Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 4
It was 7:10am on Tuesday. The morning light in southern Vietnam was strong; the exercise room on the fourth floor of Hotel Vissai was empty. I lay down on a mat to start my...
Category: Life & Culture
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 3
It was 6:30am on Sunday. Two elderly Chinese couples sat at a table eating breakfast in the second-floor restaurant of Hotel Vissai. I heard one of the women speaking in English to a waiter....
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 2
It was 8:30am on Wednesday, the next morning. I entered the dining room on the 2nd floor of the Hotel Vissai Saigon. I didn’t feel rested, but I felt eager to go downtown again....
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 1
I arrived at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, at 10:00am on a Tuesday. The AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to the Vietnamese metropolis had...
Kei-Lee Arrives in California
Kei-Lee, Larry, and I were shopping in the grocery store. I was looking at the green beans on display. Kei-Lee was standing nearby. She asked me if I liked vegetables. “Sure,” I said. “Who...
College Student, Part II
“I think Kobe will make it,” said Gia. “He goes to class every day. He completes his homework every night.” Then she spoke in Bisaya, turning toward the taxi driver, who maneuvered his three-wheeled...
Professional Woman, Part II
I looked at Rosalie over my left shoulder from my front seat next to the taxi driver. It was a Saturday afternoon, around 4:30. We were traveling along Torres Avenue in downtown Davao and...
Professional Woman, Part I
“I am 31, work full time, and have a daughter who’s ten years old,” she said. “I’m a typical Davao professional woman, I guess you could say.” Rosalie sat across the table from me in...
Isla Verde, A Struggle to Survive
The flight on a Cebu Pacific airplane from Manila to Davao on the island of Mindanao took two hours. Inside the plane, all of the flight attendants were female and looked as if they...