Yesterday Continued...

After visiting the dental school, My arranged for us to visit a local community college in Ho Chi Minh City. The college is private and was opened about 1 1/2 years ago by a friend of My's and her husband. This college is more like a technical college or trade school; all community colleges are like this over here and the students earn certificates rather than a degree. The areas of study at this school are: accounting, banking, travel and computers. Most of the college's 800 students live on campus in dormitories because they come from villages in the country to attend school. The faculty consists of mostly part-time teachers and their salary is ~$5.00 an hour and they teach for about 4 hours at a time which equals one session.

At the last minute it was decided that we would do an impromptu presentation on oral health to one of the classes of students. There were about 30-35 students who were very excited to have us visit. When we walked in, the classroom erupted with loud cheers and clapping. We were seated up in the front in a panel style format and My introduced each one of us. The students spoke a small amount of English so as each of us spoke, My translated. Jolene condensed the lecture she prepared for another college presentation and addressed topics such as cavities, gingivitis, and periodontal disease and demonstrated how to brush and floss properly. The students were attentive and asked great questions. Toward the end of our presentation, we encouraged the students to ask us any questions. They were a bit shy so we began to ask some questions which helped them open up a bit. We found out that they love to listen to music, can get a driver's license to ride a motor scooter at 19, most only visit the dentist when they have a specific problem, they give presents to each other on Christmas Day too and they like hot dogs.

The students also enjoy singing very much and asked if we would sing for them??!! This was something that none of us was quite comfortable doing but as the saying goes, "When in Rome...". We compromised and asked if they would sing with us too and we all sang a round of Jingle Bells together. I have to say that it was fun and made all of us laugh together.

My's friend arranged for us to give small gifts (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap) at the end of the presentation. We held a drawing and drew many giggles and laughs attempting to pronounce the names of the students. After all was finished the students literally ran up and engulfed us and asked to be photographed with them. The highlight being Jimmy! He is VERY popular with the young girls and they all want to pose with him. Those of you who know Jimmy know that this is something that he doesn't feel completely comfortable with but he is being very gracious and is making a lot of young ladies very happy! Mike is also appreciated by many women here. They are fascinated by how tall he is and with his blue eyes and blond hair. He is quite the charmer with his sense of humor and I'm certain that he could go home with a wife if he wanted!!

We all agreed that this type of impromptu and interactive exchange between our two cultures is the most fun. The smiling, happy and appreciative faces energize us and really make us feel good about being here.