October 19 It has been a month already!

And the rains came

So it is the rainy season in Central Vietnam. Much like our home in South Florida when the rains come they bring lots and lots of water in a sometimes short amount of time. This leads to flooding. And we saw this first hand this past weekend. All day rain and rain and rain and by night our street had water standing as high and overflowing the sidewalks. I'm sure the tides added to it for our neighborhood as well. The weather kept us inside for a few days this week.

We walked to the beach Sunday and saw lots of debris, some uprooted trees, and a few sinkhole areas. Overall not too bad in An Thuong but other areas were hit worse. We saw pictures in the various Facebook groups we are in that showed higher floods that covered roadways and entered houses. Several of the motorbikes were underwater and lined up to be serviced. One underpass we have traveled on many occasions was covered almost to the top of the bridge. We read there was at least one death here in DaNang. Hue and HoiAn also had flooding, the two areas we visited over the last few weeks. What is truly amazing is seeing how quickly they are able to clean up and get people back to work and fun. We watched some heavy machinery on the beach moving tree limbs and other things that had washed up off the beaches. 

There are more rains predicted for this week, so we went to the grocery store to grab some food in case it is too much to go out. We went to LotteMart. It is 5 levels with restaurants, movie theater, arcade, pharmacy, clothing/home store, and groceries. They have escalators that you push your cart onto and ride up with it. It's a little freaky that ride. It is a treat to visit the store with all of the traditional Vietnamese foods alongside Korean, American, Chinese, and more. 

Our neighborhood is truly an eclectic mix of people and places. We found Athena Souvlaki this week and met the owner. She is Vietnamese and lives above the restaurant.  She said before covid she looked around and saw lots of hamburger places and pizza and other food, but didn't see any Greek. So she hired a chef/teacher from Greece who came over and taught her recipes and cooking techniques. During covid they closed and went to Dubai, but they are now back and opened back up just this weekend. We had delicious lemon chicken soup, hummus, feta, and more. It was a delight! 

We also visited Shamrock Sports Bar and had shepherd's pie. My nephew Dillon loves shepherd's pie. His daughter Macie spent the week with my sister, her Granny. They sent me loads of pictures and a video from my sweet great niece telling me all about her visit to Papa's work where she saw trains and then went to the park and played with grandma and grandpa, my parents. She is such a delight and loves my parents almost as much as they love her. I bought her a traditional Vietnamese outfit the other day and I hope it fits.
We also had a meatball banh mi this week. We have tried several Vietnamese dishes, but I haven't found anything yet that makes me crave that dish. Except the bread from the banh mi now that was a delicious fluffy treat. 
And to round out our international food tour, we tried Korean BBQ for the first time. We had delicious steak and all that stuff that comes with it. I tried a little, but not all of it. Konstantin of course loved most of it. 

We do a lot of walking around the neighborhood to see what is where. We finally found an area of restaurants I have seen on the Facebook groups yesterday. Another pizza place, couple of Mexican themed restaurants, and the Happy Heart. I was so excited to try their chicken club sandwich. I am a big fan of sandwiches and you don't find a lot of sliced meats around Vietnam. I was thrilled with the bread. It was so delicious! And the cinnamon roll was outstanding. I want to go back and try so many other items on the menu!
If it sounds like all we do is eat…well welcome to the Roper family favorite pastime. My Granny Cricket (mom's mom) would ask “Where we going for lunch?” while eating breakfast.  Konstantin says in Pickens we are either eating or talking and planning our next meal. 

Work work work work work (humming Rihanna)

It's not all play,  just like 90%. As I am working and writing about the SAMR model framework (learn more) for technology integration I am learning more and challenging my own thinking. I have never been a full on diehard gotta use tech all the time. I always advocate for thoughtful and purposeful technology use. Some of my personal challenges with SAMR are the ladder visuals people use. It always makes it sound and looks like you should be striving for the top. Thankfully I found some pushback on that concept that matches what I perceive. Instead the research I am looking at now places it on a horizontal continuum, thus not ranking them as better and worse. I know most of you have no clue what I'm talking about but no worries, I will post my paper here for you to learn more soon! If you want to provide feedback on my paper, I would love it. Email me nancypenchev@gmail.com and I will share it with you!
I met with my advisor here at Skyline and shared my feedback on what I have been observing in their classes and how it applies to my SAMR research. She was excited to learn about the levels of SAMR and now I am planning a PD for teachers on SAMR and will be teaching a STEM model lesson next week. I am excited to share ideas and build more connections with teachers here. 

I have reached out to schools around the country of Vietnam to see if I can come visit. I've made connections with teachers through social media who are eager to help as well. I am still envisioning my final product of what I will do with this learning. I had a solid idea but the more time I spend here, the more I wonder if that is the way to go. But I have time to figure it out so it's all good.

I am meeting with my Fulbright advisor Dr Miller who is at Appalachian State next week to share where I am in my journey and see what he has to say about my direction. He always helps me take a deep breath and refocus. I did several ISTE proposals before the due date, including one about SAMR and one about grants, awards, and opportunities like Fulbright that teachers can take advantage of to learn and grow. I think it is vitally important for teachers to get out in the world and see what others are doing and share their successes and missteps as well. The smartest person in the room, is the room…so you gotta put yourself in the right rooms!

Global Maker Day

I was so excited to be a part of Global Maker Day again this year. It is the first time I haven't presented with students from Scheck Hillel, but I loved everything I got to learn about and I am bring back ideas! This year we were hosted live at Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville, SC! I was so jealous because that is right near my parent's house and I went to college in Greenville and started my teaching career there. however when 2:55pm came around and the organizing team on site ate crickets...nah I was glad to be sitting in Vietnam at 1:55am! I ran the Padlet and jumped in to chat as needed during the day long learning event. You can head over to our website and see the videos and challenges and be inspired to get started making! And look out Ki and Tula and my other cousin kiddos this summer we are headed to Roper Mountain to check out their amazing new dinosaur exhibit and more!

Adventures to come

We are still in the planning stages of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, and Pleiku. I have reached out to teachers and schools and had a few respond. Looking forward to more destinations and learning! The IREX/Fulbright staff have approved my request to attend EduTech Asia in Singapore in November. I am excited to check it out and learn from amazing presenters around Asia (learn more). I am searching flights and hotels as I am getting all of this blog together.

My Aunt is Pretty Amazing

I told you about my cool cousin Dixie hiking Mt Kilimanjaro a couple weeks back and today let me tell you about my Aunt Jackie. She is 79, 80 in January and plays senior Olympic softball around the country. She was in Florida in May for a tournament that I happily got to watch her play in and just won a tournament in Myrtle Beach this weekend. My mom is the youngest of 5 kids. Deda and Ellen came along first then the second round of kids Jackie, and then 18 months later Jerry & Jean the twins came along. Don;t get Jackie and mama started on their poor me stories about only being the baby for a little bit until the twins came and the poor brown haired twin who didn't look like her brother. It’s a whole family thing we love listening to, along with the lightning strike and 12 second doughnut. 

​Not as many pictures this week due to the rain and us not traveling over the weekend...but still some cutie pies!