Goodbye Vietnam, Hello My New Home

It's 4am here. I've been up since 3am because I had a skype date with my parents, Jill, Charles and the triplets. Oh how I miss them! It probably sounds crazy to get up that early, but we're getting on a jet-plane (actually, it's probably going to be more like a puddle-jumper) and getting outta Vietnam.  The day of departure has arrived. The much-anticipated arrival is almost here. I'm super excited, somewhat exhausted and just looking forward to meeting our team leaders, seeing the country and starting language learning. Being in a place for over 3 weeks and speaking like zero language has been really frustrating, and it's something I'm definitely not used to. But, even though I'm excited to be heading out, there have been many good times here in Vietnam and I've made some really awesome friends.

Here are some of the fun things we've done this week...

We went to the zoo that is nearby - the one we run in - and they have this interesting "activity" that you can do on the lake. At Lake Eola in Orlando they have swans you can ride in, and they have those here too, but for the more extreme experience, you can go in this huge hamster-ball thing and float around in the lake that way. We'd heard about it and seen pictures, so two of us decided to give it a whirl.

Here's me getting in

 Christa getting in too...the ball is not inflated til you get in so it's really hard to squeeze in

Quite snug 

Walking out to the lake. I really did feel like a hamster for all of 10 minutes. Those poor little creatures;)

The guy totally didn't wait for us to walk into the lake...he just gave us a big push and we rolled right in! As you can see, it's a little difficult to balance. Christa and I were trying to stand up at the same time here.

But we eventually gave up. What you can't see is the incredible amount of sweat pouring down our faces...it was like an oven in there! But, a fun experience nonetheless.

The next day, since it was raining (for the 3rd day in a row), we scratched our plans to go to the Botanical Gardens and opted for a massage instead. Beka, who is teaching in Vietnam, hooked us up with the place.

 

Here she is modeling the "pajamas" we had to put on. They were definitely not American size!

 

We had to do a little miss-matching because the sizes were a little off for us.

Here we are all dressed and ready for a massage. It was supposed to be a foot massage, but it ended up being basically a full body massage - all for about $7! Not a bad deal. And it was a great way to unwind after a week of lesson planning, observing and teaching!

Well, I better jet now. Leaving in T-minus 20 minutes and still need to finish packing. Next time I post I'll be in-country! :)

Tuesday Recap

Today was my first day of practice teaching. That might sound weird to some of you who know that I've already been teaching for about two years, but it is a requirement for our training so each of will teach 2-3 times this week. It's sad to say, but even though I've taught a bunch of times, I was super nervous this morning. And as the clock ticked closer and closer to 9:30 (and the start of class), my nerves just got even worse. I guess that has always happened to me before teaching, especially when I taught as a GTA at UCF. But once class started,  I was reminded of just how much I love teaching. When I met my students and we jumped into the lesson, I just felt an old part of me come back to life. After all, I've been out of the classroom for almost a year and a half.  It definitely wasn't a perfect lesson by any means (is there ever such a thing?! :) but it reminded me of why I'm here, why I'm living in Asia...because I love students and I feel like I connect with them in a cool way, and the Father loves these students and wants a connected, personal friendship with them as well. I hope that today was just a glimpse of the way I'll be able to build relationships with my students once I get to my final destination.

Here are a few picture highlights from today. We learned about persuasion and advertising so I've included several of the advertisements my students came up with for your viewing pleasure:)

Group work

Students presenting their ads

We learned about slogans and rhetorical questions...Are you ready to explore your own paradise? :)

We also talked about alliteration...lovely atmosphere, lively view, long-lasting impression. Who wouldn't want to go there? Pretty impressive vocabulary too.

Sapa is another popular place to visit in Vietnam. Could it be Yours Destination? :)

This group even did research on their phone to learn about the Pyramids in Egypt. Mummy welcomes YOU!

