Last English Class

After posting my blog in the hallway of the dorm last night, I came back to my room, showered, and wrote the introduction for my “Vietnamese Life and Culture” class’ final paper. I finally decided what to write it on- Vietnamese families and the businesses they run out of the front of their houses. I then read for a while and fell asleep at midnight.

My Wednesday began at 8:00, when I got ready and then checked my email and talked to Andy online. I ate my usual egg sandwich on the way to class and arrived a bit late. Class was interesting because we finished chapter ten and then reviewed from the first to the seventh chapter. Class ended on time and I walked back with Jackie, since we had to spend a bit of time in two stationary stores. We searched and finally found a journal as a prize for one of our students that had won the ABC Game last week. We then went to her room and planned for our class this afternoon and at noon we headed to our rice buffet for lunch. The three Vietnamese girls across from us talked about us the entire time and didn’t even try to hide it.

I then returned to my dorm room and had a sing-a-long while I continued to write my paper that I began last night. A little before 1:30 pm I tore myself away from writing in order to get dressed and meet my fellow teachers in front of the dorm. We took the 31 bus, arrived on time, presented one of our supervisors, Huong, with her spa gift certificate, and then Jackie and I taught our class in the big room alongside Graham and Natalie’s class. We didn’t have chalk, so we played the ABC Game for almost the whole class. We tried to squash the cheating and the kids love that game so whatever. Then Graham and Natalie gave their class some 3-D glasses and then gave the rest to our class, which was nice of them. They had a ball with them and at 4:00 the other two classes came into the big room and everybody was given a little baggy of these crab-flavored chips and some jelly candy. Some of our students came up to the microphone and said their goodbyes while I was being bombarded by requests for my email address. At 4:45, Jackie, Leah, Natalie, and I went across the street to our usual Monday morning breakfast spot and got some banh bao (fried dough balls that you dip into condensed milk). By the time we ate, paid, walked to the closest bus stop, caught the 8 bus, and walked back to the dorm, it was already 5:30. I then talked to Jill, looked at some pictures, and have been checking my email because there are so many from our professor concerning our final papers and photographs.