Improving my pronunciation

Wednesday night I tossed and turned and ended up figuring out my lesson plan for my first drawing class next week. I don't know if the lesson planning kept me awake or if the sleeplessness led to the planning. Probably both. Then, when I received my April schedule yesterday, the drawing class wasn't listed. It turns out I won't be teaching drawing after all. I guess I really do have to stick to not believing something is going to happen until it is happening. Silly me for thinking that signing paperwork and discussing definitive dates and times was enough of a guarantee. I'm disappointed, but focusing on the silver lining of having my Thursday nights stay free.

Somehow, I never got around to sharing the results of my Translation class evaluations. Below are some notable replies.
What lessons or activities did you like? Why?:

• The activity I like is translate. One student read in English and one translate. Because its help me improve my speaking and listening skills. 
• I like standing in class and practising translation with teacher and my friends. It makes me confident and improve the other skills. 
• I like lessons or activities that the teacher offers. For example, the teacher asks the class to translate into English and Vietnamese. Because this can help us be confident in translation. And I can study more words and structure of sentences that help me avoid many errors when I write.

Other comments or suggestions:

• The teacher was very well. But the problems is on my own (myself). Sometimes I feel a little confused on oral translation. You are very skillful, very well. Don't worry!
• Teacher usually teaches over time, teacher should note about time because you and we are very tired, so we can't understand the lesson more :(

My favorite, however, was this reply to the question, "What is something the teacher could improve?": "Sometimes, I can't understand your pronunciation."

The most significant data is the reactions to "I would feel comfortable translating in a real-life situation." Only one student chose 'disagree'; 11, 'neither agree nor disagree'; 19, 'agree', and 3 'strongly agree'. Of course, since I didn't ask them this at the start of the course I don't know whether their comfort was caused by the class, but it feels good to know that, regardless of how things started, at least half of the students feel comfortable and capable.

Today I was supposed to have a Vietnamese lesson with Trang in the morning and then go out to lunch with her sister. However, about half an hour into our lesson, Trang got an upsetting text message and proceeded to have a drawn out texting session. And when I say drawn out I mean I fell asleep in my cafe chair and when I woke up thirty minutes later it was still going on. I suggested that Trang take me home and deal with whatever was afoot.

I met Thuy at the appointed time and we proceeded to have a blast. We had our usual massive lunch and then Thuy took me to a nearby shop so I could try on a dress I'd been eyeing every time I'm driven past it. It was neither surprising nor terribly disturbing to find that the dress didn't fit quite right, but Thuy seemed to have adopted a mission and took me to another store. I didn't find a dress, but I found the most fantastic pair of shoes. I tried them on just for fun, but they were just too amazing to deny. They came home with me. Our next stop was the milk tea place I go to with my students. I added lychee and hazelnut (we got two) to the list of flavors I've tried and Thuy helped me translate all of the flavor options so I can both boast a slightly expanded vocabulary and know exactly what all of my options are the next time I go. We had a great time and what with the feast and the two beverages we were bursting at the seams by the time she dropped me off at the college.

Season-irrelevant decor at the milk tea place

In the late afternoon, waves of rumbling gave way to sheets of pelting rain. I was lucky to be inside already, but I went and opened the door to enjoy the dramatic view and fresh scent of rain. I would expect locals to think me crazy for doing so, but given that they were all inside hiding there was no one to see my deviant behavior. When the rain got too horizontal I went back inside and watched the rain blow in under the door. The power went out soon after the tremendous but brief rainstorm, and I had to ask myself why (it seems) the college karaoke setup is hooked up to a backup generator but nothing else is.

Future and foreigners

"The future used to be such an abstract idea. The dream was enough, ... and now the future has the nerve to show up, and it’s expecting us to do something" - Kurt, on Glee

These days it feels like I'm buckling under stress about the future about as often as I was overwhelmed by homesickness in my first several months in Vietnam. Most of the time I feel like I have a good idea of what I want, but burrowing into the world of job searches brings me down when I can't find what I want or find it but don't feel qualified for it. Onward and upward, right?

Last night I spent another hour sucked into the drain that is the teacher's English club. As proposed by the administration, five students showed up to help the teachers. This happened to work out to one student per adult. I tried discussion again, using the discussion questions one of the teachers proposed (Why do people lie? Is it ok to tell white lies?), and it went about as (un)well as usual. Some of the teachers actually engaged with their student partners, but some just giggled or stayed silent the whole time, even when I encouraged them to talk to each other. Some teachers ignored their partner and chatted with another teacher instead. Given that there were only five adults, this left us with about two who actually discussed with their partners. Then, when I asked each pairing to share their opinions with the whole group, the adults wanted the students to talk for them. Clearly, the purpose of having student helpers/partners is not so the people for whom the club exists can eschew participating. Why do they even come? I felt bad for the students (and for myself), for whom it felt like a waste of time, but I consoled myself with the thought that at least they're getting some extra time to practice English and maybe even get to feel like a bit of an authority on English. Given that everyone has acknowledged that the club is a failure but refuses to cancel it or let me make any productive changes, I am resorting to the silent protest of ending the club early. Honestly, I'm pretty sure the teachers are perfectly happy to go home early, anyway.

After the English club I went out to dinner with Thy, Trúc, and Ngoc Mai. We had bun bo hue, my new favorite soup, and I discovered that there is a special night market already set up to accompany the upcoming coconut festival. Ben Tre's normal night market is just one block, but this one covers several blocks on several streets. We did some window shopping but didn't buy anything. It made me laugh inside when my students were shocked to realize that I could understand what the shopkeepers said.

I've been having wrist pain for over a week now. When it started I assumed I'd slept on my hand funny, but it didn't go away and yesterday I could barely move my hand, so I went to the doctor today. Trang was busy so another English teacher, one with significantly lower English skills, took me. Visiting the doctor was an experience. I pad four dollars for an x-ray... with no lead apron and with my teacher/translator in the same room. At first I thought that no one was even going to talk to me or look at my wrist, but I did end up seeing a doctor. He asked if I was Philippina. When he found out that I was an English teacher he asked if I would like to visit his house/teach his children. He prescribed anti-inflammatory medicine and, for some reason, heartburn medicine (proving to me that my compulsion to look research every medicine I am prescribed in Vietnam is well-founded). I had to pay $18 for this medicine! It may not sound like a lot, but compared to how much I have paid for medication here and how much I paid for the x-ray, it seems exorbitant. Later in the evening, I got this slightly confusing email from a concerned administrator:

Hi Adelina,
This afternoon your doctor what results, did not cut myself off, if you need I will use tomorrow's Chinese hot oil to remove the pain of you watch out?

Tonight I had the student English club, which was the complete opposite of the teacher English club. We started out with a discussion of the appeal and dangers of playing video games, and even though I knew that gaming and e-cafes are really popular, I didn't realize just to what degree. All of my students spend time playing computer games, whether it be 10 minutes a day or an hour a day. After about half an hour of discussion it was clear that they were itching to talk -- but not necessarily about the topic they'd selected, so I decided to do the conversation speed dating again. They loved it, and we decided to do half discussion, half conversation next week.

