Goodnight Vietnam

I am sitting here on my cluttered bed in Saigon as I take a short break from the seemingly impossible task of fitting 3 suitcases worth of luggage into 2.  Throw in a few delicate gifts from my students and you've got a very fragile game of Tetris.  All I can do is wish for my mom's help as I sit here pondering whether my clothes have indeed multiplied or my suitcase has amazingly shrunk.

As you can probably gather from my cheesy title, this is my last day in Vietnam.  Two months ago I greeted Vietnam with a smile and eyes wide with eagerness, but tonight, at 11:50pm, I will bid this nation adieu.  Two months ago I was eating Pho for the first time around a crowded table as we all awkwardly tried to get to know each other, but tonight I will go to the airport surrounded by the very good friends I have made in Vietnam.  Two months ago, I was just beginning my summer and could hardly even imagine getting to the end, but tonight I will reach the conclusion of my adventure.

We left Quang Tri in a flood of tears.  After the Culture Show on Sunday night, the waterworks had started.  Kids clung to us like barnacles, refusing to ever let go.  After spending about an hour telling our students how proud we are of them, especially Sang who overcome her shyness to perform a beautiful solo at the show, and our students reiterating how they will never forget us, it was time for us to say goodbye for the night.  The adorableness of these kids hit us all hard and I think I speak for most of us when I say we were struggling to hold back tears as well.

On Monday, we had a lot of prepping to do before we left Quang Tri, so we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but amid the commotion the students overran our guesthouse trying to say their last goodbyes.  I will always remember Nhuyuen's face as she asked me in the cutest broken English if I would be her brother, or Hien's rubbed-red eyes as she made me pinky swear to come back to Vietnam and see her.  Crying children is definitely one of the most heartbreaking things in the world.  As our bus pulled away, the best any of us could do was to not look, in fear of being pushed over the edge.

And saying goodbye by to our roommates was another event filled with lasting hugs and crying people.  The scene could have come straight from a movie as we stood on a train platform, saying goodbye as we waited for a night train to Saigon.  Many roommates gave us departing gifts.  Phuc gave me an awesome tie, Cash McCracken style, Khanh armed Bryn with engraved nunchucks, Hung surprised Justin with a 16ft fishing pole (collapsible of course), and Vui satisfied Corinne's love of peanut butter with home roasted peanuts.  For many of us "See you again" or "I will return to Vietnam" will be empty promises, but I think many of us will do the best we can to come back here now that we have made great, life long friendships.

So after 8 weeks of teaching English, building a fence, two playgrounds, and renovating three schools, all that is left to do is survive one last flight, finally taking me home.

So thats all I got.  As much as I would like to write more, my life in America is far less interesting than the past two months I have had here.  So thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with my blog this summer, and those who haven't, you are dead to me...  For anyone who is thinking about travelling to Vietnam in the future, I am now an expert on the country so please please please email me at ngbalk@gmail.com.  I have now traveled to most places in this country that tourists would go, and I have friends in most major cities who are extremely hospitable and, more importantly, good at English.

See you State-side,
Nick

Finishing Strong

the maw

Its been a while since my last blog post, and I know my peeps back home have been anxiously awaiting the next installment of my journey.  Compelled by a motherly email requesting more posts, I bring this one to you today.  My blog now officially has over 1300 page views, so if you subtract the 700 times I have refreshed my blog page to get my page count up and the 588 times my mom has nervously checked my blog to make sure I am still alive, I estimate that a total of 12 people have looked at my blog once, 6 people twice, or, what I think is the most likely scenario, my sister has checked it 12 times at which point she died of boredom going for the 13th.  So mom, I am still alive and well, and Sarah, you still owe me $45 from Christmas.  Lets proceed.

On Monday morning, about 4 days from now, I will be sitting on yet another 24 hour train ride Saigon bound, relegating the community in Quang Tri and all of the experiences here to my memory.  But I am not yet sad because I know that this last week will certainly be one of the best. DukeEngage is going to finish strong.

Now this is the Vietnam I see in the movies!

