To Vinh Long

I just got back from visiting my parent's hometown, Vinh Long. On my mom's side, I've got a fair share of family there and two aunts from my dad's side. I was there for four days so didn't get the chance to visit everyone properly--another visit has been demanded.

So a couple of revelations from being in Vinh Long.

1) My mother really was incredibly pretty when she was younger. I never got to see any photos of her before she had come to the U.S. and it was great to see the few photos her family had taken of her before she left. Being in Vietnam has allowed me to learn tons more about her and I've come to admire her very much...To devote your youth to taking care of your family, helping your parents make an income, raising your younger siblings (the youngest was born when my grandma was almost 50!), refusing suitors because getting married would mean being unable to continue supporting your family...and then leaving Vietnam against your father's wishes in hopes of raising them out of poverty. I wish I had the same sort of passion and strength she did.

Here is my Ma Mi when she was around 20 years old. She is in the center wearing a salmon colored ao dai. The aunt I live with now is on the right of her.

2) Vietnamese people (or at least my family, both here in Vietnam and the U.S.) are incredibly adept at picking out little differences in physical features. For example, every time I visit my grandma, I'm either skinnier or fatter (which is what they prefer considering my paper thinness). I apparently I have a very good and pretty nose that I got from my dad. And I'm also getting too dark. From the encouragement of my aunts and cousins, I combatted the darkening powers of the sun with this get-up:

3) Riding a motorbike is tougher (for me) than I anticipated. I think my lack of balance and easily spooked nature doesn't help.

4) I really enjoy having cousins my age. In the U.S., everyone is either much older or younger than me. Having Tam around has been a lot of fun and it allows me to goof off. I'm glad I've finally met these guys:

So now, I'm back in Saigon and trying to get things set up for beginning work. It's good to be back here since it's like home now and to be away from the mosquitoes who love Viet Kieu (people who are Vietnamese by ethnicity but don't live in Vietnam) blood for whatever reason.

Phase One: Complete

So today was my last day of the CELTA course, a sweet finish to an intense but fun four weeks. I've definitely learned a ton about learning and teaching a foreign language which will probably help me on my quest to become completely fluent in Vietnamese. The students have been great, eager, and entertaining to chat with and so have my classmates. I've definitely learned tons on this course and I'm excited to start teaching (hopefully little ones =P)

Here is the last class I taught--these guys were great fun and energetic.

On our last day of the course, we took out all the classes to karaoke. Definitely discovered some hidden talents amongst us. I took a go at an old Vietnamese song, "Khong," which basically is about a guy who doesn't love a girl anymore: "No. No. I don't love, I don't love, you anymooooore" is literally how it goes.

My cousin, Tam, has also been a very gracious guide during my time here. We've gone out for yummy food, coffee, drinks, frozen yogurt, and so forth. Here we are at one of the many outdoor cafés:

Now that I'm finally done with this demanding course, I've had a bit of time to explore HCMC a bit. Yesterday, my cousin, Chi Tu, took me out to the market. It was probably what you would expect a market would look like in Vietnam: crowded, teeny aisles, small cubicles with clothes draping all over the walls, food vendors of all sorts, beautiful fabrics for making ao dais...And if you can't imagine it, here is a small visual:

I also went and got my hair cut and permed. I thought, why the hell, it's rather cheap to get those things done here. I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with the perm since at the moment, it's a bit of a poofy mess but eh, regardless, it's not a big deal and it was a fun (and long, say 4-5 hours?) experience. A picture of my sexy ridiculousness:

Perhaps after the hair has calmed down, I'll let you see the result. =P

Amongst the whirlwind of things

Favorite quote so far during my time here:

Anh Binh (my cousin's husband): [about pets in Vietnam] If they help us, we love them. If they don't, we eat them.

So for those who have wondered, yes they eat dogs here. They also eat field rats from the country. Apparently those are rather good. I'll let you know when I've tried some (not dog though, don't think i'll be eating that).

An interesting thing here is that people are very keen on keeping their skin as pale as possible. If it's sunny outside, I'll go out wearing a tank top and shorts and I'm an obvious foreigner. Locals here will have gloves, jackets and whatnot to cover their skin and to keep them from tanning. Funny how in the U.S., everyone's obsessed with being tan and here, everyone's all about being like Snow White. It's especially interesting that for me, I find white skin more attractive while I'm in Vietnam but I think the reverse is true when I'm in the U.S. Is this the context/environment getting to me or do Americans actually look better tan and Asians better pale? It's probably the former, isn't it?

I get mini panic attacks when I'm on the motorbikes here. Think streets like the game Frogger. I have total faith in my cousin who skillfully maneuvers around the streets, pedestrians, and drivers but I really do freak out a bit when he's off telling me about some landmark or building and doesn't have his full attention on the road. There have been a lot of almost accidents but I've yet to witness a collision, which is a good thing.

I'm getting more and more comfortable teaching. The first day, I was incredibly nervous and after I had finished, was completely skeptical of the reason I was doing the course even though the lesson had went well. Now, I'm feeling more confident and all my lessons have been generally successful! There really is a lot of thought that is put into teaching though, so I've got to pay much more respects to my teachers/professors now that I've been put in their shoes.