My Post-Sabbatical Year(s) in Asia (or wherever): 5/18-5/21 Giang Ta Chai Village and parent letters by Robert

5/18: Hike to Giang Ta Chai village

Giang Ta Chai village group just before we started our hike

Shopping along the walk

students on a bridge

rice field workers

butterflies all clumped together in the bamboo forest

Adults having dinner with our host family

cute child

Our homestay has an old dog. but other dogs wander in from surrounding homes. There was a hen and her chicks that wandered in as well. A herd of water buffaloes tried to wander in, but were shushed away. The small terrace in front of the homestay seems to be fair game for everyone. Numerous H'mong children come in to sell their handbags and other products. The homestay is also the home to 4 pigeons. The birs are "just for fun," Mike, our tour operator explained to us.

pigeon house at our homestay

5/19: Receiving the parent letters at Chiang Ta Chai village:

After breakfast I told the Giang Ta Chai village students that they were going to receive their parents’ letters. After gathering their journals, sun hats, and water, we headed up-river. I told the students to walk silently and think about what they appreciated about the walk to the homestay, what they appreciated about their time in Vietnam, what they appreciated about their friends, their family, and the life they live.

In just a few minutes we arrived at a spot in the shade on the river bank. I asked the students to stay in this silent space as I continued to talk about appreciation. I told the students that during their time in Vietnam we have focused so much on appreciation for a number of reasons. It is not just to be grateful for people in our life and for the lives we live. It is not just to be reminded of all that we take for granted. Appreciation is a means to connection.

Appreciation is a way to connect to the earth. It helps us to connect to our family and friends. It helps us to connect to that which is undefined. It helps us to connect to our self – to all our memories, to all the stories we tell ourselves of who we are.

We are at the perfect place for each of us. Everything we have experienced – good or bad, happy or sad – has contributed to who we are at this moment. So every event was necessary, even those aspects of our self we are not proud of. We are each at our perfect place for there is no other place we can be.

And if they are all necessary to bring us to this moment, then we can forgive our self (which is maybe the hardest thing of all). And through appreciation, and through connection to our past, we can let go of what we need to let go of and grow into who we shall be.

And then I shared with the students one of my favorite quotes – an old Hassidic saying, “The heart breaks open and the words fall in.” So how do we open our heart? How do we allow ourselves to be vulnerable so that the words (your words, parents and siblings) fall in?

The students then received your letters, went off to a private place, and read and reflected. After about 25 minutes I called all the students together. Students were invited to share a part of their letters, or what they were feeling. There were a lot of tears and deep feelings of gratitude. Not all of the students shared. Every students reacts differently. It may take some students some time to absorb your words.

Our homestay is located in Giang Ta Chai village, right next to the river and the bridge. It is quite an idyllic setting. The village is really not a village. it is more like a scattering of homes and farms, with a shop across the river near the waterfall, and a store a top a hill to the north.

Back at the home-stay helping with the dinner preparation

Rice farming in the afternoon:
We worked in the rice field for about an hour, using hoes to remove the weeds from the terraced walls. We were immediately joined by all the children of the village. We were great entertainment for them as we struggled to use the hoes properly. Soon the village children joined us in the mud, playing and fishing by hand. We were then joined by the ducks and water buffaloes in the rice paddies.

5/20: Morning hike from Giang Ta Chai village to Ta Van village:
Because we are divided into 5 villages, Eli and I each went to a second village to deliver the parent letters. I decided to walk to Ta Van village, about an hour and a half from Giang Ta Chai.

Receiving the parent letters at Ta Van village:
I presented the parent letters to the students at Ta Van village in the same way as I did to the students at Giang Ta Chai village.

The hike back from Ta Van Village to Giang Ta Chai village:

Playing in the water (back at Giang Ta Chai village):

5/21: Saying goodbye to our host family:
The three days in Giang Ta Chai were amazing. The students got along so well. The small groups and peaceful setting really helped. Students hung out in groups that they normally did not hang out in. Even though the students have gone to school together for years and thought that they knew each other, they found that this was not necessarily the case. We often put each other in "boxes," some times those boxes are from years ago. Students shared how they saw each other differently and how even those students that already held close bonds with each other experienced those bonds deepening.