As my mom already knows from my short (but loving!) email to her, this weekend I saw probably the coolest thing I have ever seen and could probably imagine, other than Aven rocking two monacles.  This weekend we saw Phong Nha caves and Paradise Cave, one of the longest cave systems in the world that was featured on National Geographic.  In the Phong Nha caves, two loud and rickety motor boats escorted our group into the gaping maw of a mountain, opening up into the elaborate and spectacular cave system within.  The boats switched off the motors and we silently navigated the inner sanctum.  Flood lights illuminated various stalactites ("c" for ceiling!) and stalagmites ("g" for ground!).  Huge columns formed over thousands of years of what looked like melting rock astonishingly clung to the walls us as we drifted slowly below.  Thousands of daggers hung dangerously from the ceiling, setting the scene for a horrid Final Destination movie.The boats made two stops where we could get off and walk around, opening up into even more awe-inspiring sites.  Vietnam's general lack of, well, rules, made walking around a little harder than one might think as we slipped and slid on moist stone.  I wasn't too worried because the jagged stalagmites would probably break my fall... It was difficult to grasp the sheer beauty and power of the cave, even in person, so I hope these pictures and descriptions will inspire even a fraction of the impression I had.

We're going in!

Our next stop was another cave which, although less touristy, was even more mind blowing.  Recently opened to the public, this cave was concealed in a remote mountainous region.  After hiking a few kilometers through the jungle and up a mountainside, a narrow path led into the crack-like opening of the cave, revealing that this mountain was hollow, like the famous rebel city of Farthen Dur (Eragon for life).  As we entered this cracked egg, a narrow passage gave way to an enormous chamber filled with equally as beautiful stone chandeliers and fixtures.  A wooden pathway guided our way through what would have otherwise been a maze.  The cave opened up into an even bigger chamber, a chamber which was so tall, Justin and I could have sworn there was a misty haze, like a cloud, looming near the ceiling.  It was like a giant rock stadium, but way taller, like skyscraper tall.  Aside from its enormity, this cave strangely felt alive, like it was constantly growing and changing, perhaps even going through puberty.  The pitter patter of mineral-thick water droplets falling hundreds (maybe thousands?) of feet gave the chamber a natural rhythm.  You know how they say white kids don't got rhythm?  Well million year old caves sure as hell do. These drops, falling in the same spot for hundreds of years, deposit their sediment on the growing outcrops below (I caught one! which is apparently good luck...), creating these amazing feats of nature..  The shapes of these stalagmites tell very long stories; maybe the water hit, then splashed, then dripped, then shimmied, then back flipped or whatever, making these absurd shapes, like plants growing out of the ground.  The ground was also littered with the remains of fallen giants, stalagmites that had grown to heavy for their own support.  The chambers as a whole gave me an otherwordly impression.  The barren, sandy floor, the strange towers, the enormous passages, the untouched pools of water, the drip drop of water, alien-like natures of South Carolinians Eli and Caroline.  I felt like I was on Mars or something.  I swear, there has to be something equally as weird living in this strange habitat.  As we reached the end of the pathway, we could see that the cave went on and we had seen only a tiny piece of an enormous system.  I really wish all of you could have seen them in person, because pictures just cannot do them justice.  So multiply these pictures by a million, and that is how I felt.  Okay?

Natural decor

I think it is also important to note that the jungle surrounding this cave had legit vines.  Like George of the Jungle swing-from-tree-to-tree vines.  Did you know those are totally real?  Corinne tested it out and they are definitely strong enough to do some serious swings.  Thanks Corinne.

So this week is very exciting in Quang Tri because the Duke Engage Soccer Tournament begins.  Justin and Vu did a great job planning this tournament, so we have 18 teams and nearly 150 people participating!  The tournament is divided into a secondary school division and a high school division (although somehow that highschool division has a ringer team of 30 year old men...). The first day was a huge success and completely shattered our modest expectations for this tournament.  In addition to the teams, many more came just to watch.  The stadium was alive and buzzing with energy. Many people are saying this is the biggest soccer tournament ever held in Quang Tri, so the stakes are very high. Whether the players are motivated by supreme honor and glory or the prizes we are not sure, but the games are extremely competitive and quite rough indeed.  With Vu keeping the game under control at center referee and Justin and I trying our hand at linesman, we make up an unstoppable force of order and discipline that keeps the older games running smoothly.  I will say that being a linesman is harder than it looks and it took Justin and I a little getting used to.  "Point in the direction the ball is going" is a lot easier said then done, especially when shoeless legs are flailing simultaneously towards the ball.  The conditions in which these men play  would never fly under the almighty hammers of legendary yellow card wielding, striped shirt donning, whistle tooting Piedmont referees like Steve Schub and Alan Kneckley.  Shoeless, 1 shoe, socks, anything goes for these guys.  Regardless of their equipment, the older group plays at a very high skill level.  The quickness and ball control I see from some players rivals even some of the wettest in the BSAL.  Perhaps even the illustrious Nikolai Littleton.

