An Ordinary Day

I don’t have much to share today. It seemed to be a normal day of ups and downs. As has been the case recently, the ups were when I was with people and the downs were when I was alone. The highlights of today were giving a mid-term to a Hotel English class, free-talking with a student about the Lord’s prayer and having dinner with the students I meet with a few times a week early in the morning. The down times were when I felt exhausted or perhaps a little depressed. It reminded me of when I have grieved the loss of someone. When I was with people I sometimes would forget about the loss, but then when I was alone I remembered what had happened and my heart sank back into sadness.

I had more time to myself today because my free-talkers canceled or didn’t show up. This can be frustrating or disappointing but in my case this was a nice break which enabled me to get everything done for my class tomorrow so that all I have to do is go to class or drop off my stuff in my office if I get to work early enough. This is probably the first time I am completely ready for the class with the powerpoint presentation already posted on the website. The downside is that I didn’t get to eat 떡복이 (dokboki) with a student who said she’d bring some this week.

I was also surprised by a colleague who came to my office to invite me to lunch. I guess some foreign professors were going to McDonald’s. Even though I’ve been here for a year and am in a bazaar emotional state, going to McDonald’s didn’t sound too appealing so we went to a spaghetti place instead. This gave us a chance to talk about some things before our classes at 1pm. I tried to pay for his meal but he insisted on going dutch (of course I didn’t push him too hard).

I think the mid-term was more enjoyable for everyone than the previous classes because students got to participate in the class more and they were basically leaders of the class. One class in particular did a great job of keeping us entertained while also showing their understanding of the hotel environment.

After class I talked with a few foreign professors for a while about some of the things going on that were related to school and our plans for the summer vacation. Eventually I went back to my office to work on class prep. for tomorrow. I forgot about my 4:00 free-talking appointment because the other students canceled. This wasn’t a big deal because I was working in my office. There are some students who take my energy and some who give it. She is the latter type of student. We have a running joke about “Bible study” and she told me she studied the Lord’s Prayer in English. I’ve been thinking about learning that prayer in Korean so we spent our free-talking time translating it from Korean to English. One would think this would be the same as in English but it seemed to me to be quite different though she said it was the same. For example, rather than saying “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” it says, “your will has been done in heaven, may it also be done on earth” or something like that. It seemed to me to explicate the things that the English version implies. This was very refreshing to me.

After she left, I went back to working on some things for the next class which I finished while I was waiting for students to come at 6pm. I really was worn out by the time they came to my office and they knew it. I also tried a different method of free-talking which seemed to be much more difficult. I think all of us were frustrated at points but I guess it was good practice for all of us.

After that I met some other students in the lobby of another building so we could have dinner together. We ended up going to the fast food version of a Korean restaurant which I believe is still healthier than McDonald’s or Burger King. They wanted to go there because it is much cheaper than other types of restaurants. This was a good time but I don’t know that it was all that effective as a “free-talking” session. Nonetheless I keep learning more about students every day.

After that I came home. Of course we stopped for ice cream on the way back and I got a coffee-flavored ice cream something or other (as Mrs. Carl used to say). I intended to go running tonight but I figured that I should work a while until I get tired. By the time I thought of running it was already 10pm and I wondered if that would be productive and if I would be more exhausted tomorrow. Since I have an important meeting tomorrow I decided to call it a day and go to bed.

So now it is at the end of the day and all I have left to do is to brush my teeth, do a little meditating (I’m not sure how to manage this one), and get some shuteye. I think tomorrow could be an interesting day. I’m just not sure how much to share.

A Fulfilling End to a Draining Day

Today was a long day. I guess I said that yesterday. But today was filled with responsibilities with no play time in between. I started my day at 7am and got home a little before 9pm. After that I drank some water and started working on an evaluation sheet for a test I am giving tomorrow. Evaluating the class I had on Tuesday was very difficult so I made a rubric of sorts tonight. After that I added some Korean vocabulary words. I’m not sure if it is completely helpful but I don’t think it is helping me to fly through the textbook without learning these words. Now that I think about it, I should probably separate the nouns from the verbs and try to write sentences using those words. This is a long process but I think a lack of Korean ability is contributing to my feelings of inadequacy. I said contributing, not that it is the main reason or cause of these feelings.

Today was a fairly routine day of free-talking after meeting with my early morning Bible study crew. The topic of today was Jesus casting the demon out of the man in the cemetary in Mark’s gospel. This led to a brief discussion of whether demons really exist. I tapped into my experience in an urban church in Kansas City where we sang, “Victory is Mine.” This song makes no explicit reference to God but it does refer to Satan. I suggested to those who question the existence of demons that we think of demons as those things that lead us to believe things that are not true, such as thinking we have to get drunk one more time or get one more fix on the street or being lured away from studying by chatting online or playing video games or whatever. This is an interesting experience because most of the people in the group seem to be Christians to some extent while two people are not Christians. I try to be affirming of those who trust Christ as their savior while also trying to be sensitive to those who are not Christians.

The victory came for me today when I went to lunch with a colleague. I thought this was a routine “go to lunch with a collegue” day. I realized differently when he knocked on the window of the building where we met and a mother and her daughter came inside the building. I realized then that it was an attempt to have me help her or her daughter with her English. Knowing what was ahead, even though I didn’t have any warning about this beforehand, I decided before anybody asked me that I would say no because my plate is already fuller than it needs to be. I think this surprised my colleague since I have developed the reputation on campus of always saying yes when people ask me for favors. I tried to gently explain that I am already doing to much and that my plate is full (without the idiom I hope). This didn’t seem to make much sense so he kept pushing. Finally I expressed my frustration over feeling like a commodity whose obligation it is to help people learn English. My ultimate bluntness came when I said that many people want me to help them but not too many people were interested in helping me when I had food poisoning or when my emotions are out of sort. I guess I looked like a bum who had lost his enthusiasm since I was enthusiastic when I came. Interestingly enough, he mentioned something to her about Vietnam which I said nothing about. I have expressed interest to him in moving to Vietnam and I suspected that he told her about this as if I had lost my love for Korea in hopes of moving to Vietnam.

I felt good about this in a way and bad about this in another way. I have met many people by helping them with their English. This has also given me opportunity to practice Korean since people sometimes struggle to listen or speak in English. But sometimes this is a realization that what seems like a friendship is only that on the surface and that the “friendship” only succeeds as long as I do people favors. I hope that is not true in this case but I guess time will tell.

