Just chilling around town

Hello all,

This weekend was a lot less eventful than the past one, namely because the excitement caused by BIRTHDAY then HO CHI MINH CITY ADVENTURES then OH MY GOD FIRST WEEK OF TEACHING left me completely exhausted. A quiet weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

On Saturday, Mr. Hoang met up with me to take me to a nice hotel for coffee. We went to the rooftop bar, where there is a fantastic view of the Mekong river.

This is what the cafe looks like

And this is what the river looks like

Just gorgeous

Almost every tree on the other side of the river is a coconut palm, and most of those palms are grown on small personal orchards of just a few hectares. 

After getting coffee, Mr. Hoang invited me to go drink coconuts with his friend from the college. First of all, we stopped by Mr. Hoang's shop, where we picked up his son, and adorable little boy who was very shy around me at first but slowly warmed up to me. Three people on a motorcycle, we headed off to the countryside

We went down winding concrete roads that cut through huge swathes of greenery, past dozens of houses, each with a small grove of fruit trees or coconut palms growing. Chickens roam in the yard, and dogs bark at you whenever you pass by.

View from the back of a motorbike

We got to the house, and Mr. Hoang introduce me to Mr. Truc, his friend from the department of Psychology. Mr. Truc did not speak any English, which was not that surprising. However, Mr. Hoang did a wonderful job of not acting as an interpreter, letting me communicate with Mr. Truc as best I could using my limited Vietnamese. I was able to tell him where my Mom is from, how long I've been teaching at the college, and to ask him about his family and where his daughter goes to school. Communication was by no means flawless, but I was able to get out more than I would've expected, and I was very glad that Mr. Hoang gave me the opportunity to practice my Vietnamese rather than simply serving as interpreter for convenience's sake.

After several cups of tea Mr. Truc asked if I would like a coconut. I said yes, and so his wife walked a few feet off the back porch, picked up a bamboo pole and knocked a coconut off the nearest palm. She flicked it with her finger and listened to the echo, then shook her head and knocked another coconut off the tree. Now she tested this one, and it must have passed because she cut it open with a cleaver and stuck a straw into it before handing it to me. 

The coconut tasted delicious.

These are what the coconuts look like...

...And this is where they came from

Mr. Truc and his adorable daughter

After spending some more time with Mr. Truc it was time to go. I didn't have any lunch plans, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was invited back to lunch at Mr. Hoang's house. While Mr. Hoang and his wife cooked, I watched tv with his son. The tv show was on the Vietnam channel, and I understood approximately none of what was going on. 

Fortunately, Mr. Hoang's son explained the entire show to me in great detail. Unfortunately, he did all of this in Vietnamese. So, I can't say I was greatly enlightened, but it was at the least an amusing conversation to have.  

There are different ways of absorbing Vietnamese culture. I'm going to state that watching Vietnamese tv counts.

Lunch was fantastic, although Mr. Hoang kept protesting that his wife hadn't prepared anything special and that he was sorry they weren't more prepared. Nonsense. The cháo cá (fish porridge) his wife had cooked was delicious, and I couldn't ask for anything more.

In the evening I decided to take my bike further than I'd gone before, biking all the way out into the city center. I had no particular plan of attack, just a map and a general desire to explore the city by myself. I biked past the supermarket, past a gym and past several restaurants that we had stopped at. I ended up biking as far south as I could, eventually stopping at the Mekong, right where we had lunch earlier that morning. The whole trip took maybe half an hour.

Mekong at dusk

Then, as the sun set I ended up biking through the Night Market as I continued my impromptu exploration of the town.

All of the lights and all of the shopping!

I got bánh uót and sugarcane juice at a food stall near the river, then ate my food as I watched the river and the market flow by. The dark waters of the Mekong seemed to balance the bright lights and the vibrancy of the market, giving the area I was in the peculiar feel of sitting at the exact meeting point of the yin and yang of Vietnam--the quiet, calm and serene atmosphere melding perfectly with the bustling, busy and loud people.

I paid for my dinner and biked home.  

On Sunday I stayed in all day and watched Captain America and the first half of The Avengers before the internet broke. I'm not proud. Oh well. 

Monday, I taught another speaking class, this one with Mr. Tuan. I played a whole bunch of introduction games with the students, and all of the games went very well. The students were big fans of one game where they throw a little flipbook (the "Magic Book" as I call it). You play by introducing a number of questions for the students, and whoever throws the book asks a simple question to the person they threw it to. It's simple and it's fun, and there is always a good deal of chaos with the book flying around that the students enjoy. This is the third time I've introduced the game, once for another speaking class and once for an English Club, and each time it's gotten good results. I should probably put it under wraps for a while just so it doesn't get old, but I really do like this game. 

My students and Mr. Tuan playing the "Magic Book" game.

After class I biked to the supermarket, and then spent the afternoon asking Mr. Hoang's help to fix up various broken things around the apartment.

In the afternoon we played soccer, the teachers against a bunch of local high school students. It was a lot of fun but not particularly challenging. When I got back to school I saw a bunch of college students playing soccer on the concrete schoolyard. I've seen them almost everyday, and once I stopped to watch them, but I had never had the courage to join them. They are much better than the teachers, and playing on the concrete wasn't particularly appealing, and I had never seen any other teachers play with them. Oh, and none of the students spoke any English.

But hey, eventually it's time to stop worrying. I laced up my sneakers and asked if I could play. Two minutes later I was in the middle of a dizzyingly fast-paced game with students who seemed equal parts confused and amused about the possibility of playing with one of the teachers. I managed to not embarrass myself, and although I didn't score I did come very close a few times, each time eliciting shouts of "very good!" from an entirely non-English speaking crowd. It was quite a lot of fun, and hopefully my knees can stand up to another few games with the kids.

After soccer I started biking out the gate, intending to stop at some street stall to get dinner. Mr. Tuan pulled up next to me, and hearing my plan he invited me to go to dinner with him. He took me to a street stall that served cháo vịt, or duck porridge/chowder. It was delicious, and I appreciated the impromptu dinner offer quite a bit. I made plans to get coffee with him on Thursday, then headed back home to wrap up some .

So, a quiet weekend in Bến Tre, but I had my share of fun. Looking forward to another week of teaching! And probably a little relaxing on the side as well...

...like chilling in the school cafe with a nice cup of coffee

Oh, and I just realized I never thanked people for my birthday presents/well-wishes! My parents and siblings were kind enough to pack me a few presents, and thank you so much for packing those for me! At Bến Tre College Mr. Vu and Mr. Luan were kind enough to give me presents as well, and thank you very much!

I also just received a care package from Di Huyen, Cau Michael, Matthew and Caitlin. Matthew and Caitlin have been reading my blog since the beginning, and Matthew (screen name: "firedrake") has easily been the most frequent and enthusiastic commenter on this blog. It was great to receive a package from them, so thank you so much Di Huyen, Cau Michael, Matthew and Caitlin!

Finally, thank you to all of you who wished me a happy birthday, from the United States, from Vietnam and from a few other places in the world. I'm lucky to have friends and family like all of you.

Thanks for reading!

Peace,
Jefferson