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Michael Allan Charles

Vietnam Reconsidered

3/18/2016

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I have been working in Cambodia for a few months , as you know, and I had to leave the country so I could get a new visa. I made the mistake of coming in on a tourist visa instead of a business visa and as a tourist am only allowed to stay for one month with a one month extension. If you are working in Cambodia, ensure that you tick off the box for business visa when you arrive. I think it is the same money. 

Anyway, to the story. I had to leave and the easiest trip one can make is to hop on a bus to Ho Chi Minh City. The night before I dutifully went to Sihanouk Street where there are about at least five bus companies going to Saigon. They route takes about six hours even though you would think it would be a lot faster considering the distance is only 278  kilometers. However the road is only two lane and very crowded. My bus just took the outside lane and did not deviate for a second. Oncoming traffic was forced to the side of the road and I saw many motorcycles go careening into the woods by the side of the road to avoid being killed, or at least that is what I imagined before I closed my eyes when I saw oncoming traffic. 

Having said that, I took the Samco line for $10 and had terrifically comfortable seats with leg rests, fine leather and the whole nine yards. It was marvelous if you did not look out the window! My advice is to take a book to read and never look up and while you are at it it may as well be my book, It All Started in Mandalay. 

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Ho Chi MInh revisited
I used to live in Saigon and I thought I was very familiar with the city. but then I  was working and living in district 11. This time I was visiting and living in a hotel in the heart of the city in district one. What a difference. This area of the city is hopping, let me tell you. The buildings are modern, you can buy anything you want, and I I mean anything! There are expensive bars and restaurants, massage places by the dozen, coffee houses and bakeries and fancy shops and convenience stores. What surprised me, maybe in comparison to Phnom Penh, were the lights and sounds. First of all, everyone in Saigon honks, whether it is necessary or not. They would rather honk then say hello, in contrast to Phnom Penh where mopeds will be going the wrong way on a one way street and no one would toot. Secondly there are bright neon lights. If you closed your eyes for a moment, you might think you are in New York City. Maybe it is just the difference in population, over six million for Ho Chi Minh City and just over a million for Phnom Penh, but I do not think that is the only reason.

Phom Penh versus Ho Chi MInh
Phnom Penh is like a provincial backwater of the French colonial era. Anywhere you walk, you will find some incredible colonial style house surrounded by a high fence with perhaps a guard sitting outside., although they are generally useless. As a joke I went up to Hun Sen's house to knock and no one even questioned what I was doing. At least at the house of the American Ambassador the lady guard at least came out of her guard house to question me, or perhaps it was me questioning her as to her who lived there. 

In a quaint way, Phnom Penh is elegant although dated. One of the more popular places on the River is the Foreign Correspondents Club and sitting there looking over the river you can easily imagine being there in the last century. I think even the furniture is the same as it was then !

You could not find this ambiance in Ho Chi Minh. Clearly this is twenty first century city in every way, from the elegant hosts and hostesses at every restaurant and nightclub to the modern architecture and the manicured public gardens. There are no such things as gardens that I can see in Phnom Penh, although perhaps I have not been here long enough to find them. 


Getting off  the bus in Saigon you are harassed by taxi drivers who have meters and machines that even talk to you about watching your valuables and so on. They even have a GPS that maps out the route you are going. In Phnom Penh, you are greeting with tuk tuk drivers who besiege you and ask "where are you going" One quick word of advice....always ask the fare before you step in and if it is over $5 find yourself another driver who will not be far behind. 

Anyway you have your choice....if you want modern go to Saigon and if you want to be transported back to a kinder, more gentle era, head for Phnom Penh OR why not do both????
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On Being old and white in Cambodia

3/13/2016

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I usually get my hair cut on the street but today I decided to upgrade and get my hair cut in a "real" barber shop, so I went into a shop that was aptly named..."Barber Shop"  All of the chairs were filled with people getting their hair cut so I meekly went to sit down in a chair to wait my turn. . One guy getting his hair cut had a bunch of "guck" in his hair and the barber threw him out of the chair and motioned for me to sit down. I protested and said I would be glad to wait. He insisted that I come right over and sat me down in the recently vacated chair. This sort of thing happens to me all the time.

