Phew...

It's been one week since I've been here and this CELTA course definitely kicks butt. I was able to use my slightly off circadian rhythm to my advantage since I've been needing to wake up early to prepare for teaching practices (so waking up at 6AM hasn't been a bad thing at all). Teaching has been fun, but boy, it's definitely tons of work.

The students, and everyone in general, have been rather curious about me. The first day I taught was an introductory lesson where they got to guess some facts about me, e.g., nationality, number of siblings, etc. For nationality, they all guessed Korean or Japanese and it was a surprise for them to hear that I was a Vietnamese American. When I go out to the streets and speak [my broken] Vietnamese, I often get asked where I'm from as well. Some are especially nice and say that I speak Vietnamese well, but I know they are lying. =P

On my first day out, my cousin, Tam, took me around Saigon. Unfortunately, I didn't realize where to place my feet on the motorbike and I just put them wherever. I noticed them getting a little hot but thought nothing of it. When I got off the bike, however, I realized they had slightly melted one of my sandals because I had put it on the exhaust. It's OK though. I can still use them. In fact, I'm wearing them now.

To Janny, Anni, Varni and Shuk, I've yet to try squeezle. I don't know if they have it here and don't know how to translate. However, I will ask around to see. Plus (this might be because I haven't really been out all that much yet) I haven't seen the on the street karaoke. I know there are a lot of karaoke places though...maybe I'm in the wrong district?