4/25: fishing lesson

The students are divided into four groups, rotating through different lessons every morning: fishing, farming, bamboo lantern making, and cooking. No more bus while in Hoian - we ride our bikes through the country side each morning to our lessons.

On the bike ride to our fishing lesson

I took my eight students fishing. First we laid down long nets in the water, then slapped the water and made loud sounds to scare the fish into the nets. We also got the opportunity to practice throwing the individual, small net.

It was harder than it looked

The Vietnamese fishermen also have these nets attached to his huge structure, which they crank manually up and down.

The catch from one of the huge nets

This is my third year reuniting with my "Vietnamese wife," who requested I ride in her boat three years ago and subsequently have been teased about her ever since. This time she sang me love songs about her broken heart every time I leave. Last year my son Natan came with me to Vietnam, and she berated me for promising to send her a photo of the three of us together, which evidently I forgot to do. One thing I notice each time I go to the fishing lesson is how happy these people are. The life is very difficult, they make very little money, and they are always singing, laughing, and teasing each other (and me).

Bike ride to the ocean

Hoian is a little village about five kilometers from the ocean. In the afternoon the students can choose to ride to the beach, explore the town, or hang out at the pool. We met at 4PM to bike to the beach, and it turned out only one student was interested in returning there. So I asked the student, "If you end up being the only student, do you still want to go?" Without a moment's hesitation, he replied, "yes. Then I can meet Vietnamese people." I felt like crying.

Me, with Jack, Alfred, Josh (the first student) and Todd, a chaperone

It turned out that two other boys joined us, along with another chaperone, on the afternoon beach excursion.