Memories of those days

On the occasion of Vietnam Teachers' Day November 20, 2008, the Website of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities would like to introduce the memoirs of teacher Nguyen Phu Thang (French teacher of the Foreign Language Department - Hanoi National University) about the memories of living and teaching during the war years. [img class="caption" src="images/stories/people/nguyenphuthang.jpg" border="0" alt="Author Nguyen Phu Thang" title="Author Nguyen Phu Thang" width="80" height="112" align="left" ] For nearly half a century, the first years of my teaching career, living in the affectionate and loving atmosphere of brothers and sisters in the family of the Foreign Language Department of Hanoi National University in the evacuation area of ​​Van Tho - Dai Tu, Thai Nguyen, have left me with many unforgettable memories. The following funny stories, which seem to have happened just a few days or weeks ago, are called flashbacks to the past so that today's young people can see our lives more than 40 years ago during the war against the US:

Carry each other to school

We lived in a teachers' dormitory on the edge of an old forest. It was called a dormitory but in reality there were only two thatched huts that we had found ourselves using sticks and leaves in the forest to shelter us from the sun and rain: one was for the elderly teachers who had families like Mr. Thuong, Mr. Quan, Mr. Thep..., the other was for the young teachers who did not have families like Mr. Lung, Cong Anh, Ms. Anh, Ms. Thu... (These are the teachers of the Foreign Language Department, University of General Sciences from 1956-1978.That morning, there were only about 20 minutes left until class time, from where we lived to the classroom was about 500m. Last night it rained heavily, the water around the house was white, walking had to roll up the pants above the knees, to get to class had to wade across a stream. Normally, the stream is only about 20m wide, the water is 20 to 40cm deep. Suddenly this morning, after last night's rain, the water rose, the stream became wide and waist-deep, the water flowed rapidly. When reaching the stream bank, everyone was hesitating: "Should I skip class??". Words of Kon Tum principal (Professor Nguyen Nhu Kon Tum was the Principal of the University from 1956 to 1982.) echoed in my ears: "School discipline in class is like battlefield discipline on the front line!”. There were 10 minutes left until the bell rang. Suddenly, teacher Thu shouted: “Mr. Thang was the pilot, Mr. Lung carried Ms. Anh, Cong Anh carried me, we went to battle, as ordered."So the "combat" plan was formed. I waded in first, walked in the middle, held Lung on my right hand and carried Anh on my shoulder, and held Cong Anh on my left hand and carried Thu on my back. So we crossed the stream safely. During class that day, although the teachers' pants were soaked, they were very clean, still smelling the fragrance of the stream water mixed with the flowers and leaves of the forest. Several lessons took place in an intimate atmosphere and the students' admiration. One student said emotionally: "We thought the teachers couldn't cross the stream and let us stay home from school.". Ms. Thu took the opportunity: "What is a break? It's school discipline. Evacuating to teach as well as fighting on the front lines, to contribute to defeating the American invaders.”. That day's lesson left a special impression on the students and us with the spirit of "all for dear students".Herd of male buffaloesImagine, living in the evacuation area for a year, only being able to return to Hanoi twice: Tet and summer break. How to return? Cycling 60-70 km, through forests and streams at night to reach Quan Trieu station at 3 am to catch the express train back to Hanoi. That year, we were able to return to Hanoi for Tet. Having been away from home for half a year, now being able to return for Tet, everyone was excited. We set off at 9 pm (didn’t dare to travel during the day for fear of enemy planes), cycling for 4-5 hours straight, although everyone was in their 30s, everyone was exhausted. There was a teacher named Thu, a thin, frail person, who grumbled: “I'm so tired, I ask the group leader to let me rest, I can't pedal anymore.”. Teacher Thep, the group leader, ordered: “Camp and rest”. Getting off the bus, everyone spread out plastic sheets to lie down in the middle of the forest. Although it was the end of December, the weather was clear and not too cold, and besides, cycling made us sweat. We had been riding in the night for a long time, so we were used to it, so we could still see people’s faces clearly. Ms. Thu’s voice was still worried: “Lying in the middle of the forest at night, if a tiger or wolf comes out and bites you, you will lose your New Year.”. Being a cautious person, and having been a cadet as a child, Teacher Thep had a lot of “battlefield” experience and immediately came up with a plan. He said, “Before presenting the plan, let me tell you a story:”Herds of buffalo in Africa are often attacked by tigers that eat their young, so when the herd rests at night, the big, strong males often lie around to protect the young and female buffaloes....”. Seizing the opportunity, Miss Thu (Thu is a smart and clever person, always on the defensive) laughed loudly, her laughter dispelling everyone's fatigue, on the last night of December, in the middle of the deep forest: "There are four male buffaloes here, the strongest is the Steel buffalo, then the Thang buffalo, the Long buffalo,...”. It was the class monitor Thep's turn to present a plan: "We set up 2 encirclements, the outer circle had 6 bicycles, lined up in a circle, the inner circle had 4 bodyguards surrounding the 2 female teachers.”. The plan was formed, everyone felt secure and rested peacefully in the last night of December, the sound of insects echoed, evoking the bustling atmosphere in the Capital, waiting for the children who had gone far away to return. Everyone's face was radiant because the fatigue had been dispelled and because the train to Hanoi was blowing its whistle into the station.