"Our subjest iso't cool but he fakes it anyway..."
Excellent shirt belonging to one of my students

On my way back to my room after the club meeting, I saw two foreigners on campus. Two! Foreigners! Near my age! It felt like a mirage. I walked up to one and found out that they're Australians and they're helping students learn choreography for the coconut festival. Why they're here doing that is unclear, but they'll be here for about two more weeks and we're going to try to meet up tomorrow. I'm still in disbelief.

Life is like a box of... rocks

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.” – Lillian Smith

There was something I forgot to write about in my post about this weekend. I mentioned that the conference's topic was Finding Balance. To start the discussion, Kelly showed students a jar full of large rocks, and asked them if it was full. I think they were wary of being tricked, so they said it was not. However, in theory, the answer should have been yes. Then she poured gravel into the jar and asked if it was full. Again, the theoretical answer would be yes. Lastly, she poured sand into the jar, and the sand ran into all of the crevasses between the rocks and the gravel, and asked if it was full. The students were still saying no, but for the sake of the demonstration the answer should have been yes. The point is that if we put the big rocks in first, our life (jar) will feel full, even if we are missing smaller things that are somewhat important. But, if we fill our jar with sand, we will have no room for the bigger things.

After the demonstration, we were all supposed to write what three things were our big rocks, the most important things that make our lives feel full; what three things were gravel, and three examples of our sand. Reflection ensued. What makes my life feel full? What things are essential to my happiness and what things contribute a little but wouldn't be hard to survive without? I struggled. I struggled to rank my life fillers, but I also struggled to find as many as the exercise demanded. Why? Living in Vietnam, in some sense, I've already pared my life down to the bare essentials. Family and friends would normally be at the top of the list but here, despite their importance, I content myself with occasional correspondence and knowing that they exist and care about me. They make my life full through a much smaller level of interaction than I would want or need if we were in the same place. Something I probably wouldn't think of listing at home, trying new things, fell in the middle section of my list on Saturday. Trying new things is one of the ways that I validate my time here. It is how I make the most of these circumstances (being so far, being somewhere different, ...) in which I cannot take comfort in the favorite and familiar. At home I'd be likely to say that the way I dress contributes some amount of sand to my jar. Here, I have been cycling through the same handful of shirts for almost a year and indeed my life doesn't feel much emptier for it. But every now and then I miss the confidence that comes from wearing something other than a solid-color tshirt.

After Saturday's introspection and after today's writing, I reached an interesting conclusion. I think that here, my jar is full of gravel. The rocks are no less important -- I wouldn't have survived these last eight months without them -- but distance keeps them from filling my jar. So, I have my pebbles: trying new things, travel, tackling Vietnamese, photography, and writing. From this period of living with a pebble-filled jar, I've started to see how I might want to fill my life when I come home.

Waiter, there's a rat in my bowl

This weekend there was a conference at Dong Thap community college, Kelly's placement. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, Violet was a purveyor of adventure, by way of being my ride to Cao Lanh (the main city in Dong Thap province). After my Friday classes the two of us got lunch and then got on the road. We missed a turn according to the map she'd drawn out, but we ended up taking a much easier route. After about two hours on her motorbike we needed to stop and take a butt rest. We stopped at a hammock cafe and I took a nap. At this stop I also reached a Vietnam milestone. I got my first Hanoi hickie, also known as a tailpipe burn. Initially my skin just turned gray, but over the course of the weekend it turned into a sizable blister on my calf, big enough that I could feel the fluid move when I walked. We got to Cao Lanh in the early afternoon, with our time on the road coming in at just under three hours. The rest of the ten ETAs who were coming for the weekend trickled in after us, and we had a great time catching up into the wee hours. I hadn't seen several of them since our mid-year conference in December.

The conference took place on Saturday morning, and it was for Kelly's English students. The ETAs worked with small groups of students to facilitate the activities that Kelly and her college had planned. Lam and I worked together, and it was a bit of the struggle because we were working with some of the lower level students. As often happens, it was hard to tell whether they weren't participating because they didn't understand the questions, didn't know how to answer, or just didn't want to. We got them to loosen up a little near the end by eschewing the required discussion questions and just trying to ask them about their lives. The second half of the conference consisted of skits that the students had prepared. Given the morning's rocky start, the clever and comical skits (addressing the conference theme of finding balance) were especially impressive.

Ao dai ETAs

After the conference it was time for the requisite Vietnamese party lunch, and the ETAs went and feasted with the teachers and administrators who worked on the conference. Our next scheduled activity was cooking a western-style dinner for them. Though it is said that too many cooks spoil the broth, cooking for 20 was a big enough task that it kept most people engaged throughout the preparation process. Funnily enough, what ended up making dinner late was trying to boil the amount of water necessary for that much pasta.

Sunday morning started bright and early, with a short road trip to a bird sanctuary. Even though we arrived later than planned, and therefore past prime birding time, we still saw a ton of birds. I have to say, it seemed generally superior to the bird ground in Ben Tre. Instead of tramping through mosquito-filled brush, we took a pleasant sampan ride through the preserve's grounds.

And then, after a hammock nap, it was time to enjoy Dong Thap's most famous culinary specialty: grilled field rat. You may cringe, but most of the flavor came from the grilling, and it could have easily been bony and oddly shaped chicken. To cap off the meal, we also had ground snake on rice crackers and huge snails.

When we got back to campus most of the ETAs had to leave. Those of us who remained caught up on sleep, went cafe-ing, and did some shopping. Violet and I headed home this morning, made great time, and got to Ben Tre in two hours. She joined me for lunch and then zipped away across the delta, back to Tra Vinh.

In other news, it turns out that my mysterious text-sending student was actually Violet under guise of a borrowed phone.

Rational thoughts

It's often intriguing to me the topics that my English textbooks teach (ahem, telepathy), and today's listening lesson centered around an interview with a man who claimed to have been picked up by a UFO. The man saw bright lights, went outside, and saw a UFO and a pair of aliens. The two aliens spoke to him and instructed him to go with them. They took him into their craft, but when they discovered that he was 74 they said he was 'too old for their purposes' and booted him out. As part of the post-listening activities I asked the students if they believed the story. Most of them said they did not. Several said it was because they didn't believe in aliens. What stood out to me, however, was the second most common reason. It seemed absurd to them, too unlikely, that these aliens would speak English. Wouldn't the aliens speak their own language? And English is so difficult! It wasn't the existence of aliens that they took issue with, it was the probability of English-speaking aliens. This stood out to me because I don't think it would have been a common answer or even an answer at all in the US. The general population seems to expect the rest of the world to speak English for them, so why wouldn't aliens speak English, too?

