Retrospectro

My last two weeks in Nha Trang were a blurr. After I got back from Hue, it turned out that there was not to be another volunteer - which was no problem for me. Now that Sophie was gone, and we had already done all the touristy activites in the area, I spent the last two weeks teaching, picnic-ing with friends, swimming in the ocean, and generally just burrying myself as far as I could into the vietnamese culture. When I say friends, you have to understand that they are all Vietnamese. The problem with living in a place (even only for a month) is that you don't end up going to places that other travelers go. The other thing is that even the times that I talked with foreigners, I quickly learned that it would not be a long relationship as they would be leaving in the next day or two. This was actually a blessing in disguise. I didn't realise how much I was learning by hanging out with only Vietnamese. I learnt to let go of everything I knew, and let them teach me about their manners, ways of speaking, eating and even riding a motorbike. Most of this was subconcious, and acquired by watching. I felt like a monkey learning to live among humans: not able to speak their language, but slowly learning to live among them as an equal - watching and learning. A lot of (most of) the conversation at meals was held in Vietnamese, but by the end of the two weeks, no conversation went by without me understanding the general meaning.
Another benefit was the food...I am now a master of seafood!! :P There are so many things I want to find and cook in Canada..I'm newly inspired. Everything from deliciously fresh crab, snails and squid, to pig stomach and chewing on chicken legs/feet (although I found it difficult to rip off claw bones from a leg that looks more like a baby's hand...).
Nha Trang is a place I will never forget and will certainly go back to. I feel like it was a city I easily got to know, to the point where the lady at the fruit juice stand on the corner knew my favorite drink, I could joke around with the security guards on the beach, and I knew the owner and DJ of the club we usually ended up at at the end of the night.
Although the morning class with the younger students never really ceased to be a struggle, the afternoon class was very rewarding. In this class, I would present a topic such as Family or Travel, and I would split them up to discuss in English and then get them to make a short presentation on what they talked about as a group. I would go around to each group, usually 3 groups of 8 or so, and chat with them about the topic and help them with anything they didn't understand. Many times, we got so into the conversation and so incredibly off topic that some days we didn't even have time for one group to go up and present. All of these students were my age or usually older - usually university students or working. I was so interested in what they had to say about life and their country, as well as their questions about Canada and our very different culture. I was saddened and surprised to hear that even with a socialist government, their health care is much like the quality in the United States. On the last day of class, they had a going away party for me which included food, games, singing, and a present. I left them my e-mail and have already received a couple! I sent one of the girls the pictures I took so that she could share them with the rest of the class.
I am fully aware of my neglect of the blog - sorry! - and the scattered ideas in this entry, but I didn't quite know what to write about simply living life everyday - in another country. The Vietnamese are incredibly kind, accomodating, and above all generous. I will be very sad to leave this culture and it's people (I am now in Saigon about to leave for Cambodia tomorrow morning - but I will save that for my next entry), but am glad that I will be re-entering in the north - Hanoi - to fly back to Canada.
As a girl from NZ said to me "We travel all over the world, spending maybe only a couple days in each city, only to discover the places we fall in love with and to one day return to them."
Nothing could be more true, and it makes me less sad now to have left, and more excited to return later.

Om.