After lunch I was exhausted. I don’t know if it was the emotional drain of saying no and wondering if I did the right thing or if it was a lack of sleep or just the exhaustion of my emotional disposition. After some free-talking students left, I had no energy to do anything. But then I was revived when a colleague knocked on my door to offer me coffee and a quote about letting people know they are not alone. After this, I had energy to do the things I was needing to do and my disposition changed. I was finally able to overcome my emotions and get ready for doing other things.

I wasn’t sure if the students I usually go to dinner with were going to come so I started to contemplate going to a restaurant alone which would also give me practice speaking in Korean. I’m glad I waited though since they came after all. They were not late, it just seemed to me that they were because my free-talking students before them left early to prepare for a major test tonight.

Having dinner with the students was a bit strange due to a combination of issues. We went a little ways from the campus where a student suggested. But when we got there they said it was too expensive. So we went to another restaurant that was about the same price. I told them I didn’t have time to keep walking around to the different restaurants since I had another class to teach after dinner. One of the students who is in one of my classes expressed interest, through one of the other students, in having me help him with his grammar. His English communication skills are quite low and I have not seen him put forth much effort in the class. In the end I said we’d see if he shows up whenever we decide is a good time to meet. One of the frustrating things that happened shortly after we got to the second restaurant was when two of the three guys said they needed to go to the toilet. The truth was that they “needed” to smoke. I didn’t realize this until they came back to the table and I could smell the cigarette smoke. This frustrated me because the other student and I had been waiting for them to order. In the end, I was ten minutes late to the class at city hall as a result of this situation.

Oddly enough, the most rewarding part of the day came at the end of the day. This is one of those things that I said yes to that does wear me out in a certain way but is rather fulfilling. The people who go to that class are more motivated than university students and their English level is high enough that we can have intelligent conversation. This gives me the ability to ask a lot of interesting questions. Tonight we talked about driving and who we’d be the most comfortable riding with. It ended up being a philosophical conversation to some extent and the people seemed to respond well to it though sometimes it was difficult for them to respond to my questions. Even though I am a difficult person to put up with in general because of the difficult questions, I feel like I can be myself in that type of setting. Of course I worry that I am not doing good enough or that I am giving those with the highest English level the most opportunities to speak. I’ve been trying to go around and ask different people questions.

After that I came home without a depressed feeling, finished writing up an evaluation sheet, added some Korean words to a spreadsheet I started over winter vacation and after I post this, I will be ready to brush my teeth and go to bed after a few moments of reflection. This is difficult for me since I am not good at sitting still and doing nothing more than being quiet.

But I can’t forget the highlight of my day. That was talking to my Korean cousin about a traditional dress she would like me to buy for her and take it to her in the US. You all know I am not much of a clothing shopper so this should be an interesting experience.

A Good Day in Hindsight

Today has been a long day. This is typical of most Tuesdays. It started with an early morning “Bible study” at 7am, then a faculty/staff chapel at 8am, followed by a Mid-Term exam in my 9:00 class. The mid-term did not go as well as planned because of the language barrier and some students not doing as well as I had anticipated. I take this to be due to the language barrier and perhaps a lack of studying on their parts. It is the language barrier that makes it difficult to know how to grade the students in a way that is fair to everyone involved.

I had a important lunch meeting with a friend to talk about the way I have been feeling. This was helpful to me just to talk about some of the issues and get some advice on how to work through these issues to attain some degree of sanity though it didn’t deliver me from this present age.

After that I met with a student to proofread something she wrote for me to correct. Unfortunately, I didn’t get all the way through it so I will have to finish it sometime tomorrow or the next day. I won’t be meeting with her until next Thursday so that gives me some time to do some work in this regard. I was not all that alert by this time which probably slowed me down some.

After that I went to a church to teach a free-talking class. On my way there, I had to drop off a trip request form in my department’s office to be approved by the Department Chair. Since nobody in that office can speak in Korean I got to practice some Korean using a sentence I haven’t used before. Then the person I was speaking to asked me another question which I didn’t know the answer to because I didn’t understand her question. Eventually she figured it out or else she just gave up asking. A Korean professor who can speak well was going to call the office to make sure they understood what to do. At the church, we played a version of baseball where I ask a question and they respond. I don’t do it like some people play the game but it served the purpose of getting the students to speak in English and it seemed that everybody was having fun, those who wanted to study and those who wanted to play games.

After that, I went home for a while as I waited for time to pass. I made plans to meet my Korean teacher to study a little bit of Korean. We ended up talking a lot about other things as usual and some of that time was occupied with talking to another student whom she also teaches. This time had some good points and some bad points. The good points were of course the times of relaxing and the difficult points were the points of studying Korean and being reminded how bad I am at speaking Korean.

After the coffee shop closed, we went to the grocery store to get a few items I needed. This was our original plan to go to the store to give me practice speaking to people in Korean. But I didn’t do much more speaking than usual, though it was helpful to learn the different types of tofu and talk more about Korean culture.

I became more depressed as I talked with my Korean teacher about my struggles. If I let myself, I can get really bogged down. But when I think of the people I interacted with, the students, the staff members, my teacher and the people at the grocery store tonight, I think this has been a good day. Now I think I will get some shuteye before my alarms go off at 5:15.

Alone, depressed; With People, Happy

Today was one of those days that started out difficult but ended well. Because of the way I have been feeling, I didn’t wake up with much motivation. I called a friend whom I try to talk with on a weekly basis after I called my parents and they weren’t home. So I went on with my plans to study about Korean culture to prepare for the presentation I will most likely be making in September. While I got some things done I didn’t get as much done as I anticipated. I also was not able to meet with the family I usually have dinner with on Monday evenings before I teach a class at city hall.

Today we had a special meeting to discuss changes with the way the university deals with foreign professors. There was a lot of disconcertion regarding this, especially for those who have been placed in departments where the professors can’t speak fluently in English. According to these changes, the foreign professors are no longer under the wings of a Korean professor who tends to our questions and concerns. This seems to be part of a bigger plan to have all of the classes in English. For this to happen, the professors will have to improve their English skills and the students will also have to improve. This seems like a marketing strategy to make the university more appealing. But it doesn’t seem to take into account the English level of the students. Even for the best English speakers, it would be difficult for Korean students to take all there classes in English. Not even all the prestigious universities in Seoul do this.

After this meeting, I went to have dinner at a restaurant. Since I had to teach a class at city hall I wasn’t all that interested in going back home. So I went to Kimbap Nara (김밥 나라). Kimbap is basically rice, vegetables and meat wrapped in seaweed. I didn’t have this, but instead I had curry which was good. I went by myself so I had to order it myself in Korean, of course. It always makes me feel good when I do this rather than hiding behind a Korean who usually orders for me when I go with a Korean. This type of restaurant is also very reasonable. It probably cost me about 1.5 USD for a whole meal. It’s probably not the most healthy Korean meal but it is better than McDonald’s by a long shot in my opinion.