This Vietnamese version of the "Dream Team" is taking our soccer tournament by storm.

We have a very awesome week planned for our last week of teaching.  Wednesday was a scavenger that went extremely well.  For 45 minutes, 5 teams of roughly 6 students scrambled around Quang Tri town trying to do things like take a picture with a cow, sing "Head Shoulder Knees and Toes" in the market, and spell out vocabulary words with their bodies.  My team heroically earned 2nd place behind An's unbelievable 1st place finish.  Other classes practiced songs and dances and a couple even came together to make ice cream Ms. Rohmer's-chemistry-class style.  Today we are having a final party with tons of fruit, drinks, and other treats.  We plan to give each of our students a picture of our class with our best wishes included.  I think its going to be an awesome day and our students are very excited.  Friday is a "Field Day" which Corinne has taken the reigns on.  With nearly 200 students, we will play American games such as Tug-of-War, Relay Race, and Capture the Flag.  I am confident everyone will have a great time and all will go well.

I may or may not have mentioned the "Culture Show", but on Sunday the CET- DukeEngage group will perform a 2 hour long show which we have been preparing every since we arrived in Quang Tri under the strict whips of Chandra Swanson, Trang and choreographer extraordinaire Divya Taneja.  So tonight we have rehearsal to get everything fine tuned (hopefully) and tomorrow we must perform a private show to the local censorship board or something like that.  Not sure if my pole dancing act is gonna fly, but we will soon find out.  Videos will be taken and posted, so hold tight and get ready for the show of a generation.  Vietnam's Got Talent should look no further because we are about to blow your face masks off.

See you in a week,
Nick

Hue, Baby

It's nearing that time of the week again where my fuel reserves are running low, my laundry pile is building up, clean underwear and socks are becoming scarcer and scarcer, and the weekend is right around the corner!  It's also that time of the week where I finally find time to update my blog and this time, after a short hiatus, I will include pictures!  So last weekend was totally sick, maybe one of the best weekends yet.  On Friday night, after scrambling to get packed after our post-teaching snack of Banh Tio, we hopped on a packed bus Hue-bound to GTFO.  These buses are insane.  For about 40,000 dong ($2!!!) you can take a van packed up to your noise with people and luggage on this 1 hour trip that would shame Mr. Toad.  Lanes and central dividers are merely suggestions, and very weak suggestions at that.  Oncoming traffic is no deterrent when valuable seconds could be saved by accelerating into the oncoming lane.  Finally we arrived in Hue and got ready for our night out.  Our resident Hue locals, Nhan and Triang, showed us to the coolest nightlife in Hue, this area full of backpackers, ex pats, and trendy bars with names like "DMZ", "Brown Eyes", and "Octopussy" (lost in translation hopefully...).  What we thought was going to be a chill night of sitting and talking quickly turned into jumping and dancing amid the sea of sweaty French and British people.  The people we were able to talk to all had very interesting stories.  Many were merely stopping through as they continued their motorcycle trip through Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.  Others came to the see the sites.  Others came to see the women.  One friendly fellow hinted that Laos was the Amsterdam of South-East Asia.  Others told me I look like Jamal from "Slumdog Millionaire".  Everyone had something to say!

The next day we checked out various sites which I think the pictures can describe better than I can;  Citadel, Pagoda, Dragon Boat on the Perfume River.  While these were all awesome, the best was our stop for Italian food for dinner.  Oh how I missed you, Pizza.  We all inhaled our little tastes of the West and hoped that it would never have to go away, but alas, it did.  I salivate now as I think of that melted mystery cheese tickling my taste buds.  Why did you have to leave!!??!

Dream Team

Sunday had the beginnings of a classic lazy day, but at 3pm, it was all business.  In a match of the ages, the Duke Engage group took on the local village's competitive soccer team in an international battle that will surely premier in an ESPN Original Movie.  See Dad?  I told you I would be an international soccer star.  I finally made it!!!!  The community put together a whole shebang for this game.  Refs came and they even set up an announcers table with loudspeakers and everything.  It felt like the whole village was watching.With me holding down center back, Vu and Justin killing it in the midfield, and Hue star Hieu going strong up front, we were a killer force, but for most of the game, we were trailing: 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 etc, but in the second half, we came up stronger and pushed the game to a 4-4 tie.  And with a beautiful goal in the last few minutes, we took the win with a play that will certainly top Sportcenter's top 10 for weeks to come. Shoutout to Billy Burns for showing he has chum chums by dominating at fullback and Nguyen for showing tremendous hustle, ball control, and shooting ability up front.  Finally, Corinne Santoro channeled her inner Petr Cech by making unbelievable stops in goal.  Our 5-4 victory was not only a win for our insatiable egos, but also for our nation.  Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.

