[Middle picture is where we are staying]
We are teaching hard and tentatively finding our stride; at the senior school in the morning and the primary school in the afternoon. After every two periods the three hundred children assemble in the playground to the sound of the drum. They exercise in a synchronised fashion wearing peaked white and red hats, red neckscarves and waving red handkerchiefs. We think this is a good idea-better than English break time. The taking of exercise appears to be considered integral to a happy life here. Often one sees elderly people spontaneously exercising in public. In Hanoi thousands of people exercise round Kiem lake at 5 o’clock in the morning.
Peter is keen on using tongue twisters as an aid to pronunciation. I am not so sure, but I find myself trying to compose them on the way to school to soothe me in this alien land.
The silky shadowcoloured water buffalo are the same shade as the sun bleached palm leafed shelters.
Shoes should be swapped swiftly when shifting rooms
I have not cracked this one. There are an assortment of plastic shoes by each internal and external doorway in the headmaster’s house, all of them too small for us. They tend to accumulate in a heap inside our bedroom.
Bien’s father invites us to take tea at his house which is surrounded by bonsai trees. He shows us his hives and offers us his honey. Beautiful nectar. This month it is from the longan berry blossom. I had not realised that the taste of the honey would change throughout the year as the bees sip the liquid from the blossom of different fruit trees. Cousins from across the rice field bring us rice cakes stuffed with nuts. Phoung points out to me the next chicken he will kill. It is the one who always lays her eggs in his bed.