By this time, I was feeling much better than I felt most of the day. This is the mystery of my emotional disposition. When I am alone I feel depressed but when I am with people I feel much better about myself. It makes me wonder if I am hiding out in my apartment. I also wonder if my own feelings keep me from doing everything I could do. When I talked to my dad about this he suggested that I not let my feelings rule me. I took this to mean he was saying that I should ignore my feelings. I didn’t like this advice because I feel like that is what I have done for much of my life.

But when I thought about what changed in my own mind from the morning and afternoon time to the evening time, it did seem to me that I did “ignore” my feelings in some sense. If I didn’t, I would probably never have done anything today because I didn’t feel like I was adequate for the task. So I sucked it up and did what I had to do. That totally changed my disposition and I also had an enjoyable time with the staff I taught at city hall tonight. We talked about a lot of things from one university student referring to another student as one’s senior to making a list for one of the people who wants to get married in the future. This led to an interesting discussion about whether it is necessary for a man to have a car in order for a woman to fall in love with him.

After that one of the staff people took me home and my day was officially over. Well, not quite over since I had some things I wanted to work on. I decided to do the dishes, something I have been putting off for longer than I can say publicly. This made me feel better. Then I also studied Korean and learned how to link sentences together to make one longer sentence. By the way, my Korean journal is up to 273 sentences. Now if I could just remember everything that I wrote. So now I guess it is about time to get some shuteye for a while. I have to start my day at 7am with an early-morning Bible study. So tomorrow will be a long day with that, a faculty/staff chapel in 100% English even though there are people who won’t be able to understand the whole thing (I’d be mad if I were a Korean), a mid-term, lunch with a pastor, free-talking, teaching a class at a church and hopefully meeting my Korean teacher at the store to practice some things with Korean and to buy some groceries. I think I’m going to buy enough for breakfast but also try to eat out more and see if that changes my disposition. I just have to figure out how to manage that in terms of my budget.

Purpose

Today was the exact opposite of yesterday. I left my apartment around 8:40 this morning and came back around 3pm while I waited for a friend (I’m not sure if Aristotle would classify us as this or not) to finish her church duties. I was going to take a nap but I decided to type out the text messages I’ve sent and received in Korean. This was about 100 messages. When I came back tonight after coffee and dinner I translated them and sent them off to my Korean teacher. I’m sure she will love me for this.

My day started with the English service at the university church. My role in this was rather minimal today because I was only responsible for greeting people coming to the service, leading the congregation in confession, reading the Scripture passages (except for the sermon text) and leading the congregation in affirming our faith by reading the Apostles’ Creed. Okay, maybe my role was more than minimal. What I mean is that I did not preach. But that will change next week as I will be preaching. After the service I talked to a Korean professor and with the other ministers of the service about the future of the service.

I am concerned about a service in English in a Korean church that has more foreigners leading it than Koreans. Since there are few foreigners who go to this service, and since it is in a Korean church, it seems to me that there should be more Koreans leading the service than foreigners. I guess today it was half and half. But still, it seems to me the ideal would be for there to be more Koreans leading it than foreigners.

I’m really not sure whether to continue my involvement in this service. It seems that I experience God’s grace in some sense through this service, especially when I feel like the sermon is just for me as it seemed to be today. The vision of the service seems to be unclear so it is difficult to manage the success of the service when I am not sure how to manage that. It seems that different people come to the service but there is little consistency except that the service is attended by few people. Some people have found it difficult to understand what is going on in the service. I’m sure some of this is due to my complex sentence structure but I’m not sure about the rest of the service. It could be that this service is structured differently than a typical Korean Nazarene service. I am wondering if having a service completely in English is too much. When I went to the Anglican Cathedral on Easter Sunday the service was partly in Korean and partly in English. I suggested that we might want to try that if we continue to do the service.

After a lengthy discussion about the service and the church in general, I had lunch with a few people I know at the same church. I talked with them some about the English service but I didn’t learn much from them except that the service is difficult to understand.

After lunch I went to Grace Church (은혜교회) to teach English to some children and their mothers. This was quite challenging when I tried to talk about the names of the 12 disciples in English. I learned that I don’t know much when it comes to the details of these names. It was difficult trying to figure out the differences between the English and Korean translations. Then it also got confusing when I tried to explain these differences and when the people in the class tried to explain them to me. This was difficult and frustrating because I can’t speak Korean fluently and they can’t speak English fluently. The name that is the most unique is James. One of the students suggested that the Korean translation is wrong. When I asked why the Korean translation must be wrong and not the English translation, they said that when the Bible was translated into Korean there were people involved who were not Christians. I challenged this when I noticed that a fairly recent translation of the Korean Bible (New Korean Revised Version) which was copyrighted in 1998 for the first time used the same name for James. I argued to the contrary because I heard that one of the theologians at KNU participated in this translation. Of course it is entirely possible that I am the one that is wrong. I was surprised that one of the students was so quick to assume that it is the Korean Bible that is wrong.

After that class was over, I went back to my apartment while I waited for a friend to finish her church duties. She ended up taking longer than she expected so I just kept working on Korean. We met at 4pm and had coffee followed by kalguksu (갈국수). This was a fun for both of us I think though it was a little difficult with the language barrier. She tried to get me to try speaking in Korean and I failed miserably.

After I came back to my apartment, I felt that same empty feeling that I’ve been feeling the last few days. I persevered in spite of it through the Korean sentences and am feeling mildly better. Now to figure out what the source is of these feelings. For now, I think I’ll post this and call it a day. I need to get up early tomorrow to call my parents and a friend in America.

Poor Time Management

Today was another unproductive Saturday. Well, in the end it was productive but I sure could’ve done a lot more things today than I ended up doing. I stayed in my apartment all day today. I intended to spend four hours preparing for my class on Tuesday and another four hours preparing for my class on Thursday and another few hours preparing for my class on Friday. But as it turned out, I found other things to do that seemed more appealing. And now I have two of the three things done. I need to figure out what to do on days like today. It seems that I don’t have much drive to prepare for classes. I have heard it said that insanity is when you do the same thing and get the same results over and over again. I think I messed up that quote but you get the idea, right?

