Enjoying Attention

So neither Sarah nor I are people who particularly like to draw attention to ourselves. We’d rather blend in with the crowd and generally avoid situations that put us in the lime light.

That’s absolutely not an option here. Vietnamese are perfectly ok with staring, and apparently foreigners are the perfect thing to stare at. Sarah and I already feel stupid enough trying to get around the crowded streets, grocery stores, restaurants, and public transportation without knowing any of the language or culture, and to have people constantly staring as we’ve tried to figure things out has definitely grated on us. So the other day Sarah made the brilliant comment of, “Sam, let’s just try to enjoy the attention.” Haha. Bask in it. Glow in it. Soak it up. Play it up.

Will that always work for us?  Probably not. But at least the idea can give us a good laugh each time. J

Perfectionism Is Not an Option, aka B.Y.O.C.

(Bring Your Own Chalk)

Early on in our time in Vietnam one of our wonderful REI directors, Diana, gave us a wise warning. I’d mentioned my perfectionistic tendencies, and she replied with a laughing, but serious response: “In Vietnam, perfectionism is not an option.”

Pretty sure that’s one of the lessons I’m here to learn this year. And that learning process was definitely jumpstarted Monday.

At 7am Monday morning we taught our first class at the university.  We’d received the list of courses we’d be responsible for just a few days prior and had spent hours planning. Arriving early like good Americans, we’d found our classrooms and were in the hall 3 minutes before class started when another teacher came up to us and said, “I think you have the wrong book.”

Insert internal jaw drop. Half of me was in shock, “Is this SERIOUSLY happening?” And the other half of me almost wasn’t surprised, based on some of our prior experiences. We had 3 minutes to decide what on earth we were going to do with our students for the next 4 hours.

I walked into the classroom, mind racing with last minute lesson plan ideas...and also wondering how I was going to survive. As I greeted the room full of students, I walked to the chalkboard to write my name. No chalk. Panicking, I looked all along the board and desk. The result was a single, half-inch piece that I savored for the next 2 hours.  

Both Sarah and I made it through the morning. Our teacher instincts kicked in and we improvised. But I found it a frustrating, humbling, and somewhat unbelievable experience. The hours we’d put into planning and the 2 hours of sleep I’d gotten the night before were (seemingly) pointless. Yet it was a keen reminder that “Unless He builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless He watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early a go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” I have a strong feeling this is just the beginning of a lesson I’m going to continue being taught here in Vietnam (and have been trying to learn for a while). Not that we are not to work hard. But that the world doesn’t depend on me. The ultimate success of my endeavors can't be controlled by me, no matter how much time and work I put into them. And my worth doesn’t depend on their success. It’s not based on my performance or others’ opinions. It comes from a much deeper foundation than that, and only from that foundation can I truly love others well.

I do also have to admit that, after the fact, anyway, Monday’s fluke makes for a great story. The text book mix up was more or less a logistical oversight with no particular person at fault. And the expectation of having chalk to use with the chalk board was…well, an assumption I was making based on my western cultural background experiences. Oh the assumptions we make without even realizing!

The upside? At least next semester I’ll be aware of the BYOC rule for the first day of class.    

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Pic 1: One of my classrooms.
Pic 2: View from window - campus temple & stadium.
Pic 3: Some much-needed coffee that afternoon!

New Home, Sweet Home - Photo Blog

As I was journalling a couple days ago, I wrote something about "these past few weeks," referring to my time in Vietnam. Then I paused and I realized I'd barely been here 5 days. Apparently my brain is still in a time warp. It's hard to believe it, but today marks the end of our first week. We've mostly settled in to the University and are continuing to discover more of the surrounding area. Enjoy this photo tour of our location!

This is the building (5th floor) where we'll be teaching. The photo was snapped from the entrance of the building we live in, so we're literally about 100 yards away from our classrooms. Awesome.

Sarah modelling one of our most important purchases here (umbrella) in front of the building we live in. My room is the farthest door on the right, first floor.

My room! More space than I've ever had to myself in my life! View as you enter the door and look left.

My desk!

Taste of home. :) Look closely and you might find a picture of or card from you!

Room view from the bathroom door.

We've also been learning how to walk again. And cross the street. Some of the best advice we've been given is "Never assume the ground is level" and "When crossing the street, just watch out for the big stuff (buses, cars) and the start walking; the motorbikes will miss you." Here's some "street level" pics from our explorations of the area surrounding the university.

Typical buildings/houses. Tall and narrow, with shops at street level.

Motor bike parking on the sidewalk - and this is a very UNcrowded place.

