My Heart for Vietnam

This video is just a glimpse of what my friends and I have experienced here in Vietnam. When making this video, I had no intention of staying. I made it to encourage future Vietnamers, however through much pr*yer and through a lot of contemplation, I have decided to stay another year. If you would like to hear more about my decision please send me your email address and I can send you my latest update.

Ups and Downs

So I am not going to lie, these past eight months have not been a walk in the park. I have definitely had my ups and downs and right now I feel like I am starting to come out of a really LOW, low. Looking back on it now, I have been like this for quite a while without even knowing. I am telling you this to ask you for your help. I not only want to get out of this so I can really experience true joy that my students or friendships bring but I need to get out of it to help heal the wounded relationship between my roommate and I.
Luckily, I have students that help day by day. I have mentioned Saturdays are difficult and that still stands. I sometimes feel like I do more babysitting than teaching and that wears me out. After four long hours, I get to have two hours of rest before I finish my day with a three hour class. Normally a three hour teen class would put me over the edge but wow did I luck out. I can’t get enough of them!
Today I got to spend three hours laughing and having fun with my students. I feel so fortunate to have this bright light at the end of my day and to have three hours to escape from the way I have been feeling lately.
Please keep me in your yarps. I need all of the help I can get.

Pretty Awesome Friends

If you have been a follower of my blog from the beginning, you know that one of my first classes was a class that I absolutely adored. Because I loved them so much, I gave them my email address and asked them to stay in touch. I have only kept in touch with two and even though the messages have not been as frequent as I hoped, I still get to see one at school.

From the beginning, I thought it was supposed to be their job to make the first step so until now, I have not gotten together with them. One day, I was having a hard day and I thought, why not contact one of my students to see if she wants to hang out. Sure enough, I got a text back saying she wanted to hang out too. A few days later, Alex, her boyfriend, Alex’s sister, Jane, and their friend Quang and I got together and had dinner and talked at a juice shop for four hours. What a fabulous night it was!

Not wanting to be clingy but wanting to hang out again, I waited a few more days until I contacted Alex again. Unfortunately she had class that night and Jane was busy. So thinking I had no plans, I got ready to settle in for the night when Quang called and said he was going to pick me up in an hour to hang out with him, his friend Thien and Jane. An hour later, I was off to the juice shop where we ended up watching The Pacific, since that is one of Quang’s favorite shows. Even though we talked less than last time, I still enjoyed myself. I liked the fact that I had a group that just wanted me there to watch TV with.

Less than a few days later, a date was set up to go bowling! So last night, Alex, her boyfriend, Jane, Henry (their brother), Quang and I headed to a delicious dinner and then off to bowling. When we got to the alley we had to wait for a half an hour so we decided to play games in the arcade. I got to show off my decent skills of shooting a basket but was defeated in my motorbike racing and foosball attempts. When we finally got the opportunity to bowl, I definitely did not redeem myself. I was horrible! But I had a blast. I did get one strike though, but nobody saw. We ended the night with Dance Dance Revolution and a motorbike ride home.

Jane and Henry playing in the arcade. Henry is only 10 and yet he towers over his sister. These two were also my students. Yup...I had almost the entire family as my students!

Carolyn teaches Henry now but the other day I went in and asked if he was ready to bowl and if he was good at it. He shrugged his shoulders indicating that he didn't want to brag. He was pretty good and had a good laugh at my horrible bowling.

In just one week, I have been able to have some great times with some great people! I regret not contacting Alex sooner but I feel fortunate I at least have two months to hang out with all of them! If plans do not fall through, we have a plan to meet Saturday night to go to another restaurant. I am excited to see what adventures are yet to come!

Alex and I. Excited to bowl!

Sidenote: If you have ever seen Across the Universe and remember the bowling scene where they are sliding all over the place, well I have always wanted to do that. We were a little bored after playing games in the arcade and we still couldn't bowl so we decided to slide across the floor. I limited my slides because of my likelihood of falling but we had fun.

From the Mekong to Da Nang to Bein Hoa-I have been a traveler

These past few weeks I have had the opportunity to travel a bit. My travels started on the Mekong Delta. Since my parents visited in October, I have wanted to visit the Mekong and recently the Bien Hoa girls mentioned they wanted to go as well. So last weekend, the girls came into town and Monday morning, woke up bright and early to catch our bus that would take us out to the delta. Our group consisted of the four of us, a woman from Brazil, a couple from China and one very enthusiastic tour guide. After our two hour bus ride, we made it to the delta and got on our first boat of the day where we were greeted by Moon, our Mekong tour guide. Our Mekong trip consisted of a visit to the coconut factory where we bought delicious candy, a bee farm, where we actually got to take pictures holding the bee sheet? We also were treated to tea with added honey from the hives. After tea, and a brief holding of a boa, we sat and ate fruits of Vietnam while we were sung to by traditional Vietnamese singers. When then boarded a smaller boat and headed down the canal to our final location where we were able to sit down and have a large Vietnamese meal. Brittany and I were very lucky to have Moon in our ride down the canal because we got to hear "Row, row (take out the final row), your boat" on repeat! Yes there was a little sarcasm there but at least we got a laugh out of it later. Overall, the trip wasn't exactly what we had expected but it was nice to be able to spend that time with the girls anyway.

Just a note...I held the boa too...the pictures were just not on my camera. It's true!

Later in the week, because I still did not have class, I decided to make a trip up to Da Nang. I had a blast seeing the rest of the team, even if it was a very short trip. The trip consisted of an American Idol party, mosquito killing frenzies, a walk on the beach, nail painting, and coffee and meals with friends.


Finally, to end my travels, Carolyn and I went to Bien Hoa last weekend to celebrate our friend Brittany's birthday. Stephanie had prepared a surprise party for Brittany so on Monday night we went out to karaoke to pass the time away while their friends raided the house to set up for the party. When we got back, the house was decked out and there was enough food set out to feed an army. It was a very successful and fun filled time.