About the only thing I did today to intentionally relax was watching a Korean movie. This was quite meaningful. It is called, “Jung Cheon” (중천) which means The Mid-Heaven. This might be the first Korean action movie I have seen. I was able to pick up a few words but not most of it so thank goodness for English subtitles. I won’t tell you how it ends in case you want to watch it. It’s a good movie for those of us who can’t understand Korean because there is less speaking than the romance movies I have seen. I have two more movies to watch and then I will have seen every movie once. Then it is time to start over again. I’m hoping to learn Korean little by little as I watch these. I recommend these to people who need something to help them work through the drama of life (well they help me anyway).

I’m embarassed that I haven’t studied Korean today or yesterday. As you can see, I tend to waste a lot of time procrastinating which contributes to my feeling of not being fulfilled. This has been a decent day, but a day filled with recovering from regret.

I Have a Choice

This has been another good day. Not quite as good as yesterday, but still a good day. It started with making another call to the bank in America, then giving some oral mid-terms, then having a long lunch with a colleague while we ate kalby tong (갈비 탕), then working on some stuff in my office followed by meeting with a colleague tonight.

By the time I got back to my office after lunch and calculated the grades for the tests I gave this morning, I was worn out. I’m not exactly sure why. For the last hour before meeting with my colleague I read something another professor invited me to peruse.

When I met with my colleague this evening, we talked about many things. The first hour was consumed mostly by the subject of how to speak English. He has been a Godsend for me in terms of figuring out how to manage the class and figure out how to teach English the most effectively. I’m still learning and am feeling much better about teaching than I did at the beginning of the semester. I lost my cool a few times but have learned through the process thanks to some colleagues whose know-how far exceeds mine.

As we left his office, I gave him the details of my recent break-up. This was helpful and hurtful in terms of working through the process. I am mostly over the broken relationship though there is still sadness and regret for the things I did wrong. There is also a recognition that many things did not make sense and they still don’t make sense. But it is still more natural for me to blame myself for these things rather than her.

We even spent some time talking about ministers, titles (a key issue of the subject in the above paragraph), and a little bit of theology. Now I did my best to keep it simple but anybody who knows me at all knows I don’t do well at keeping things simple. That’s why I carry around my electronic dictionary with me as much as possible. It is just so difficult to speak simple, short sentences. This is something I’ve struggled with since I arrived here though I think I might be slightly better at it than I was a year ago. I remember hearing complaints about how complicated my e-mail messages were. That was when I learned to write in shorter sentences and to hit the return key each time I used a period and to doublespace between sentences.

The thing that kind of surprised me tonight is when my colleague told me he liked me. I didn’t ask many questions because I don’t want to let the secret out. I was hoping he would go into more detail but I guess we got distracted and started talking about something else. Here again was someone who didn’t really have to say this. I didn’t ask him of his opinion about me but it was something he freely offered. I guess I have a choice. I can spend my life wondering why I am not a better person or I can accept myself with all the flaws and recognize there something good within me. Of course I want to do the latter but this is not so easy for me.

A Good Day...For Real

I really don’t think it is necessary to blog today. I’ve had a really good day. But I guess I will continue the habit just in case this is the last good day I have in a while. Then it can go down in the record books that Brent Dirks (aka 도영웅) had at least one good day. And the truth be known, I have probably had many good days.

I’m not exactly sure what made today so good. I’m not complaining or anything it just seemed to be a normal day and for some strange reason I am feeling good even after I ate kimbap that was probably a little old. Hopefully this day won’t end with food poisoning.

It started with a trip to the bank to transfer funds. This can be a depressing experience with the exchange rate but since the Bank Manager assures me he’s giving me a better rate than the standard one, I’ll receive his goodness with gratitude. After that I consulted with colleagues about Korean culture, starting with a question about 나는 하고 내가, and led into a discussion about church. I had to cut that short so that I could find the person who brought me kimbap, a beverage, and two oranges. Then it was back to my office to write out a letter to the bank that recently closed. Now that is an interesting thing to try to inform an organization about your current address when there is a check with your name but nobody can pick it up because their name isn’t on the account. Note to self: if you start up an account before leaving the country, put a family member’s name on the account. After I finished that and attached questions for the Mid-Terms coming up tomorrow and next week I went to the copy (not 거피) shop to make some copies but the form I printed had too much gray background so they wouldn’t make the copies. That’s okay because I ended up saving paper this way. And I faxed the letter to the bank for the third time. Hopefully this time it went to the right place.

That was just for the morning activities. The highlight of the day was having lunch with a Korean colleague. We walked around for quite a while and we finally settled on kalguksu (갈국수) even though we both had bibimbap (비빔밥). My colleague wanted rice like a good Korean and that is what she got. I didn’t care what we ate. Since I had a class at 1pm both of us were under a little stress to eat, talk and get back to campus on time. But it worked out just fine.

I was a little nervous about class because this was supposed to be a review day. The students often lack motivation and I knew this would be no different during Mid-Terms week, a time when few students get sleep. I think they are hoping that the professor will give them extra points for every hour they don’t sleep. Of course they used some of the time in my class to sleep. But it was during this time that I negotiated the final. I started with 45 questions and ended up with 15 questions by the end of class. This mostly changed the fact that the students know what they are expected to present and raised the bar on my expectation that they be ready to knock the socks off their “professor” so to speak. They seemed to be happy with my compromise (each group is responsible to present five roleplays, for a total of 15 roleplays, which should take two or three hours) and I feel good about not getting upset with the students when they lacked the motivation to work with their groups and I think I treated them with respect by reasoning with them about the Mid-Term. I guess time will tell whether or not this is true.

After that was the second highlight of my day when I accepted an invitation from one of the students in that class to join him for coffee. He invited another student who also free-talks with me from that class to join us. I remembered another student who also free-talks with me and I invited her to join us there as well (thank goodness for cell phones and text-messaging). She brought a friend and we talked for a few hours. Another free-talking student also came during that time.

An awkward moment came at the end of the conversation when one student invited another student to his house for dinner. He asked me what my evening plans were and I wasn’t sure if he was inviting me or not. I asked him after embracing the awkwardness for a moment and he said he would do that another time. I made it clear to him that I wasn’t trying to invite myself but I was just trying to make some clarification. Hopefully he won’t feel obligated to invite me in the future.

After that I packed my belongings and came home to enjoy the food that a lady from church gave me earlier that day. Now I have come to the end of the day and am having an online conversation with one of my Vietnamese friends. What better way to end the day?

I think there are some good reasons why I feel the way I do. Of course this is one day, and it could just be the luck of the draw, but I suspect the lack of pressure also has something to do with it. Because this is Mid-Terms week most of my free-talking has been canceled. This subject is a puzzle to me as to how to manage free-talking with students without getting overwhelmed. Also, I am not responsible for the early-morning Bible study this week because of it being Mid-Terms week.