This week we made enormous progress on our projects and have actually, for the most part, finished both of the original projects.  The fence is completely erected and now all that is left to do is paint, and the playground is nearly completely laid.  Due to our sheer awesomeness, Alyce decided that we should take on some more projects.  Although at first we all may not have welcomed the notion of even more work, we realize that this is why Duke Engage is paying us to be here.  So we dutifully accepted our next two projects, painting the current elementary school and preschool and building another fence and playground for a neighboring preschool.  If all goes according to plan, in two more weeks we will have a renovated elementary school with a fence around it, a newly painted preschool fit with a small playground, fence, and garden area, and a fully tiled playground and mural for a different preschool.  Not bad for 7 weeks.  Everything seems to be coming together and we are all extremely excited to finally see our hard work come to fruition.

As I write this we our finishing our 36th day (if i counted correctly...) here in Vietnam.  With only two weeks left of work followed by some much deserved R and R in Saigon, the reality of this surrealistic experience is hitting us.  While I feel like I have been in Vietnam for ages, I am starting to understand that this awesome time does indeed have an expiration date, a date on which we will have to say goodbye to our roommates, goodbye to Alyce and Thao, goodbye to our students, goodbye to the contractors, goodbye to the nuoc mia and sinh to ladies, goodbye to the lunch lady, and goodbye to the community.  I think we are all still trying to come to grips with our bizarre and amazing lives everytime we stare out at the rice paddies and say to ourselves "Wow, am I really here?"  Soon enough, though, we won't be here, we will be somewhere else, and that incredulousness will only exist in our memories.

This weekend, Vu, Divya, Corinne, Justin, and I are taking advantage of our last free weekend by going to Hue tonight, the beach tomorrow, and the Eco-Tourism zone on Sunday to check out some monkeys.  We will stay at a guesthouse in Hue and gorge ourselves on some much needed hamburgers for dinner.  With hamburgers, the beach, and clean socks (I just did my laundry!), this weekend promises to be a memorable one.  And for all of those State-side, I must quote Justin in saying, "Have a good good time!"

Not counting down yet,
Nick

P.S.  Here are a bunch of awesome pictures.  Enjoy.

The canal outside our guest house

Mid morning swim

The famous Perfume River (not so perfumy in person...)

Vu relaxes in our luxurious guesthouse in Hue

Colorful view from our window

Breakfast at a French bakery in Hue

Hue's Truong Tien Bridge, designed by Gustave Eifel!  Can you see
the resemblance?

A busy street in Hue

Imperial City Gates in Hue

Our student "Suffering Wind's" 16th birthday party at a Karaoke bar!

Mid-Morning Laze...

Again, its a beautiful Friday morning here in Quang Tri, making it a perfect day to finally take a dip in the river outside of our guesthouse.  After a lazy morning at the worksite, we got back early and immediately decided it was time.  Chandra, Phuc, Corinne, Nhan and I (aka Super Awesome Action Adventure Team (SAAAT)) dove right in, so to speak, and immediately realized that this river is quite fast.  After trying to use the Bear Grills patented cork screw stroke to get out of the current (it didn't work) we swiftly floated down stream, soon accepting the strength of the water and becoming one with the flow.  Downstream there was a bridge where we simulated a few rescue missions, hence the Action Adventure (AA).  A most dopely awesome morning of lazing Myrtle style and it is almost time for lunch, but we have a big weekend planned!

This weekend we are going to the historically famous city of Hue.  While Saigon is the representative city of the South, and Hanoi of the North, Hue is the big city of the Central Region.  This actually used to be the ancient capital, so we are all very excited to see that Vietnamese version of the Forbidden City in Beijing and other cool historical stuff.  Hue is also famous for its night market, so we are all pretty pumped to check it out.  While we were supposed to go Saturday, some of us are headed over there today after class so we an spend an extra night and maybe do a little bar hopping...  I mean, its FRIDAY, right?  Chandra is graciously letting me use her camera so there will be pictures to accompany the next post.

