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.