I had the rest of the afternoon free, or so I thought. I got a text from Thy, one of the girls I went out with last week for milk tea. They'd told me that they wouldn't be free tonight, but apparently things changed, so we made plans for later. Then I got a call from Hong, asking if I'd meet with her to take pictures for some project. I didn't quite understand what it was for, but I agreed to meet her at four. I'm still not exactly sure how they will be used, but it was nice getting pictures with her and some of my other students. They are participating in the upcoming speaking competition I've mentioned, and somehow the pictures are relevant. They also asked me to talk to them about ambition (part of the theme, Ambition and Challenges). I get the general feeling that my potential interpretations of this theme are not the same as the intentions of whatever Vietnamese person came up with it, especially since the theme doesn't really make sense to me to begin with. I tried my best to be helpful.

From the photoshoot

A few hours later I met up with Thy, Nhu, and Túc, a new addition. We went out for milk tea aka bubble tea and this time I tried kiwi instead of strawberry. I also actually remembered to get pictures with the girls. We started out with me editing what they've prepared for the speaking competition and then we relaxed and chatted. They asked me what fruits I've tried in Vietnam and we ended up spending a good while brainstorming fruits and making a parallel list of their English and Vietnamese names. I'm pretty knowledgeable about fruit in Vietnamese, but we had to pictionary a few that I didn't know. Túc had been quieter than the other two, but near the end, out of the blue, she asked me if I have a religion. It turned out that she's Catholic too, and it looked like we hit upon a topic she wanted to discuss. All of a sudden she was dominating the conversation, although the other two, who are Buddhist and agnostic, also participated. Túc told me about how she goes to church with her mom every Sunday, and how much she enjoys the (Vietnamese version) of the Christmas pageant. I learned the word for angel (thiên thần) and taught them the word 'Bible', which they previously just called the 'holy book'. We called it a night at 9pm and to my surprise they even let me pay for everyone. Here's hoping for a repeat next week.

Drinking milk tea with tapioca at the graffiti-covered hangout

On Friday I taught speaking to the first years. The new unit is Traditional and Modern, and strengthened my conviction that this textbook is not really adequate for this level of students. For starters, the unit vocabulary in the warm up included words like avant garde and fuddy-duddy. Additionally, because students can't afford textbooks, they have photocopied versions that often obliterate the images that the book provides for activities. Instead of having students compare one black square that used to be a picture of something modern to a fuzzy square that should be a picture of something traditional, I decided to try and have some discussion. I introduced an easy application of 'traditional v. modern' regarding clothing, and asked students whether they prefer wearing traditional or modern clothing and why. Then I took it to the next level, and asked them to think about cultural manifestations of 'traditional v. modern,' for example, seeking matchmakers versus dating. Then we moved on to discussing woman's role in traditional and modern society. It gave me teacherly satisfaction to hear my students using English, no matter how limited, to talk about something more academic than their weekend plans. 

I did the same thing with the second group of first years, but they were treated with a visit from a foreigner, Violet, who had come to purvey adventure. I was a little disappointed by how few of my students took the opportunity to ask her questions, even though I had given them time to prepare questions before she came, but a few of them stepped up and asked her a whole slew of them.

Teacher Violet and my first years

Speed dating

Trang and I had another Vietnamese lesson this morning. It was not quite as magical as yesterday's, but it was pretty good. Today's language gem is the fact that if I'm drowning and in my panic don't pay attention to my pronunciation, I might shout "Marry me!" instead of "Help me!"

In the early afternoon I had my monthly schedule meeting for April. It struck me that I only have one more schedule meeting left. The meeting was more of a mess than usual because Trang wasn't there to translate for me and the person in charge of putting the schedule together wasn't there either because he is holed up studying for his upcoming Masters exam. Eventually everyone gave up and summoned Trang, even though she wasn't there because she was busy with another work-related activity. During the meeting it was proposed that we solicit third years to come to the adult English club and partner up with them in order to breathe some life into the wheezing and sputtering Tuesday night meetings. I was not a fan of this suggestion, and said so, but in true non-confrontational Vietnamese fashion I also said that I was willing to give it a shot if everyone was really intent on trying it.

By the time I left that meeting, the sky was a flat gray to the south of campus. Unusual for the dry season. Not long after, my room was being shaken by the rumblings of an approaching storm. It was loud, but it was brief, and it washed away the smell of smoke from all of the burning trash heaps. It also washed out the night's English club attendance. At first there were only six students. Eventually we had 12. I started them out in pairs, talking, and when we got more I decided to do speed dating style conversation. I set them up in six pairs, first years on one side and third years on the other side. Every five or so minutes I'd go 'bing bing bing' much to my students' amusement and one set of six would stand up and move down a chair. They really liked it, and they really spent the whole time speaking in English. After all of the first years talked to all of the third years, I mixed them up and the first years talked to each other and the third years talked to each other. It turned out that the third years had a lot of beef to discuss, and since I was standing in the midst of them I got quite the overheard earful. The general sentiment is that they are overworked and very stressed. Not only are they in their last semester of senior year, some of them are working on getting their teaching certification, and some are also taking a teaching and technology class. Additionally, the best students (those present in the club, largely) have gotten roped into participating in an upcoming speaking competition and several other events. Essentially, if they're good, then they're asked to do more and, just like me with my schedule, they don't have much of a choice. Then talk turned to teachers and their teaching styles. Apparently they don't like the atmosphere in the Translation class. They feel like the expectations are too high and their skills are too low, and the topics are too dense and boring. The whole semester is focused on environmental issues, and they think they would be better served by translating topics relevant to their future fields, like tourism and business. I wish there were a way for me to bring their feelings up with Trang to give her some constructive feedback straight from the horse's mouth, but I don't know how she would take it. I was glad to hear them reference my teaching style and activities as a better alternative.

Tiếng Việt! Tiếng Việt!

Yesterday was the last day of Translation. I was a glad I would no longer be teaching a class I never thought I should have been teaching in the first place, but I was sad because it means I will no longer be teaching the third years. I was selfishly glad at the students' mild outcry when I told them I wouldn't be teaching them anymore. (I guess no one else bothered to tell them.) Since it was the last day, I decided to do something fun and only loosely translation related: tongue twisters! Perfect pronunciation practice. We started with "she sells seashells by the seashore." Students are perfectly capable of saying "s" and "sh", but tend to switch them, because "s" is pronounced "sh" in southern Vietnamese. So, this tongue twister would draw their attention to saying the right one at the right time. Next, I made up a tongue twister that would pose no problem for a native speaker, but that was quite challenging for them. "Grandfather brings fresh flowers." This emphasized the difference between "gr" and "fr" (for some reason I often hear about people's frandfathers) and helped them practice consonant clusters. Like magic, rings became brings and lowers became flowers. I asked students to translate the twisters, just to keep it relevant to the class, and then we all practiced saying each word, then a few words, and finally the whole tongue twister. Then I asked them to volunteer if they wanted to try and say it on their own. To my absolute delight, I did not have to resort to calling on someone even once. I've been keeping track of who participates in class all semester, mostly to make sure I got everyone to do something at some point, and this activity brought out the last dozen students who hadn't made a peep all semester. I closed with course evaluations, the results of which you will hear about once I get around to reading them. And then, because everyone finished before the end of class, I asked them for some Vietnamese tongue twisters. I breezed through the first one, but didn't even try to tackle the second:

It turns out rồ rồ is actually the onomatopoeia for the sound a flailing fish makes

My second class was not so successful. I was teaching a speaking unit on advertising to my second year students, and the lesson ended up being more challenging than I expected. Since I thought they would have an easier time of it, I hadn't constructed my lesson plan with the necessary timing to allow for as much preparation and explanation as they needed. Nonetheless, I thought I eventually did a pretty good job of explaining the differences between advertising a product and advertising a lifestyle.

