Friday, December 28, 2012

Vietnam Journal 12.28.10

07:35  Slept pretty well.  My gut doesn't feel nearly as bad as yesterday.  I hammered it last night with  anti-diarrheal antibiotics we brought with us.  Maybe it will be better today.  Still not enthusiastic about food just yet.  This is a time for comfort food but that will be hard to come by in Da Nang.

Afternoon:  Talked with an afternoon class at the new Da Nang University campus south and west of the center city.  The class was for interpreters.  The initial format was for me to speak and the instructor would ask students to tell her in Vietnamese what I told them.  Then pairs of students presented a narrative to me, one in Vietnamese and the other in English.  They told me about famous places in Vietnam, Vietnamese food, Valentine's Day in Vietnam, changing weather patterns and how Vietnamese families are changing.  They all did well but I understood the later narratives better.  Maybe I got used to their accents  Or maybe the later pairs were just better.

17:28  Waiting for evening class in the teachers' lounge.  A Chinese period (1600s?) soap opera is playing on the TV in the corner.  Very elaborate costumes with dialogue dubbed in Vietnamese.  Aside from the setting (grand palaces) and the costumes, it has the look of any US soap opera; something about the quality of the image on this screen in Vietnam looks just like "Days of Our Lives" or "The Guiding Light".

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