Fruits of the Day

A pocket full of sticky notes (handwritten addresses for various computer stores) and four moto rides later, I have solved the problem of my charger pooping out and am back in action. I sit, at last, in my clever room, appreciating the breeze as the fan conducts its neck exercises (ri ight aand le ft)on the far wall. In fact, that feels great. (I pause for a few neck twists and a down dog.)

In addition to a functioning computer, I was blessed today with the opportunity to meet the very warm and friendly directors of an English program at a HCMC public school. Not knowing quite what to expect, I followed this lead at Hien's suggestion. Turns out that it's this beautiful open-air school with a tree filled courtyard and tables stacked with watermelon for the kids' midday snack. There are bright paintings on the walls and hallways - of Snow White and her Seven Dwarves and of elephants and other cute kiddy business. The job is, essentially, to lead a massive group of primary school children in a series of games for English review. The Vietnamese English teachers I observed did this quite masterfully with a striking hold of the students' attention. One coy teacher enticed her students into a guessing game in which she describes one of their classmates and the first astute guesser receives a lollipop. "This is a girl who is very pretty, has short curly hair, and studies English very well, but she is sometimes shy in my class." Or (haha): "This is a boy who I like a lot because no fighting, no interrupting in class. He studies okay, not good, but not bad, and he is, I think, a little fat." "Phuong! Phuong!" And that everlasting memory of childhood humiliation makes its debut. All said, I'm sure those kids loved the class. Another teacher put forth a game of tic tac toe, which totally absorbed the knee-highs. They were very sweet to me, as well, one boy in glasses following me out of the room to offer a humble little flower made from graph and purple origami paper.
The directors of the English language program, who greeted me and escorted me to the classrooms, were likewise, nothing short of heartwarming. Hung and his wife spoke English quite well, he, the main speaker, she, the precise interpreter, and seemed to offer me a job on the spot well as a home-cooked meal at their house this Sunday! We'll see how it goes. I'm headed there Sunday morning to try it out!

On the night time side of things, I've found the live music here! Yoko Bar, which I found one of the first nights out in Saigon, is the place to be, with a different band every night of the week. Lots of covers and some original material. Prettay fresh. Apparently, La Fenetre, a spot I'm peeping tonight, is comparably cool.

I plan, in my teaching, to evoke the great, avuncular Ho.