At last, I catch up on my entries (yay!). Its been 3 weeks since I'd stepped onto the plane and I must say that I am still as energized and inspired, if not even more, than I was when I started. Maybe its the food, the people, or the void in my heart that is being filled each and everyday that keeps me going. Whatever it may be, I cannot wait for what else there is in store for me the next five weeks I have with my people. Every day continues to be a journey, whether through exhaustion or through excitation, I am still filtering my experiences, day by day. It delights me to feel at home and a member of such a vibrant family away from my family, away from my family (my family in the center to my family in my village to my family back in California).
The morning today was to be rather different than the others, as I decided with the Hong family the other day that I wanted to explore more of Hue. Mrs. Hong suggested that I visit one of the nearby World Heritage Sites, a royal citadel of one of the kings of Hue. She suggested that her daughter and I set off at around 6:30 AM to bike over to the citadel, about twenty minutes away or so, and visit it. Why not?
Six o'clock. My three alarms rang one after the other, pulling me out of bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Shortly after, I called Ua, telling her to get ready and head down to the entrance of the center to pick up our bikes. I walked over to the Mrs. Hong's house, picking up a red bag full of food items and drinks to have at the site. Though my stomach growled, I decided to wait 'till a better time to eat, as I had a class scheduled at eight thirty in the morning (pushed back thirty minutes from its regular time). When I finally gathered all my items from my room, I marched on down to the entrance, waving at my brothers tending to their morning chores, and also staring far into the cloudy horizon. Some of the younger children greeted me at the entrance, curious of where I was going today. The gardener of the center handed us our bikes, pulling them out of the main storage room, and waved us goodbye. And off we went, flying through the wind towards our destination.
By this point, I handed gotten a good grip on biking along the roads in Hue, not having much worry over any possible accidents. With the wind and my hair and debris flying into my face, I felt a sense of freedom, being able to travel to wherever my legs would take me, granted that my bike doesn't give out (which I hope never happens!). Before we reached our destination, Ua suggested that we eat at a vegetarian restaurant for breakfast. We had two bowls of noodles and ordered coconut juice for drinks. Looking around the restaurant, I saw a rather empty eating area, locals still not coming out to eat just yet. On the road, the traffic was light, making for a much more enjoyable ride over to the citadel.
On the way over, Ua showed me her old middle school, and pointed out many other buildings that I fail to remember the name of (my name remembering skills need some work). I noticed one of the nearby high schools that appeared next to the names of many of the students of the center. Interesting, it was about a fifteen minute ride away, close enough to the center to bike, but walking would be much more difficult. On the sides of the roads, vendors were getting ready for the day, setting up shop and waiting around for customers. There were so many items that I didn't have the name for in Vietnamese, some that I wanted that I knew I would not be able to take with me. We took wrong turn up at a fork in the road, but a woman pointed us back in the right direction. The final ride down the road made for a cooling, refreshing feeling entering near the entrance of the citadel. We parked our bikes at a nearby restaurant, promising to pay money for the safe keeping of our bikes. After buying our tickets, staring around at all the other tourists (many many Vietnamese), we entered the site.
Though it was of a different culture, the sites and sounds of this citadel reminded me of previous experiences in Cambodia, exploring the famous temples including Angkor Wat. The silence and serenity of the site, its modest construction and imagery stirred up memories of sites seen long ago. Near the entrance of the citadel, we were greeted by a large lake of lilies, flowers, and vegetation, spotting the entire lake, coloring it in red, yellow, and green. Some visitors could be seen in the far distance, relaxing underneath one of the little huts erected onto the lake. And so off we went, seeing the site, learning about the history of the kings in Vietnam, looking at some ancient belongings, and taking in the peace and comfort given off by the site. It was a place that the King retreated to when he had finished his worked. He would be greeted by performers, concubines, entertainment of various kinds, and many other amenities, all provided for his happiness. To be honest, I expected there to be a little more active parts of the experience, but hey, it was another ancient temple fiercely guarded and kept simple and clean. Noticing the time near 8:10 AM, we decided to head back so I could begin my class on time. Upon getting back to the site, I ran back to my room, grabbed my books and headed off to the library, noticing the students just walking up to the library to join me. Whew! I made it.
The morning class was with the high school students. I cannot wait 'till all of the students return to the center, as many of them are still on their fifteen day summer break back at their hometowns. No worries, the lesson went well, as we went over new vocabulary and conversational sentences, something that I am using extensively to teach speaking and grammar to the students. During our break time, I brought out some of the left over chocolate bread, bananas, and french baguettes for the students in my class. "I love you!" said one of the brothers jokingly, "Let me kiss you!" I laughed and ate with them, relaxing during this time, as my legs were a little bit sore from the riding in the morning. When I last finished my lesson, I waved off my brothers, tidied up the room, and settled back into my room for a short nap before lunch.
Lunch actually did not happen for a while, as I waited for about forty minutes at the lunch table, waiting for my brothers from the baking school to arrive, but was told to eat without as many of them were busy baking for an order. Eventually they came out one by one, eating and chatting with me about their day. The difference with eating with this group than the other group is that the TV is on all the time and every brother seems to have something to say. I found it entertaining to try my English with them, as their teacher told me that they needed some help with their speaking skills, which I mentioned are practiced every single weekday. Finishing my four bowls of rice and a bowl of lychees (within the rough exterior of the fruit lies a sweet, fleshy fruit covering a seed), I went back to my room to relax and work on my lesson plan for the primary school children in the afternoon.
When it became the time to teach, I ran over to the library to greet my students, the three primary school students at the time, joined by a couple of their older siblings. My students names were Ni, a 1st grader, Man, a 5th grader, and Chinh, a 5th grader as well. They were a cute bunch, obedient for the most part, except for a minor situation of playing with toys during the lesson. We went over names of different body parts and items in the library, months of the year, the alphabet, and days of the week. After about an hour into the lesson, Chinh asked me "Hey Ben, can we watch a movie in English?" Hmm... Why not? We decided on watching the first movie of the Harry Potter series, which some of children had already seen. They were enchanted by the movie, while I worked on some of my readings. Some of the other children came into the room to join us, commenting on the movie and complaining that we wouldn't have enough time to finish it all. It was amusing to see them discussing the movie and calling out names of all the items in the movie, as there were no Vietnamese subtitles for the movie. I did my best to translate what I could, but there are many many terms that I do not know in Vietnamese. At around four, I called the class off, but the children wanted to stay, as they had a scheduled library time to play from four to five. I left them to play and returned to my room, resting for a short while, and waiting until dinner with my brothers.
The rest of this day was rather mild, filled with visitations to my brothers from the first house, catching up on some readings, drumming on my drum pad, working out in my room, surfing the web, and planning out my lessons for tomorrow. Oh, I must add that we are going back to the swimming center again! Tomorrow at the same time, the center is scheduled to go, so I am excited to go with the students again, hopefully this time with no cramps. It is past midnight right now and I should probably go to bed in order to wake up early enough to ride over to the center with my family. Three weeks are done. It still only feels like the beginning of a long journey...
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