Can I not exercise in peace?

Friday, as you might remember, was the day of our Teacher celebration but it seemed like less of a teacher celebration and more just like the start-of-the-school-year event we had in September. The teachers opened with a song, as they did in the other event, and there were a number of student performances with elaborate costumes and dances. One of the performances featured our geography teacher with three other teachers singing a song together. It was sort of a skit mixed with a song - they were all very animated and parts of it were spoken - and it was hilarious. It was definitely the best part of the event; the rest of the show was pretty boring and I was annoyed with myself that I didn't bring my book. Anyway, when we were let out we basically had the rest of the day off so I got to play soccer for a couple hours before lunch. In the afternoon, our soccer team received our 2nd place award and even got a new soccer ball. After that, Ms. Thuy ordered pizza and we had a small party in the classroom. I now realize that the pizza I had before is just standard Vietnamese pizza and they just don't put tomato sauce on it. The pizza Ms. Thuy ordered was from Domino's and like Al Fresco's in the Ecopark, they also put ketchup packets in the box which were meant to be put on the pizza! I guess that's just how the Vietnamese like their pizza.

Saturday was pretty uneventful, I did my homework, laundry, and played basketball in the afternoon. I was supposed to have another language lesson but Viet had to cancel due to some family emergency.. After planning the climbing trip I received a confirmation on Saturday as well! I'm going on a short day trip to Quoc Oai next week with The Anh through the Vietclimb gym. I'm opting outside this Black Friday and I'm excited to finally climb outdoors here in Vietnam. To prepare for the trip, The Anh and I went to Vietclimb on Sunday to pay and fit the gear. I have shoes already but they needed The Anh's size and our harness sizes. Since we were there we climbed as well for a couple of hours then headed back to the Ecopark around lunchtime. Everyone was taking their afternoon naps but luckily they left the door unlocked so I could get in. I had planned on going running around 4 but when I started to leave, I realized I had been locked in! Anna left with Anh's parents on her bike and they locked me in the apartment. They didn't get back until 5:45 but I went running anyway which brings me to the title of this post.

I guess the answer is no. I can't exercise in peace. So I went to the school soccer field to run around the track, as I do and have done in the past, and there were guys playing soccer, as there normally are. Usually, a few people look at me or say hi since I'm obviously not Vietnamese and people here have a fascination with foreigners and that's totally fine. But today, these five idiots that were sitting on the sidelines decided to go much further. I started running and as I took off, someone whistled at me. I shook my head and kept going but as I rounded my second lap, one of them yelled ,"Chi oi!", which basically means "hey you!". I just looked at him and kept running even though I could hear them laughing. When I came around for my third lap they started chanting "mot, hai, mot, hair, mot, hai" which is "one, two, one, two, one, two", like they were counting my steps. As I had before, I just shook my head and kept going but on the fourth lap, two of them got up and started running behind me.. I figured 'hey, maybe they just want to run', so I slowed down to let them pass, but after two more laps with them constantly staying about 4 strides behind me and laughing each time they passed their idiotic friends, I figured they were just being stupid. Luckily I only had one more lap to go so I finished off my mile and ran to the bench where I had my water. Lo and behold, they stopped running once I stopped, and sat back down, laughing the whole time. A few minutes later, they got up and started passing the ball around and at one point (whether intentionally or not), it came my way. I was contemplating whether or not to pass it back but it luckily bounced off the bench leg and went back to them. I got up to leave not a minute later and this time the ball came straight to my feet. I wound back and kicked it to them high, over their heads. As I walked away one of them said "thank you" between laughs and I kindly insulted them to myself.

What is this issue with Vietnamese men and girls who exercise? None of the kids in my class mind me playing soccer, or basketball, or running but for whatever reason these guys I encounter freak out about it. It was a male teacher who said I wasn't allowed to play in the soccer games and a bunch of guys harassing me at the field this evening. I never have this issue at Vietclimb because only foreigners climb there! There's something to say about the people here if this is how men look at women. Now I really hope this isn't the norm and that I've just happened upon all the sexist pigs but this has happened on multiple occasions! I don't know, the biggest issue for me is just that I feel like I need to justify my anger somehow. Like I needed to write out this super long explanation about what happened today because otherwise people say, "oh it's really not that bad" or "just get over it". Anyway, I needed to share that because it was frustrating, angering, and disheartening all at once and there aren't many people here I can talk to this about. I refuse to stop exercising just because of some men who think they're superior solely because of their gender but I really hope I don't see these guys ever again. I guess if they do come back, I can always ask Dung to back me up.

After I got back from my run and had showered, we went out to dinner. When we walked past the soccer field, I glared at the backs of the idiots who were bothering me and kept going, hoping they didn't see me and I wouldn't ever see them again. Dinner was pretty good and we had a basic meal like we would in the apartment. Dung doesn't really cook and since her mom went to the city last night, she wasn't home to make dinner. It's getting late now and I'll be going to sleep soon. Thank you for reading my rant and hopefully understanding the issue; like I said, I don't really have anyone in Vietnam to talk to about stuff like this so it at least feels better to write it down to get it out of my head. I hope everyone has a great Sunday and a great start to their Thanksgiving week! p.s. the bug picture is of a nasty bug that somehow ended up on my pajamas. I took it out to Dung and she flushed it down the toilet, apparently if this kind of bug stings you, you get a really itchy rash. I was glad to have noticed it before it escaped and hid somewhere in my bed, or in my clothes when I put them on.. Eughhh