This blog will have to cover the last two weeks. Here goes nothing. Last week featured the last few days of March, lots of teaching, a trip to DiDi's family's house in the Mekong Delta, and more teaching.
I have been substitute teaching for two kindergarten classes and one preschool class every afternoon for a couple of weeks now. I never thought I'd really enjoy kids that young, but it's truly a lot of fun to teach them. Since the current unit is on clothing, I brought in some of my clothing (pants, dress, socks, glasses, shoes, etc.) so that the kids could dress up and we could play games in order to elicit language from them. They loved wearing my giant gray Camp Washington sweatpants. :)
In terms of the preschool class, they are just hilarious. One little boy is barely three years old and was just enrolled in the school. He doesn't speak any English and just stares at me blankly when I ask him questions or attempt to get him to copy my speech. He also gets really upset when his mom isn't the first parent inside the classroom. Last week he got really upset that his mom was a few minutes late to pick him up and he projectile vomited his entire serving of milk.
There's also this other little boy who has been known to kiss the girls. The other day I was teaching and saw him kiss a little girl out of the corner of my eye. I waited for her reaction which was simply to look at me and, while wiping off her cheek, say the word for "dirty" in Vietnamese. The boy just smiled so big that his chubby face crept up and turned his eyes into small crescents. Needless to say, they are full of energy and smiles.
I've also been teaching business English to adults on Friday nights (and now Saturday nights). It's going really well, actually, and some of my students (who are my parents' age) have even been getting their friends to enroll. I take that to mean that they like the class. :)
In terms of Sai Gon Movement, I've been helping Abbie create a curriculum and teach Wednesday classes. This past week I taught them the proper form for shooting a basketball, which went really well. Those classes have been going really well and it's so nice to be able to teach something that's not English for once. The movement classes require a whole different way of teaching and I enjoy it. I also get to employ many Camp Washington original games. Funky Ball will be making an epic debut in Sai Gon in a couple of weeks. Watch out, Viet Nam!
Last weekend DiDi and I went back to her hometown. We brought a blender for making fruit smoothies and photos I had developed from the last trip there. We took a Friday night bus and had a shoddy night of sleep. By the time we arrived at her house, DiDi had motion sickness and went to sleep. I stayed awake and got some breakfast with her mom, who was eager to show the neighbors that the American had indeed returned. The whole weekend was spent eating, napping, and spending time with DiDi's family members. On Saturday, all four of her sisters visited her mom's house and we all chilled out with the kids and had some more awesome food. I slept on the tile floor of the front room under a mosquito net and next to her young cousin. Sunday morning brought the family back to the house and we all left together on motorbikes. After a 45 minute ride through the rice fields and following thin dirt roads, we arrived at DiDi's uncle and aunt's house. I had visited there the last time I was in the area in January. In their backyard are the graves of DiDi's grandmother and grandfather. This was the day of their rememberance day for those ancestors. The family gathered around, lit incense, spread out some rice mats, offered some food, and prayed. Then they all sat down next to the white concrete graves and ate the food, drank the rice wine, and had a sweet family lunch. The duck was awesome. It was really cool to be part of their ancestral remembrance day and to spend time with her family. They make sure I eat until I've had a healthy serving of everything.
Then we chilled out, had some shots of rice wine, and said our goodbyes. After an extremely short boat ride across the river, we reached the motorbikes and left for DiDi's mom's house. There we all lay on the floor and napped in the intense heat. It was so incredibly hot all weekend. April is the hottest month of the year and even the tile floor in the shady house was warm. The air hitting my face on the long motorbike ride was hot and full of moisture. I don't think I've ever felt so dirty in my entire life, even after a good night of Get to Know Your Counselor. :) On the bright side, I got to take what I've deemed "bucket showers" as they feature a small bathroom, clean water, and a red bucket with which to rinse the soap off your body. It's a pretty cool way to shower (which most of the world uses) and I was horrible at it the first time. I used a lot of water and still felt soapy. I was better at bucket showering by the end of the trip. Also, DiDi's mom washed my hair for me. I just crouched next to the house and she lathered and rinsed it for me. :)
More eating, sleeping and reading (I accidentally devoured the novel "The Shadow of the Wind" in a day) ensued on Monday and by Monday night we boarded a bus bound for the city. Some random Vietnamese guy kept falling asleep on my shoulder and I didn't get much sleep at all. We arrived back at our apartment at 3:30 on Tuesday morning. I fell asleep on the mattresses I set out in the living room, as I discovered more bedbugs and eggs in our bed on the night before we left for DiDi's hometown. Even after disinfecting our entire room and getting a whole new bed and mattress, they returned. After some careful inspection by JP, he discovered that his room also is infested. I'm just tired of it now. On this past Thursday night we had an exterminator come and spray the apartment. JP took the opportunity to move into a hotel room for a few days and DiDi and I have been sleeping and spending time in Inny's apartment, which is two floors above ours. We're not allowed to go into our bedrooms because the chemicals are harmful. I just hope I don't get sick later in life.
Other than that, I've been keeping to my regular schedule of waking up early, having some breakfast, going to the gym, eating lunch, drinking coffee, and teaching. At night we usually go out and see friends or watch movies. In addition, I received a package from Amanda (which made my week) and have just received one from Becca Pav as well. Everyone knows how much I love getting mail! :)
Pav's letter came complete with a little naked baby. So here begins the tiny naked baby chronicles, where he will appear in many different places in Viet Nam. I know at least Pav and I will find it entertaining...
And here are some of my favorites from the past two weeks.
That's all for now. Have an awesome Easter! He is risen!