Today got off to a great start with Trang. We had bún bò huế for breakfast, and it might be on its way to replacing pho as my favorite Vietnamese soup. Or maybe it's just been too long since the last time I had pho. Then, we went to our now-usual cafe for my Vietnamese lesson. Even though I want to learn Vietnamese, I am often intimidated to try to speak it. The food vendors I've been frequenting since I arrived just expect me to mime, so most of the time that's what I do. I know that I tell my students that the only way they can improve is to use English whenever they can and to not be afraid to be wrong, but my advice is easier given than taken.

Despite my disheartening experience this weekend, today was a turning point. When I realized that I was about to ask Trang a question that I maybe sort of knew how to say in Vietnamese, I would give it a shot. If I said it wrong, I would learn how to do it right. I continued practicing my compound sentences. I continued to pin down lexical nuances that I only realize exist when I am actually using the language. For example, vì thế = so as in "and so," whereas nên = so as in "therefore." The crowning achievement of the day was -- with a lot of help from Trang -- telling a whole story in Vietnamese. I might not be able to effectively use Vienglish on the street, but having Trang fill in my blanks revitalized my wavering confidence. I was also proud of myself for remembering the phrase xí xô xí xào from over a month ago, when Trang prompted me to. We were having such a good time we didn't realize that we'd been out for two and a half hours.

A new dish. Nó mặn hay ngọt? Is it sweet or salty?

I used today's lesson to arm myself with phrases for my next visit to the pajama shop. How to say, too fast, repeat please, and I understand what you're saying but I don't know how to reply. I learned that in Vietnamese reduplication, saying the same word twice, diminishes the adverb. So saying beautiful beautiful actually means a little beautiful. I also learned kỳ cục, which means weird, and ngán quá, which means I'm fed up/I've can't take it anymore.

Tonight's English club went a little better than it's been going, I think largely due to the fact that I reverted to a lesson format rather than attempting discussion. However, the students handed me a sheet of questions that they want to choose from for future club meetings. I appreciated the indication of effort and commitment, but I really don't think that discussion is constructive for this group. During my Vietnamese lesson Trang intimated that everyone acknowledges that this club is a failure, but that no one blames me because they understand that I can't teach everyone given the range in skill level in the group. I would be gladder about it if it meant I didn't have to teach it anymore, but I think the school probably feels like ending the club would be admitting defeat on paper, and they'll look better if we just keep going even if we don't accomplish much of anything. On the upside, it looks like I'll start teaching that drawing class next month! I'm giving up another weeknight to do it and the students may or may not even speak English, but I'm so pleasantly shocked that this proposal is translating into reality that I won't be complaining for now. I'm already starting to think of how and what I'll teach.

Night light

Two nights ago a firefly found its way into my room. It took me about ten minutes to catch it and (take pictures of it and) let it out so it's green light might find it a companion. Last night I decided to watch a DVD I bought several months ago in Saigon. All of the actors were Italian, but the Vietnamese vendor assured me that the movie was in English. Unlike most of her clients, probably, that was the opposite of what I was hoping to hear. But I bought it anyway. I popped it into my laptop and hoped against hope that it would be in Italian despite her assurances. The menu came up and it was all in Russian. Well. That wasn't the language practice I was intending, but I might as well give it a shot. I pushed play and lo and behold it was in Italian after all. Hooray! It took me a little to get into the right frame of mind (the right ears?) to keep up, but soon it was like I never left Italy. For a while I was trying to mentally translate everything into English to prove to myself that I understood every word, but all that was doing was slowing me down. It was funny that I caught myself doing that, because I've always contended that you know you know a language when you don't have to do that.

The power was out for most of the day. With it went the water. So many of the little things that I don't get around to seemed like the perfect way to fill the time, until I realized that I couldn't do them. I couldn't iron my blouses. I couldn't write cover letters. And so on. So, I read a book. After that I tried to study Vietnamese. In the late afternoon I finally went on the walk I've been intending to take for ages. There are a couple new shops on the other side of the roundabout, and one offering a major sale. It was only until I was already dripping sweat outside when it occurred to me that a swankier shop with glass doors and everything might not be open if there was no power. I decided I might as well commit to a walk, and enjoy it even if the shops were closed. Luckily, the stores were open despite the power outage, and I found my second pair of miracle shorts. It's only taken seven more months of trying on shorts to find another pair that fit me.

I thought about getting an early pho dinner on the way back, but I cannot claim to be acclimated to Vietnam enough to honestly desire soup on a hot afternoon lacking the relief of an electric fan. Instead, I bought a couple of cold coconuts and paid a long-overdue visit to my pajama mamma. I had hoped that, with my recent upswing of Vietnamese lessons, conversing would be easier. Sadly, this was not the case. Her friend and her sister were with her when I arrived, but she invited me to join them nonetheless. It was nice, but it wasn't easy. Maybe their presence kept her from being quite as patient with me as usual. Mostly we redressed past topics like: how (hideously) tan I am and how tall and handsome Elliot is. A new topic was attempting to discuss what I did during Tet. Lots of other topics were (maybe) brought up, but I have no idea what they were. I felt a little discouraged, but I stayed for about an hour, and in that time we had a few sparkling moments of clarity.

Even though I spent most of the day loafing in bed (reading), my excursion made me feel like I'd made good use of it. As if to reward me, the power came back just as I was getting back to my room.

No one puts baby in the corner

When the Fulbright coordinators came to Ben Tre to check on my three weeks after my arrival, they insisted that my hosts provide me with a rice cooker. This is not something I myself would have ever insisted upon, as in my many years of consuming rice I have never felt ill equipped without a rice cooker. However, I received one. And, until today, it sat in its original packaging in a corner of my living room. At some point, feeling guilty about the school's expense for my sake, I bought 5 kilos of rice in the hopes that this would spur me to use the cooker -- or at least provide resistance for any exercise I might feel motivated to do. Add the sack of rice to the untouched corner.

