Rough Days

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Soo, I normally wouldn't do this, but the last few days have been terrible to the point of comedy. Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early to go to Cleverlearn to teach. My kids (9-11 year olds) were quiet rowdy....but we made it through class after a somewhat grueling three hours. I was told on Friday night that I would be teaching at a satellite school, which means that they are not an English school, but that Cleverlearn sends teachers in for a class here or there to help students with their English classes. I wrote up my 1.5 hour lesson plan, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. When I get there, it turned out there was no photocopy machine, or that the staff there didn't understand me. At any rate, my worksheet was not ready , but I figured we could take care of it in class. I showed up in the classroom just as it's started thunderstorming outside. In walk the kids...all 35 of them...and I pick up my only piece of chalk (a little over one inch long, no eraser). I start off with a basic introduction of myself, and ask if they have any questions. Dead stares are all I receive as a response. At this point, I realized my lesson plan was not quite cut out for their language level. (Ie: my work has once again misinformed me about what ability these students are). The Vietnamese TA translates, and I'm able to field a few questions about my relationship status....By this time, I'm feeling like it's time for a game. It seems that pictionary can't go wrong, but none of the students seem interested. I literally had to go over and put chalk in their hands. I tried to do the worksheet activity with them - not so succussful as I was hoping! It eventually dissipated into little boys running around the room chasing each other and yelling! I literally felt like Arnold Schwarzeneger during his first class in 'Kindergarten Cop'. Needless to say the class was less than a success, by any means. When the 2 hours was over, I breathed a deep sigh of relief...then had a cigarrette and some coffee. I'm not normally a smoker by any means, but the stress of the day thus far seemed to merrit some sort of drug use. SOOOOOOOO, I biked home (yes, I've rented my own motorbike) to find Joe sleeping on the couch. Here's where things get interesting:
In order to have our motorbikes safe from theft, we have to park them in the house, which means we have to get them up a retractable ramp on the front steps and then over the stoop before the living room. Now, as you may remember, I did have a moderate crash a few weeks ago, and it had been haunting me since. I was pretty frightened to get another motorbike, but they really are necessary here. There's no public transporation to compensate for a lack of vehicle. At any rate, I had been doing quite well and my confidence was somewhat restored.
When I got home, there was a group of neighbors sitting on our stoop - I can only assume that they were trying to look in at the white people's house (we're the only ones in the neighborhood). So, Joe put down the ramp, and as I'm telling him what a shitty day I've had, I start to push the bike up the ramp. Now, someone like Joe or Brian has no problem with pushing a large motorbike up a negative grade, but if you know me, you know I have pretty much no upper body strength. In order to compensate for one's lack of muscle, it's suggested that you put the bike in first gear and LIGHTLY put on the gas. I had done this before, but for some reason my hand slipped on the way up the stairs and I lost control, as the bike hopped up the front stoop and into the living room. I clearly couldn't let go, so I was dragged into the house until we ran into the back of the couch!! I (of course) toppeled over the bike, and when I looked up, I saw Joe standing stoicly, maybe a bit stunned, and a number of Vietnamese faces gawking in at me!! Imagine the horror!! I told Joe to shut the gates and made my way upstairs, for fear that I would start crying out of frustration. My work pants are now ripped, I have a HUGE bruise on my thigh, and my pride was more than a little wounded. If I had wanted drugs after class, that urge was nothing compared to what I felt after this mess. So, after a minute or two of collecting myself, I went downstairs, watched soccer with Joe, and drank a few beers. Things looked better after that.
When I woke up this morning, I was exhausted, and the prospect of six hours of teaching was less than appealing. To add to it, we have no water pressure, and thus no shower...bad news in a place where you sweat so much.
So, the rest of today has been going better - my class was much smoother and we played a fun game I made up. Yesterday was a combination of things - our house has been frustrating to say the least. Twice a day something different goes wrong, and I get the feeling our landlord dicked us over. I've been feeling overwhelmed by all the teaching, but I know it will get better as time goes on (I pray it will, anyway). All for now, my next blog is bound to be more optimistic!

..... a continuation would prove to be maybe not quite as full of good news as I had hoped.....


a few days later, a few more street smarts under my belt.

So, afer my disasterous classes, I had resolved that my next classes would go better, and they did! TUesday morning I felt wonderful after my class, and then I went to a casting for a photo shoot that's going to be all over Vietnam. Provided I get a role, I will make a descenet sum of money and have meals paid for me...maybe I'll even be flown to Hanoi. This is all quite a long shot, but whatever, I'm in Vietnam. After the shoot, I went home to rest and decided to go for a walk, which ended in my discovering a small used book store. My day was going great, and I decided to walk around a take some photos. I grabbed my IPod and camera and started walking around the maze of alleys that is my neighborhood. While I was in a particularly deserted part, two teenage boys rode by me on a motorbike. One of them jumped off and eventually made his way towards me. He acted bashful, and I thought he thought I had taken a photo of him, so I showed him the digital monitor and scrolled through some photos to show that I had not done so. THen, he started to take an interest, and asked me to take a photo of his friend who was down the alley. SO, i did. Then, he pointed to the sky and asked me to take a photo of that, which I started to do, until I felt his hand on going for my wallet in my back pocket. I quickly turned around, showed him the photo of the sky, and went on my way, making sure I had all my posessions. I thought that was the end of it, and I continued into the market area nearby. Shortly after, my camera battery died, so I started to head home. These boys rode by me again (while I was in a more crowded area) and sort of smiled, so I thought they were feeling rather sheepish. I continued walking in the direction of my place, when suddenly I heard a motorbike motor and one of the boys ran past me, grabbing my ipod cord as he went past! I yelled an expletive and started chasing, I was quite pissed, but my headphones had come off of my Ipod, so I wasn't too concerned with the loss. He dropped the headphones, but he and his friend hid in a alley, waiting for me to go past. I started yelling at him to stay away from me, and waving my hands. After a moment or two, I called Joe and asked him to meet me in the alleyway (I was on our 'street', maybe 100 feet from home). While I was waiting for Joe, an older male neighbor saw what was happening, came out, and yelled at the boys to leave, which they did. I was quite startled by the whole thing, I had never imagined being jumped in my alley during the afternoon. Obviously in the future I'll be more careful.

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Comments

[tom]

the sass
dont let anybody get ya down, you know you got love from all of the mealtime assassins, especially when you have a sassy cut. Hope everything keeps looking up for you, I love the travelblog. -tom

[ward]

only
i love getting these- the only real reason to turn on my computer! ward

[Jack]

Old Men to the Rescue!
Wowzers, that is what the big city life will get you, an old man saved me here once too, even if he was a drunkard. But beware, that is what the big city life will get you! Here my biggest fear is being hit by a tractor or an oxcart. But, to each his own.