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The pother night I was walking home after being lost for a few hours and finally found my little street. At the top of the street a guy on a moped asked me to hop on. It was only about 50 yards to my house at most but he insisted I get on. Apparently he lived next door to my apartment building and knew me because he dropped me off right outside my door. Too bad he did not find me earlier when I was wondering around for hours looking for my street. The GPS on smart phones are great, if you orient your smart phone the right way, but if not God help you. 

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Another thing I notice is that every time I get out of my tuk tuk every morning, my driver runs around to my side and helps me down so that I do not fall. On the one hand I understand that I am his bread and butter, but on the other hand I assume he does it out of respect for the elderly. 

There is something you have to understand about Cambodian society that is very unique. People my age simply do not exist. They were wiped out by the Khmer Rouge and a whole demographic disappeared. Grandparents do not exist so when Cambodians see people my age they automatically show respect because their demographic are so different from the west.  We old guys are all they have!!!

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Serendipity

3/1/2016

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What are the chances of someone in the chaise lounge next to mine reading my book It All Started in Mandalay?. If it was a mega best seller the chances would be pretty good, but I have a "selective" audience. This beautiful women, as it turned out, was actually reading my book, the book I wrote, the book . Unbelievable!!!!

​I was just fascinated watching her eye movements and wondering what chapter she was reading and what she thought of what she was reading.

Finally I had to break down and ask her where she was at in the book. She told me Rosa had just escaped from India and was on her way back to the Philippines. I asked her if she cried at this stage and she said she hardly ever cries. Wait till she gets to Paul's demise near the end of the book. If she does not cry at his death she never will. I cry every time I read it, and I wrote the story. It is an amazing experience to cry about some fiction that you know is totally made up but you cry anyway. Why? I understand that as a reader you may get caught up and identify with the character but I guess as a writer the same thing happens. What do they call that...a suspension of reality?

Needless to say, I autographed her ( my) book and she was thrilled to bits. Obviously I was even more thrilled but does she really have to know?

I can't wait for the day when I sit down at a beach somewhere again and two people are reading my book, one on either side of me!

Please buy the book here and in the blink of an eye it will be on your phone or computer. Buy it now It All started in Mandalay 
I can't remember whether I told you the story of a a new friend I made in my apartment in Phnom Penh. By chance he was from Kuala Lumpur and we started to talk about the book. Shockingly, he simply opened his phone and bought the book. That was almost as shocking as the woman reading my book right beside me. 

​The next thing you know, someone will be buying the movie rights!!!!
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The power of stories

2/26/2016

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You do not see me but I am there. As a foreigner who visited a Pagoda on Meak Bochea Day, a day of cleansing oneself of one's sins, the monks eat a festive meal before noon and then disappear to study or do whatever monks do. Many guests are in the pagoda praying and making merit  by bringing food, feeding the monks and serving them. For some reason, one of the monks spoke English and asked me to join them, I assume because  I showed an interest in what was happening and I had a white face. ( obviously a foreigner.) The monk who invited me asked me to pay my respects to the head monk. First of all, I really did not know how to pay respects and secondly I was not sure who he was pointing at. Was he pointing at a human being, or the alter, or a monk that was no longer with us? 

After some false starts, I figured out who he was talking about and bowed my head in his direction. He told me to go over and speak with him, which I did. When I got back, there was a heaping bowl of food at "my " plate and I felt like I had 400 eyes staring at me to ensure I ate every morsel. Since I had no choice, I ate food I did not recognize or even like and ate every last morsel. 

It was sort of embarrassing when the monks suddenly got up to leave, I had no idea whether I should go with them to a study session or something or say put. Needless to stay I decided to remain seated, not an easy task considering I had to be in yoga position and ensure I did not point my feet at anyone, especially a monk! t was embarrassing, I must tell you, when a woman server bowed before me, as if I was a monk!