Need I mention that it was quite a while before I used my burner, and even then it was few and far between. Now I use the burner often enough that I have to buy gas canisters a couple times a month, though I don't do anything remotely fancy. So why has the rice cooker gone unused? Well, I'm not going to eat plain rice, and my palate is not tantalized by the thought of cooking any of the exhaust-smoked meat sold by the many butchers on the side of the road. Not to mention the fact that by the time I might be looking to buy, it would have been sitting out in the heat of the day for several hours. And not to mention the fact that I am not equipped to identify the cut of meat, ask about it, or express how much I want. So I have had no need to make rice.

In the last few months, some of my fellow ETAs have been blogging about using their rice cookers for more than just rice. French onion soup or rice pudding, for example. Their accomplishments have been impressive but not quite inspiring, only because my access to necessary ingredients seems rather limited. Even the grocery store, our source for western(-like) ingredients is stocked mostly with processed, prepackaged, and pre-cooked foods. Good for lazy cooks, not good for cooking experiments.

Tonight, I didn't feel like going out. I didn't feel like pasta and I'd already fried/defrosted spring rolls for lunch. But, I had some of my prized, rationed, refried black beans courtesy of my mom's visit. Dare I try the rice cooker? I dared. I took the cooker out of it's corner, took it out of it's Thai-labeled box, and sat it on the only place close enough for the cord to reach the outlet: the top of the refrigerator. After a while of cooking, the air in my room grew sweet with the smell of burning plastic. I went into the living room to inspect, but the smell disappeared as I went up to the rice cooker. Back in my room, it only grew stronger. Were strange currents afoot? The fridge and cooker are fine, so it shall remain a mystery. The only other semi-misstep was forgetting that I was only making rice for one. Rice for breakfast tomorrow? More importantly, tonight, my spirit cuddled in the taste of black beans and rice.

Now, I've started looking up some rice cooker recipes that I can make without exotic ingredients (exotic in this case referring to western). Perhaps some mac'n'cheese with pseudo cheese? Or this tropical rice with some modifications? If I try, you'll be the first to see the results.

Not gone yet

Every day, it feels as though my departure is looming. Ever since the calendar page turned to March, it was as though it said May. Everyone started talking to me about when I will leave and how soon I am leaving and what things they hope we can do before I leave and how they have to spend more time with me now that there's so little time left. Hardly a day goes by without some comment or conversation regarding my imminent departure. I think that's why my schedule suddenly got packed (though now it's balancing out again) and why I'm teaching first years now -- they want to squeeze every last bit of benefit out of me before I go. I want to shake people and say, "Hey! There are still three months left!" but I know that will slip by before we know it. I can still remember my first week here with perfect clarity, sitting in my room and wondering what had possessed me to want to come here, and feeling like ten months would be an eternity. And now I'm well past halfway and sliding down the downhill slope towards the end.

In addition to other people making me feel like I'm as good as gone (not in a bad way), the amount of time I'm spending preparing for what comes next makes me feel like goodbye is around the corner. The fun part of this preparation is planning where I want to go and for how long and how I will get there and where I will stay for my June travels. For now, the list includes Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Thailand. Less fun is looking for jobs. Mostly, this makes me question things. It makes me question what I really want to do, what I am really capable of doing, and, to some degree, what I expect of myself. It makes me question the relative importance of having a dream job (or at least an enjoyable one) versus just plain having a job.

Thursday, I taught Listening in the morning. Last week they had asked me to sing for them because it was women's day. I told them I was still hoarse, so I wasn't able to oblige. I didn't get off scotch free, though, as the students didn't even let me start the lesson before they requested the song I owed them. The listening track was about predictions for the future, so I thought an activity I used with a speaking class last semester when we were talking about future cities would be suitable for today's wrap up. I asked them what they would make if they could invent anything. Last time I did this activity, participation was a little stilted. This time, the students (though they are technically lower-level students) seemed to have a better grasp on the activity and offered a lot of imaginative inventions.

Only in Vietnam would you want "shoes that make you faster than a motorbike"

Trang asked me to join her for lunch, and asked me what I wanted to eat. I decided it was time to revert to my old answer: something new. Only this time the discussion happened in Vietnamese. It took her a while to come up with something, but it was worth the wait. We had cháo cá, fish porridge. It didn't sound too exciting when she proposed it to me, but it was delicious! Even better, we had a really nice, long, relaxed time together, the likes of which we haven't had for several weeks. Among several conversation topics and a smattering of Vietnamese notes, Trang re-mentioned that I look like Britney Spears. I still don't see it.

Fertilized quail eggs, broth, fish, herbs

At 630 I met up with Thy, Thao, and Nhu, three of my second year students. They are participating in an upcoming speaking competition and wanted to meet up so I could help them prepare. However, we spent maybe 20 minutes working on their presentation, but I wasn't about to complain. Our two hours together flew by. We went to a milk tea/bubble tea place and had drinks and fried chicken. Unfortunately our schedules don't work for a repeat next week, but we're already planning for next next week.

Today continued the trend of preemptive farewells, but I'll get to that later. I taught the first years about telepathy, and it was kind of a throwaway lesson. There seemed to be a lot of conflating of telepathy and fortune-telling, and to be honest it didn't seem worthwhile to tease the two apart. I can't really see this being critical to their English speaking futures, and the more important part was to get them to talk, which they did. I'm starting to learn how to teach my first years. They seem to understand me well enough, but they really need me to model activities for them. This is something I learned in training, but something I can get away with not doing with my older students. With my first years, I have to ask the question, and then show them how to structure their response. For example:

• Do you believe in telepathy?
• Yes, I believe in telepathy because...
• No, I don't believe in telepathy because...
• I'm not sure if I believe in telepathy because...

After discussing telepathy and intuition, we conducted an 'experiment'. Five pairs of students sat back to back. The five facing forward had to draw a picture and focus on what they were doing. Their partners had to try to 'receive' the picture and draw what they thought was being drawn. There were a few convergences. A pair of girls drew hearts, but I didn't need telepathy to know that one was going to happen before I even taught today.

Two apples

In the afternoon I attended a meeting of the English teachers to discuss the semester so far, regarding my activities and performance. The first twenty minutes or so were essentially an assortment of 'we love Adelina' speeches from all of the teachers I've worked with. They talked about changes they observed in the students and in the classroom atmosphere, and things they themselves had learned from me. One of the teachers said, "Adelina's position is an English teaching assistant, but in reality she is the teacher and we are her assistants." To hear their statements wasn't just heart warming, it was affirming. It showed me that I am having indeed having a positive impact. I don't know if there will be another meeting like this before I go, but I will carry their words with me for the rest of my time here and long after I leave.

