How far is that from Smallville?

Business is picking up! I'm getting a lot busier now that all of my classes are meeting (my Mon/Tue classes have been canceled for the past two weeks). This week I'm also busy with preparations for English Club, which will meet at 7:30 am this coming Sunday. Yep. Bright and early Sunday morning. Because every weeknight and every Saturday is occupied with classes. (Katherine, in fact, was asked to teach a class on Saturday nights from 6pm until 9pm. She said no.)

Putting on the English Club, which normally draws some 200 students, is a lot of work. The English department and 4th year English majors are helping, though. My primary responsibility is organizing an activity about American Independence Day. I also have to help teach a song to the club goers. Just go ahead and imagine me teaching "Yankee Doodle" to 200 Vietnamese students at 7:30 on a Sunday morning. I can't decided if this is a step up or down from doing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".

My Monday and Tuesday classes going well, not surprisingly. (I say not surprisingly because everything in my life seems to be going well.) They're both classes with English major students, which means the classes are smaller, much more advanced, and mainly girls. Quite a big jump from my classes of 50 to 60 boys who catch about 30% of everything I say. Another difference from my non-major classes is that neither of my English major classes asked me to sing, nor did they ask personal questions about my romantic status. Instead, they asked me to give tips on reducing the stress of university life. And one boy, after hearing that I live in Nashville (I went with that because I thought it might sound more interesting than Lawrenceburg), asked me how far it was from Smallville. "As in, Smallville the TV show?", I asked. Yes, Smallville the TV show, he meant. The poor boy seemed really disappointed to learn that the town was fictional. I wonder if he thinks the events in "Smallville" are real, too? Surely not...

I'm starting to feel excited about having more work to do. It's really easy here for me to stay in a semi-vacation mode, and although that's been nice for the past few weeks, it's feeling good to be productive and helpful. I'm in a position to be quite helpful here--not that I'm smarter, or more knowledgeable, or here to "save" their English program. They're just short-staffed in the English department, which is, furthermore, only a year old. And in learning a language, it's always helpful to have a native speaker on hand. Finding a good line between work and play, though, is proving a bit difficult. I could work all day, every day, and still find more to do. Or I could just skimp on my work and go to the beach every day. Ms. Hong, my boss, always reminds me that I will face "many challenges" in Viet Nam because it's a developing country. Until now, I've assured her that I'm not really having any challenges. But today, as she was telling me for 100th time about "challenges", I wanted to say, "Yes, there is one big challenge--it's that beach right over there!!" I want to enjoy living in Vietnam, and I also want to contribute and be useful in the way that university needs me. I'm sure that after another week or two I'll strike a good balance, though.

I think part of the balance will involve soaking up every ounce of weekend, especially when they're as wonderful as mine was this last weekend. I had such a great time that I hardly remembered I'd planned to go to Hue. Saturday found me up and out at 6:30 am to get coffee with friends and go to Duan's tae kwon do competition, which was supposed to be at 8am. We waited until 10 before learning that his match had been rescheduled for 2. Katherine and I used the free time to scout out a new vegetarian restaurant, which was delicious, and a new bubble tea place, which we've confirmed is the best in the city.

Duan in his uniform

Duan kicking butt!

Duan getting pointers from his coach in between rounds

A tiny kitten in the vegetarian restaurant. I shouldn't really be touching animals, but I couldn't resist this one!

I also found my way (quite by accident) into what I call "Vietnamese Bracelet Torture": There are these little green jade bracelets that are really popular here. They're solid--they dont have a clasp or anything, so you just have to slide them over your hand. But the style/tradition is to wear the smallest ones possible, which means that putting them on involves scrunching your hand up to a painful degree while someone forces the bracelet over your hand. A teacher here was wearing one of the bracelets and told me about the process, but I didn't fully realize how painful it is until I stumbled upon the bracelets in a littler store and impulsively decided to go for it. It's a bit of a commitment because once the bracelet is on, you have to break it to get it off. But the bracelets are only about 3 dollars and very Vietnamese, so I decided it was worth it. The woman in the shop, a tiny Vietnamese lady in her 60s probably (and who was wearing one of the said bracelets), went and got a bowl of soapy water and her husband to help. She squatted down on the floor, and I did the same. After splashing soap water on my hand, she folded my hand in half and started pulling the bracelet down over my hand while her husband held my fingers and pulled them the other way. It was like they were playing tug of war. But it hurt like HELL. This went on for several minutes and finally I couldn't take it anymore. The pain was excruciating, between my hand being folded in half and the bracelet scraping against my bones. I was almost crying, squeezing Katherine's hand so much that she was probably in as much pain as I was.... I was yelling at the woman to stop, and trying to pull my hand away, but she REFUSED to let my hand go. There I was, writhing in agony as my torturer tried to fit the tiny jade bracelet over my hand. Finally, after much screaming on my part and Katherine's, I escaped. The woman went to get more soap, but I politely declined and walked away. My hand was sore and bruised, but it's getting better now. I'd still really like to have one of the bracelets, but I think I just need one a tiny bit bigger. Once my hand heals I'll give it another shot. In the mean time, this was (after the fact, at least) one of the strangest and most hilarious experiences I've had here...

all fun and games...

...until it really starts to hurt.....

...and despite my physical efforts, the old woman won't let go of my hand...

victory in escaping, failure in putting on the bracelet

Sunday, Katherine and I met Inaki at Louisiane beach. There, we also ran into Maryanne and her husband, Chris. I love running into people here--in the market, in the city, at the beach. It makes me feel like such a resident! It was a gorgeous day, maybe the best since I've been here. And I managed to avoid another full-body sunburn! (I'm still peeling from the last one, actually).

On Sunday evening we went for ice cream with Tu and Duan to celebrate the latter's second-place win at the tae kwon do competition. Katherine and I insisted on paying, since we were celebrating Duan's victory. After sternly forbidding him to pay, we learned that in Vietnamese culture, it's traditional for the "winner" to pay, not the other way around, like in America. If we weren't such good friends, I would have been worried about offending him. Oh, the triumphs and tragedies of cultural exchange!


During our celebratory ice cream outing, I also had my first experience with durian. It's a foul-smelling and tasting fruit that Vietnamese people seem to love. In fact, they love it so much, they make durian ice cream. If anyone can explain to me the appeal of ice cream made from a fruit that tastes like rotten eggs, I would be eternally grateful. Durian is one of two things here that I actively dislike; the other is an herb with a strong fish flavor. Eew!

I'm trying to soak up what could be the last sunny days for a while. It seems to be hotter than ever, though, so I've been trying to get up earlier (by 7am) to take advantage of the "cool" mornings. Evening bike rides into the city are becoming a favorite activity for me, as well. It's just too hot to be out and about and midday--unless you're at the beach!

I've also just discovered the beauty of Project Gutenberg. I just finished reading "The Metamorphosis", which I somehow missed in high school and was able to download from Gutenberg. Next up is "Through the Looking Glass", and I'm still working my way through "A Room of One's Own." Vietnam is as good a place as any to catch up on American classics, right?

In closing, I can't remember the last time I had a bad day. And I really, really like that feeling.