Today was a pretty rainy day. Started with a jog in the rain (all the Vietnamese people looked at us like we were crazy for running in the rain), then off to school. My room has a balcony so one of my favorite things to do when it's raining is to sit out on my balcony watching the rain and playing my guitar. I did that for a while today and it was so relaxing and refreshing.

My little spot on the balcony

Rainy Vietnam

I don't teach again 'til Friday so it's nice to have a few days to refresh. I was able to read a book of my own choosing and write some postcards. Went down to the fruit stand and bought some plums with Christa - we found a new favorite vendor - 7 plums for $1. Such a good deal. We ended the day with some team time eating dinner and playing good old Banana Grams. I didn't win, but it was still fun (imagine that, a Mitchell who has fun without winning!) Learned a lot more about our final destination too from teammates Brad and Stacy so that was exciting. Perhaps I will share more later. For now I should retire. Class observations start at 7am, so I gotta get up around 5.

Morning Exercise

After posting such a downer yesterday, I thought I’d counteract it with some endorphins… pics from today's exercise that is. I brought my camera on our morning run at the zoo/park to try to capture early morning Vietnam. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and it seemed like way fewer people were out and about (especially the cute elderly people doing aerobics), so my pictures are limited, but at least you can see how hot we American woman look breaking a sweat in Hanoi (actually, it’s more like sweat just pours from every pore in our body it’s so stinkin’ humid, even at 6am!). Actually, I was joking about us being hot American women, except that my comment reminds me of our rather startling experience this morning….

It feels like people are always saying hi to us, ok not always, and when I say people, I mean mostly men who are over 45 years of age. So yeah, we’ll just be walking down the street and people will say “hello” or “hi,” and usually it seems friendly. But sometimes a little too friendly. During our run this morning, one guy said hello to us while we were running, so Christa and I started talking about the whole thing of how to respond when people are friendly. Do we just say “hi” back and keep walking (or in this case, running)? Or should we stop and talk to them? Are we being stuck-up Americans to just keep going on our way?

After discussing this for a bit, we came upon friendly-guy-of-the-day-#-1 again and he said hello again. So, this time,since we were done with our run, we stopped to say hi. Well, first he tried to hand us some fake money which was kind of interesting. And then he started coming at us like he was going to give us a hug or something. I stuck out my hand to give him the more formal American way of greeting (just in case he didn’t know the proper way), and then he started moving towards Christa. She stuck her hand out quick to avoid a kiss or hug or whatever he had in mind. Yeah, she was a bit slicker than me because after shaking her hand, he started moving towards me again and before I could get out of the way fast enough, he had planted a kiss on my shoulder. Sort of an awkward place, and I’m sure not exactly what he was going for. I don’t say this to make you think that the men here are creepy, ‘cause they’re not. We’ve met a lot of great people, and some of them are genuinely really friendly. I think this guy was the exception – but it’s always good to be careful. I can remember what Miss Congeniality taught me – S-I-N-G, just in case there is a next time :)

Ok, so enough of that story. Here are some pics from today.

The lake we run around

Pretty bridge

If you look closely, you can see ladies on the other side of the lake doing aerobics. Unfortunately the zoom on my camera is not so great. But there are usually pockets of people all around doing morning aerobics.

One day we saw some men laying on the railing doing situps so we decided to give it a try.

So far I haven't fallen in! This is actually staged b/c this morning my stomach was hurting so I didn't do situps, but I couldn't let it look like Christa was the only one getting buff! ;)

Doing vertical pushups. Note to self: Don't wear gray in humid Hanoi.

This guy passed us while we were doing our workout. He's fishing with a long net/pole.

Some ducks hanging out at the zoo...watching all the morning exercisers.

Passed by this on the way home. It's probably the 15th time I've walked by this place, but I'd never noticed this particular sign before. I thought it was pretty cool - my name and my age on a sign in Vietnam.

Being Alone

I've always heard that you learn new (often unexpected) things about yourself when you are in a new culture. I guess some things just stay masked or unnoticed until our world is turned upside down and we're in a completely new place, both figuratively and literally.

