6.1 teacher, a keychain with flip flops on it ... they had remembered that he said that most people in Vietnam drop the final consonants when saying his name, and the resulting word is the Vietnamese for sandals! We felt our class had really thought about our gifts and we were pleased that they had paid so much attention in class. In addition to the students' best wishes, our department put on a very nice spread catered by a top restaurant, and the president sent out a lovely message. All in all, it was a very interesting day and the tradition should probably be adopted in Canada. It is clear that euducation of young people is extremely valued here and teachers are very much respected in this culture. You may note that I have a non-Asian student in my class... Beatriz is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. She is a lawyer and is a wonderful addition to this class. There is also a Taiwanese student, Jui, ... can you spot him? 
He's the guy in the hoodie. He drives his motorbike for 2 hours every day to get to school (and class starts at 7:30) and then he has a 2-hour drive home where he puts in a full day of work as a manager of a company. Such dedication! Unfortunately a couple of students were missing that day. OK, have to go and make like a teacher and mark some compare/contrast essays!
Today I thought I would visit the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda in District 1. It looked very interesting, and I thought I would go on the city bus, since I had just a single destination. I have mentioned the #34 bus before and sure enough one came by as I was crossing Nguyen Van Linh, the main street bisecting Phu My Hung. The bus driver and I had a conversation in sign language and he waited for me... so nice! I got a window seat in the back row, which was ideal for gawking. This bus is the slow bus and meanders through lots of (somewhat seedy) parts of District 7 and then through District 4 until finishing up near Cho Binh Than Market in District 1. I should say eventually, because the bus broke down once and stalled at least half a dozen times, much to the disgust of the majority of the passengers. So the slow bus was reeeeeaaaaaaly slow today. I knew I had to change to another bus or take a xe om, but I inquired in the office and they told me I could take the #18. I checked with the driver and he agreed that I was on the right bus. I followed along the streets on my map to make sure I knew where I was, but at some point a very nice lady, by the name of Co Sang came and started speaking French to me. When I established that my French was a little rusty (oh, so you don’t come from Quebec), we switched to English and she told me she was a midwife working at FV hospital (the Franco-Viet Hospital – the best hospital in HCMC ... just down the street from my house). She asked me where I was going and when I showed her, she said I was on the wrong bus but then changed her mind. She was very friendly and wanted to give me her card and take mine. She asked me to call her and set up a time to practice her English ... all this is to let you know that I was not fully following on the map and kind of lost my place in the guidebook, which I was tightly holding in my hands. She gave me quite a lecture about all the ways bad people could steal my money and rip my purse off and how and where I should keep my money and just a photocopy of my passport ... leave the original at home. Finally she and the fee collector said I should get off and pointed me to the pagoda and so off I got.
I also learned that I was not at the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda! I had been let off at the wrong place! The pagoda where we were was a shrine to an important soldier from the ancient history of South Vietnam, and wasn’t in the guidebook. Mr. Bui Huu Lan, as he introduced himself, showed me on my map how to get to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Before I went to see this shrine and then walk back across the bridge I shouldn’t have crossed, I asked him if I could take his picture. He said he would be honoured. I couldn’t help but think that sometimes being in the wrong place will often present the most interesting encounters. He was a charming man and he told me he was 79. Imagine, being able to speak 3 languages and communicate so clearly at his age. 
After seeing the pagoda, I walked a few blocks across a bridge and down a street and zigged and zagged and got loster and loster. Finally, I found the Jade Emperor Palace. Well, a xe om driver waiting in front saw me and beckoned to the gate. I should have just followed the cyclos (rickshaws). The Jade Emperor Palace is quite a draw and definitely on the city tour for some groups. I heard guides speaking in English, French, and German. I enjoyed walking around the grounds, and it was very interesting, but it was not as quiet or delightful as my meeting with Mr Bui. It did have a gorgeous ceramic tile roof, which you could get close up to when going to ghe Quan Am (Guangyin) chapel. It also had another interesting chapel. called the women's room which venerates Kim Hoa, Goddess of Mothers. There are several female figures who represent a lunar year juxtaposed with ones that represent vices. Very interesting!
Next Sunday should be equally interesting, as my Vietnamese teacher, Thuy, and I are going to the Cao Dai Holy See outside of HCMC. It is about a 1 1/2 or 2 hour bus ride. She has never been there. Cao Dai is a unique Vietnamese religion, although Thuy says it is Buddhism. My guidebook says its three saints are Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo and a Vietnamese poet called Nguyen Binh Khiem. I hope we can go there for the 12 o'clock service, which is supposed to be very spectacular.
It was lovely to see these students and to spend time with them Three of them hadn't passed their level, and so I was very happy to see that it hadn't interfered (I hope) with how they see or feel about me. The others will be starting in Level 6.2 and are appropriately nervous. Their parents have high expectations and RMIT is the most expensive school in the country, so they should do their best. Very cute. I think I should kee the playground shots for when they are CEOs.
However, the building was designed and constructed before the debut of the motorbike and motorcar, and so the sound-proofing from the street is not great and we could hear the added texture of traffic from time to time. The person who was playing a sports event on his mini TV prior to the performance and during the intermission mercifully turned it off during the concert.