4 more weeks-ly,
Nick

Da Nang Aftermath

Our trip to Da Nang was awesome!  I would definitely say that this was the best two days I have had throughout this whole trip, and I wouldn't be surprised if this trips stay atop the leaderboards for the remainder of our stay.  So at 5pm on Friday afternoon, 12 of us boarded a packed and sweaty van/bus Da Nang bound.  After about 3 hours of napping, Mafia, and Contact, we were greeted with bursts of thunder and lightning as we arrived in downtown Da Nang and made our way to the surprisingly luxurious guest house which, for only a few bucks per person, we were able to pack 12 people into two rooms for two nights.  You just can't get deals like that in the States.  Plus, sharing a bed with Andy Tran felt like more of an honor than a burden.  Waking up on Saturday, our awesome buddy Vu already had a action filled day planned for us, and oh did it live up to the expectations.  Breakfast consisted of a beautiful noodle (typical) dish across the street from the guest house which we all devoured and some of the boys (myself included) inhaled two like my sister with a jar of peanut butter.  Afterwards, Vu's amazingly accomodating uncle treated us all two a ca phe sua da (iced coffee) morning pick-me-up.  Vu's uncle, aunt, and cousins lived only a few houses down from our guesthouse, so we visited them regularly and used their house a sort of base camp for our various excursions.  To thank Vu's family, we purchased them a wonderful assortment of various fruit such as dragon fruit, apples, grapes, and mangos (sorry Eli, no chum chum).  Then, it was pagoda time! We all hopped into two taxis and drove up along the coast a few miles to the largest pagoda in Da Nang and probably one of the largest statues in the world!  This pagoda was quite a sight to be seen; nestled above a shore side cliff and overlooking the breathtaking Da Nang.  Outside of the pagoda was a huge, and I mean HUGE, statue of Buddha which is roughly the same height as the Duke Chapel!  Pretty awesome trip, thanks Vu.  Next, we made like Nicki Minaj and headed to the beach!  Vu picked out a local beach resort with perfect sand, clear water, and awesome thatch cabanas that we could rent out for the day.  With jars of peanut butter, bananas, bread, baguettes, cucumbers, chips, and a case of the local beer Biere Larue, we were set for the afternoon. We all showed our toughness by swimming out to various rocks and exploring the deep, but no one was a tough as Vu's little cousin Bien who dropped his trousers and peed right out on the sand for all to see.  That little boss practically owned the place.  I think I speak for everyone when  I say the beach hit the spot like MJ Dodds' "Special Waffles" on a Saturday morning.

After some quick showers, it was time to head to the internationally famous Hoi An.  This popular tourist destination has been preserved since colonial times and even before, making it a beautiful place to spend the day.  On the narrow streets of Hoi An, one can easily spot the mixture of Asian and French architecture in almost every building.  The sheer beauty of the city has attracted tourists from all over the world, so for the first time in a month, we saw foreigners! Many Australians, Germans, French, and of course, the Kiwis!   A quick side note about what it felt like to encounter tourists:  For some reason, and I think my fellow Duke Engagers can attest to this, seeing these tourists didn't arise any sense of patriotism, camaraderie, or any type of connection that I thought it might.  In fact, it kind of made me a little bit upset, the type of upset that one feels when a new kid joins your tightly knit sports team, pretending to be "in" with the group.  Not to say that I by any means am a local or even anything close to that, but I do feel that we have seen Vietnam in a way that tourists do not, and we have this sense of understanding of the substracture of people, culture, and personality that the touristy superstructure overshadows.  So to these tourists who probably won't speak a word of Vietnamese or leave these touristy areas while they are here, I just want to think how sad it is how limited their impressions of the country will be whereas we will have an unparalleled understanding of this place.  It was a strange feeling to view these people as outsiders, but also amazing to see how deeply we have been immersed in this country.  Alright, back to the story.  While some of us walked around and enjoyed the sites, others took advantage of the huge market and whipped out our Vietnamese bargaining skills.  I was particularly succesful in my ventures, getting  a 120,000 dong tank down to 70,000 and getting a 300,000 dong back pack down to 120,000 with a mixture of English and some canned Vietnamese phrases.  In a particuarly impressive example of ruthless bargaining, Divya bargained a piece of pineapple she had no interest in buying from 20,000 to 15,000, at which point she decided to instead buy a banana for 5,000.  A master at work.  After an overpriced, but good dinner, the sun set and the famous lanterns of Hoi An illuminated the street.  Along the river, the night was picture perfect with floating lanterns completing the scene.  After a little more shopping and some debating on whether or not to buy a lantern for my mom (which I ultimately didnt... sorry mama, it was a lot to carry), we headed back to Da Nang to get ready for our night on the town.

