The Whole Song and Dance.

Team work, and Team not-so-work.

Hanoi, Vietnam – Before the day's heat drops like a hammer, women move silkily around Hanoi's broken sidewalks.

It’s an early morning ritual to practice tai chi under Vietnamese willow trees, which hang languidly around the lakes. Some believe they hold ghosts.

Riding a bus with shocks that feel like a bouncy castle, we coursed along the Red River to welcome a delegation from Seng Kang Secondary School in Singapore this morning. The ride cost .50 and took about a half hour as the courteous ticket taker directed riders to specific seats.

I was given the front, rather than the tiny red plastic stool placed in the middle of aisle. My aching knees thanked him.

The students put on some Singaporean songs and dance, and played in the courtyard with local students, tripping over each other in games designed to inspire a high level of teamwork. "Soft skills" has been a term I have heard repeatedly since arriving, including by the head teacher from Singapore: "Mastery of core skills is no longer sufficient," she said.

The rest of my day was spent scoping out my activities for the next few weeks with the ever-helpful Mr. Viet, and attempting to conduct a marketing scan of Bắc Thăng Long College's current and proposed activities. I have thus far had some difficulties locating strategy, as "things change quickly here."

And yet, in other ways, change does not, in fact, come quickly.

My first week, however, is complete.