Having caught up with yesterday's happenings in my last entry, I can now focus on today! Not surprisingly, I have still not been able to sleep through an entire night here. It might be the heat, jet lag (nearly a week in?), or maybe that ghost that apparently haunts the house that I live (which apparently has four legs). I will get it down eventually - and next time I will elect to not drink coffee before my bedtime.
This morning I woke up at 6:00, after having slept about five hours. My uncle Duyet arrived to take me off to eat breakfast with him. Of course, I agreed and we set off on his motorcycle. I strapped on my helmet, put on my sunglasses and we rode off to eat. The children who were tending to their morning chores waved at us as we rode by, while Mrs. Hong's puppy, Min ran after us.
The streets of Hue usually are crowded with people from the early morning to the night. Motorcycles fill the streets, as well as bikes, and people seem to just drive with impunity. I noticed the lack of traffic lights and signs in many areas of the city, wondering how in the world people can drive like this and not risk injury every time they go ride. "You just ride safely and keep your eyes open for anything that could happen" my uncle tells me. Still I find it quite daring for so many people to be driving like this. For example, there are many instances where people are crossing from one street to the other, and people just continually ride, weaving in between one another. I guess this is possible due to the lack of larger vehicles, but I still see it to be quite dangerous.
We arrived at an outdoor restaurant, where my uncle ordered a dish called: Banh Mi Op La which was essentially french baguettes with a rather rich dipping sauce with eggs and/or beef. This dish reminded me of eating French Dip sandwiches. On the subject of the French, the impact of French culture can clearly be seen in Vietnamese culture, seeing as how the French had once controlled Vietnam for a one hundred years or so. It could be seen in the architecture, the food, the cooking methods, the songs, the language, the writing system, etc. It is such that a Vietnamese person speaking French was not an abnormal thing to see, but, of course, the times have changed and now English has become the focus. I took my time, enjoying my food, looking around at all the locals, their temperament, and also listening to the buzz of the all the motorcycles crossing every three seconds. At six in the morning, people are already getting to work and starting their days. I ended my breakfast with a cup of iced coffee, charging me up for my class that I was to teach at 8:00 AM.
Coming back at around 7:30 AM, I went back to my room and prepared myself for the class. Ron Van Nguyen, a second year university student, had been one of my closer brothers, as he took to talking to me in English the very first day of entering the center. He is about my height, a little darker, and is one year older than me. He currently is studying at the Hue School of Economics. He is one of my biggest resources here, as he can easily translate most English words into Vietnamese. My relationship with many of the students is actually quite reciprocal in that we all are exchanging language and culture with one other. Granted, I am of Vietnamese blood, but having lived in America for nearly my whole life, I think of myself essentially as an American, but with strong ties to my culture. From the children in primary school to the university students, I always remind them that they are also teaching me, as I am still learning how to properly speak Vietnamese.
Anyways, my morning class was for teaching the University students, who for the most part were busy in the morning. Of the orphans, about eight or so students were studying in various different universities of different professions. Today, Ron and another student named Bang, an older girl of the center studying at the Hue College of Science, joined me. We practiced pronunciation and grammar in the class and we also exchanged information about our educational systems in our countries. I learned quite a lot just from talking to the two of them today. In Vietnam, students choose the particular university that they wish to enter, such as economics, science, education, etc. and have to take what I think is a four day exam, ranging in various subjects. After being admitted to universities, primarily by their test scores, they take up to four years of schooling to receive an equivalent to a bachelors degree. If they wish to, they may go to school even further to receive equivalents of masters and doctorate degrees, however, many students are unable to go further than the first four years due to a lack of funds to higher education. "Its very difficult to get scholarships" Ron told me, "you have to be extremely lucky as there is just a lack of scholarships here." I exchanged some information about Dartmouth College and what not, even pulling out the gigantic Organizations, Regulations, and Courses manual for them to look at. They were fascinated and amazed at the breadth of courses offered by Dartmouth, not to mention the number of departments. Normally in Vietnam each college has about eight to ten departments, as many of them are specialized towards a certain field. They do take some form of a liberal arts curriculum, but still take very specialized courses geared towards certain career paths. We finished up our lesson at 10:00 and me and Ron walked back to our house to rest and get ready for lunch.
"So why here of all places in Vietnam?" asked Mrs. Hong, who decided to join our house for lunch, "there are many villages just like this in Vietnam, but why did you choose this particular one?" Min, her dog, was chewing at my feet while I sat at the table, barking here and there. "Well... my dad helped me find this place on the internet, on one of the mainstream Vietnamese news sites" I replied, "he read an article about the activities of the center and the level of organization that it has and saw that it would be a good fit for me." I additionally told Mrs. Hong, as well as my host mother, Ms. Be, and my brothers that the proximity of the center to my home village also played a big factor. There was no denying that I longed to return to see my family members and my ancestry. We continued talking for what seemed like an eternity (about an hour and a quarter after having finished eating lunch) and I went off to finish my last blog entry (teehee). I took a quick nap before my next class, which was to teach middle school children (in Vietnam, is from grade six to grade nine).
The rest of the day went well and very similar to the last two days. I finish teaching, play with the children, do my homework, write in this blog, etc. That said, tomorrow is my last day of the week that I am required to be at the center. After about 4:00 PM, I am allowed to run off to wherever I wish to go. Who knows, I may go visit some places in Hue that during the weekend. I am excited. Things are going smoothly...
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