Most of the English department

Mr. Tuan, with whom I teach on Friday mornings, had invited me out to eat after the meeting. I don't know if it was a calculated move, but after the meeting all of the other teachers decided that they wanted to go out. Had I not already committed to Mr. Tuan, I would have gone with them. You may ask, why didn't everyone just go out together? Well, Mr. Tuan is persona non grata in the department, so it was one or the other. I tried not to let everyone else's views taint our dinner, however. He took me out for sour soup and fish cooked in fish sauce, two dishes I've had many times, but this time it was catfish. Unfortunately, the place we went put up a poor showing. In my opinion, the best part of sour soup is the broth. Tonight, the sauce tasted like spicy water. The only exciting thing about the meal were some enormous shrimps. Enormous! I have never seen shrimp with legs as long as my forearm. I spent most of the meal in silence, as much because we didn't have a lot to talk about as because he took me to a restaurant where a ton of his friends were, so they kept coming over to chat with him.

Mega shrimp and legs

Mega shrimp does not fit in my bowl

Happy pi day

Monday morning I taught Translation. I had a sketched out lesson plan that was essentially a repeat of last week, when I had students translate a recording about a US state, but when I got to the classroom I found that I wouldn't be able to use speakers because the only outlet was across the room. Luckily, I had my thinking cap on and it took me less than a minute to come up with a new plan -- and a pretty good one at that. I gave students 10 minutes to come up with a topic of their choice, and prepare a short speech about it. Then they would come to the front in pairs, one presenting and one translating. It went shockingly well. I didn't even have to call on anyone until after the fifth or sixth pair. I interrupted the translating to spotlight some pronunciation issues, and challenged students to pronounce the following words distinctly: glow, glows, close, low, love, glove. Believe it or not, all of those words often end up sounding like 'low' because students struggle with the consonant clusters at the beginning and don't articulate the consonants at the end. When I presented them as a set, they became more distinct, though glows and close were still hard to distinguish, but the real issue is getting them to be distinct even when they are not in direct comparison with a similar word. 

Yesterday I had my Vietnamese lesson with Trang. I hadn't had one in a while, but this one was quite productive. I learned conjunctions and am (theoretically) now able to construct compound sentences, assuming that I know all the other words I need. I learned that there is a specific word, lạt in the South and nhạt in the North, that means 'not salty enough,' but there is no such word to describe sweetness or other tastes. I also learned the word vừa miệng, which means 'just right', which is used to describe a dish that is just right in every way, not just regarding one specific element of it (e.g. temperature, seasoning, etc.). Trang finally revealed what had been going on when she sent me that 'something horrible happens' message last week. I was both happy that she felt like she could open up to me and happy that it wasn't as bad as many of the things that message had conjured in my imagination. I also found out that next week I'll be teaching my last translation class. Huzzah! I won't even complain much about the fact that I was maybe starting to hit my stride.

Trang's sister, Thuy, called to take me out to lunch. She is becoming the new purveyor of new dishes. We tried cá thát lát and tôm kho tàu. Both were delicious. After lunch, Thuy bought me another two kilos of mangos.

cá thát lát

tôm kho tàu

Later, I was surprised when two first-year students showed up for the office hours I forgot I had. I am pretty sure they will attend regularly; one of them made a point of showing up to all of Morena's office hours and serenading her the whole time. I was not treated to quite so much singing, though she did sing me Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA and a song in English by a Japanese singer.

I had English club in the evening, and I kind of took the teachers to task, though I don't think they noticed. With each passing week, this feels more and more like a waste of time. Equal amounts of time are spent speaking English, speaking Vietnamese, and in silence with people staring at each other. People are showing up later and later. Last week we didn't get started until 45 minutes after the scheduled time. So, last night I told them that we would stay as long as they talked, and if they didn't want to talk anymore then we could all go home. Things went ok. More importantly, I came to a realization. The reason that the club has declined so much, aside from the fact that only a handful of people show up anymore, is because the activities have changed. I used to teach lessons. In February, however, Trang became my co-teacher and she decided that I should tell the attendees next week's topic at the end of class, and ask them to prepare a presentation. Unfortunately, even though people prepare presentations, no one seems to want to present, so I have to spend a lot of time urging people to stand up and just read the piece of paper they have in front of them. Even though this is not unusual within the general student attitude in Vietnam, it is particularly frustrating because a) they are adults b) they choose to attend and c) they know what to expect. Then, because no one else understands the presentation, the presenter re-presents in Vietnamese, and then everyone starts discussing it in Vietnamese. So, next week, I am going back to lessons. This means more work for me, but if it also means that I can end Tuesdays on something other than a sour note, it will be more than worth it.

Today was uneventful. Now that I'm not teaching the USA class, I don't have anything on my schedule until 6pm. I made the most of my free time, getting around to some miscellaneous tasks that had fallen by the wayside. English club was much better attended this week, and we talked about the obtuse topic, Ambitions and Challenges, which my students requested last week. I found out on Friday that the reason they suggested it is because it is the topic of a speaking contest some of them will be participating in in a few weeks. It took a while to break it down and talk about the meaning of ambition, in particular, but we had a pretty good discussion even though it was dominated by consensus.

Weekend getaway

On Saturday morning I took the bus to HCMC and met up with Violet, Brittanye, and Kelly. After a delicious home-cooked lunch of utterly western burgers at the house of a consular employee who is a friend of a friend, Violet and I went looking for a tailor. Lam had given me the address of a good tailor outside of downtown, outside of the tourist area. Unfortunately, when our taxi deposited us at the given address, there was neither a tailor nor any of Lam's other landmarks in sight. After doing some wandering and asking around, Violet and I gave up on the quest, and just went shopping instead. It was raining in torrential spurts, so the shopping helped us stay dry. We didn't buy anything; we just partook of the ritual of trying on clothes that will never fit, central to life as a shopping-inclined westerner in Vietnam.

We stopped at a smoothie place and I had the best (only) avocado smoothie I've had in a long long time. Vincent, who teaches with Violet in Tra Vinh, and several of their students met us there, and then we all went back downtown. We went out for a few drinks and then went to dinner. After our western pizza dinner we went to a Vietnamese place for more food. We had a great time, and it was interesting to see how precocious and adventurous the Tra Vinh students are compared to mine.

Despite our late night out on Saturday, we got up at a decent time on Sunday and went to English mass at the cathedral. It was nice to go to church, even nicer to go with friends, and even nicer to be able to understand the language being spoken. After lunch we went to brunch at an American restaurant that actually felt like being and eating in America. So many times, western food just isn't quite right, which is why most of the time I prefer to eat good Vietnamese food rather than an approximation of American food that will never really satisfy my craving. But this food was good.

After that it was time to come back to Ben Tre. Violet and Vincent had gone to HCMC on Vincent's motorbike, and since Ben Tre is halfway between there and home, they stopped for a few hours in Ben Tre on the way back. We went out to dinner together and enjoyed some local specialties that I only get to eat when I have company. They also got to try some sweet Ben Tre coconuts before getting back on the road.

