Quick update

What a copy editor I make. "Quick update" is, perhaps, the catchiest thing I've ever written.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know how I'm doing (and by "you all" I mean Aubris and Andrea). I've moved into a cute apartment by the city center that costs $240 a month, and now I'm looking for a new place. I've decided to aim for Vietnamese quality and Vietnamese prices (which is more like $50 a month). Of course, the place won't come with an air conditioner, fan or refrigerator, but who needs them? And besides, I already average a cockroach a week. A few more can't hurt (although the cockroaches are damn near two inches long).

I've launched myself into studying Vietnamese, with mixed results. About the only thing I've learned so far is that I don't know that much at all. I have a tutor (who's not a great tutor but is rapidly becoming a good friend) and go to classes three times a week. I hate, absolutely loathe, grammar.

I met today with the editor of the Vietnam Investment Review, an English-language weekly. He said he'll call if there are any openings for a sub-editor. Sub-editors are like copy editors, except that you can totally change the articles, which are written in English by Vietnamese reporters. How cool is that? When I was copy editing at Space News, it frustrated me that I couldn't do more than look for factual errors and AP style violations. To actually be able to improve someone's writing would be a relief.

I just finished teaching my first English class here. I felt like the majority of the students liked me. It's not that I'm a good teacher, but I think, if you can believe it, that I have a certain amount of charm. I just hope the charm machine is enough to overcome having an Asian face. Before I started the school warned me that sometimes students object to Asian teachers because they think they cannot possibly possess the proper accent, no matter where they were born. Also, the school might not keep me because it was just a trial class and they're giving another guy a trial on Wednesday. It's a teach-off! What if he's - gulp - more charming?

It's nice talking to the students, though. Euthanasia, and taking someone off life support, is illegal here. And not only that, but the majority of my students think it's immoral to take someone off life support. One girl said she'd rather die than be on life support, and another student clapped and said he thought she was brave. But he said wouldn't do that to his wife.