-^-for posterity-^-

teacher's day 2003. hilarious.

they day begins early to avoid the effects of the sun. we wake at six and are at the school by six thirty. the main yard has been filled with small, six inch high stools. the students sit on them mostly wearing pastel bucket hats. the teachers sit in the middle on wooden benches. we watch singing, dancing and listen to speeches. the speakers talk about how important teachers are and what they offer society. the speeches are all incredibly similar.

speakers talk and the crowd talks. the crowd rumbles with murmors. the sound system blasts the speakers voice, which normally overpowers everything else. when the speaker pauses, the crowd overpowers. it's a strange combination of bored students, important speeches and constant noise.

some people are honored. they are asked to walk to the stage and they receive flowers and, if they are important enough, a plaque. the foreign teachers go to the stage and are only given flowers. we must contribute more to receive a plaque. flowers are nice.

in the middle of one of the speeches i'm tapped on the shoulder by a man with a camera. he tells me he works for the an giang television company and would like to interview me for television. he wants to know how i feel on teacher's day. in the middle of one of the speeches i am told to stand near the front with the speaker in the background. he continues to bellow and i'm told to talk over him into a microphone. all of the sudden i become incredibly nervous. my hands start to shake and i can't look into the camera. i talk for a minute or two in vietnamese which is probably a bit too colloquial and sloppy for television. my talk borrows heavily from the propaganda banners that surround the campus. 'education helps to develop society and we need teachers. teachers have an important job. this day is important and i feel very happy here.' people tell me that it is a good talk but i know they're just being nice. i'll watch it tonight when i'm calm and surly will be embarassed.

after the ceremony, we are invited into different classes. in one class we sit and listen to an english student explain to us why she thinks teacher's day is important. she stands up and gives a speech. she gives it all in vietnamese. she's a senior. strange.

she talks quietly about where she is from and how she got into university. she's a small girl in an ao dai dress. her hair falls on her shoulders and she looks up at the corner of the rooom softly. she starts to get emotional and she smiles. it's the smile that could mean one of a hundred things but she's embarassed. she starts to cry a bit and someone gives her a tissue. she looks helpless, like a fawn whose mother died. she promises us all that she will be a good teacher one day. she says it's her duty to be a good teacher.

we are now going with other english teachers to eat beef and beef parts (brain, stomach, everything). hilarious (a word that has as many meanings as the vietnamese smile)

and then...

we all went out for random pieces of water buffalo boiled in water. it was uneventful and the restaurant was hot. we sat on small, wooden stools with boiling pots in front of us. they are heated with charcoal and the black smoke gathered on the ceiling. we didn't talk about anything and all wanted to leave quickly. after eating our fill of water buffalo and listening to hilarious (read terrible) jokes, we drove down dusty roads home.