Food for thought

The food here is a real highlight. A U.S. quarter will get you four good-sized chicken wings -- it could be dinner. Shrimp and fish are absurdly cheap. You get a whole fish, noddles, cucumber, pineapple, iceberg and leaf lettuce, rice paper, and other stuff I can't identify for $4.50. For $3.50, there's an all-you-can eat breakfast buffet across the street at  a nice hotel. Most of it is pretty healthy as well. The white noodles go really well with just about everything. I'm better with chopsticks, but the other night one of my chopsticks flew out of my hand and almost lanced some guy sitting near me. He didn't smile.
It's also nice you're not super-sized with sodas ... they're 10 oz., not 12 or 20. I drink the coffee here only as a treat since I brought a one-cup plastic filter holder from the U.S. (along with three pounds of Dunkin Donuts coffee) so I can have some drip coffee.
Still no luck with the language. Usually, when I try to say a word, the locals either laugh at me very loudly or chastise me with "No, no no." I'm on the verge of giving up. However, in one of my classes while teaching vocabulary, I said the Vietnamese word for keys and the students applauded. That's the kind of reinforcement I'll need to continue learning Vietnamese.
The classes are going well and the students, for the most part, are pretty engaged. Just like in Peru, certain sounds like "th" and "sh" are challenging for them, but they catch on pretty quick -- quicker than I'm catching on to Vietnamese.  I was teaching adjectives Friday night and asked the class to describe me. First word they said was "fat." The second might have been "old" but I had moved on to adverbs at that point. And I swear that's true. In the same class, I asked a girl if I could help her with a word she didn't understand in the reading, and she responded, "Whatever," and refused my help. "Young" people. Go figure.
Some behavior is universal, in my view. The big electronic stores here have the same vibe as the ones in Peru and the U.S. There's three or four employees standing around using their smartphones or "whatever," or they're talking, and you stand there like a moron waiting for service. They look at you, then go back to their phones or their critically important conversations. I'll bet it's the same in Botswana. So, I ended up at a smaller retailer here and got good service and the product I needed, even with the language barrier. Lesson learned.
Some random observations: Folk here seem more fascinated with Europe, especially the UK, than the USA. Given the events of history, that's quite understandable. Lots of Manchester United hoodies and shirts here. Yes, people wear hoodies in this ungodly heat, especially girls on motorbikes. Energy drinks like Red Bull are very popular. Some of the corporate classes I have always bring a couple of Red Bulls and a couple of waters for me. Haven't found a pharmacy yet near me, but it's very high on my list of things to do.

Adjusting, learning, and a little whining

The positives far outweigh the negatives here, but I wouldn't be a thorough blogger if I didn't report some of the ... well ... challenges.
First, the weather. I know weather whining is trite, but imagine the hottest, most humid July afternoon in Ohio or Delaware. Now ratchet that up a notch and you're almost in Bien Hoa. When I got back from the U.S., my internal clock was upside down and the heat was extra brutal, even for Vietnam. I was a mess and my bosses were asking what was wrong with me. Standing there on two hours sleep, pouring sweat (I'm the only person who sweats in this country), I said, "Nothing." It took me a couple of weeks to adjust time-wise, and I'm still a little off. Old age, I guess.
The people are very nice, but their willingness to help can be startling, for lack of a better word.. If you're doing something like putting on a motorbike helmet, and you miss the snap once, they're right there trying to snap it for you. Don't open doors for the ladies here .... they insist (INSIST) on opening them for me. When you're paying for something, and you take a moment to count through the piles of bills you have due to the currency, folks gets itchy and reach into your wallet to grab the correct bills. I realize I'm the guest here and have many cultural lessons to learn, but I put my foot down on this one: Don't grab my wallet. I intentionally leave off the please so they know I'm serious. Of course that leads to many apologies and I feel bad. But, you know, reaching into a stranger's (or even a friend's) wallet ....
In Peru, everyone was in a huge hurry, cutting in line and stuff, and then they were always late. In Vietnam, people are late, then they're in a hurry and they expect the same from you even though you were the one waiting. It's kind of cute.
All whining aside, the people in Vietnam are wonderful, the kindest and most helpful I've encountered in my limited travels.  And they're positive even though it's hot and crowded, two conditions that make Americans irritable at best. The food is great and inexpensive. The beer is mediocre and inexpensive. Taxis are air-conditioned and inexpensive. Like I said, the positives far outweigh the challenges.
I'm used to the traffic and have learned to cross the street fairly safely, although I was hit once in a parking lot and once on the road. On the road, the guy who clipped me went down in heap, but bounced up and thanked me for helping him. The lady who hit me in the parking lot didn't do any damage, and she was as shocked as I was. No harm, no foul.
Teaching is going fine. Students are students no matter where. Some days they're enthusiastic, other days they're sluggish, probably because they're tired from working so much. I like them all and we're getting along quite well. I hope my sweating doesn't creep them out.