I made it

Ciao from Vietnam!

It's been a long journey this past month, but I made it. I am thankful for the time I got to spend at home with my parents and grandparents, my brother, my cousins, aunts and uncles, and my amazing friends. I also got to spend a few days with my brother and his friends in Vegas, Arizona (Dodgers vs. Mariners!), and LA, just relaxing and having a good time. I couldn't have asked for a better last month in the US. My friends and roommates are amazing, and sent me off with a great farewell party full of love and encouragement :) My parents flew down for my last day and took me to the airport. It was a tearful goodbye, followed by a few tearful final phone conversations with my brother and roommate...but good tears! It's all a part of change and growth and love.

So I arrived here almost a week ago, after about 30 hours of traveling from Los Angeles. The flight was pretty uneventful. I watched a few good movies (including High School Musical 3), listened to some great airplane CDs (including the Across the Universe soundtrack and Britney Spears, Circus) and took multiple awkward naps! Jealous? :)

Once I stepped off the plane into the accordian tunnel thing, I was struck with the hot, thick, moist air of Vietnam. It was shocking. I never imagined air could feel so....heavy. Pretty gross. It really hasn't changed much either--I might be getting used to it a tiny bit, but that doesn't make it any more comfortable! :) It isn't ruining anything though, Vietnam is absolutely incredible. When I arrived, I was taken to the school I will be teaching. I got to meet the super nice staff and have a tour of the school. At this point I was pretty much in a daze from all the traveling and then taking in a new country, but it was all still very exciting! They took me to get a Vietnamese SIM card for my phone so we could be in contact with one another, and then they took me home, where I met my housemate, Dawn, and two of her friends. I literally set down my bags and left with them to eat dinner down the road. I met a lot of people and saw a lot of places and things my first day in Vietnam, and by the time I got into bed at 10pm that evening, I was ready for sleep. I have been sleeping 8-9 uninterrupted hours a night ever since, and I thank exhaustion for that.

My second day here, my boss hosted a welcome dinner for me at his home. A girl from work picked me up on her motorbike to take me to the dinner. EVERYONE drives a motorbike here. Cars are few and far between...motorbikes and bicycles occupy the majority of the streets. So it was quite a thill riding on the back of a motorbike! In the hot weather, the breeze feels very good on a motorbike.

The welcome dinner was really great--I got to meet most of the teachers and some of the staff I'll be working with, as well as some of the children of the teachers and staff. We had a great game of darts after dinner--to my surprise, I was the top scorer!

Monday and Tuesday of this week I learned about my classes, the curriculum, and the school, and I also got to observe a few classes. For each class, I have a TA. The TA has been with the class since it started, so since I am coming in the middle of the courses, my TAs (all four of them, one for each class) met with me to tell me about the class and each individual student. That was so helpful and definitely helped me prepare for my first day of teaching. Wednesday I taught my first two classes, and Thursday I taught my second two; each class alternates every-other-day. M,W,F, and T, Th, Sat...6 days a week! It's nice though, because classes are in the evening, so I have the days to explore and hang out, though right now I mostly spend them lesson planning. Soon, I will get the hang of it and it won't take me so long...I hope!

The Father has been teaching me a lot about relying on Him and communicating with Him. I feel the need to be in communication with Him and reading about Him multiple times a day and it has been so enriching to have that be my number one priority all day every day. Every day that my relationship with Him grows, I am in awe of how deep His love is and how intense His longing to be a part of my life is. He is an amazing comfort and source of hope and provision. He teaches me more and more everyday!

I am learning a lot about being intentional, in all that I say and think and do. I am also learning about using my body language and facial expressions positively, as those do not need translation and is the only thing being communicated to people with whom I cannot verbally communicate. It is amazing how aware I have become of the way I look at and respond to my students--I want to make sure they understand I am proud of them and affirming them, even if they don't understand my words. I am trying to show love in every way I can!

I am also gaining awareness of the impact my actions and words have on others-not because I am great, awesome and important, but because I have the opportunity to help and bless others through serving and edifying them. Living together in community is what we were created to do. I can't imagine living each day for myself and my own forward movement--it would be lonely and unfulfilling. I need others, and I need to be a part of something greater than myself.

.ubuntu.

"One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity.

We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2008