Luke Runs the Place

We Go Barefoot In The Classroom- ALWAYS!

     Last weekend somebody walked into our house and stole Birdy's electric bike. They've been sizing up our house for a while, and had even walked in while we were eating lunch one day, making up some excuse about visiting the neighbor. The day before they struck, our neighbor spotted one of them outside our house, peering in through the fence. The guy looked up at our neighbor and then put his finger to his mouth in a 'shhh' fashion, and mimed tip-toeing. How ballsy is that?

Happy Feet

Well, they came in while we were upstairs watching a movie, grabbed the bike, and took off with it. The key wasn't in it, so he was peddling it down the street when my mom drove by- and realized that was our bike. She turned about, screamed at him, and ran him off the road. The thief jumped off the bike and hopped onto his accomplice's motorcycle, and off they went. We retrieved the bike and are on high alert now, but it feels really awkward being worried about somebody traipsing into your house in the middle of the day. The doors here aren't locked normally, either. They're big store-front type grates (on all the houses) and only lock with padlocks. The padlocks rust with the rain and, well, it's a recipe for some serious annoyance.

Bob And His Sweet Coat

During one of my English classes this week, I realized how much English my students were beginning to retain. We sit on little cushions on the floor during class. One of the boys- I'll call him Bob- stood up to come over and ask me if he could use the bathroom. A girl- I'll call her Sally- stood up at the same time, bumped him, and caused him to fall onto another student. She asked for the W.C. and then went off, leaving a very confounded little guy behind her. Bob stood up, screwed up his face, and with very active gesturing declared, "Sally, hit, hurt, me, I sit down on Jane! Bad! I down on Jane! Sorry, sorry!"

My Chair

It was adorable, surprising, and hilarious. We cleared up this issue as well as we could, learned the word 'bump' and went on with the class. A bit later we got up to do an activity and danced around the room, like you do. When we went to sit back down, Bob was very upset because somebody had taken his spot. He stomped over to me, the whole class watching in anticipation, and proclaimed, "I sit no! He sit my! I over there. He over there! No! No, no!" This time I couldn't take it and cracked up. We moved people to their original seats (which are cushions on the floor, if you recall) and the world was set right. You need to see a picture of him in his uniform and cold-weather coat to truly appreciate the scene. It looks like it was made out of the fabric on my chair.

Karaoke Room (with bathroom!)

Luke Sings "The ABCs"

Vietnam is obsessed with karaoke. It seems to be the bonafide national pastime. Every cafe, hotel, or corner has a karaoke machine or visiting DJ. There are more karaoke bars than there are restaurants. They even have mobile karaoke vender-dudes. They wander around and sing and try to get people to pay to sing a song. And they all sing HORRIBLY. And all the songs are love songs. And they always blast the music as loud as possible. Ugh. A couple months ago, we visited the karaoke house on the corner, and rented a room to hang out for an hour and sing in honor of a volunteer that stayed with us this summer. They had a bizarre selection of English songs, featuring several weird versions of children's music.
It wasn't enjoyable. No wonder the volunteer left.

Karaoke Ceiling (dear heavens...)