4/6 Nervous

Just one word ... nerves.  Wow.  Very nervous.  But the students are great of course.  They are pretty fearless and open.  Our tutor, Ian, is a sardonic and very succinct Brit - helps to lighten the mood and relieve some of the pressure and stress.  Since the school is 70% young learners we all teach in classrooms painted with Mickey Mouse, Mini, Donald Duck.  Crafty smiley suns, moons and little animals made out of straw hang from the ceiling.  Kind of strange setting as we are technically teaching adults.  The afternoons are spent in workshops and planning for subsequent lessons.  Stayed late planning. Went for dinner with some other students at a pub.  It's run by an Ex-Pat whose best story was about a recent trip back home to Baltimore where he just instinctively walked out into traffic.  Keep in mind here in Saigon, you have to just go for it - crosswalks and lights don't really matter.  The motorbikes and cars (for the most part) respect your confidence and just gently smoothly weave around you.  You can successfully cross a four lane road packed with bikes just by inching your way across the street.  But he completely forgot and attempted to cross a very busy street with all of those massive SUV's that I miss so much ... at rush hour.  Stopped himself midstep saying, "@$%^ This is definitely not Saigon." I will have to tell my family as soon as I go home in Dec ... "Please don't let me walk into rush hour traffic;)"