Friday, April 11, 2008

A Little Slice Of America

A couple of really quick anecdotes: 

1. Last night Ryan and I were mesmerizing the girls with tricks that fathers do to their children when they are 1-4 years old. The girls had never seen the tricks and were completely stunned. The first one that got them all excited was the classic dislodged thumb. I showed Au my two hands and removed my right thumb. She screamed out, "how'd you do that!"

My next trick was even better. I put my thumb between my index finger and middle finger and told Au that I took her nose. Au immediately grabbed her face looking for her nose. Yes, it's a "had to be there" moment but was hilarious. 

2. We just taught the girls about American cooking--we made them guacamole. They had never tasted, let alone heard of the dish. We decided to make it for them after I spotted some avocados at lunch yesterday. I asked the girls what they used them for and they said, "shakes." Yup, they drink avocado shakes here. I immediately ordered one and shared it with Ryan (that's what couples do) -- it was actually quite good. 

3. Last night was my final teaching night here in HCMC. After class the class pet came up to me and gave me a sealed envelope with a note inside (yes, the note will be posted but it's at the hotel at the moment). I felt really good that I had my first student with a crush on me...that is until Ryan told me he got the same note from the girl. 

I just took my Vietnamese language final and got a 99%. How, I don't know. I can speak about twenty words and understand about three...I'm really gonna make it out here...