How Many Innocent Guests Have Undergone the Vicissitudes?

That is a line from a Vietnamese poem that I had to edit at The Gioi, the publishing company I'm working for.  Not only does it somewhat apply to my current situation but it also just sounds cool. 

I am happy with my new host family.  At first, it was a little hard.  Although I had been there for only a short time, I had grown attached to my previous host family and the location that I was at.  But I like my new situation.  I have a host brother closer to my age (19) who has been helping me practice Vietnamese.  My host dad and mom are very nice.  My host dad is always full of smiles and is very eager to learn English and teach Vietnamese.  Those seem to be common characteristics with host dads of mine.  Living in the house is also another brother who is 15 and a girl, who I think is a cousin, who is 23. 

On Sunday, I will be playing music at church.  I'll be taking over the duties of another man named Nathan who recently left for the states.  I'm pretty excited to pick up the guitar again. 

I've been a little exhausted these past few days.  The combination of moving and having to get up at 6:00am is beginning to take its toll.  I look forward to sleeping in this Saturday. 

Oh yeah.  Teaching last Sunday went well for the most part.  The first class I taught was made up of only three girls around the age of 11.  I taught them present progressive sentences such as "I am wearing a hat," and "I am throwing a box."  I brought a box and a paper hat to class and them the wear the hat and throw the box.  I felt like I had actually accomplished teaching them something.

The second class was terrible.  Is was made up of 15 students from age 8 to 13 and they would not sit still or pay attention.  Finally, I just went up to each individual student and practiced a sentence with them. 

The third class was much better.  There were nine students. We went over numbers and body parts.  I would ask "how many hands are in this room?"  I also made more paper hats for students to wear.  I would then ask "how many hats are in this room?"  We did other similar activities.

I told the teachers that I would be able to teach on occasion but could not teach every Sunday. 

So that's what has been happening so far.  Today I drove a motorbike for the first time.  Since Bryn and I now live near each other, we can bike pool to work and language class.  I've also been going to the gym every day with my brother.  I'm not a big gym person, but it has been good so far.