English Teachers in the Wild

When traveling through Asia one cannot help but come across the ENGLISH TEACHER. They come in many forms, so here's a quick guide:

The Young Adventure-Seeker: 'A young cowboy named Billy Joe/Grew restless on the farm/a young man filled with wanderlust/who really meant no harm'. These are early-to-mid 20something people (in which I include myself) who, often fresh out of college, desire to travel and see the world before obligations set in.

The Orientophile: Someone who loves Asia, is fascinated by Asian culture, adores Asian people and feels more at home here than anywhere else. Often the Orientophile is the only person who can speak the local language with any skill.

The Educator: A person who's while life is teaching and who happens to be in Asia, not a person who wanted to come to Asia and took up teaching as the means. These are often (though not always) motherly middle-aged women with lilting accents.

The Spouse: The wife or husband of a big-league tycoon or diplomat who needs something to pass the time. Due to their higher social and economic status Spouses rarely socialize with other teachers.

The Woman-Hater: These are men who, disgusted by the independence and equality sought by women in the West, have come to a place where their relative wealth and status makes them desirable.

The Misfit: As the name implies, the Misfit turned to English teaching because all professions which require normal people were unavailable.

The Fugitive: A man (and it is almost always a man) seeking to flee his erstwhile home. Possibly something actually criminal' more likely a messy divorce.

The Dissolute: The Adventure-seeker plus 10 years. These English teachers never quite made it back home and now have no wish to. Their fondness for cheap beer is only exceeded by their fondness for cheap marijuana and the occasional prostitute.

Some categories may intersect.

L'Opera du Rue Catinat, II

I finally beat the Curse and went to the Opera House. It's wasn't actually doing any opera as such but that's beside the point.

The first half of the program was solely orchestral; the overture to Der Freischutz, an Vietnamese piece, and 'Variations on a Theme of Haydn' by Brahms'. All quite well done. I wonder what the HCMC Symphony Orchestra does with all their time.

Puccini's Messa di Gloria was a nice, exuberant piece, though I can't say it was particularly memorable. Still for an 18-year-old composer it was quite impressive.

The Opera House is a pleasant little theater but I'd be surprised if it could hold more than 300 people. There's no way they could actually perform opera there (maybe in concert?) but it gives you an idea of how small the French community actually was.

Afterward Oanh and I repaired to Q Bar, located in the basement of said opera house and so combining two of my favorite pastimes. It turns out Q Bar is rather labyrinthine, but I suppose that's the charm of it. Good drinks too, though I managed to spill my mojito on myself (klutziness not drunkenness).

Update: the local press weighed in, praising the performance though describing the Mass as an 'opera' by 'Puchini' (and a 'five-chapter' opera, no less). Still, it's good to see that at least they noticed...

Know Your Streets

Like many countries (Avenida Libertador, anyone?), most cities in Vietnam have the same street names, almost all of which are named for Vietnamese heroes and/or kings. This can be confusing for visitors, but here are some of the more prominent:

Pham Ngu Lao - a 13th century Vietnamese general of the Tran Dynasty

Le Loi - Vietnamese emperor in the 15 century who liberated Vietnam from Chinese rule. He is said to have been granted a magic sword by a turtle on the eve of a major battle. After his victory he returned the sword to the turtle in its lake.

Hai Ba Trung - The two Trung Sisters rode elephants against the Chinese way back in the first century AD.

Le Thanh Ton - Vietnamese emperor not long after Le Loi. He is known as the 'Vietnamese Hammurabi' because he drew up a comprehensive legal code and attempted to rule Vietnam through proper Confucian principles.

Tran Hung Dao - a Military commander during the 13th century, who managed to repel not one, not two, but three Mongol invasions.

Nguyen Trai - Scholar, poet, political thinker, and close friend of Le Loi. His writings helped inspire the Vietnamese people to rise up against the Ming Dynasty.

Some notable exceptions are streets named for Frenchman (Pasteur, Yersim, Alexandre de Rhodes) and Dong Khoi, know to the French as Catinat, the RVN as Tu Do (Freedom) and now Dong Khoi (Guerrilla Uprising).

Valentine's in Saigon

So it looks like Valentine's Day has come to Vietnam is a pretty big way. The usual pink and red hearts are everywhere, set-price dinners abound, and flocks of schoolchildren selling flowers add to the usual gum and postcard hawkers.

Of course it makes sense that it should be so: Vietnamese culture is quite sentimental and any opportunity to sing love songs and sell candy is siezed upon.

The upshot of all this, however, is that it is literally impossible to find a taxi. Usually content to simply ride their motorbikes, the Saigonese have decided to splurge on a motor vehicle with doors and four wheels.

Eventually, Oanh and I were forced to share a cab with a good-natured Japanese fellow who was on his way to the airport, but the traffic was tremendous - even more than when Vietnam won the Asia Cup.

L'Opera Du Rue Catinat

They re-opened the Opera House! And right after Tet, just like the receptionist told me.

No opera in it as yet - just some silly Vietnamese comedy involving cross-dressing. Still, this is definitely a hopeful sign. I'll drop by today to see if they have a schedule posted.

I don't expect Juan Diego Florez or Cecilia Bartoli to drop by anytime soon, but something classical would be nice...