So I guess another thing, perhaps the most important thing, I’d like to do with my free-time is to develop relationships with people. I have also been able to continue the practice of studying Korean and doing a little bit with classroom work to prepare for tomorrow. Now I think I need to figure out a way to add exercise to my routine. I have done less chatting online tonight which I think has given me a chance to do other things.

Something else to do when I have more time

Today I did less free-talking than usual. This was nice in a way because it gave me a chance to do other things. But I still didn’t get ahead on my lesson plans like I was hoping. I’m afraid this means I’ll be spending another weekend preparing for lessons. It would seem like I could get this done during the week but it is very difficult for some reason. I can’t seem to kick that procrastinating tendency to put things off until the last minute.

Things were different today in many ways. I didn’t have my morning “Bible-study” because this is Mid-Terms week and we didn’t meet so students could spend more time studying. I hope they also took a chance to rest. I think it is interesting that I often see two students hanging out together a lot. I’m curious if this has something to do with the early morning program they are involved in. I guess that is one plus of the program.

I successfully studied Korean again tonight even though the productivity factor was lacking since I didn’t get started until it was late. But I think the practice of studying Korean is important even if I am not able to give as much energy to it as I would like. I’m starting to entertain the notion of an intensive Korean class when I get the opportunity. Of course the enthusiasm seems to taper off once I realize how expensive it is to take such a class. But I’m not seeing how I can learn Korean in a more efficient manner.

I learned today about the “Central Library” near the main subway station in the city where I live. I found out about it through the group of people I “teach” English to on Monday and Wednesday nights. This gave me an idea of a place to go on Sunday afternoons. It seems that one thing I do if I have free-time is to just go home. When I go home, I sometimes get sad as I am alone for the first time all day. This is sometimes a blessing and sometimes it seems to be a curse, especially as I continue to recover from a broken relationship. Since I’m working on a project about Korean culture and teaching English I think this just might be a good place to visit on Sunday afternoon or whenever I get some free-time. There is also a library even closer to where I live where I might be more productive in getting work done. I guess there are lots of things a person can do when one says no. But I didn’t say no, so I guess I have to remember this as I try to figure out a way to modify my free-talking schedule.

What would I do if I said no?

Since I wrote last there is one piece of my responsibility list that might be coming to an end. I will say more when it is official. For now I am just trying to maintain sanity until the end of the semester. Part of maintaining that sanity is to consider what I might do with my time if I said yes to fewer people.

Today I was reminded again of the necessity of being able to communicate in Korean. This came to mind today because I had a meeting this morning about the history of the hero of Korea. Even though foreign professors were given a translation of the content, the person speaking in Korean did not stop while we were given the translation and the content was presumably difficult to translate into another language. So I found myself being frustrated with the experience of waiting for a translation. This is why I find it less frustrating to listen only to Korean. Not that I can understand much of Korean, but in that case I am only tuned in to the person speaking in Korean.

So what would I do with the extra time if I had said yes to fewer people? I would be learning Korean. Now this sounds like a noble cause, maybe, but don’t let me fool you. I am not a good student. But the studying I have done so far has led me to the weak ability to send text messages and e-mail in Korean with a little ability to speak Korean when push comes to shove. But I think I need to find a way to immerse myself into Korean culture somehow.

This leads to my desire to practice justice. As I may have indicated before, I am thinking about ways to get involved in NGOs in South Korea. In order to do this I have to be able to speak in Korean. I am wondering if there are ways for me to get involved in NGOs in such a way that it would immerse me in Korean culture which would force me to learn to communicate in Korean. This would seem to be the best of all possible worlds.

Having less things to do outside of my university job would also enable me to take more time to invest in personal relationships. To be honest, this is my biggest downfall right now. This has probably been true most of my life. It seems that even after a year of living in the same place I still struggle to develop strong friendships. I often hide behind a busy schedule saying I don’t have time to do social things.

Now of course if I had more time on my hands I could do other things I am interested in doing, like writing, for instance. My current project is looking at Korean culture and seeing how that affects the English education system in Korea. Saying yes less often would give me a chance to do more with this. I have been itching to get into writing in some way since I graduated from seminary and especially since I moved to St. Louis. I started working on a project right before I came here and had to forego it due to moving to Korea. I couldn’t go to the conference anyway so it didn’t seem necessary to write a paper on the subject of the conference.

Am I missing anything?

Saying no

4/18/09 Saying No

This is my first entry on my new computer. Well, not the first since I used text edit before. But this is my first entry on my MacBook since I purchased IWork. I will save the commercial for that software for another time. I am following a friend’s advice to journal as a way of taking time for myself. I have a problem with this and I am a basketcase tonight because of a broken relationship after dating someone for a month. One of my uncles tells me we should always learn from our experiences and I think I have learned that I am in an unstable emotional state and am therefore not ready for a romantic relationship.

My assignment for today is to talk about what would happen if I were to say no. My immediate reaction was that it would be like cutting teeth. When I first heard this expression in seminary I thought it referred to the cutting that happens when the dentist removes a person’s wisdom teeth. It turns out that this is a reference to when a baby’s teeth first grow in place. My answer is still the same.

This probably doesn’t make sense. It is difficult for me to say no. I try to see the relational redemption in helping someone. Since I am living in another country I figure that the best way to get to know people is to do favors for them. But this also means that I cannot do what I would like to do because I am helping other people out. Currently, it also means that I am not able to prepare as much for classes as I would like to do. But the other problem is that I am not always good about getting work done if I am not busy.

I guess for starters I should talk about what I do. Mondays are supposed to be my research days but so far I’ve been using them as my catch-up days. One day I cleaned my apartment in preparation for my then girlfriend who was coming to visit. Other times I have prepared for classes. Then I meet with a Korean family to free-talk in English and have dinner with them. After that I teach an English class at City Hall. This is interesting and much more enjoyable than what I do at the university because people are more motivated to learn. I teach this class twice a week. My regular university responsibilities include teaching three classes, free-talking and a maximum of two meetings a week. I’m also meeting with students at 7am on Tuesday and Wednesdays for a “bible study” and free-talking with the same group in the evening on Thursdays. Fridays I teach a class and usually meet with students for free-talking. They didn’t show up last week so that probably means they gave up on the class. I’m also teaching an English free-talking class at a church on Tuesdays, helping with an English service at 9am on Sundays, teaching English after the service, going to a Korean service, eating lunch with people at church and then teaching an English class at another church.

