Six Months

On Monday I wore these pants:

(PICTURE A PAIR OF NORMAL GREY SUIT PANTS. MY CAMERA ISN'T WORKING AGAIN)

I had these pants made for me in Hoi An about seven months ago. However, the only time I ever actually wore the pants was on May 17th. How do I know that? Well, because it was my first day of work. While at school that first day I realized I was by far the best dressed and decided to scale my wardrobe down to dockers versus dress pants.

On Sunday night, while eating at the chicken speakeasy, I sloppily dropped about an eighth of a chicken on my legs. I was prepared to wear my pants again the next day but Huyen persuaded me to wash them. This was significant because my other pair of slacks was also in the wash. This left me with two options:

Option 1: Wear jeans. This is againt school rules. In fact, a teacher who wore jeans got fired on Sunday. Yeah pretty strict, right? (Actually he was fired because he showed up late like four Sundays in a row...while wearing jeans).

Option 2: Wear my dress slacks.

I went with Option 2. I know what you're thinking, "Is this really blog worthy?" Well, yes it is. I hadn't worn the pants in six months. Exactly six months. I wore them on May 17th and then again on November 17th -- the last day of my contract. That's right, I've officially completed my contract at Language Link. Six months passed in a blink of an eye. Some rough figures off the top of my head:

- I have taught over 400 different students.

- I have failed two students.

- I have skipped one student ahead a level. i.e "Skipped a grade."

- I have told eight parents their child is "naughty."

- I have told countless parents their child is bright and a pleasure to teach.

- I have received six gifts...but many more words and emails of thanks.

Although my contract has finished, I told Language Link I would continue to teach my Monday through Friday classes until the end of the month. After that...well, you'll have to wait for some upcoming blogs. But don't get too excited, I'm not leaving Vietnam yet.