After some quick food, it was time to start getting ready for the night.  Vu and his cousin Tao planned for us to hit up a new and very popular club along the water.  When we got there it was already packed but Tao, being one of the coolest people ever, got us in no sweat.  The club was nuts.  The bass immediately hit me in the chest like Remy Orans's legendary quad kick.  We all had a great time chilling, dancing, and watching helplessly as creepy old men hit on the waitresses, but after paying a ridiculous bill, we followed Tao to her favorite bar, the Golden Pine Pub.  Once we got there the mood immediately changed as the lady friends in our group made their ways onto the bar top as "Call Me Maybe" came on.  I met a fat German engineer, two Kiwis, and lost in a game of pool, so obviously I was having a great night.  The bar was still packed when we headed out around 2am.

Although I was too tired the next morning, the others took a bus ride out to Marble Mountain, a huge mountain outcrop right outside the city.  Although I cannot say from first had experience, I heard that these mountains looked like the floating mountains in Avatar, but not floating of course.   Wish I had the energy to go.

For lunch, Corinne, Chandra, Divya and I returned to the bar to see if we could get some bar food, aka burgers, and for about 5 bucks, I had a huge double cheeseburger.  Oh My God was it good.  Vietnamese food is great, but sometimes a burger can just hit the spot.  At around 2pm, we hopped back on the bus and returned to Quang Tri, refreshed, regenerated, and (another "re" word) for another week of work.

In the aftermath of Da Nang, we had a few losses, tragic losses.  First, my supposedly waterproof to 14 ft camera is apparently only waterproof to don't-get-this-thing-anywhere-near-water-or-it-will-break ft.  Pretty stupid.  I am going to have a word with Samsung when I get back to the States and have nothing better to do.  So I buried it in a bowl of dry rice to see if the phone cure all also applies to cameras.  So I'm crossing my fingers (but not actually because crossing your fingers in Vietnam = middle finger in the US).  So I hope y'all understand why this post is devoid of photos.

The other loss was the our very own baby Diego has been stolen!  Apparently some "friends" of the guesthouse owner came and loved Diego so much, just like everyone who encounters him, that they took him against her will!  Although stealing Diego is totally something I would have done, I cannot stand for someone else doing it so the Vietnamese and American students are rallying our respective governments in a joint full scale military operation to return Diego to his proper owners, us.

Thats all for this weekend, and we have another hard week ahead of us so I should definitely get some sleep.  Feels good that we are taking advantage of our time in Vietnam by doing all we can do.  Loving the experiences.

Happy Friday!

Its Friday... Its the WEEKEND!!! This is one of those times where it feels nice to be a full half day ahead of the rest of the world.  This is a quick post because I have my Hawaiian shirt on which could only mean one thing... THE BEACH!!!  This weekend, about half of our group is headed southbound along the coast to the famous beach city of Da Nang.  This place is renown for its beautiful beaches, blue water, great weather, and fun bars, clubs, and of course, karaoke!  We had a hard week of teaching and building, so its time to relax beach side on the other side of the Pacific (you think I can see Stinson from here?).  So without further to do, its time to enter vegetable beach bum mode as I slowly cook from the outside in on a Vietnamese beach.  I'll try my best to pretend that me being checked out constantly on the beach has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a weird looking foreigner and has all to do with the fact that I am extremely attractive.  That's all folks.  Quick shout out to Mr. Dodds for the nice comment.  Glad to hear y'all are enjoying the blog!
Beachbum-ly
Nicker

Baby Diego!

I think its about time I let the world know about maybe one of the best things about Vietnam/ the World.... BABY DIEGO!!!  If somebody asked me 2 weeks ago, "What is one thing that could improve your experience in Vietnam", I would most likely give my normal response, "more puppies, duh!"  Lo and behold, at our guesthouse in Quang Tri we have the cutest little brown puppy which us Americans named Diego.  We thought the name fit perfectly, but what we didn't realize is that Vietnamese people have a hard time pronouncing Mexican names.  Who woulda thunk?  But anyway, quick Diego update.  He is currently teething so he will chew on just about anything near him, including but not limited to the socks that have mysteriously disappeared from my room.  And apparently he is also entering puberty because he will hump just about any leg that gets near him.  Don't worry people, I'll keep you updated on the many happenings of baby Diego.