There are other things I would like to do as well that are difficult to do since I am not good at saying no. I’m curious about ways I can help people, especially those who are poor. I’m still processing through this and I don’t think it will happen easily. I feel guilty many times because I’m not doing anything to help poor people. Even when I feel fulfilled I feel bad because I’m not doing much to help poor people. I’m also feeling a burden to learn Korean which is still quite poor for me. I’m embarassed to be among the many foreigners who cannot speak Korean fluently. I would like to get involved with NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) which seems to be virtually impossible unless I learn to speak in Korean.

My trip to Vietnam

MY TRIP TO VIETNAM

What follows is the edited version of my recollection of traveling to Viet Nam for the first time ever. I wrote these things mostly while I was on the trip with a reflection once I got home which was intended to be an exercise in dealing with the sadness of being away from Viet Nam after spending only a week there. I have removed things that are personal or that may hinder others who are serving in Viet Nam. I hope this is as meaningful in recollecting and as you read it as it was for me as I experienced these things firsthand. I am including the dates that I wrote these things for historical reference and to demonstrate the truth of my claim that I wrote while I was on the trip to, in and from Viet Nam.
2/17/09: This is my first day of waking up in Viet Nam. I was a little nervous about catching a bus to the airport in Korea but everything worked out. Yesterday the biggest event was a wedding festivity. I guess this was the third day of celebrating. I sat with Ron, which made it more interesting than sitting only with people who may or may not speak English. We were also joined by Loan, one of Phuong’s relatives, who is about 21 years old. Of course Phuong is a student at Korea Nazarene University (KNU) who invited us to come to her country.
In hearing a story about someone who was not able to attend a university because of low test scores, I was reminded that it is not the right of every human being to receive a formal education. It reminded me of what one of my former professors told me about being richer than many Americans just because of the education I’ve received. As I heard this story I began to wonder whether I am really any better off than she is. She seems very happy and relies heavily upon God whom she believes provided her a job without a university education and who also provided reconciliation on the job when she thought she might have to quit because of unfair working conditions.
Yesterday I had an interesting conversation about compassionate ministry. I heard how much money that people donate goes to the hands of those who are not in need. This seems to make it difficult to help people.
I’m not sure how well I am connecting with the people here but there is a sense in which I feel at home here. There doesn’t seem to be a hurry, hurry culture here like there is in Korea. And I think life here is a lot different than life in Korea or America. I’m sure there is a point when one wants to go back to a place like Korea but for now this is nice.
One of the more remarkable things about this culture is the plethora (and i do mean plethora) of motorcycles. It’s also cool that people ride their bicycles along with the people riding motorcycles. It seems that they are able to keep up with the people on motorcycles pretty well.
With all of the traffic, it is interesting crossing the street. If you run across the street, you’re more likely to get hit. The key is to slowly pace your way across. Then people weave their way around people crossing the street. When we flag down the taxi, which is often in the middle of the road, the driver will point to us, telling us to meet him at the corner. I think this is because he (I only saw men as taxi drivers) has to merge over to the right and there are people who are next to the taxi on bicycles and motorcycles so he has to do so slowly.
Today, Ron and I had lunch with Phuong and her parents and brother-in-law. This was interesting. At first I felt like I was i Ron’s shadow. He and his wife Bonnie have done a lot for her so it is understandable why they want to speak especially to him. But eventually I became more comfortable participating in the conversation.
So far I am enjoying my time here. There are two things I want to do while i am here: (1) spend time with people I met whom I believe have a lot to teach me about ministry and (2) I also want to see the tunnels and the war museum, even though this is not where the main battles of the Viet Nam War took place. I think it will take a day at the tunnels and a day to learn about ministry. But at the same time I want to spend time with Phuong and her family. I think that as long as Ron is here, it will be okay if I do something on my own.
2/19/08
Yesterday Phuong took us fishing. The place we went is popular for having wedding pictures taken. We went to many different spots on that location taking pictures of each other. I got several of Vy and Phuong, as well as Ron. Since it seemed that Ron and Phuong connected and Vy and I did, I tried to take pictures of Vy. But of course I didn’t miss the opportunity with Phuong and Ron either.
Fishing was the most leisurely thing we did. We used bamboo poles that had a line and a hook. We used some type of mud bait. We didn’t catch anything but I saw a few big fish. Ron, Phuong and Vy eventually laid down while i continued to fish. Vy tried at one point. None of us caught any fish and we didn’t see anyone else catching fish either. Ron and I thought we had some nibblers but that was it.
Singing in the Karaoke room was fun but not quite as lively as when I have been with Koreans in the singing room. Contrary to a Korean singing room, there were no tambourines. And people sang from their seats even though I was asked to stand up. I was surprised how early we stopped but I guess people were tired and they had things to do the next day.
Today was a little bit different because Phuong went home to see her parents. That meant Ron and I were on our own. Ron stayed near the guest house and I went to a war museum. This was my first experience on a motorbike. One of the owners of the guesthouse took me for free on one of their motorbikes.
I tried to move along rather quickly since I made lunch plans. I took a motorbike taxi back to the guest house and paid 30,000 Viet Nam Dang, about the equivalent of $1.50, which I was told was more than if I would’ve taken a taxi with air conditioning. I had many experiences of riding motorbikes today which I think probably cost me more than a taxi would have. I learned some things about the Viet Nam War and some things aobut the Vietnamese perspective that it was about American Imperialism. I’m sure there were some things that may not be “true” but I mostly focused on the war without pre-judging the story. This is easier for me since I don’t know much about it.
Lunch today left me wondering if there is a place for me inside of the church. This seems strange in light of my passion for preaching and my apparent gift for it. Btu I find it to be more comfortable to have conversations with people outside of the church setting. Yet I find that the people I talk to are professing Christians.
Today ended by having dinner with Vy, Lam, Hong and Ron. We ate at a restaurant outside and then we had coffee. This was fun but I felt bad for Hong that she couldn’t speak English very well. Also, we sometimes left Vy in the dust because we spoke too fast. She said she had fun and she even sent me a text message wishing me a good night. It makes me think that she likes me as a foreign friend. Ron and I are the first foreigners she and Hong have ever talked to.
2/20/08
Today has been different than I expected. I saw the Cuchi tunnels but further away from Ho Chi Minh City than I expected. We (Vy, Lam and I) rode a bus for 2 1/2 hours to the Cuchi tunnels in the country. We got to go through a few of them but not as much as I expected.
There have been high points and low points from today. The high points were when we got along and understood each other. The low points were when we had difficulty communicating. This happened when we took a really long bus ride. I was worried we were going to a totally different place. Sometimes I felt like Lam was saying yes when he didn’t really know the answer to my question about where we were going. But we eventually got there and this was an important part of my trip. I got to spend time with Vy and Lam and I also got to re-experience some of the things that happened in the Viet Nam War.
I think often of what one of my professors said in class about the traveling Vietnam War Memorial Wall. He said that those who weren’t alive couldn’t understand what was happening then. But I still think it is important to come as close to understanding it as possible.
When I go to Museums and Memorials, I hear a lot of hatred towards America. I heard in a video that one person was given an award for “killing Americans”. I suppose this could be comparable to the American rhetoric of defending one’s country. But it seems curious that the words are spoken against America and not the other countries who were America’s allies like Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and others. I asked a tour guide about it and he wasn’t able to give an answer perhaps because his English skills were not strong enough to deal with that subject.
Even though there seems to be some animosity towards America in these formal settings, I don’t sense the same hostility from people I meet on the streets. Sure, people stare at me sometimes. And maybe some of that is due to world history. But I suspect some of it is due to the fact that I have blond hair, blue eyes and white skin. I get similar looks from people in Korea.
When I go through museums and memorials, I try not to respond offensively to the comments about the terrible actions of the USA. I imagine that some of these things are more plausible than others. But I think my job as a guest in this country is to listen. I have to admit that sometimes these actions make me feel uneasy. I guess as much as I try to be an un-American American, there is a connection there that is part of who I am.
I am embarrassed that I don’t know more of the story of the Viet Nam War. I would imagine it had something to do with property rights or fighting communism or something like that. But at the end of the day, I don’t know if the reasoning of going to war is justified. Obviously there is much that I don’t know about.
For me, the most difficult is the thought of war. Whatever the real numbers of casualties are, there really were casualties. And I think the Vietnamese deserve some credit for not holding the consequences of the Viet Nam War against the succeeding generations.
