A great day for teachers

Teachers' day in Vietnam is a big deal. In fact, teachers are a pretty big deal here. Nov. 20 is Teachers' day, and students bring flowers, food and gifts for all the teachers. Even the ones with no brains from the United States. I was the beneficiary of this kindness Tuesday. One class, which I just started teaching, brought me three roses. My second class of the evening, which I've taught for a while, brought me a cake, statue and incredible flower arrangement. I love these guys. They said they were also celebrating my upcoming birthday. Actually, I think they were celebrating the fact I'm going back to the USA in early December. I ruined the celebration by telling the students I was coming back to Vietnam in January. Seriously, I think we genuinely like each other (or at least I like them.) They're relatively new to English but they're catching on fast. We enjoyed the cake and soda and each other's company. I think they wanted to go sing karaoke after class but I don't really like to sing.. Karaoke is hugely popular here. There are karaoke parlors on every corner and they're packed. Kind of like "clubs" and discos in the U.S. in the early 80's. All Vietnamese women believe they can sing, and they sound pretty good really -- compared to me. Fingernails on a chalkboard sound good compared to me as well. You almost have to be able to sing to speak this language -- in my opinion.
I've booked my flight to the U.S., of course, and my ex-wife told me the airline I'm flying to the U.S. is dreadful. Luckily, it's only 21-plus hours in the air. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my children. I can't wait to see friends and a couple of doctors as well.
We had a very nice Teachers' day party at VMG school with awards and food. I think I was voted the teacher with the smallest brain. Winning is everything to an American :).
The hot rainy season is slowing down, and the hot hot season is kicking in.
I left the apartment/hot box I was living in and moved to the Khanh Dang Hotel nearby. It's the hotel with dynamite air conditioning, so life is good now. I had three "minor" motorbike accidents while moving. A guy pushed his bike in front of me as I was going down the street and I took off his fender. Since it was his fault, I waived ... and took off. A guy wasn't paying attention on my side street and broad-sided me. Just a bruise, so I waived ... and took off. I nicked the side of a bike in my alley (all my fault) and the family came running outside to see what happened. Man, did I get the evil eye. But one guy was really cool, and helped load all the crap back on my bike, and then said no worries. So I waived ... and took off. My camera was taken in the move as well. I go through cameras like tissues.
As much as I can't wait to get back to the U.S. for a while, I'll really miss the students here and I'll really miss teaching. I wish I had gone into teaching earlier, like 35 years ago, but there's a whole bunch of stuff I wish I could change. So what's the point.