Well, one of those things I've learned about myself is this: I hate being alone. And not only do I not like it, I'm not good at it either. It's been a bit of a joke these last three weeks, actually. On the airplane ride over, I was sitting off in a separate section from the rest of the team. Of all the girls here at training, I'm the only one with my own room. I'm one of two auditing the courses, so sometimes if there needs to be an odd-one-out for an activity or something, it is usually one of us. Ok, so this probably sounds like I'm soliticing your pity, I'm really not. I'm just setting the stage for you to understand how the Father has been teaching me about being alone. In each of these situations, I've seen the Father's hand and provision. But I can't say that I've always been enjoying it.

Take this afternoon for instance. After getting back from a busy morning of doing "touristy" stuff around Hanoi (more to come on that later), I went back to my room to rest/work/etc. But I just felt this heaviness. This aloneness weighing me down. Even though I'd just been around a bunch of people for the last 5 hours. I just kept asking myself, "Why do I hate being alone so much?"  I feel like it is something the Father is prodding me about. Do I avoid the quiet place? Because often that is where He speaks the loudest. Do I crave the company of others more than I crave His presence? Am I looking to the seen and tangible things to bring the comfort that comes from Him? Do I believe it when He says, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" even if it doesn't feel like it?

Feeling alone in a foreign country probably makes everything more pronounced. I mean, it's not like I can hop into my car and run to Target. You know, get me some retail therapy. I can't just go for a walk in my neighborhood...it's  motorbike obstacle course out there. Nor can I just pick up the phone and call my mom and tell her I wish she was here with me. There's no yummy chocolate to munch on. The many things that I run to are gone. Poof. Nowhere to be found. And it leaves me feeling empty. It leaves me with an ache. It reminds me of words I read a few months ago in our Ladies' BS book called, "The Beautiful Ache." What if you denied the urge to fill the crevice or crater-like space it (the ache) makes with activity or noise or food or drink - and simply sat with it awhile?...The beautiful ache points us beyond. It is not meant to be ignored.

Life is really different here. Obviously. But there is a constant no matter what country we go to, or what language is being spoken...the One who created us all; He is here just as surely as He was there. I may feel alone, but I am not alone. Sometimes though, that just doesn't feel like enough and I'm just wanting to believe before I feel.  I was reading The Valley of Vision yesterday, and this phrase really struck me: Help me to honor Thee by believing before I feel, for great is the sin if I make feeling a cause of faith.

The Little Things, Part 1

So, being here in Hanoi, and anticipating living outside of the US for at least the next year is teaching me to be thankful for the little things (cultural disclaimer here... this is not a complaint about life in Vietnam, but rather a reflection on how I've come to cherish little things)...Here are some of the things that my time in Hanoi has taught me to appreciate:

1. For the first 27 years of my life, my drink of choice has been free (water - the cheap, healthy option. I learned to choose cheap from my dad, and healthy from my mom:). Now, I order it without thinking and when they bring it out in a bottle I realize, oh, it's not free here. I forgot...again.

2. Knowing how to get around town. The last three times we've taken a taxi somewhere, it's arrived at the wrong place. And, being the non-lingual American, I can't even begin to try to ask where we are or how to get where I need to go. It's humbling to not know your way around and to have to rely on other people to get where you're going.

3. A running buddy. I always ran alone in the US and it was a sweet time of talking to the Father, but I wouldn't dream of running alone in an unfamiliar big city. I hadn't even been in Colorado 2 hours before finding out that my future roomie and teammate Christa loved running too and that her parents didn't want her running alone either. So now we're running buddies. Our running times around Hanoi have been some of my favorite moments here. We run in the zoo/park near our hotel and enjoy seeing elephants, turkeys, exotic birds, and lots of other exercising Vietnamese. Apparently we found the place that the locals choose for exercise - lots of running, and even some aerobics around the lake... we recently added Vietnamese aerobics to our workout too.

