Here is the next adventure

When I concluded my Parma blog a little over a year ago, I posted a picture asking, "Where is the next adventure?" At that time I didn't know when or whether there would be a next adventure; I just knew I hoped for one. I don't think I could have imagined where I am headed next. For the next ten months, thanks infinite to the Fulbright organization [see disclaimer about how this blog does not represent the views of the U. S. government, etc.], I will be living in Vietnam and teaching beginner English to university-aged students. I will be spending my first month receiving training in Hanoi, in the North, with the other 14 ‘Fulbrighters’. After that, I will be on my own, teaching in Ben Tre City, which is in the South.

When someone in my generation hears that I’m going to Vietnam, the usual response is general curiosity. “Why Vietnam?” or “I know so-and-so who went there and loved it.” Move one generation up and the reaction changes. I think it’s fair to say that for most Americans of any age, any mention of Vietnam triggers a mental leapfrog straight to the Vietnam War, but for people who weren’t around for it that just means that they know no reason to go there in particular. For people who were, that association comes with a memory of strong reasons to not go. Sometimes people say it outright, sometimes it’s in their face, but for people of that generation, the word Vietnam is heavy; the place is painful. Someone told me he lost his best friend there. So, let’s answer everybody’s first question. With a confession.

Every time someone asks me “Why Vietnam?” I am forced to ask it of myself. Why did I choose Vietnam? There are two kinds of answers. The first kind is the kind I have given to most people who asked; it is the kind that is not quite true and not quite false, but that I think might sound best. It is some combination of the following:

1. Something about wanting to go to Asia, and Vietnam not having a language requirement
2. Something about wanting to learn a new language
3. Something about having a pre-existing connection to or familiarity with the culture because of having grown up in Houston

All of these are true, but they are not the full truth. Honestly, I applied to Vietnam because:

1. Based on last year my odds were better if I applied to Vietnam than to most other countries
2. I figured I could make a good case for myself
3. I applied on a whim and never thought I would get it anyway 
(Note that 3 is kind of in opposition to 1 and 2. So much for logic.)
4. The food. No further explanation needed.

I guess I’m glad I didn’t apply to Mongolia, which was another option based on reason 1 – until I realized I would not be an effective teacher once I became an icicle.

So, I whipped together an application in a few weeks and in the process realized that I had surprisingly relevant credentials: teaching English in Italy, teaching Spanish in the US, several languages already under my belt. After I completed my interview, the din of everything else in my life, a.k.a. Thesis, put post-graduation life more or less in the back of my mind, mostly drowning the nagging voice that insisted I be more proactive. Then, in January, I got an email saying that I was a finalist… and that finalists have a very – Very – high chance of actually receiving the award. I spent a couple days in shock. As I said, I never expected this to become a reality. But, once I got over my shock, I realized that if the odds described were accurate, I had an excuse to continue to ignore that nagging voice and continue to pretend like I didn’t need to be looking for a job. The other part of that email, though, was that I might not find out until as late as July. So, in moments of paranoia, that voice would pipe up again; what if I sat around waiting until July, and then didn’t get it?

Luckily, that was not the case. I just had to wait until the end of April to get that yes, which was almost as scary as getting a no would have been. Even though I received the award I didn’t have to say yes, but how could I say no to this opportunity? I pulled it together, got my rally cap on, hitched up my britches, and any other relevant expressions you can think of, and set my mind to it. I would be living in Vietnam for ten months. I would move to a country of whose language I don’t speak a smidgen, hoping to leave sounding more articulate than a four year old, trying to teach other people another language at the same time. Sounds like the makings of an adventure. 

Now, here I am, starting my second travel blog, though ‘travel blog’ seems like a misnomer. I will be elsewhere, and new experiences will abound, but this won’t be the annals of a life of leisure. There will be trials and tribulations and, if anything is to be learned from last time, transportation mishaps. I look forward to the miscommunications, the rhetorical falling and standing up again, to the vịt lộn, and to everything else I can’t even imagine. I hope you come with me.


P. S. A closing confession:
I actually wrote most of this in May, but I figured it was too early to start blogging back then. Now, exactly two weeks from my departure, my life feels like it is accelerating and it is time to begin.