a look into what my life is like as an english as a foreign language teacher in vietnam.

7:30 AM–wake up, find phone, reread old text messages from boyfriend longingly, look at pictures of boyfriend, send blitz of text messages to boyfriend. miss boyfriend.

 

8:00 AM–breakfast of yogurt.

8:30-10:30 AM–first class of the day, consisting of a twenty-three year old girl and a sulky thirteen year old boy. class starts like this. girl: do you have a boyfriend? me: yes, he lives in america. girl: you are very beautiful. me: well, thanks! girl: no, like seriously, i’m attracted to you. i think about you all the time. me: thanks! facepalm. class ends with the boy playing around on the computer. he plays super cheesy music videos of vietnam’s kid version of the voice, then he wants to listen to “see you again,” wiz khalifa ft charlie puth, which is perhaps the worst song on the planet.

10:45 AM–i get pho for less than fifty cents at a sketchy pho joint. eat. then get coffee.

11:00 AM– return to my room all ready for the three hour siesta. change into pjs, lie down in bed…

11:15 AM– knocking on my door.

11:20 AM–suddenly my hotel room is full of maintenance works, and they’re drilling things in my wall around my air con. i leave.

11:30 AM– in a bad mood. booted out of my room during siesta time, still wearing my siesta boxer shorts and tank top, into the hottest, least exciting part of the day. i go to a smoker’s lounge, order a club soda, and sulk.

1:00 PM– return to room, sulk. question my life choices.

3:30 PM– kindergarten! here, i teach for a total of about an hour. i teach four different classes. i say “door,” “window,” “lamp,” “coconut,” and various other concrete nouns over and over again to each class, then sing a song about circles, or perhaps the alphabet. there are lots of angry looking TAs with see-thru pink shirts in each room. they generally make the class run smoothly, so i don’t have to worry about class management. my job is easy there. i like kindergarten, even though it smells funny and is hot.

5:30 PM-7:00PM–my first evening class of three adults about my age. their english is terrible and it’s a huge struggle. i miss speaking english fluently and i struggle to stay happy and friendly. the last fifteen minutes of class we play music videos. they want to listen to “see you again,” wiz khalifa ft charlie puth, which is perhaps the worst song on the planet.

7:00PM-8:30PM–finally my last class of the day! again, it’s with adults. it goes pretty well. one of the students asks me if i’m rich, which i find to be a bit rude. i tell her that my parents would be considered middle class or possibly upper middle class, and that sometimes they still give me money but i’m pretty much independent from them, which means no i’m not rich. then she is like i think you’re rich. uh, ok fine. then, during the last fifteen minutes of class, i tell them they can chose a music video. they want to listen to “see you again,” wiz khalifa ft charlie puth, which is perhaps the worst song on the planet. at this point, i’m fed up with this terrible over the top cheesy song and introduce them to “juicy” by notorious b.i.g. i instantly regret this decision, as they seem appalled by the music and totally rejected poor notorious. i show them pictures of him and tried to talk about his amazing poetry and life story to no avail. they have zero interest. i leave the class somewhat irritated.

9:00 PM-10:00PM– hoping for some foreigner company, i show up at the backpacker’s cafe in town. no foreigners. but the owner comes and talks with me as i drink a beer and eat spring rolls. she speaks english really well, and i almost feel like i can talk at my normal pace. it’s pretty fun.

10:37 PM–blog.