Ratmicus Pink

So. Teaching in international schools is guilt inducingly awesome.  The TF mission to which I committed myself some three and a half years ago seems very distant, so distant in fact that a good friend observed that she 'didn't think I was into that disadvantage stuff anymore.'  First marriage, now teaching rich kids - looks like I'm losing sight of who I am. 

The guilt, however, quickly dissipates during Holy Week, also known as Trips Week, where, as teachers, we get to spend time in the great outdoors with, frankly, some pretty incredible young people. This year I have accompanied year 7 just four hours up the road to Madagui Resort, which is the most beautiful place on the edge of Cat Tien National Park. It's a little American-camp-in-'The-Parent-Trap', but this isn't stopping me from loving every single millisecond of it.  Let's avoid libel by only talking about my experience of it so far, with the understanding that there were, at all times, between 11 and 150 children present, all being generally awesome. 

First, we Did Rock Climbing, which was really, really hard. I stood, watching others, jumping from one foot to another in my excitement to also Do Rock Climbing as I have never Done It before, and this is the sort of Li Hi activity I've been craving for a while. When it was eventually my turn to Do Rock Climbing, I unwittingly chose the hard wall and it was really difficult and I only managed to get up about 1.5m before pretending that was okay, and that I wasn't embarrassed and allowing myself to be lowered down by my bee-liner like a sack of flour on a rope. When I found out that the other three walls were much easier, I Did Rock Climbing on one of them, and got all the way to the top, even though I slipped at one point, and scraped my arm. Ow. 

Now even though I felt a very proud sense of achievement, the awesomeness of the tiny children who scaled the wall like spiders far outshone my personal victory. Children are amazing. 

Then, I Did Lying By The Pool whilst children did awesome pool games, and then we Did Camping, which involved making sticky rice in bamboo tubes, and spring rolls and cooking marshmallows and bananas with chocolate in them over barbecues. During this time, I also Did Appeasing Local Police Officers by trying to get hold a copy of my passport, visa and entry stamp to prove I was in the country legally since my passport was currently in the hands of the nice HR lady who is currently trying desperately to get me exit and entry rights in time for Tet. 

Then we Did Freezing Our Arses Off in Tents overnight because it was way colder than anyone had anticipated. Waking up after very little sleep to this view, though, wasn't so bad:

The next day, I ate spaghetti bolognaise for breakfast because it was on offer, and why not?  I then Did Nature Scavenger Hunting with my team, Ratmicus Pink, and absolute credit goes to the travel company, Asia Motions, who truly understand the workings of KS3 minds: walking in the hot countryside for three hours = boring.  Finding beacons, cracking codes, taking silly photos, gathering natural souvenirs for points, animal prints, crocodile pits, competition, rock carvings and caves all in a race against other teams = the most awesome three hours ever. Our favourite bit was when the red ant carried the black ant away to eat him, and the ferns curled up when we touched them. That was hours of entertainment, and meant that we didn't actually get all eight stickers in our sticker pack, but the appreciation of nature's awesomeness was definitely worth it. 

We then Did White Water Rafting, which was fairly tame, but we all got wet, and the girls beat the boys. Hoorah!

The next day, the children Did Raft Building, and the adults Did Getting Sunburnt and Gossiping. All the rafts floated so well that I felt it my duty to plunge into the lake fully clothed and go and attack some, à la the Kraken from that famous poem. All withstood my deep sea attacks, though, and nobody was dragged to the murky depths. 

After Raft Building was Cocoa Plantation Visiting, c/o the nice people who make Marou chocolate. I threatened not to advertise them on my blog unless I got free chocolate, so they gave all the children and the teachers a bar each. Yum!  Back at the plantation, though, I learnt heaps and got overexcited and took photos. This is what cocoa pods look like:

And this is how papaya (yuck) grows:

And I discovered that jack fruits grow from green microphones:

And that Vietnamese farmers hate squirrels as much as my father does, but their traps are potentially more effective than his:

The final day involved Doing Zip Lining, Archery and Finnish Skittles (way cooler than British Skittles) and Watching Obstacle Courses and Handicraft.  By the end of the trip, I was so exhausted from doing all these cool things, that I had to call RoD and go to a newly discovered and beautiful cafe (c/o this bloggy blogger: thehungrysuitcase.com) for a bit of relaxed expat time:

Phew!  Every Li Hi adventure deserves to end in Oreo milkshakes, I feel.