I am sure this story will find its' way into one of my future books in one form or another. 

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Another incident that happened to me recently was the result of my crown on my tooth getting loose. I went to a dentist's office near where I live and was delighted that the office was clean, full of modern equipment and nurses and dentists wearing masks, even though we had to take off our shoes outside. 

The first thing the dentist said to me after he pried off the crown was " O my God"  I figured he must have said something in Cambodian so I asked him to repeat it and there was no doubt what he said..."O My God!"  What was I in for, I thought to myself, especially after he called in a "specialist". He said you better go and have an X ray before we do anything.
I felt the dollar bills adding up by the minute. I had my X ray and the specialist said you need a new crowns and a bridge. I did not know exactly what he was talking about  but thought I would have to take out a mortgage on my house. 

He slowly told me how much it would cost...$180.00 per crown, $2 for an Xray and so on. If you have had dentist work in the west, you know it is $100 before they even say hello.  Assuming the quality of the work is the same it is the bargain of the century.

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Off course, all of these stories and thousands more I will tell you are the lifeblood of any author. I don't think you can just write a story strictly from your imagination without some foundation or point of view or place. The creativity part comes with how you manipulate that story and work with it to make it a novel.

Reread my story, It all Started in Mandalay and see if you can figure out which parts are strictly my imagination and which parts are things that may have actually happened. 
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Phnom Penh

2/3/2016

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You can tell I am in Cambodia from the figures on the roof. I will let you do your own research, but if you check with temples in Vietnam, Thailand or Laos you will see a different roof line, although very subtle. Write me and tell me when you figured it out!

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Part of the charm of teaching in a foreign destination is to get out and about. Even though I have been in Cambodia for a few weeks now, it took some visitors from Vietnam to get me out of my routine of going to school, coming home ,eating and then doing some reading. 

You really have to force yourself to go and see "attractions" like the Olympic Stadium where people head after work to get in some exercise as well as the Temples and Royal palace.


When you do that,t you will meet Cambodians and start living like they do which is really important since you will find your money going a lot farther when you eat a lunch or dinner for $3. Although your pay in Phnom Penh will undoubtedly be little, you might find that you are far better off at one or two thousand a month than you might be in your home country at double or triple the salary! 

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You might be surprised to learn just how cheap this can be compared to your home country. Think about this...how much can you buy for an hour's work at home. This might cost you much less than 30 minutes work!

It is much hotter here than other places in se Asia so bring an umbrella to protect you from heat. 
I will keep you posted on my adventures as the weeks pass. So what to do this week-end? Beach, idyllic river town or golf?
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First Impressions

1/24/2016

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You only get one opportunity to make a first impression ( obviously). I started a new job in Cambodia yesterday, and even though I was probably the only person in Phnom Penh to be wearing a tie, I wore my white shirt and tie to school on the first day. Admittedly, I took it off when I went home for lunch a  few hours later, but by then I had made my first impression. 
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Be quick to learn and slow to judge. For example, school starts at 7 am and ends at 5 pm. with about two hours for lunch from what I can observe. In North America, we would probably say give us fifteen minutes or thirty minutes for lunch and get us out of the school by three to avoid traffic and so on. 

However, this is not necessarily the right thing to do. Maybe the Cambodians and the Vietnamese have got something that deserves to be considered, especially in light of the weather when it is so hot, especially at 12 ish. The beauty of travelling is to take the best out of what we observe and when we return to our home countries work with it. 
If we thought our ways were the best, why bother to travel? Travel is all about learning

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Can We Create Global Citizens?

1/7/2016

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It occurs to me that in over a year,  I never really defined what an international education really was and until I do how can we best judge which school to work?

As you can see from the job sites I talked about, there are thousands of schools calling themselves international schools all over the world,  but how many fit the following criteria:


  • A curriculum in use from other than the home country
  • An international teacher body from different parts of the world
  • A student body from different parts of the world
  • International accreditation ( e.g CIS, Wasc etc)
  • Transferability of student to other international schools anywhere in the world with same curriculum
  • Multilingual student body
If truth be told, most schools that call themselves international schools have a mish mash of curriculum from all over the world with teachers teaching whatever they felt was best from their own home country and most students from the dominant citizenship of the country you are teaching in. In fact, most of the schools that you might apply for have no accreditation from any international body.