The baby.

So I have had a big past couple of days and an even bigger weekend.  Let me first start off with a quick progress report on the school fence project.  We have completely finished the foundation and have made some serious progress on brick laying.  We have placed the bricks for 1/3 of the wall, so does that mean we are 1/3 of the way done?  Perhaps.  Either way, our contractor expects us to be finished by the end of next week at the latest, which is a whopping 3 weeks ahead of schedule, so we are gonna have to find some other projects to work on, but there is a lot of need in this community so I don't think we will have to much of a problem with that.  

Teaching is going very well.  Yesterday we had a great class, a class so great that 4 students actually left another class to join ours!  If teaching was a sport, which I'm starting to feel like it is, we are definitely winning.  Don't worry, I'm just kidding.  (But seriously, we are winning).  Yesterday our class loved learning "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, marking the official beginning of our indoctrination of our students to be good ol' Americans (aka obsessed with love sick teenage girls with a southern twang).  Soon enough the Communist Party will be stemming the spread of "Bieber Fever" rather than political opposition.  In addition to slowly corrupting the nation's youth, we have been teaching a little bit of English grammar which has made me realized how seriously stupid English is!  People have always told me that with English, "The only rule is that there are no rules", but I have just now realized how ridiculously true that is!  Teaching English to people who don't speak English is like trying to catch grape flavored jello with chopsticks.  You know what I mean?

17th parallel

But this weekend we did some pretty damn cool stuff.  We took a bus tour around the region, going to various places that were very important during the war.  First we went to a bombed out high school which has been preserved as a "reminder" of the war.  To our surprise, the students at the school 40 years ago were having a reunion and rehashing memories of the war, so we got to talk to a bunch of these people.  Many had vivid memories of the nonstop bombings in the area and were very open to sharing them with us.  But mostly they just wanted to take pictures with us just as we wanted to take pictures with them, so many pictures were taken and some people (cough Corinne cough) got a little more attention...  We were very lucky to have such an experience without even planning it.  Later we went to visit the 17th  paralell, the line that divided North and South Vietnam.  We were able to cross the bridge that connected the two, a bridge that 40 years ago would have been of limits to even the Ho Chi Minh himself.  Amazing to see how things have changed.  We also visited the famous tunnel systems that were used to house and transport troops during bombing raids.  This place was amazing.  A seemingly innocent landscape of shrubbery and trees along the coast was actually home to many kilometers of tunnels deep below the surface.  These tunnels were equipped with weapon storage rooms, bed rooms, bathrooms, wells, and even maternity rooms for the forty something children who were actually born underground.  Walking through them was even more amazing.  The ground, walls, and ceilings were all completely dirt.  No fortifying concrete.  Just dirt.  I definitely wouldn't recommend this trip to claustrophobic people.  The ceilings were built for the Vietnamese soldiers and obviously not Americans, so they were uncomfortably short for my 5'11" self (5'10.5" if you're gonna be a jerk about it).  With only a handful of lanterns placed periodically along the way, it was very dark and disorienting and I could only imagine what it might be like to be packed down there with hundreds of other frightened soldiers as thousands of tons of bombs exploded on the ground above. 

The tunnels

What are you looking at?

Let's go to the beach, beach!

Finally, our day was topped off with a relaxing trip to the beach where we played in the water, relaxed on the sand, played soccer with locals on the beach, and ate a seafood feast in a seashore restaurant.  It was awesome to be in the Pacific at the other end, which I found to be warmer and saltier if you were wondering.  And, in the typical awesomeness that is our Duke Engage group, we pulled off the elusive 4 stack.  What is that you ask?  The widely sought after and seldom achieved stack of 4 people on eachothers shoulders in the water.  With Vui on top like a cake topping, Krista below her, me holding down the 3rd stop with my huge muscles, and Justin supporting us from the bottom like Atlas holding up the cosmos but significantly more impressive, we created a 4 stack that will go down in history.

Right now I am prepping for my class this afternoon which should be fun as usual, but this weekend we are planning a trip down the cost to Da Nang!  So get excited, because we are.

Does Charlie like swimming?

Love,

Nick