On Wednesday, the last USA class, I gave out course evaluations. One of the questions I asked was "What did you think about the quizzes?" I was very curious whether my students would feel that they were helpful, too difficult, or what. Here are some of the replies I got:

• I don't like quizzes because there is less time to remember the lesson. And the quizz that is immediate will not be good.
• It is pretty difficult but after the quizzes we can remember something from lessons.
• They are useful and necessary.
• The first, I think it help me developing my writing skill. The second, according to the quizzes, I can test my ability, my knowledge, my understood after readed material.
• I thought the quizzes were a good way of measuring my understanding of the material so that I could try more. 
• I think it's very necessary. It help us can express our opinion.
• I like doing quizzes after finishing the lesson. I can summarize what I learn in the class. I think the quizzes is very useful. If I can't understand the material clearly, but (after) when doing the quizzed I can know the main ideas or special line.
• I think it's not difficult and not easy too. But I must try more to get good marks.
• Quizzes are very important and necessary. It focuses on main points. They help me consolidate what I learn and test my knowledge on it.

"What is something the teacher did very well?" Got several replies like this one:

• Explaining the reading and materials clearly; preparing for lesson (techniques, photocopied papers, teaching devices); be friendly, kind, lovely

"What lessons or activities did you like? Why?":

• I like the revision games in the last lesson because it helped me remember the lesson and I felt very interesting.
• Game and work group because it help more interesting when I learning and it help improve many skills.
•  I'm very happy about spotlight on the U.S.A. Through the course I know more about the U.S. (people culture, states,...)
• I like work in group (speaking). Work in group, I can talk about my idea. 
• I like discussing in groups and answering teacher's question. I like the way which teacher describe something for us. I mean: body language.
• I like work in groups because I can discuss with my friends, I will solve matters quickly. And I feel more comfortable and confident.

I was happy to see that the students' response to the quizzes was largely positive. Of course I am a teacher and quizzes are a teaching tool, but with the quizzes' rocky start, I felt some level of guilt about implementing them. The students' replies showed me that they could see why I had quizzes, and the quizzes accomplished what I intended. I had also been curious about students' thought about how often we did group work (almost every class). I asked them if they liked group work and solo work in the first section of the evaluation, where students circled a number, ranging from 1 - strongly disagree to 5 - strongly agree. All students agreed with the statement "I like it when we work in groups" and most students disagreed with "I prefer to work alone." I was grateful that several students chose to address this further in their answers to the open ended questions, as you can see above. Students saw group work as an opportunity to practice speaking, help or learn from their friends, and get more comfortable with the material.

In the additional comments section, one student wrote, "I think we should have more periods with American teacher in a week." Another said, "I love to do with Adelina, teacher. I hope she can stay more time in Vietn Nam." I'd call that very positive feedback.

First year Friday

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its troubles; it empties today of its strength." 

I'd been a lot and a little worried about today for several days. Today was my first day teaching speaking to two classes of first year students (there are so many English majors they've been split into two groups). I had wanted to observe the teacher today so that I wouldn't be jumping in clueless, but the teacher insisted that he had meetings during class and so I had to teach today. To be honest, from last semester I know that asking to observe usually just resulted in me teaching anyway, so I tried not to get too upset. Still, I was worried about several things. 
1. I am to use the same textbook I used with second years last semester, but spend six periods on each topic, instead of two. This concerned me because, even though my first years will probably need more time to fully understand the material, triple the time seems like too much. It also concerned me because today's unit was Telepathy, which is an odd and sort of abstract thing to try and teach.
2. Because the teacher wasn't going to be there, I worried that the students wouldn't be able to understand my directions, and there would be no one there to help me clarify or translate if necessary.
3. The teacher asked me to correct my students more, because they aren't advanced enough to identify their own mistakes. While this is valid, repeatedly interrupting a student to correct his or her grammar is counter to my main goal of increasing confidence.
Then I decided that since I had what felt like too much time per unit and the teacher wasn't going to be there, I was going to do my own thing.


So, today's lesson was one big getting to know you for me and my students, with some learning folded in. First students made name cards and I took pictures of all of them with their name cards. Then they had to introduce themselves, paying special attention to pronouncing "My name iS" and "yearS old." Then I gave each person a word and they had to tell the class, "my word iS." As they each shared their word with the class, I could address some more specific pronunciation problems and, when relevant, gave them a word to contrast the critical pronunciation issue (e.g. eyes v. ice). After that we went outside and the students had to get in alphabetical order based on their words. Staying in that order, they got in a circle and we played the name game, where the first person says their name and a word that starts with the same letter, then the second person says the first person's and their own, and so on until the last person has to remember everyone. It took a long time and it was hot outside, but it helped me with their names and it helped them with vocabulary. We went back inside and I talked to them about my expectations for their behavior in my class by way of 'happy teacher, happy student' that I came up with last semester. Then class was over and I had to do it all all over again with the next set of students.

Alphabetized!

Name game circle

Overall, both classes went well and most of my worries were unfounded. The students are not as beginner as I feared, and I think we'll be able to communicate well enough on our own. They seem predisposed to student-centered teaching, so it looks like they'll have less adjusting to do to mesh with my teaching style, which is good since I only have three months with them. As for the amount of time I'm supposed to spend on each topic, I've got a plan. I'll teach the topic, and then I'll do whatever I want. As long as I cover the required material, I'm not obligated to spend three weeks talking about telepathy. Ultimately, I'm hoping this will result in a lot of freedom for me and a lot of general improvement for my students. This is a good phase in their education to curtail bad habits, and I dare dream I'll set them up to be the most articulate class in the college. Big dreams, but what does one accomplish without them?

Last night I got another text message from my mysterious paramour. It said "I am drem of teacher adaline tonight:) g9". Though my first class today was all women, there were four guys in the second group. I tried not to spend too much mental energy playing detective. Nobody was overtly besotted, so as long as I don't get any more and whomever's infatuation doesn't interfere with classroom dynamics I guess I'll take it as one more odd tale from my experience in Vietnam.

Let's hear it for the girls

Blame the internet's early bedtime for the infrequency of my posts.

3.7.12
It was the last day of my USA class. I held a review session disguised as a contest, and teams worked together to 1. list as many states as they could in eight minutes, 2. match a list of states and cities, 3. match a list of historical figures with their descriptions. In the first activity I only counted correctly spelled states, and teams' scores ranged from 17 to 30. Interesting alleged states included: Huron, Ontario, Brooklyn, Bronx, Mohata (Manhattan, I think), Canada, and Mexico. I expected the students to do really well, or at least better than they did, on the city-state matching exercise. Everyone paired Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and New York City with the right states, but St. Louis was almost exclusively paired with Louisiana. Much to my surprise, the students did a speedy and stellar job on the last exercise, and most groups got them all right. This was surprising since, when I used to have more specific quiz questions, questions about historical figures were rarely answered correctly. Members of the winning team received pens decorated with images from Texas, and I was happy to see them start using them right away. I also gave out magnets with the NYC skyline to the two students with the highest average quiz grade.