Do your homework on the above and if you want to teach in a truly international school, make sure the school has most if not all of the criteria I mentioned above.

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But is this enough? One would hope that you desire to teach in a school where you can actually transform students to be players on the world stage. 

A truly global citizen would probably have the following qualitites:
  • A belief in the universal values of social justice, human rights, religious pluralism, rule of law, and humanitarianism. 
  • An identification of being a part of the world community
  • A belief that individual actions can make a difference
  • A sense of the “other” to be treated with respect and dignity at all times
  • A belief in individual accountability and responsibility for the world

Read the mission and vision statements from the schools before you even think of applying. If you just want any job, apply to any school , but if you want to make a difference, do you homework before you apply and look for the criteria outlined here. Good luck and please let our small community know when you have found the jackpot. These schools are few and far between and we all want to teach there. 

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Getting to Asia

1/2/2016

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Most of you will take an airplane, hopefully a little more modern than this, unless you live awfully close to Asia. I live in Canada and just accepted a job in Cambodia, so I have a long way to go and I do not think this plane would make it. 

A few things other than cost is important choosing the carrier you want to fly.One criteria is the route you want to take., if you are flying from Canada  To Asia , for example, avoid going through the United States because you will have to take you luggage off the plane to have the Americans inspect it. It is really a pain in the "shoulder." Try to only make one stop and it should be in Asia.

Another criteria is how much total time it will take. You should be able to do it within 24 hours if you choose your route carefully even though it can take 30 or more hours with layovers and so on and time is of the essence, ( unless you like airport food!

​Another thing to consider is which alliance you want to use because you can accumulate points quickly and you may as well use one alliance for all of your flights so you get get lunge privileges and ultimately a free trip to Asia if you want to go home for the winter break , for example.

 I choose a company like Eva Air out of Taiwan because they accept two bags for free which most airlines do not. They also, by chance, upgraded me for free on my flight and I got to sleep in first class. What an unbelievable experience. The toilets were cleaned after each use, you were served your meals whenever you requested them and there seemed to be one steward for each passenger and they knew your name!

I have also been upgraded on Air Canada and had a similar experience but certainly not the same, just similar. Asians know how to pamper. So pick your airline based on cost sure, but also on service, route, number of flying hours to Asia and type of plane. You simply cannot go wrong with an Asian carrier and it will be a great way to start your adventure in teaching in Asia. 
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And, of course, as I always remind you, don't forget to buy my book It All Started in Mandalay directly from the publisher or your favourite online source or bookstore ( Asia Books). Although it is a novel, it will give you pretty good insight into the characters you will meet overseas and for a few online dollars it will be an enjoyable and insightful read for you.
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Sharing Your wealth

12/28/2015

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If you are a western teacher with teaching credentials you will be at the top of the pay scale in terms of teachers at the school. There will be a few Filipinos at your school because they speak English and the school can get away with giving them less money. They will probably make half as much as you and the indigenous  teachers will probably make half of a Philippine teacher's salary. That is just the way it is with very few exceptions such as the Vietnam Australia School which pays their Filipino teachers the same rate of pay as the western teachers. 

Having said the above, if you teach a specialized subject like art, music or swimming, you can negotiate for more money and probably get it. 

The key point I want to make is you will be getting a gazillion dollars more than your contemporaries in that society and as a westerner you will be expected to share the wealth. It is sort of an odd phenomenon I find that the indigenous population feels almost "entitled" to ask you for money and almost demand you to give it to them.

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It is, of course, more subtle than this, but in every occasion you will be expected to give more 'generously' because of the colour of your skin or the clothes you are wearing identifying you as a 'westerner' Of course, when you go out with your non western colleagues from the school for a drink you probably should pay in all fairness since, as I explained above, you are making literally twice as much money as them. And , of course, you should go out with them. If you were just going out with your western colleagues, why bother to move to Asia? You could just stay home and go out with as many westerners as you like any time of the day or night.

