Vietnam Flashbacks

I finished my homework today.  I am now officially through my first semester of my junior year in college.  Only 20 more semesters to go.  (Ok, it feels like 20, more like 4-5).  After writing my last paper, I was presented by LB, an assignment sent home by the teacher, to pick a country and make a poster of the favorite foods, holiday foods, and a typical meal.

Well, since they ARE Vietnamese, I decided to just go with the obvious.  Big Sis helped for about 10 minutes, until her Facebook on her smart phone pulled her back into its clutches, and Lovely was inspired for a minute (always interested in food).  So mainly it's been me and LB. 

I totally smack at tutoring.  I have no patience, I loathe teaching, and I am just a big old noo-noo when it comes to helping with homework.

LOATHE it. 

And LB has no critical thinking skills.  At All.  He's never had to think through anything, because his parents don't speak English, and he's never been in one place long enough to HAVE to be good at it, so as my patience grew thin, God rained down some wisdom, spouted from Big Sis, as she watched me grow a bit desperate.... "They never have this, ever before.  No one care they do good in school, no one care they do homework".   

Well slap my face, and call me sheepish.

I was totally remembering when I was going over vocab words with Kip in about 3rd grade too.  The two words we were zeroing in on, were, gristmill and immigrant.   ONLY 2 WORDS.  Just 2.  We talked about how a gristmill was a mill in colonial times that ground products and made a by-product, and that immigrants were people that came from other countries to come and live here.  So, after going over that about 5 minutes and talking about them at length.  I asked Kip,  "So, if someone comes from another country to live here, what are they called."......   Kip looked at me with this blank deer-in-the-headlights look, and paused and hesitated, and then popped out,  "Gristmill".   I stared at her, laid the paper on the snack bar, walked into her 8th grade sister's room, and said, "I am never doing homework with her again.  Ever, Ever, Ever".   And to my knowledge, I never did.  :)  So, now, anytime, Kip acts vague about ANYTHING, we just say, "Gristmill" and all laugh and laugh.  She finally forgave me and got her architecture degree all by herself, without me helping her one time with her homework, so it worked out.

SO, today, as I was struggling to get the small vietnamese boy to understand vietnamese, I was having Vietnam flashbacks of helping Kip with homework.

I was CRACKING up the kids trying to speak the language.  I am visual, so in seeing the words on the computer screen, I was trying to say them, and wow....It's like I was "Dunderin' Up" in Vietnamese  (LB says "Dunder" instead of "Thunder").   It made them laugh so hard, so I guess it was worth it, but I still feel like a Vietnamese idiot.   And I'm here to tell you, there is NO WAY I will ever embrace eating that food.

I asked them, "What's your favorite dessert", after finding out their sweet potato is purple (instead of orange) and very dry and tart, instead of sweet like ours.  So, I thought it would be an easy question.  Dessert??  They asked?  You mean, Like chips?  I said, "No, like ice cream or cake or chocolate?"  Blank stares.  No dessert in vietnam.  

I already realize they NEVER ask for chocolate, don't even care for it.  Don't eat many sweets (at all), though Hallie is doing her best to change that.  They prefer rice over potatoes, and I can't keep enough hot sauce in the house. 

All very different. 

And different is good.  Stretch out, learn something new every day. Then, Lovely throws out, "Ooh, I know what we LOVE to eat as dessert," 
  

 Balut-  I won't go into detail, but Kip and squad tried this in the Phillipines, and oh, for.the.love. 

After I threw up in my mouth a little, I smiled and said...."I'll just stick to chocolate".