Creepy Crawlies

My apologies for the slight blog hiatus.  I’ve picked up more hours at school and have meant to update for days now.  Life here has become sweet in the way that you start to feel settled in a new environment.  My residence history has defined this feeling to be a danger zone for me, but I have not yet succumbed to the high I feel every time I plan for a move.  Da Nang is still showing me quite a bit of love and new experiences.  It’s truly another world living here.    

Language has to be the most difficult part of life in Vietnam.  My original intention of travel living in Indonesia was first spurred by their phonetic language being so easy to learn.  Vietnamese, a fast tonal string of one-syllable words, is incredibly hard to remember and understand.  I say this with a foreign ear, but I’ve also witnessed countless misinterpretations between fluent Vietnamese speakers.  It is hard to imagine learning a word, learning the correct pronunciation, saying the word, and being met with complete confusion.  Then someone else will say the word and the receiver magically understands.  Not to mention, the receiver will repeat the word and it will sound JUST like I said it!  I think possibly if I stayed here for multiple years, I might be able to converse freely with locals, but I would really need to invest some serious time in learning the language. 

Suoi Voi

Ouchie Everything

As it turns out, being sick while living abroad can be a bit distressing.  As a teacher of four years in the States, I have had my fair share of illnesses and built up quite an immunity, but there’s always room for more!

Waking up in a sweat with body aches, sore throat and a headache, my mind immediately raced back to recent water cooler chats about mosquito adventures in SE Asia.

“Holy crap I have Dengue Fever!”

Melodrama aside, Dengue is a very real possibility here and no, there are no vaccinations currently available.  The only proactive measure that can be taken is mosquito avoidance.

No Huế!

I believe it is safe to say we have officially entered the rainy season here in Da Nang.  Yesterday we woke up late because for the first time, the sun wasn't penetrating through every window.  Until now, we have had scattered showers in the evening and at night, but yesterday, it rained all.  Day.  Today the clouds look pretty doom-ish as well.  Nothing stops in Vietnam during the rainy season.  We are armed with ponchos, umbrellas and raincoats and they are used in that order.  If anything, the rain calms the traffic slightly and cools the air, so our season to come is bitter sweet.  I have to say I’m looking forward to feeling 65 degrees (F) at some point.

All I wanna do is Zoom A Zoom Zoom Zoom

Many personal triumphs were had this week. 

As we have begun to familiarize ourselves with the new living quarters, house guests who hadn’t previously introduced themselves have become quite comfortable doing so.  Our bathrooms (especially mine) have lately been a haven for the world’s most resilient super pest: cockroaches.  You would think that living in Chicago, I would've had my fair share of them, but I wasn't ever properly trained for roach combat.  The only pest that Chicago prepared me for were rats.  Although I don’t prefer to see rats running around everywhere, they don’t really bother me.

Pineapple and Dragon Fruit

Entrance to the Bodhisattva of Mercy

What a busy week!  I have a bit of a sporadic schedule with teaching, so it’s difficult to keep track of the days, but they whirl by anyway despite my constant efforts to slow them down.  I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost a month now, but many life components are thankfully getting settled.  I’m waiting for my “honeymooning” period with Da Nang to dissipate, but it is holding strong at the moment.  I’d say one of the only frustrating parts of living here is the immense red tape teachers have to slash through for work permits/visas/residency etc.  They don’t make it easy to start out, but I’m taking it one thing at a time, and hoping the paperwork and payments end soon.

So close, yet worlds away

Hoi An

One of the reasons I appreciate and love DaNang so much is the absence of tourism.  The “ugly tourist attitude” hasn’t totally tainted how these locals feel about seeing a westerner in their city, so there are many more smiles and gestures of warm acceptance than in other cities on the coastal circuit.  Seeing another westerner on a daily stroll in my neck of the woods is like seeing a two headed giraffe – it just doesn’t happen.  So it’s interesting how all of that will change 28km south in the bustling tourism hotspot of Hoi An.