Day 22: September 11, 2014

I can already tell that Mondays and Thursdays are going to become the "how long can I sleep until I actually have to get up" days. I just have to remind myself that it will be worth it to go to Vietnamese class! That class is easily turning into my favorite one. Today, we went over our homework and then learned how to ask how the other is feeling and how to ask for their name. There are five students in our class, four Vietnamese student assistants, and our teacher. The small numbers are really helpful, because we each get to practice one on one with a native speaker. While I was practicing with the professor today, he told me that the some of the students are impressed by how quickly I am picking up the language and also how I am able to correct myself when I realize I said something wrong. Not sure if he says this to all of the students but I'll take it!

Another thing I've noticed is that I think the Vietnamese associate height with beauty. In the market yesterday, for example, these two girls were staring at me and after they said "so tall" they also said "beautiful". My professor today also said that the female student assistant is impressed by my beauty. The reason I think this is associated with height is because the women who wear the traditional dress of Vietnam are taller than the average Vietnamese women. Also, I learned that many Vietnamese are short because their diets are lacking different nutrients. So perhaps that also associate height with wealth and in turn beauty.

The rest of the day was spent doing homework and packing for this weekend before heading to service learning at 5:30. I grabbed a waffle from a street vendor to have as a snack for 10,000d. The waffles from the street vendors are thinner, like a pancake, and not as crispy as a waffle from the states either.

Service learning was a lot better tonight than Tuesday. We were split into groups of two Loyola students and two members of DRD, which is the place where we are volunteering. We were given a deck of cards and a sheet of paper that had a different question associated with each card. The point of the game was to just go around the circle answering the question you drew as a way to interact with native English speakers. It was super easy and a lot of fun!

When we got back to the dormitory, I had a fast supper of banh mi. Now it's time to finish packing for our awesome weekend in Nha Trang. Our bus leaves tonight at 11pm and is supposed to get to our destination sometime between 6 and 8am. Can't wait to relax for the next few days and see another part of Vietnam!

Since I will be having a blast in Nha Trang this weekend, don't expect any more posts until Monday. Hard to believe that fall is starting in the states when it is continues to be 80 degrees over here.