My top artists right now are Tyler Childers, Rex Orange County, Sienna Spiro, and Caamp. I have also bought a guitar to practice while I am here, so I listen to many guitar songs that I want to learn. Currently, I am working on "Lady May" by Tyler Childers.
If you were to live in a new country, which music do you think would make you feel the most at home?
If I had to choose, it would have to be my solo-adventure day on Monday when I rode my bike to a new place outside the city and found the most beautiful soccer field I have ever played on. I ended up spending four hours there that day!
This day was great because I had been feeling slightly stuck in my journey since that weekend in Saigon. I was stressed with lesson planning and just overall down. So, taking the initiative to find meaning in new experiences, going down a path before and being rewarded with a welcoming community and new memories was the best reminder of what I am doing here that I could have asked for.
Similarly to my music listening, it's been a tale of two motivations: immersing and grounding. To immerse myself in Vietnamese culture and history, I bought a book that I actually learned about in the English textbook at my school. The book is Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Đặng Thùy Trâm, or in Vietnamese, Nhật ký Đặng Thùy Trâm. This book is a collection of the two real journals written by Dr. Thuy Tram, a combat medic during the Vietnam War who was stationed in the middle of the country.
