Toi tich hop thieng Viet

Steven and I are into our second month of Vietnamese lessons and I am finding them quite enjoyable, while Steven finds them a little frustrating after a long day of teaching. One thing we both agree on is how much we enjoy our Vietnamese teacher, Phuc (pronounced Phah-uh).

Phuc is an absolute character. She has the greatest smile, which seems to cover her whole face when she laughs. She is a very serious teacher and likes to smack Steven on the knee when he pronounces something incorrectly, which is more often than she'd like. She is always laughing at our linguistical gaffs, which is more endearing, than malicious, my favorite being the time I wanted to omit the word "city" from the statement, "I live in Ho Chi Minh City" - Toi song o Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh. She laughed until she cried imagining me living inside the preserved body of the late Ho Chi Minh. Another time, when Steven wrote the "o-with-the-ear" incorrectly, with the ear facing the opposite way, she cracked up, asking him, "What is that? What is that? I said "uh" and you draw apple!"

So far I have learned to greet people, introduced ourselves, say what we like to do, where we're going and to tell the xe om guys on the corner that "I live RIGHT there," when they ask for the million time if we want a ride as we round the corner to our block. I truly enjoy our twice weekly lessons and I know that I need to spend more time studying and practicing my Vietnamese on the street, because my reward is much more than personal satisfaction and the ability to communicate, it is the reward of Phuc's satisfied smile.