4. Homecooked food - when you live in a hotel, going out to eat for every meal gets old really fast, especially when you have a big group. But last Sunday, Christa, Elise and I discovered a little restaurant near our hotel that serves home-cooked food. It's pretty amazing and you get an entire portion for less than $1!

5. An ample supply of toilet paper. So this is kind of embarrassing to put on my blog, but it is one of the things I miss most! My team is always teasing me because I'm constantly trying to figure out where I can steal some toilet paper. The maids often forget to replenish your supply and even when they do remember, the Vietnamese size is significantly smaller. Needless to say, I'm trying to make some cultural adjustments in this area.

6. My guitar. Ah, the joy of music and lifting a song to the Father. Here in Hanoi I have rediscovered my love for playing the guitar for hours. It has been one of the ways I've been able to feel the most connected with the Father, and has just been a great way to spend a lot of the alone time I've had here. I'm one of only two teachers who is in a single room, and while it has had its lonely moments, one of the best parts is all the time I've been able to spend playing the guitar. Actually, for the last two Monday nights now, a bunch of us girls have gathered in my room to sing and make a joyful noise to Him. It's been sweet. And my callouses are finally coming back.

Well, I'm sure there are more things, but that's all I can think of for now. Maybe I'll add more as they come to mind. Time to head to bed.

Gettin' Outta Town

After having class for 6 hours every day this week, we decided to get away from the city (and our studies) and head to a place in Northern Vietnam called Halong Bay. It is a very famous area of Vietnam, and, as we soon found out, a very popular tourist spot as well. Halong means "descending dragon" and the bay is essentially this huge maze of waterways surrounded by towering cliff faces everywhere (I can't really describe it well, but you'll see what I mean in the pics).

We went with a travel company that picked us up at our hotel for a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Halong. Sounds like a really long time (and it was), but it gave us a great opportunity to see more of Vietnam...especially the countryside.

Some of the ladies on the bus.

 

The most essential part of any road trip: snacks

These are my favorite Vietnamese candy...choc mint chews.

We also saw some really interesting sights on the road. Like this one here - can you see what is inside the cage? Yep, about 10 dogs stacked on top of each other. Ok, animal lovers, you probably shouldn't read this next part. We asked our tour guide, "Sally", about it and this was her response: "Well, some people in Vietnam really love animals and have dogs as pets. But some other people feel very differently. You know, they are like Koreans." In other words, these dogs are for eatin'. 

Also saw some chickens and pigs en route.

We finally arrived in Halong Bay. Here's how our group was feeling about it:

Steph

Joe

Elise

Christa

Jennifer

Our boat...we had a sweet private tour of the bay.

The inside of our boat.

Christa and Stephanie hanging out on the deck.

Elise and Jennifer below.

Christa and me...wind blown hair is quite the style here.

Jennifer thinks we're on the Titanic (actually, I told her to do a Titanic pose. She was humoring me)

What Steph really thinks of me. I feel the love exuding from this pic.

Delicious lunch on the boat.

After lunch, we went exploring in a cave. It was very wet, but very cool.

Light entering the cave. I think this looks like a pic that would be next to the "rising from the dead story" in our favorite book:)

Our tour guide telling us about the cave.

Not allowed to leave your mark there.

Group pic. Unfortunately the light from behind makes Joe and I look sorta like characters from Twilight.

Cool pictures of the bay, taken from our boat.

These two big rocks - called The Fighting Chickens - are the symbol of Halong Bay. Our guide told us that the one on the left represents China, and the one on the right Vietnam. Apparently, Vietnam won the fight.

After cruising for a while, we went kayaking around the bay. Christa and Stephanie were afraid we'd become shark bait, but we didn't see any sign of lurking animals.

Maybe they ate these things instead :)

After kayaking, we relaxed on the boat, and watched the sun set over the waters.

Steph taking in the view

It was a rough day of relaxing :)

The view of the bay was pretty breathtaking. The heavens declare His glory, the skies proclaim the works of His hands