Book I

So now that the first couple days are over, I feel quite comfortable and at home here in Nha Trang. I'm staying in a very typical and beautiful french/vietnamese home with a Danish woman and as of yesterday, another volunteer. She's from England and her name is Sophie. She's come all the way across Russia and down through China and is spending two weeks teaching with me in Nha Trang. Seeing as we've both spent the past couple days on our own, we both welcomed a day of chatting and exploring and generally just enjoying good company. We spent the afternoon on the beach after she had slept and I finished teaching my class (will write an entry on the school in a bit). The beach is spectacular with potentially surf-like water(which is warm!! :)) and fairly empty seeing as the vietnamese don't like to tan. Where I try and wear T-shirts or mid-sleeve shirts to stay conservative and absolutely melt in the heat, they are frequently fully covered with masks and gloves. The women don't like to be exposed to the sun because fair skin is considered more attractive. It's a perfect example of "we always want what we can't have" seeing as north american women tan inside just to keep some colour. The beach has major pro's such as: a fairly strong wind which allows you to enjoy your time on the beach in terms of keeping the temperature sane, 5km of great beach, no docks or personal watercraft so the waterfront is absolutely clear, not busy at all since the only people who visit the beach in the day are caucasian or are selling things to caucasians. The major con of the beach, however, is just that - the vendors. They are, in my opinion, Nha Trang's major flaw. Men and women, sometimes children, get in your face and sit down next to you with whatever they are selling and are very difficult to dissuade. There are five types: Men with portfolios of their families paintings(although they must be a huge family seeing as there all the same...), women with a sweet papadum-like bread paper in fruity flavours(these are the only things they can persude me to buy), women who offer massages, women and children with baskets full of cigarettes, bracelets candy, gum, chips etc., and lastly people carrying boxes of books. Sophie and I made the mistake of saying "maybe later" to a couple of them. Indeed they came back later, pointed at their wrist and say "later! you say later, it now later!"...What are you supposed to say? At this point they get really angry and pout. One girl who was particularly persistant started to cry, threw down a pack of postcards on my chest and then hit us saying it's not fair. Oh my. It was better today though now that our body language is more clear to them that we are not interested. It was funny though, I was teaching Sophie some Yoga on the beach and as we were in a strechted out slightly upsidown position, one lady still comes right up with a "hi lady! you want to buy!" I litterally burst out laughing and almost fell over... tell me, do I really look like I'm in a position to buy or want to buy something? :P
It feels sometimes as if I haven't done that much yet, but the culture is so different and so great that this not so little beach town has been the perfect landing. I will dedicate more time from now on to writing smaller more frequent entries and not long drawn out ones :P

Om.