Trying to Figure this City Out

Trip Start Jul 29, 2010
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Trip End Jun 01, 2011


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Flag of Vietnam  , Lâm Ðồng,
Saturday, September 4, 2010

Today I took my brand new bike for a ride. The weather was great and the traffic was pretty calm. I notice traffic is very calm in the mornings and Sundays. I am going to Yersin tomorrow for a meeting at 7AM. Apparently everything in this town gets started pretty early. 7AM is going to be rough for me, as I've spent the last 2 years on a college student's clock. So I was riding on my bike and a few hundred feet later, I come upon this HUGE (well to my standards) hill. I've never noticed how huge this hill was when I was on a motorbike, but on a bicycle, my legs were really starting to feel it. My first thought: damn I am out of shape. My second thought: when will I get to the top?!. Third thought: would it be silly if I took a break halfway up this hill to drink some xinh to xoai ?!

But I made it up the hill. And then down another hill. I realized that aside from being the land of love, romance, flowers, lakes, etc. Da Lat is also the land of hills. I stopped by this cafe for a break went inside to order some orange juice. Almost immediately, the people inside the cafe started laughing (at me, at my accent ?). I don't know if they were laughing at my Vietnamese, my English, or something completely unrelated but they were just continually laughing and saying random words like "English, OK, hello, goodbye, and See you later!" So I hurried up and drank my Twister and left. Then one of the guys started following me. I think he wanted my number, but I ignored him and went on my merry way to this cafe where I ate some nem nuong and beer Saigon. I was getting really bad asthma so instead of exploring, I went back to the hotel.

I ran out of bread, toilet paper, and coffee mix so I stopped by a store and was surprised that the store owner knew English. His name is Mr. Huang, I think. He said his name means king in Vietnamese. After gathering all the items I needed (the usua milk, coffee mix, cookies), we had a little chat. He was very sweet and said that if I ever need any words translated, I could go to him and he'd write the Vietnamese translations on a paper for me. He said he loved practicing English and on my leisure time I should go visit him.

I love how everyone here wants to practice their English with me, but the only words that they practice is "hello" and "goodbye." Its usually a lot more hand gestures and me trying to speak in Viet-English. Like, at random times in the day my housekeeper will come in my room and ask, how do you say this in English? How about this ? How about this phrase? And this !? I mean I really don't mind it, but sometimes I am just in the mood to sit down, enjoy my cup of coffee and just write in my journal without practicing English with someone. And while I'm on this rant, I can't believe that even when I tell them in Vietnamese that I'm not Vietnamese, people still think I'm Vietnamese. Even with all the English I speak, and the horrible Vietnamese I speak when I do try to say something, they still think I am Vietnamese, and I can understand what they are saying. Goodness gracious. I think that's why I hate going out to get food, because either people are annoyed by me and ask someone else to deal with me (who doesn't speak English) or they just disregard my efforts to really try to communicate with them in Vietnamese and just resort to pointing and numbers, making me feel very inept.

Tomorrow I have to get up at 5 AM. Better go to bed. I can tell I'm getting ranty...
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