"I don't understand you when you speak Vietnamese. It is easier for you to speak English to me, and I will understand. When you said you wanted a banh mi, it would have been better for you to just ask for a bread." - one of the English major students (not in any of my classes) who works at the English department-run cafe at Ha Tinh UniversityGranted, my Vietnamese sucks. I will totally concede that fact. However, the majority of my students can't understand me in English on a regular basis. I find it hard to believe that my Vietnamese is that bad that barely-conversant English speakers would prefer I speak English to them over their native language. Oy vey.
In other news, today was a beautiful and hot day in Ha Tinh City, so I decided to carpe diem and venture to Thien Cam Beach. The entire ride there, my heart was racing, and I was so nervous. I felt like I was racing against time, or against the sun, or the weather, or something. I kept repeating "Don't start raining. Don't start raining. Please be sunny. Please be sunny."
Turns out, the further I got out of Ha Tinh City and the closer I got to Thien Cam Beach, the cooler and cloudier it got. At the beginning of my ride there, I was cursing myself for not thinking to bring sunblock. However, towards the end of my ride there, I realized sunblock would have been unnecessary, and I was cursing myself for not wearing long-sleeves or bringing an extra layer.
Oh well. The beach was deserted, so I went for a nice stroll in the surf. I had some yummy fish for lunch, so overall, the day was not lost. I just wish it had been maybe 5 degrees warmer.
However, the highlight of my day was definitely driving through Old MacDonald's Vietnamese Farm to and from the beach. I saw cows of all shapes and sizes, some lying down for a nap, some mounting each other, some licking their babies, and some running at speeds that I did not think cows were built to move at. I saw some sweet puppies frollicking and kissing each other, some Mamma puppies, and even some Shadow puppies. I also saw some chickens crossing the road (yes, I actually laughed out loud to myself while driving the motorbike at the thought of the ridiculous Why-Did-The-Chicken-Cross-The-Road jokes). There were a few horsies and water buffalo, but the cows and puppies were definitely the best part of the day.
In completely other news, I went to figure out some visa stuff today. After a lot of finger-pointing and "No, that's Fulbright's responsibility! That isn't our job to do this!" and "No, but actually, Fulbright is telling me that you need to do this" back-and-forth between me and Ms. Linh, not much got accomplished. I am hoping that Mr. Duc will swoop in and save the day by intervening on Monday.
Sounds like seeing the animals was a lot of fun. Too bad the cafe student doesn't want you to practice your Vietnamese. I thought you sounded pretty good!
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