Embarrasment Comes in Many Forms...

I have gotten a bit used to constantly knowing that I'm making a fool of myself. When you struggle to both rememeber words and to pronouce them and you don't know what is going on the majority of the time, it just becomes normal life. But yesterday I found a whole new way to embarrass myself--playing tennis with a group of 15 Vietnamese Men.

It all started a few weeks ago actually. Chu Hùng (host dad) plays tennis every week with his friends and he noticed that I've played (only once, but it's something, right?!). He seemed excited about inviting me sometime. The time came this last week. He invited both Derek (my MCC boss) and me to join him on Sunday. In true miscommunication fashion, I was able to discern only a few details, which mostly turned out to be wrong in the end anyways. He said they met at 1:30 and that they go about 3km away. I asked Derek and he said he was up for it so I confirmed with my host Dad. That is when it turns out that they "meet" somewhere 3km away, where a car picks them up and drives to the courts, which are actually on the other side of the Red River. My thought was, "oh no, is it too late to back out?" But it was. Derek and I were in.

So 1:30 Sunday afternoon, Derek and I met Chu Hùng and a few of his friends at a cafe (which was actually further than 3km away). We sat there for about 45 minutes before loading into the cars and driving. We then preceeded to drive about 30 minutes out of Hanoi to a new housing development with few people and two shiny new tennis courts. Car after car of people arrived over the next hour, totalling about 15 men I would guess. So we play. I warned Chu Hùng that I am "không tót" (no good) at tennis but maybe he thought I was just being modest. Trust me, I wasn't. I'm BAD. But I played and I gave it my all. The first game I played not so bad. Not good, but not horrible. The second one though...it was bad. If I was lucky enough to hit the ball it didn't go anywhere near the right direction. My serves all failed to the point that they started giving me 3 tries instead of the normal 2 and if it was anywhere close they would just play it. When I did anything right they would cheer for me. Luckily I can just laugh because if I was a more competitive person (which I have my moments of) I would not have still been smiling after that game. I did have one dignity saving skill, when they would throw the balls to me for serving I successfully caught them. At least I showed the potential to be coordinated! I only lasted those two games until my arm was completely exhausted and I could barely lift a water bottle anymore. In fact, typing this now kind of hurts my forearm and my whole body is sore today!

The fun didn't stop with tennis though. After four hours of playing we started towards home but instead of going back they decide we should go out to dinner. Derek couldn't stay any longer because he had to get home to his family (which was an ordeal in itself. He ended up having to take a taxi back...so complicated!). I hoped to go with him because after already being out for 5 hours I was exhausted. But Chu Hùng seemed really disappointed that I was contemplating leaving. He finally asked, "If you have free time maybe you come eat with us?" Which is about as direct as the Vietnamese get when they want something. So I hesitantly agreed to join the 8 middle-aged Vietnamese men for dinner.

Fortunately the man sitting next to me spoke really good English and so I wasn't totally lost. As the rice wine and beer flowed, they all found it was increasing entertaining to talk to me. The oldest of the group was their favorite to joke about, even though he was only older by about 2 years. They told me he has 3 wives, that he swam the rivers and that he climbed mountatins (maybe because he was so old there are no roads?). Then later they were very concerned that I understood they were only joking. Overall it was really funny and I was thoroughly entertained. I'm glad I went. If nothing else the interaction with my host dad was a step towards feeling more like a part of the family and less like the house pet.

The night should've ended here, at about 8:30. But when we returned to the cafe to pick up Chu Hùng's xe máy the back tire had gone completely flat! And being that it was a Sunday night, nothing was open. We had to push the bike to a closed repair shop and then wait for a while for the man to show up. How we contacted him to say we needed help I have no idea, but it worked out. An hour later we are on the road home. But my bicycle was at Derek's, so Chu Hùng had to drive me there so I could ride my bike the rest of the way home.

And so there is the story of my epic day of "playing" tennis. I'm determined to get better at it. Maybe someday they'll invite me back (out of pity more than anything else!) and I'll have practiced and be able to to hold my own. Maybe not though. Good thing I'm getting used to the embarrasment :)