Money Money Money

My dad sent me some money via Western Union, and picking it up worked extremely smoothly. I already knew where to find a Western Union because there was one in the bank where I picked up my ATM card, but I saw at least four just on the bus ride into the city. And then on my way from the bus stop to the bank, I found another one, so I stopped there. Went t0 the hostel where the bus to Hue is picking me up, dropped my stuff - I have a few hours until the bus comes - and went to look for the internet cafe where, coincidentally, I am now, and I saw at least four more on the way here. Insane.

When I'm in Hue, I definitely need to buy lots of presents for the wonderful people I've met here that have been so kind and helpful - the teachers I work with and some of the staff at the Peace House. I'm leaving in a week, and I'm already starting to be sad that I'm going. There have been a lot of problems here, and my living conditions haven't always been lovely, and hell is probably defined in the dictionary as taking the 57 bus in Hanoi at 6:30 in the morning, but I love being in Vietnam, I love the people I've come to know, I love the children I work with. All the girls in my advanced class adore me and bring me presents and draw me pictures. They're all so sweet and adorable (yes, even the boys) and I wish I could stay longer to watch them grow with their English. They're so talented and enthusiastic - I'm sure they'll go far.

But lately I've been forgoing Vietnamese food in favor of PB+Js. I do miss home.

Becca asked me if the language barrier is a huge problem. It is and it isn't. It's frustrating to be talking to the teachers at the school because they aren't nearly fluent, so we can't just have a fast conversation about things that aren't important. Everything takes longer than it's worth to find vocabulary everyone understands and speak slowly enough so they'll understand it. For all you Lord of the Ringers out there, it's like Treebeard said - "It takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say." Sometimes I'll mention something unimportant in passing and then end up spending ten minutes trying to explain it.

But the people at Peace House speak really good English - they understand pretty much anything I say, at regular speed. I didn't realize how much about communication I took for granted - it's really a miracle that people can speak to each other at a fairly rapid pace and be understood completely, and get a correct answer back. A lot of the time, the trouble isn't when you're talking to someone who doesn't know English - then, you're usually trying to buy something and smiles and sign language do fine - it's when you're speaking to someone who knows English badly, and you need to get information out of them. They'll give you an answer, but chances are they don't understand the question and have given you the wrong answer.

So, my bus leaves around 6:00 tonight, and I get in at Hue at 9:00 tomorrow morning. I want to see the old citadel and the tombs around Hue, and maybe a museum or two. I'm very excited to go. And then I get back Sunday morning, teach Monday and Tuesday, and leave Vietnam for good Wednesday morning. Wednesday night New York time, I'll be home.