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One month has gone and it flashed by so fast I hardly know where it went. In that time I've visited several classes to listen in and answer questions, been to meals and coffees umpteen times, obtained a few Facebook friends, been taken to a Buddhist temple, and been to two weddings.
We've also seen Independence Day and the Hungry Ghost and Mid-Autumn festivals go by. Independence Day (from the French 2nd September) was just as we arrived and flags were hanging outside every building but we were unaware of official celebrations. Hungry Ghost Festival is the day when souls consigned to the under world are allowed to return to the upper world and visit their homes and families. Food for the wandering souls is placed outside the houses. Mid-Autumn Festival reminded me a little of Halloween. It's a children's festival and kids dress up and wander the streets banging drums and performing lion dances and asking for money. Giving them money will bring you good luck. No trick-or-treating so a bit friendlier than Halloween.
Finally, to cap it off we've just experienced our first tropical storm for the season - number seven for the year. We were advised to get in food and water and not to venture out when the storm was due to hit. In the end the storm changed direction slightly and passed to the south of Quang Ngai so we had lots of rain but no problems where we are.
University Life
I've been sitting in on an American literature class once a week, listened to student presentations and been asked to make comments (!). I've really been enjoying them - either revisiting authors from my student days or learning about others I've never read. I've even been inspired to get ebooks to read myself afterwards. I think my education will be much improved! I was also invited to an interpreting class, where I spoke for a minute at a time and students took turns to translate. That was fun.
I sometimes feel a bit cowardly for not having a go at teaching, especially when English teachers are so hard to get in countries like China and Vietnam. However, a glance at the course schedule convinced me I made the right decision. In the literary devices lesson, it started out okay with simile and metaphor, denotations and connotations I could handle, but litotes, metonymy, synecdoche, zeugma and chiasmus I'd never heard of.
We're being looked after so well. People are friendly to the point we sometimes feel under siege. They pop by our room to go for coffee over the road, bring us fruit, stop us in the grounds and take us to meals, join us in the local eatery, call us over to join them at roadside drinks stalls as we pass, text us to meet for meals. People are keen to get together so they can practice their English. So much for learning Vietnamese!
We're adjusting to our life in our little room, perhaps too much so. However, just to make sure we don't get too comfortable, we've had plumbing problems descend on us. For the first week or so it was fine, but now the second shower also gets a foot bath thrown in - and it being a Vietnamese all-in-one bathroom it gets alarmingly close to the door sometimes. I swear I'm not superstitious but we're in room 101 here and we were apartment 101 in Lanzhou! I think actually it has to do with being on the end of the line.
Weddings
I went to a wedding with one of the teachers a few weeks ago (or rather the wedding reception, the other ceremonies are for the families) and subsequently Owen and I were both invited to the reception of a teacher at the university who got married last week. Both were at large hotels in town and both somewhat whirlwind affairs. Greet the couple and parents on the way in, deposit the gift envelope and sign the guest register, then find a table to sit at. A musical item while the guests trickle, in then the bridal party entrance to music and "fireworks". Cut the cake (but it's not eaten at the reception), pour the champagne into the spiraling pyramid of glasses and toasts between the wedding party, all in rapid succession. Scrumptious food in a five or six course banquet accompanied by songs performed by guests and during which the bridal party visits each table for greetings and toasts. Then it's all over in an hour and a half and off home, or back to afternoon classes, for guests.
Wardrobe Fail.
Having taken a few "work clothes" to China just in case, I never took them out of the cupboard the whole time we were there - so I left most of them behind when we left. Not even expecting to work here I just brought casual clothes and (fortunately) a couple of dresses. People dress conservatively here, compared to China where jeans and teeshirts were all the go. Jeans aren't generally worn, except by students, and no-one wears teeshirts to the university - except occasionally ones with lots of beading or other ornamentation. I brought one beaded tee shirt, which I trot out regularly, and try to dress up my newest bamboo tops with necklaces and earrings. Even the XXL blouses I've tried on in the shops are too snug, so I'm still plucking up the courage to find a dressmaker to make me some more acceptable shirts.
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