do you get it YET?

the bridge to ngoc son temple at hoan kiem lake

warning: don't let this peaceful picture fool you. this post is full of hot, cranky steam!

i have now been trained to teach both english and french to non-native speakers. i've spent a lot of time thinking about presentation and effective instruction, teacher-talk-time, realia versus verbal description, blah blah blah.... an old colleague of mine from apollo recently asked if i was here learning so that i could teach vietnamese back in the states. i laughed out loud - this woman SERIOUSLY overestimates my level and my capacity. i must make myself clear - my vietnamese is still crap. everything but my pronunciation, that is, which i am told almost daily is "so precise!" (this is invariably followed by "you should marry a vietnamese man!" it's uncanny. and you know, i just don't see the connection. anyway, i usually explain that a) i'm married already (but no i don't have kids yet and yes i know i should get on that) and b) i drink beer, and lots of it - which i'm pretty sure automatically disqualifies me, despite my fabulous execution of vietnamese tones. dommage.)

but i digress. again. if i were training to become an instructor of vietnamese - based on what i've observed thus far in ha noi - all i would really need to make the classroom experience authentic is the ever-present and ever-frustrating "hieu chua?" or "do you get it yet???" you NEVER ask this question in the classroom. it's alienating and embarrassing. and yet, it is completely acceptable in vietnamese instruction. just as natural as the french way of telling you that *insert any request here* is impossible. it's cultural. and it's really getting to me.

but this is because i am really struggling with this course. it's a good thing i'm not paying for it (thanks to uncle sam and uncle DT (chair of the french department and advisor to yours truly) for footing the bill), because i would be out of my mind by now if i were. we're talking four hours a day of random, poorly planned, mind-numbing classes around such riveting topics as economic development and transportation (not the real issues, mind you, but the party line. snore!). on top of this, i am currently in the midst of finishing up what was a very poorly conceived final project on gender equality in viet nam, and it is sucking the life out of me. not because reading articles in vietnamese takes hours. not because i've never actually learned anything concrete about vietnamese syntax or constructing proper vietnamese sentences. not because vietnamese people only know the interview situation when it involves the police or the party coming to the house and are thus likely to accuse you of being a spy (i'm not kidding. one guy in our group - a white boy from PA named oliver! - was accused of being a chinese spy!!!) and refuse to answer OR lie to your face... but because it's obvious to me that my teachers are making this stuff up as we go along.

i got more out of the ten minutes i spent chatting with a couple of hanoians at my favorite tea stand this evening than i did all morning in class.

but then there is hoan kiem lake, where everyone goes to huong nhung giay phut em dem (enjoy some peaceful moments). five minutes on a bench by the lake and i'm like "what vietnamese class? what project? let's go have some ice cream."

better now.