Our province, Dong Nai, made international news last week because of the protests over China's oil drilling near the disputed Paracel Islands. Vietnam and China both claim the islands, and therein lies the dispute. Nationalist fervor is running quite high in Vietnam. I'm not a political person, although I do think Obama is a great president. The Vietnamese clamped down on the protests because of violence and vandalism. All is calm now. I was given a couple of Vietnamese flags to display, but since I want to stay out of the public eye, I hung them in my room, not out of my window. Of course, I support Vietnam. I live here and they pay me, and lately, folks have been rather nice to me. The White Monkey is on their side. Vietnam may take China to international court over the disputed islands.
There's a rat that freely roams our neighborhood day and night. It's a big rascal, so I consider it a community pet rather than a scary nuisance. It ran under my legs as I was sitting on the front steps of my house. And I mean under my legs. It wasn't scared, either. It got into my kitchen once when I left the back door open. I petted it a little and sent it on its way. Good rat.
The heat has been, well, hot lately. Right now it's 97 degrees fahrenheit and "feels like" 109. Humidity is 47 percent, and usually runs a bit higher. I sweat constantly, but since I've been drinking lots of cokes and stuff, my weight is increasing. I'm bloated like a hippo, but it's so dang hot, I don't care. The heat has mildly affected the students, who seem a little sluggish even though the Vietnamese are clearly better adapted to these conditions than the White Monkey. Understandable that they're uncomfortable, but classes are going well. Kids classes are awesome.
I went to see the 3-D movie Godzilla with my F3A3 class at the local cinema -- or as I call it, the internet/chat room at CinePlex. The F3A3 kids got tickets as a prize for their outstanding efforts in the Go Green competition. I had to pay for my ticket. Before the movie, I got the kids some drinks: they had Red Bull, Sting, soda and coffee. They're 10, 11, and 12 years old. We had a blast! We walked to the cinema, and hung out, and did the usual kids' stuff before and after the movie. I felt young again -- not a day over 58. That was the first 3-D I've ever seen, and it was very cool. The subtitles hung in mid-air. Wow!
Riding the bike is no longer an adventure. It's a pain in the ass, just like driving a car in the U.S. I even answered my cell phone while riding the other day. What a jerk I am! I can smoke and ride, also. Aren't you going to congratulate me?
I need to buy some furniture because sleeping and lesson planning on a foam mattress on the floor isn't working. I "talked" to a local shop owner, and I agreed to buy a desk, but the chair didn't work out. Maybe next time.
I love my coffee shop -- with servers Nguyen and Nguyen -- because they know what I want and the customers leave me alone, which is the big plus. I don't want to teach English after I finish teaching English. I do hear lots of sad stories from the young girls here, who all love me. But even if the stories aren't true, it's sad the girls would make something like that up. The decisions these girls make to earn money can be distressing, to say the very least.
But my focus is teaching and the students, and that's what keeps me smiling. No sob story here. At least not today.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
Sleep forever
I was reviewing a little vocabulary the other day with a mid-level class and I asked them: "What is death?" It was in one of our stories, so don't think I'm morbid or weird. I'm both, but you don't have to think it. I was wondering how I would answer when one of the students blurted out: "It's when you sleep forever." That's one of the reasons why I love teaching. What a great answer. Now, our class joke is: "I'm going home and going to sleep .... forever."
My Bien Hoa neighbors are almost too nice, if that's possible. I said almost because I always accept what they offer, from bananas and local exotic fruits, to wedding anniversary soup and French bread and iced coffee. Delivery is free. I've never had neighbors this nice anywhere in the world. The traffic comes by and the riders still stare and say silly "Hello's" and "How are you's?" to me, and now the neighbors smile, as if they understand the perils of being a white monkey. The massage girl loves the white monkey moniker because of my body hair, but I don't like when she tries to pluck my body hair out. It's not nice to tease the white monkey. The Vietnamese are just about hairless, and a good wind could blow the whiskers off the guys' faces.
We had our Go Green competition at our school, with the finals at the VMG Cambridge ceremony. Honestly, I'm glad it's over. It became something of an obsession, with winning being very, very, very, very important. Understand ? (hieu?). My F3A2 class -- kids from 10 -12 years old -- came in second. I think we were the youngest group. I really don't care how we finished because these students understand Ladies First and Clean Up Your Mess. We had pizza to celebrate the fact they learned the important lessons. Great kids, one and all. And they get it.
After more than a year here, I've learned the flow and some important lessons. I'm too big to park my motorbike where everyone else does, because I can never get it out without knocking over other bikes. Kind of like Pee Wee Herman in that one funny movie he made. Don't carry much money. People love to look in your wallet, so I fill my wallet with rubber bands. Don't stare back at the gawkers. It only encourages a longer stare. The head-down nod seems to work best. Don't tip like you are in the USA. People, especially the young girls, will think you have money, and they'll bother you and ask for your phone number. They don't actually like the white monkey, but they love the white money. Of course, this is not everyone. But it exists and it's reality. The white monkey doesn't lie, or tip like he used to. The kids here can fix anything. When something breaks in class, I ask the students to deal with it because I'll just screw it up. Don't drink the tap water. Best of all, the folks here don't hold a grudge -- at least 99 percent don't. You can have "a moment" with someone in a store or at work, and the next time you see them it's like it never happened. I love that.
My Bien Hoa neighbors are almost too nice, if that's possible. I said almost because I always accept what they offer, from bananas and local exotic fruits, to wedding anniversary soup and French bread and iced coffee. Delivery is free. I've never had neighbors this nice anywhere in the world. The traffic comes by and the riders still stare and say silly "Hello's" and "How are you's?" to me, and now the neighbors smile, as if they understand the perils of being a white monkey. The massage girl loves the white monkey moniker because of my body hair, but I don't like when she tries to pluck my body hair out. It's not nice to tease the white monkey. The Vietnamese are just about hairless, and a good wind could blow the whiskers off the guys' faces.
We had our Go Green competition at our school, with the finals at the VMG Cambridge ceremony. Honestly, I'm glad it's over. It became something of an obsession, with winning being very, very, very, very important. Understand ? (hieu?). My F3A2 class -- kids from 10 -12 years old -- came in second. I think we were the youngest group. I really don't care how we finished because these students understand Ladies First and Clean Up Your Mess. We had pizza to celebrate the fact they learned the important lessons. Great kids, one and all. And they get it.
After more than a year here, I've learned the flow and some important lessons. I'm too big to park my motorbike where everyone else does, because I can never get it out without knocking over other bikes. Kind of like Pee Wee Herman in that one funny movie he made. Don't carry much money. People love to look in your wallet, so I fill my wallet with rubber bands. Don't stare back at the gawkers. It only encourages a longer stare. The head-down nod seems to work best. Don't tip like you are in the USA. People, especially the young girls, will think you have money, and they'll bother you and ask for your phone number. They don't actually like the white monkey, but they love the white money. Of course, this is not everyone. But it exists and it's reality. The white monkey doesn't lie, or tip like he used to. The kids here can fix anything. When something breaks in class, I ask the students to deal with it because I'll just screw it up. Don't drink the tap water. Best of all, the folks here don't hold a grudge -- at least 99 percent don't. You can have "a moment" with someone in a store or at work, and the next time you see them it's like it never happened. I love that.
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