Same old, same old

I realize that my blog posts have rapidly diminished, and the infrequent times that I do post, the posts are about my health or personal life, not my cultural immersion in Vietnam.

The problem is, though, that I feel jaded about all of my experiences here, and everything feels so routine now. For example, I just showed up for my 8:40 class to an empty classroom. I called several of the students in the class, but no answer. I even waved to Mr. Duc as he walked by, but there was no mention of anything out of the ordinary as we exchanged pleasantries. Eventually, one of my students called me back and asked what was wrong. When I asked her where her class was, she told me there was no class today, and that we would have class tomorrow, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I should note that this same student had called me late last night to double-check that I was feeling better and would be able to teach this morning.

The funny thing is, these kinds of interactions are so common-place that they rarely piss me off or even cause me to bat an eye anymore. I know that four months ago, this strange exchange with my student and the strange looseness of the class schedule would have been one of a million excitements of the day worth blogging about, but now, I don't even feel fazed. I'm not sure what this blase attitude towards these Vietnamese curve-balls says about me, but I'm not sure that I like it. I suppose it represents a greater sense of acceptance of (or, perhaps, more realistically, resignation to) this culture's quirks. It's a bit upsetting to me that life here has become just that - life - and is no longer such an exciting adventure as it once was.

As you all have probably noticed, I rarely post pictures of Vietnamese food anymore, and, as I already stated, I rarely talk about my "oh my gosh! what an interesting and novel cultural exchange!" moments. Because, to be honest, fewer and fewer foods are novel to me, and fewer and fewer social situations are surprising or interesting from a cultural point of view.

I guess, on one hand, this represents a total immersion into the culture, and possibly even some sort of zen-like acceptance of the cultural quirks that, at one point, used to totally unnerve me and throw me off my game. Sure, there are still things about this country that will always baffle me and that I will never understand, but these things no longer faze me. I have come to expect the unexpected, the weird, and the incomprehensible. However, on the other hand, this positively-spun "total immersion" or "zen-like acceptance" feels a whole lot like apathy, which is a much less positive way to classify my attitude towards life's curveballs here.

I'm not sure that I like being so apathetic to events and situations that, at one point, were all I could talk about. I'm not sure how to regain my initial sense of surprise and wonder at life's little weirdnesses, because I wonder if that novelty just dwindles with the more time spent in a new country?

In any case, I am going back to bed until my afternoon class but will continue to ponder this sudden sense of "same old, same old" that has come over me.........