Settling in...

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So it's been about a month or so since my last post. Lots of new things to talk about. Guess I'll start with the school...

I have a full complement of classes now. I teach Tues/Thurs from 5:40 till 9:40, and on the weekends I have a marathon of classes: 4 classes on Saturday and Sunday, a total of 16 hours teaching every weekend and roughly 24 hours in the school. Different levels each present their own challenges. With the younger kids you have to keep them on task and have them practice the language points ad nausea (sp?). Classroom management is king for my junior level classes. On the other side of the spectrum I teach Seniors and Elites on the weekdays. These are kids anywhere from 13-18 years old. The thing that strikes me every time I walk into class is how much fun they are to teach. Even the worst kid in the worst class is miles better than any American student of a similar age. The upper levels already know most pertinent English grammar, so the classes usually involve discussions and debates: having the students use all the grammar/vocab they have accumulated in a real way.

An odd thing I've noticed about Vietnamese students is that they can not place a Westerners age at all, much in the same way that I can not tell a Viet's age at all. In my highest level elite class the students were shocked to find out that I was 23. When I asked them how old they thought I was they said anywhere from 30 to 42.

I have been pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoy teaching. On Sunday night when I get off and everyone is heading out to their favorite restaurants and bars to cap off the weekend, I feel immensely satisfied. The moment when you realize that your students are actually learning from you is special. I just did a speaking test with my J-2's (very low level) and I noticed that even the worst student was able to use the location prepositions (in, on, under, outside, etc.) I had taught them correctly and fluently.

Moving on...

I have come to love living in a big city. Obviously there are things that take getting used to: the traffic, the noise, the pollution, etc. But the benefits far outweigh any of those issues. Every night I venture out I find new places, meet new people, try new things. Heading farther and deeper into what I would call the 'real' Saigon. The other night I went over to my friend Jeff's place and we spent the day hunting around the city for a place to get his Xbox modded. The whole ordeal took most of the afternoon and took us all over District 1 and 3. We haggled with store owners, hunted down shops, eventually finding what Jeff needed. After getting some much needed video game time in (one of the few things I miss over here) we went out to get dinner. Keep in mind this is about 12am on a Wednesday night. We hop on his bike and head over to a tiny place in D. 3 next to the river. Getting that deep into the city means two things. A: You will be the only foreigner. B: They will not speak any English. The place was a fluorescent lighted room with low tables and chairs. We drank Saigon Red beer and Jeff ordered us a menagerie of meat, noodles, shrimp, and vegetables. It was delicious and we managed to semi-converse with the 5-8 young men that were running the place. It was a surreal experience. The foreign (yet tasty) food and drink, and the din of rapid-fire Vietnamese (stories and jokes it seemed from their reactions) was somehow entirely foreign yet very familiar at the same time. That sort of thing seems to happen a lot around here. Even though you are in a huge foreign city where most of the population couldn't understand any English, you feel at home.

Another scene that needs expressing. I was coming back from a friends house, about 4 km away from my apartment, walking down Nguyen Thi Minh Kai (one of the main streets in Saigon) at about 2am in the morning. The night air was cool, the perfect temperature. That late at night you are presented with a much different scene. The streets are mostly deserted except for xe om (motorbike) drivers sleeping on the seats of their scooters, the homeless vendors sleeping on doorsteps, and the sad-eyed Saigon girls that offer you *ahem* services. Every once in a while a scooter driver will wake as you walk by and ask you if you need a ride. The girls see you coming from down the block, looking expectantly as you walk by ("Hey you! Hey you!") But the scene that sticks with me, even though I was drunk and tired was this. Almost half way home I hear a motorbike coming down the street past me, nothing special. As it goes by I see a youngish girl (maybe around my age) riding a brand new, screaming yellow Vespa. Again nothing special. But as she rode by I heard her singing. Her voice was clear and strong over the buzz of her scooter. She was good, very good. I can still hear her voice as I sit here a week later, the image frozen in my mind. A girl riding down a deserted street at 2am singing to herself. It was a sublime moment.

There is lots more I'd like to talk about, such as my upcoming practical riding test to get my Vietnamese driver's license (if you've seen the Top Gear special in Vietnam, it is exactly the same test). But that will have to wait. The rental company is dropping off my bike in a bit and I need a nap.

Love you all.
Spencer

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