-^-for posterity-^-

language classes began for me tonight. monday wednesday friday 5:30 to 7:30pm. that will last until the 14th when classes will be 8:00 to 10:00am every weekday until i head down to long xuyen in the beginning of december.

the university is located on a dingy street which is always full of youth. there are three main buildings and a couple large courtyards. our class was to meet on the second floor (what we would call the third floor) in room 27b. there is 27a and 27c too which are all different partitions of the same room. my class was made up of me and three koreans.

the had a strange coat of paint on it. somehow it was a combination of silver, baby blue and green. our teacher was very soft spoken which was very frustrating when trying to understand the difference between co cô cơ cu cư câ că ca ci ce cê ce có cò cỏ cõ cọ cồ cố cổ cỗ cộ cờ cớ cở cỡ cợ etc. well, i believe you get the point. she would peep the difference and we would all try to repeat it. she would frown and peep something again barely audible above the scurry of gecko feet across the wall. peep peep.

the other students are a very motley crew. one student was an older lady trying to preserve her youth behind a three inch layer of makeup and four inch heels. the other was a young man who tended to yell all the time. the final man looked to be in middle management. he was not in any stage to learn a language. he couldn't hear the differences but was somehow defiant about his mistakes. strange.

i'll be in this class for only one week. it will be a nice overview of pronunciation which, in my opinion, is the most difficult part of this language. i also found my self giggling a lot tonight. for some reason everything was absurd.

oh, and it rained hot like a sauna.