Turnaround

I had a wonderful day today. Despite the fact that the class I taught yesterday has a good reputation and the class I taught today has a bad reputation (regarding how active they are in class), today's students were excellent. I was teaching Listening 2. Last time we met we had an activity in which they had to decide whether several statements about the recording were true or false, and I asked them to also come up with a way to make false statements true. They had some trouble with it last time, but this time they did it like they were pros. I gave them five minutes to prepare, and then as I went over each false statement a hand or two raised to provide an alteration. I think the whole activity was completed entirely with volunteers. This may seem like a minor thing, but it is a huge change from how things were when I started teaching here. It is exactly the kind of thing yesterday made me feel like I would never accomplish.

After teaching I was supposed to meet with Ngoc, an accounting student I met during one of my many Tet adventures. She and Phu, who graduated from the English department, met me at 10 and we went out for a smoothie. Ngoc really wants to improve her English but because she is not an English major and is also shy, she relies on Phu to come along too and be our interpreter. Ngoc is 26 and Phu is 28. From my experience socializing with students closer to my age, and from my fellow ETAs' social experiences, it seems like we are more compatible with people a little older than us. There is certainly a lot less giggling with Ngoc than with my students. I am hoping (but trying not to get my hopes up too high) that we will be able to establish a friendship. We were joined by Ngoc's friend, Nhat, who is also an accounting student and is recently married. By the end of our smoothies it was decided that I will go to Nhat's house to learn some Vietnamese cooking. The plan is to cook bông lan, which is a 'European-style' cake (as opposed to a Vietnamese cake which can include anything from rice noodles to crackers to glutinous rice to bread), and 'rice jelly', which I'm hoping I misunderstood. Phu will not be able to attend our cooking party, so we'll have to twist our way around our respective language limitations. I'm looking forward to it.

We said our goodbyes and I figured that since I was already out I would go ahead and get lunch. When I got to my lunch place, planning to get to go, I found Mr. Vu Hung, who had just sat down. He invited me to join him and we had a delightful, relaxed lunch. He got us a plate of stuffed tofu, which I never would have tried on my own, but which wasn't bad. I don't see myself ordering it any time soon, but it's good to know I have more options than the chicken or pork I usually order.

So, I had an ideal time teaching and a surprisingly social morning.