Catching frogs at night

Dear friends, nowadays the "frog specialty" that you often enjoy at restaurants is very expensive, right? Called a specialty, but it is a farmed frog, grows quickly, the meat is not as delicious and nutritious as the frogs living in the wild, they only hunt for food in the fields, so each one is fat and yellow, smooth skin, soft bones. Frog legs are marinated with lemongrass, chili, lemon salt, and basil, steamed, there is nothing more delicious and interesting. Especially the frog stir-fried with bamboo shoots, stir-fried with squash is a national, traditional dish, great to eat with beer. Writing here, I swallow my saliva, remembering the story of more than 40 years ago when I went with Mr. Cong Anh to catch frogs at night in the evacuation area. Usually, whenever it rained heavily, that night we would catch a few kilos of frogs to improve. Catching frogs at night is very interesting, like hunting. The frog's characteristic is that at night, when it sees light, its two front legs cover its eyes. So the frog hunter just gently uses his hand to put on its back, catch the frog and put it in the basket. Heavy rain, then drizzle, frogs broke out of their nests and went out to look for food, calling for mates. Because they had been in their nests for so long and were now able to go out, perhaps the frogs were excited and "high-spirited" and called out to each other loudly: "Oop croak uom uom" all over the field. Just following that call (as they call people looking for frogs) is the right way to find prey. Because when they call, their white bellies are exposed under the torchlight. Mr. Cong Anh held the torch, I held the basket and just picked up the frogs. There were so many frogs that I only wanted to catch the big ones, the small ones were not worth it, not tasty to eat. The most interesting thing was catching "slow frogs" (female carrying the male). When the male lay on the back of the female, both of them called out: the male croaked, the female said "oooh uom"... The sound of frogs mixed with the sound of insects was like a pleasant melody. When you hear the affectionate duet of croaks somewhere, you know right away that there is a pair of lovebirds dating. No matter how fast the frog hunter goes, how strong his legs and hands are, the “slow frogs” will not leave each other because they are engrossed in their own private affairs according to the laws of nature, in the bedroom in the middle of nature, on a rainy night, under torchlight, so catching them is very easy. Mr. Cong Anh, who was using the torchlight, discovered them first and shouted at me: “Let me, catching frogs at night like this is so fun.". I am willing to let Mr. Cong Anh take the credit for catching the "slow frog" and bring it home to make sweet and sour pickles - steamed, for the whole group to drink together.

Chicken soup

There is a proverb: “one coin for chicken, three coins for rice”. Is it true that raising a chicken worth one coin means spending three coins to buy rice to feed it? I was wondering about this. To test it out, I went into the village and bought a young hen. Every day I called the hen to the edge of the forest and brought a hoe. After just a few strokes, the hen could not eat all the worms. The earthworms were as big as chopsticks, wriggling and struggling after the hoe strokes, the earth was lifted up. When the worms crawled out, the young hen pecked at them. Just like that, in the morning and evening, whenever I had free time, it only took 5-10 minutes for the chicken to have enough to feast on the earthworm crop. My young hen grew up very quickly, with golden feathers, bright red crest, as smooth as a crab hen. Whenever she saw me holding a hoe, I called her “tick tick” and she would fly after me to pick up food. After 2 weeks, 3 weeks, then 5, 6 weeks, Vang Choai probably weighed almost 2kg. Choai walked sluggishly, his attitude was unusual, he often dug holes in the sand and one day Choai lay down to rest for hours in the sand hole, not eating as well as usual. I was thinking of calling the vet to ask about Choai's condition when... That afternoon, I was sleeping, startled by the sound of: quacking, quacking, quacking of Choai, high-pitched. I jumped up and went out to the yard, in front of me, next to the sand pile, there was a hole as smooth as a pan. In the middle of the hole, there was a round, oval, white, bright pink, smooth object dotted with a streak of "blood" that made me startled, not believing my eyes. Choai stood next to me still quacking, gently, gradually less as if announcing: "Eggs, eggs! Pay back the worm digger”. It turns out that in the past few days, Choai has been in labor, and has now given birth to a “nutritious” object - a fresh chicken egg. Just like that, every day I received a fresh chicken egg for 3 months, a total of nearly 90 eggs. Actually, this is a rare record produced by my Choai. Some people say that the cool mountain climate, the chickens eat earthworms with a lot of protein and calcium, so they lay a lot. Choai lays so much that Mr. Lung (who is a humorous person) told me: “Mr. Thang has a good hand, raising a fertile wife and fertile chickens.Seeing that I was lucky in raising chickens, everyone also went to the market to buy chickens to raise. Disaster struck! Buying rotten chickens at the market... Then the neighbor's flock of about 100 chickens suddenly died. He forced the teachers to pay compensation for buying rotten chickens at the market to raise his chickens. So for more than a month, the neighbor forced us to eat chickens (of course the chickens were not completely dead and had to pay him). As a result, the teachers had to "pay for chicken meat". And my "golden wife" also suffered the same fate. Since then, I have not raised chickens anymore so I cannot eat fresh chicken eggs. But we have proven that it is not "one money for chicken, three money for rice" but "one capital, four profits". Dear friends! Reminiscing about the past is an eternal thing of all times, so that the present generation knows about the past and so that the ancients can recall the past. Writing here, I remember two colleagues, Mr. Thep and Ms. Thu, who were not as lucky as us sitting here enjoying The good results after many years of evacuation and hard work in the resistance war. So I respectfully bow to the souls of the two of you with a stick of incense. As for my former colleagues, Mr. Quan, Mr. Lung, Cong Anh, Ms. Anh, if I see any mistakes in this article, I sincerely apologize. It is also a happy thing to sit down and meet with you on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the foreign language unit of our beloved University.