Day Five

Goodbye Hanoi, it’s been nice to meet you, but we’re sorry to say we have other obligations to attend to and have to leave before the end of the party…

The days ticked by quickly. We arrived then we packed up and left. It was hard to believe that a day switched into five. It felt instantaneous. However, we didn’t leave without a final excursion. We had one more university tour to absorb before a plane whisked us away to Kuala Lumpur.

We wrapped up our time in the Vietnamese capital at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2. A large delegation of students and faculty greeted and ushered us to the conference room. Dr. Dinh Van Dzung, Deputy Manager of the Department of Training welcomed us to campus.

We were treated to a PowerPoint presentation detailing the role HPU2 was playing in educating Vietnam. The government, along with the teachers and students in the room, believed in having an education populace. To achieve this goal, HPU2 created an in-service training program to deliver on-site learning opportunities that reached everyone in society, especially those living in rural areas. Currently, HPU2 graduates are working in more than 20 Vietnamese provinces.

After quick lunch at a hotel on the banks of a picturesque lake where we mingled with students and faculty, we headed off to the airport to depart for Malaysia. Our flight was delayed. During that time, I asked a few of the APRISE students to reflect on their time in Hanoi.

Overall, the students all wanted to have more time in Vietnam. Terri Sterr believe they only scratched the surface and wanted to explore more in depth the K-12 system. Job Springer thought that he was only beginning to understand the Vietnamese school structure. Bria Morgan was amazed with the experience and was contemplating returning to Vietnam to teach for a few months. Anil Muhammed saw that there were numerous opportunities for students pursuing an education and there was a strong desire to learn English and become a teacher. “The economic opportunities complimented the educational opportunities,” Anil said.

Skip forward a few hours and we landed in Kuala Lumpur. The day had long worn down and night had set in by the time we arrived at our hotel. Exhaustion didn’t prevent us from catching a glimpse of what we were going to be immersed in for the coming days.


Kuala Lumpur, known as KL to all the locals, is a thriving mega-city. As a former British colony, it still retains its European essence. Think Singapore. Think Hong Kong. Think Shanghai. It’s an urban sprawl with skyscrapers jutting up into the air that dwarf the millions of people milling about on the ground. Hordes of cars and buses cram into every space on the road vying for that spot that will get them another three feet closer to their destination.

Languages flux every three feet as you pass by people from all walks of life. Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country but representatives of every race, creed and culture co-habituate in a secular society. Women in full-length burqas wait for the crosswalk light to change next to teenagers in designer clothes next to women in head scars next to men in suits jabbing away on cell phones. The light changes and everyone moves along.