States, states, states

The evening's English club went especially well. It turns out that asking students what topic they want to discuss makes for much more active students during the discussion. What a surprise! Not only did everyone participate, they asked follow-up questions to their peers' replies and proposed additional questions for discussion. It probably also helped that there were only ten students. The topic was marriage, and there were only 9 female students until about halfway through, when one guy arrived. I learned about their ideal husbands and wives. One student (who is a ham and a half) said that she wanted to get married at 22 to an American, go live in the US, and have 12 children, which is why she wanted to get married so young. I wasn't sure if she was serious. The other students asked her if she wanted to make her own soccer team. Much to my surprise, two students said they don't want to get married. The class agreed that having eight boyfriends before getting married is too many, but 5 is ok. In between is a gray area.

Attractive professions and the qualities of an ideal husband

On my walk to dinner I talked to myself in Italian to refresh my memory. I figured talking to myself wouldn't make me stand out any more than I already do as a foreigner, female, person walking alone at night, and there wouldn't be much difference between me speaking one language no one else here understands and another. When I started speaking in different voices I decided maybe it was time to stop talking to myself.

3.8.12
Today is international women's day. In Italy, people give you yellow flowers and bars all have male strip shows to entertain the night's female patrons. In Vietnam, people give you flowers and other small gifts. So far, it seems that I am well on my way to having a full Vietnamese disguise. On Tuesday night I got a bedazzled purple shirt from the teachers' English club. Last night I got a flower arrangement and oranges, the latter for my continued recovery. Today I got a rose and a big floppy hat from my students, who also took me out for coffee during the break between periods. I also got a dress from the administrators.

After the gift-giving, class was business as usual until break. The students invited me to go to the canteen to have coffee with them, and break ended up being much longer than the scheduled 15 minutes.
 

Around lunchtime I got a very unexpected text message from an unknown number. Take a look:

My teacher! Please accept me today my wish for u HAPPY WOMAN DAY! Teacher isso bauety body and lovely hjhj. Love for you is  alway. I see u in my heart wish to forever with u. My LOVE my WIFE my DREAM FREIN and KISS. Som day i can hope to spaek open to u:D pjpj teacher

When I replied, asking for the texter to tell me his or her name, this is what I got: "Oh u do not reconi me :DDD i am wait for u hope for see u teach me in futre MY LOVE." Interesting.

In the afternoon I was supposed to go watch the women's day activities that were taking place. Originally, Trang had plotted to get me in the cooking contest despite my protests, but I was spared by the fact that only union members were allowed to compete. As I headed to the gymnasium, I was trying to set aside my misgivings about women's day being celebrated with a cooking contest, but when I arrived I was pleased to see that there were as many men as women on the cooking teams. It was a spring roll making contest, judged on quantity produced, presentation, and flavor.

The winning team

Another fanciful display

After the judging, everyone in attendance got to dig in. I should have known that any remotely important day would include food, and I should have known that there would be more food waiting in the wings. And with food and celebration, there is always alcohol. I watched the men flit from table to table, inviting people to partake of the shotglass they refilled with a plastic bottle full of moonshine. I had already eaten my last bite of dessert and some of the teachers at my table were starting to leave but my table had not yet been pollinated by the alcohol butterflies. Could it be possible that I would make it through the meal without having to down any drinks? Vietnam would never allow such a thing. They swooped in just in time, and then I was snared again later, as I was on my way out.

Life goes on

As if to confirm just how miraculous my sleeping in this weekend was, this morning I was awakened first by an insistent rooster, later by a text message from a student, next by screaming students, and lastly by a phone call from Trang. We were supposed to meet for lunch, so you'll forgive me if I dared to forget that I was in Vietnam and wasn't expecting to be summoned at 930 in the morning.

Periodically, Trang will tell me that 'something very horrible happens' and she will go under the radar for several days. She makes it pretty clear that she doesn't want to talk about it, so I never find out what kind of horrible things are happening. I wonder whether they are related incidents. I'll never know. Our morning meal together was significantly quieter than usual. Her mind was presumably on whatever issues she is dealing with, and I was barely awake because I stayed up way too late last night.

In the afternoon I met with Ms. Chau Anh, with whom I'd been leading the English club last month. She had asked me to look over a bunch of elicitation results for her thesis. It is a lot of work, and not work I'm entirely comfortable doing, but from what I've heard from my fellow ETAs, it is a pretty normal request. I meant to get through most of it this weekend, but getting sick got in the way, so I didn't have much to show her today. We chatted about how busy she is, and eventually the topic shifted, implicitly, to reciprocity. She asked me if I needed anything, and I said no. She told me that if I ever did, I should ask her. Then she told me that if I ever needed money, I should feel free to ask her. I was quite taken aback. The last thing that would ever occur to me in my exchange rate position would be to ask a Vietnamese person for money.

A little while later I was summoned to the office, and when I arrived I found that I had been summoned to make and eat spring rolls. Let's just call it a sign of being in Vietnam that no one, despite knowing I'd been sick and am still recuperating, thought it might not be a good idea for me to make food for everyone else, and to double-dip in shared peanut sauce.

Sicky

Usually when I don't update for several days, it's because I'm off doing something exciting. Unfortunately, my recent absence is due largely to the opposite. I've been sick. I'd been feeling really tired all last week, and by Thursday night I was pretty sure I was coming down with something. That night I went out for pho, which felt like a big accomplishment because, believe it or not, it was the first time I've gone out to eat alone in Ben Tre. Usually, if I'm alone, I just get takeout and eat back in my room. But, I wanted pho and I go there often enough that I felt like I would feel safe enough even though when I go at night I usually see leery groups of men. It was a successful accomplishment and I found out that one of my students works there, part time. Though the pho was good, it wasn't magical, and I spent the next several days in bed.

Conveniently, the next several days were Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, during which I had no obligations. It wasn't until today, Monday, that being sick interfered with any obligations. In what any ETA will tell you is a miracle of immense proportion, I managed to sleep in until 11, uninterrupted, for the last four days in a row, even before I had told anyone that I was sick. I literally have not gone outside since Friday. I slept through most of Saturday, and Trang brought me chicken soup for dinner and and instant chicken soup for me to make later. Yesterday, in addition to being sick, I had no power or water until nightfall. I spent the day alternating between reading, trying to nap, and being utterly bored, sweating throughout the day. Trang's sister brought me more soup in the afternoon. Today I feel better but still have no voice and could still use some rest, which is why I'm not teaching.

"the best tasteful instant bean thread soup" is actually chicken soup with rice noodles

What kind of sick was I, you may ask. I will tell you: a very strange kind. I never had a fever. I never had a cough - or maybe I did but the fact that I had almost no occasion to talk during 72 hours kept the coughing to a minimum. I had fatigue and extreme body ache and I lost my voice. But the fatigue and body ache were enough that sitting up for over an hour was overwhelmingly exhausting, and my body hurt even when I was laying down. I noticed that I generally felt better after eating, but getting up to make food was so tiring that it felt like a trade off. I was very fortunate to have all of my caring food deliveries. So, for now, I'm feeling better but still voiceless.