I may have said before that I am not looking forward to returning to Korea. I think I am more okay with it today as I have seen that the grass is not greener on the other side but I also feel freer here. I don’t have to worry about conflicts of interests by being friends with people who are younger than me because they are my students. The differences in culture are tremendous and I feel like I should choose the socio-economically poorer culture. But somehow I still have to pay my bills.
2/22/09
I thought the Cuchi tunnels would be the last thing to explore in terms of the Vietnam War. I ended up going camping with Vy and Lam after all. Phuong said she’d be busy most of the weekend and since Loan was also busy I decided to go with them. This has proved to be an interesting experience.
I have had many people approach me in conversation. One person sat next to me on the bus and when he got up someone else came to sit next to me. When I got here, I continued to have many more conversations with people. Some of these happened when I was in the water. This is something I didn’t do previously because I was afraid of the water and also because I can’t swim.
I heard people talk about liking America in spite of the history of the Vietnam War. This seems to be quite a different perspective from what I hear in the museums and war memorials.
The most interesting conversation I had was with Mai, a 22 year-old university student. She has friends who are foreigners so she is able to have deeper conversations than many people I have met in Viet Nam.
She was helpful in giving me a Vietnamese perspective though she struggled to do this at all points because of the language barrier. She was very direct in telling me that she thinks I put myself on a pedastal. In other words, she says that I think I am better than Vietnamese people. When I asked her to point to something she saw in my actions she couldn’t say anything in particular. I think this is more of a generalization that all Westerners think they are better than Vietnamese people.
I tried to be honest with her and say that I want to see everyone as being the same while at the same time I know this is a constant struggle. I don’t think this matters because she has seen this attitude in so many foreigners. It is more of a matter of foreigners proving her wrong. Unfortunately, I fear that her assumption is right more often than it is wrong.
It is interesting that she seems very interested in marrying a foreigner in spite of this apparent prejudice, if that is what it is. I told her to be careful that a guy was not objectifying her. We talked about many things and I hope I have found a new friend with her.
2/23/09
Well, today is the last day I will be in Vietnam. Tonight I board the plane with Phuong that is destined for Korea. I suspect that both of us will be very sad.
I could’ve seen Vy and Lam one more time if I would’ve gotten out of bed earlier. I was supposed to catch a taxi but I didn’t wake up until almost midnight. I woke up one time around 6 or 7:30 and the next time I woke up it was almost midnight. I feel better today but I still wish I would’ve gone to see Vy and Lam one more time.
Today, I had the privilege of going to the Reunification Palace. This seemed to be one of the important places to visit in terms of the Vietnam War. The lady who was MY tour guide (I was the only tourist on the English-speaking tour) was very enjoyable. She told many funny jokes, like when she asked if the elephant feet belong to a male or female elephant. I said they belonged to a female just so I wouldn’t offend her and she said it was a male because the toenails weren’t painted. We also talked about Arnold Swarzenegger going from a movie star to a governor. I said it is a bad thing and she said it is a good thing. I also learned that Ho Chi Minh was the president of the Liberation Army. I’m still confused on this matter. I wanted to ask her about Viet Nam being a Democratic Socialist Republic but I didn’t get around to that. When we got to the end of the tour I gave her my card and she had to leave.
I gave Von, the girl who has cleaned this room for the last week, a thank-you note, my business card and a tip (I was so happy to leave a tip since I can’t do this in Korea). She asked me later if it is for her and she thanked me when I told her it was for her.
I went to a different kind of restaurant for lunch. It looked like some sort of a cafe lounge. The food was good but I’m not sure it was as healthy as the other food I’ve eaten. I had beef, salad, french fries and a good size of what I know as french bread. After that I went to Buck’s Ice Cream, where Ron suggested I go before I leave. Then I walked back to this room, which was when Von said thanks.
And now I am waiting for Mai to call or text me. The anticipation is killing me. And I’m trying to wait until I get on the plane, or at least to the airport before I fall apart. I guess I could go walk around or something, but I don’t want to have to mess with being too far away from here in case Mai can’t go to dinner or she wants to meet earlier.
It helped me to talk to some foreigners about my experience. They reminded me that it isn’t so easy once the honeymoon is over. I’ve been through it some in Korea so I understand some of what they are talking about. I think it must be so difficult with Vietnam being less developed.
Now I am sitting on the plane next to Phuong. Most of our customs paperwork is finished. She is trying to sleep as I write in here. I didn’t cry like i thought I would. I can’t help but wonder if Mai helped me with this. When I said goodbye to her she didn’t seem to be so sad but she seemed to view it as the beginning of a new friendship. Crying won’t change anything so I guess I will remember these people who have changed my life in just a few days. I hope things will be different now. I will miss hanging out with people that have no connection to the university where I teach. I think I will explore opportunities in Vietnam.
When I look back on the people I met and the things I did, there was very little connection to church. As far as I know, Vy, Loan and Lam believe in God. Perhaps they are Christians. But I didn’t find my experience with them to be a lot different from my experience with people like Mai who says she doesn’t believe in God. I’m sure much of this is because of the cultural difference and the language barrier. Either way, it seems like I have a good foundation for doing something. But maybe this is a pipe dream. When I told Mai that I have a vision to change the world, she said everybody does.
So I guess that about wraps the trip up. I’m surprised we are on this airplane since Phuong didn’t arrive a moment too soon and the woman who checked us in told me the flight was overbooked. After we got our tickets, Phuong wanted to see her family again for ten minutes. I couldn’t believe she was even asking about this. I agreed with much reticence. It took her five minutes to find someone and she only found Josep. I guess he was the one she really missed. When I saw how difficult it was for both of them, I could see why she wanted to see him.
And now for the final reflection. I hope I have stated many times how much better this experience was than I planned. I told one person my favorite part was making new friends. I told Phuong the best best best was my conversation with Mai on Saturday night. But there were many other experiences that I will never forget, like the bond with Vy, seeing Hong slowly warm up, the frustrations of language barriers, the kindness of Loan when we were eating and I didn’t know the right forms for how to put the food together, the conversations at the guest house, the effort Von made to talk to me epecially after I gave her a gift, the kindess of the group I went camping with, including the girl who told me where I could find a warmer place to sleep. I also remember the museums and the sadness I felt about the war, not knowing what really are the true “facts” of the war. I didn’t get to see how to really help the poor but I had a sense of the poor being all around me. I saw people trying to make money in all kind of ways, whether begging, selling in the streets, people sitting on motorbikes offering to give me a ride or the more traditional methods I am familiar with for making money.
I still wonder how a people can be so hospitable, forgive their enemies from the past and manage to be so kind. But Mai reminded me there are good and bad people in every country.
I told Mai I’m going to tell my parents what amazing people the Vietnamese really are and I mean it. I expect this experience to affect me as much as when I went to Ukraine. It’s funny how people with different backgrounds can become friends. Several people told me to visit again. I want to go to the Philippines and visit another poorer Asian country. But I hope I can return to Vietnam. I guess that is in God’s hands. I’ve got a red-eye flight so I guess I better get some sleep. I hope I never forget Vietnam. I promised Mai and Vy I wouldn’t forget them. I don’t think it will be a problem to keep that promise. I hope those friendships are lifelong.
2/26/09
Phuong and I finally arrived at KNU around 10:45am on Tuesday. It was difficult for both of us to leave but I’m sure it was more difficult for Phuong. I did not cry like I thought I would.
The last few days have been difficult. Tuesday was probably the worst day. I was tired from the long flight home and I missed Viet Nam. It helped that I was able to chat with Loan and Mai online. Loan told me she wants to tell me a lot about her life but that she doesn’t think she can speak well in English. Mai and I talked about a lot of subjects which seems to be normal.
I e-mailed Tinh and Lam and they both responded. I still owe them a response. People ask me why I miss Vietnam. I tell them I miss my friends. It was so nice being friends with people I didn’t know through my job. I didn’t have to worry about a conflict of interest. Mai and I have both expressed interest in talking though she can’t explain why in the logical order I prefer. I was surprised to hear her say that she thought she’d believe in God eventually.
Today was easier because I was busy most of the day. I felt very fulfilled after I spoke at the orientation with another foreign professor. The saddest part is tonight when I came home after dinner. I don’t like coming home to an empty apartment. The loneliness reminds me of when I spent time with my friends in Vietanam or when I went to restaurants by myself. I can still do that here but it isn’t very cost-effective. I did that last night at the Vietnamese restaurant near KNU. It was kind of sad eating alone and the food was a little different but it still reminded me of Viet Nam and especially of the people i spent time with when I was there. I think I’m getting more and more settled back into Korean life, but I don’t see how it can ever be the same again.