In regard to this picture on the right, you will be harassed more than the rest of the population when you go to tourist sites, especially if you get off of a tourist bus, for example. You are fair game and I accept that. Give or not as you like but I assure you if you do not give it will not be pleasant. 

What I personally do not like  is the service people that you deal with on a continual basis such as a barber or cleaning person who gets to know you on a personal level. Although Asians are shy people as a group, once a few individual persons feel comfortable with you they will feel no hesitation to ask you for money because someone in their family is injured or they were sick this week and short of money and so on. It is just an expectation that you will give them the $100 they need because you are 'western.' This is the sort of situation I find most uncomfortable on a personal level. When you give them the money the first few times it never stops. I guess, in essence, I do not like the feeling that I am just expected to share my "wealth" no matter how limited it may be.  

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Family is everything to an Asian family and even if the street sweeper has nothing or next to it,  they will automatically send whatever they have to their parents keeping very little for themselves so I do understand where they are coming from when they ask me for money. 

I remember one time in Myanmar, where banking is very difficult,  asking a colleague how I could send money to my son in Canada. He looked at me really quizzically for a few long seconds and I thought he was thinking about the mechanics of how to send or wire money, Instead he asked me to repeat the question about sending money to my son. Why would you send money to your son, he asked? It was such a foreign concept to an Asian since it is just the other way around in Asia. A child will always send money and support to his or her parents, no matter how rich or poor the parents are. If the parents are rich they will find a way to give the money back to their children in presents or other things, but the money always goes ONE way and never the other. 

Asians, once you become friends, will just see you as extended family. If you are comfortable with this situation there is absolutely no problem. You will help them to the extent of your ability and everything will be fine. If you are not all right with this, you will have to stay a bit aloof in your relationships or learn how to say no and then live with yourself afterward! It is tricky line to walk and you will figure out your own answers.

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References or Be Careful What You Ask For

12/25/2015

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Be careful what you ask for!  It is true that some hiring committees do not even check references, but in any school you would want to work for they do. When I was a professor at OISE, every student asked me if I they could use my name as a reference. If I thought they were great, I told them so and often said something like it would be my pleasure and here is what I would say. 

If I did not think they would be a good teacher I also told them that. I said something to the effect that they could use me if they wished, but here is what I would say and I told them exactly what I thought of them as potential teachers. I assume they did not use my name. 

Now on the other side of the coin, I am asked to write reference letters for teachers I have had when I was the principal and it is often a difficult task. After all, my integrity is on the line as well as the teacher's future livelihood. I have to walk a very fine line often but an experienced hiring person knows what to look for in a letter and can often determine the quality of the candidate from what is not said as much as what is said so I am not too worried about what I don't say. 

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Here are the challenges for you. If you are a new teacher wanting to work overseas, who do you give as a reference?  I guess the best bet would be to ask your teachers where you have student taught. A novel idea, I think, is to get a few students to write some words about you because they are so much more telling than any teacher would write and certainly more truthful if you can stand the truth. 

If you are in mid career, they always need t see the name of your present principal but if that is not going to be so good, you can ask your department head to write something for you or some of your teaching colleagues. In fact, I would actually get them to write something ahead of time and keep a file of reference letters. that you can show or send if they are required. Please read what I said previously about resume writing, because if your resume is no good no amount of letters will help you.

If you are retired and you have no immediate supervisor ( other than your spouse!) you have a challenge. This is where you keep all of your notes and letters that you accumulated over your career and use them explaining that you are retired. 

If you want to teach in Asia, the older you are the better it is because age is respected. If you look at TIE online, they actually tell you which countries there are age restrictions so this is a helpful web site. 

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Good luck with those references. You will see and experience things you simply could not experience in the Western World. Let me know how it goes and if I can do anything to help. I am always available to help and/or hear your stories. 
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    Michael Allan Charles is the first time author of It All Started In Mandalay

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