Maybe there isn't a kitchen sink, but there is a showerhouse with toilets (bring your own TP) and there is even a motorbike. This is the last picture.

This was a mystery. It looked like a wall or something.

A tree, a pond, a beach, an ocean, and amazing people. What more could you ask for, for real?

An interesting design...sorry I couldn't give you a better view.

There's even a pond. What else could you ask for?

And I think this is styrofoam. Don't litter.

This is not a seashell. I guess what Prof. Twining said in Environmental Science Class was true.

I'm not exactly sure what to call this.

Another ship, maybe the same one, in the distance.

What do you think of this?

What or who can you see here?

See the ships in the distance?

You can even take a canoe.

And there are even trees. What more could you ask for?

What a great place to pontificate.

And there were lots of people there. I went with about 40 or 45 people.

Seriously!

This is so fascinating.

If you look closely you might be able to see more trash. Where does it come from?

What is so fascinating about the water coming in that makes me want to watch it forever?

This is not the water, but rather, the clear blue sky.

Here is a wind-surfer. Notice the yellow object above Tinh's head.

Here is the water that I actually went in later on that day.

Here is Tinh, one of the first people in the group that I met. And he was not afraid to speak to me in English.

Not the cleanest beach in Vietnam, as the Vietnamese people I went with were quick to tell me.

This was sitting on the beach. I wondered if anybody could use this.

Everyone else is taking naps. I'm going for a walk on the beach, even if it is hot.

Setting up the tents was quite the ordeal.

Setting up tents.

The Highlight of my Vietnam Experience: The Beach

Stand back: there might be a fire coming out any minute now.

And another "x" here.

Notice the "x" on this American emblem. The tour guide told me this is the "Traditional" Vietnamese mindset. We could call it "old school".

Read this if you can.

It's not a good idea to walk towards a plane with a gun on its nose.

Any guesses where this is from?

A closer view...but don't get too close.

A tank...not Vietnamese of course.

A nice place to enjoy a cold drink and think about my last moments in Vietnam.

Here's a better picture, thanks to the tour guide whose English was amazing and she even had a sense of humor.

I'm chillin' with Ho Chi Minh.

The front of this building above the entrance is structured to resemble Chinese characters.

Welcome to the Reunification Palace. This was the last museum I visited in Vietnam on my last day there. What a sad day.

There's an Isuzu. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Are you ready to ride a motorbike yet? Are you at least thinking about it?

This must've been an attempt to take a picture of a Ford or Hyundai.

Seeing all these people on motorbikes makes you want to ride one, doesn't it?

And yet another church.

It's always comforting to see signs in one's mother tongue.

I don't know what I was thinking but I remember Ron was trying to find Phuong. When you don't know what else to do, take pictures.