Intersection!

 

Place of refuge - we found a green park!

With a lake. About a 20 minute walk from campus.

Street market video! 

This is just a glimpse of what we've been experiencing here. For more pics (including cityscape from a 12th story window) and updates, visit my teammate Sarah's blog at www.onemorescribe.wordpress.com.

Today I Ate Frog

Skin and all. (Pic below.) And squid. And flowers. And moon cake. And date tea.

Our assignment today and for the next few days is to play as much as possible.

There are going to be inevitable stresses in the coming months. A week from tomorrow we begin teaching full time at the university as first-year teachers. At times we will certainly experience homesickness for the familiarity and comfort (not to mention ease of communication!) of the U.S. And we know basically nothing of the Vietnamese language for navigating in everyday life. Yes, these are bound to cause some stress.

So while we have this opportunity, we’re trying to fall in love with the people and place. To find joy and fun in it, while also being humble learners of the lifestyle and culture. Gratitude and rest are important for longevity in anything we do; we’re taking this time to cultivate that.

 

If you're wondering how the frog and squid bit all fall into that, today we had the wonderful opportunity of being chauferred around part of the city by some of our lovely coworkers. It was a ball. After visiting a museum and having our plans of seeing the old city-center disturbed by rain, we went to an awesome 5-story tea shop. A sit on the ground with low tables, draped fabric ceiling, soft music, beautiful paintings, etc kind of place. For dinner we experienced the "hot pot." Basically a broth with a number of different seasonings/veggies in it, that you then cook meat and other foods in. Think fondue. Yeah, that's where the frog and squid came in. If I could get over the texture and thought, they weren't bad. :) Oh, and did I mention we experienced our first motorbike rides, as well?

First 24 Hours

I woke up a little bit ago feeling ready to start the day. After lying in bed for a few minutes, I glanced at my watch and noticed it was only 12:45am, on this side of the world anyway, and I’d been asleep for just a few hours. Hmm. Jetlag.

Hopefully my body will start to adjust soon, but in the meantime, here’s a snapshot of our travels and the first 24 hours in Vietnam!

We departed from the Minneapolis airport early on Tuesday, Sept 6 and arrived in Vietnam near midnight on Sept 7^th. Our route took us Minneapolis – Chicago – South Korea – Vietnam.  Sarah and I have been enjoying each other’s companying, and, as one can expect after travelling together for 30 hours straight on little sleep, already have some pretty entertaining stories to reminder each other of in the coming months. One of my favorites so far:

Sarah, on airplane from Korea to Hanoi (after 24 hrs of travel): Sam, have you seen my pillow?

Me: Uhh…you mean the one sitting on your lap?

Sarah looks down, dazed. We both break out laughing.

She also has a Caribou radar. As we’re sitting in the airport in Korea, she grabs my arm and says, “Sam, is that a Caribou cup???” Love this girl – and yes, it was! So lo and behold we had Caribou in South Korea…yay Minnesota.

When we got into Vietnam, we spent the night at our director’s house, woke up early the next morning (again, jetlag), and began our adventures for the day.

First stop? Learn how to take a taxi.

2^nd stop: Get a cell phone.

3^rd  stop: Exchange money. In dom (Vietnamese currency) we’re millionaires!

4^th stop: Buy groceries.

5^th stop: Move into the university guest teacher housing and meet program director and a few staff.

So we’re being initiated into Vietnamese culture and life. We’ve already experienced the, shall we say, “fluid” traffic laws. The humidity here is incredible. (Remember back in MN the day with the highest humidity this summer? Yeah, that’s what it was here today, and that’s normal.) I found a gecko running along my bathroom wall. And sometime soon we’re going to have learn how to cross the street. A bit stretching? Yes (especially the gecko part), but also so exciting. I’m very grateful for the people that have been put around me here and look forward to seeing what the future holds. Oh, and one last note – for the first time in my life, I feel tall!

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and Welcome to my blog!

As I prepare to embark in less than a week on this venture to Vietnam, I am both excited and apprehensive. If you’d asked me a year ago what I’d be doing right now, teaching English at a university in Vietnam’s capital city Hanoi would certainly NOT have been my answer.  I doubt I could’ve even named the country’s capital. Yet here I am. And what a journey it’s been.

Through this process over the past year I’ve had to be continually reminded that “destination” is not actually the goal of life. Despite my never ending to-do lists, despite significant milestones of accomplishment such as college graduation and first job as a licensed educator, despite my drive for perfection, there comes a tickle in the back of my brain reminding me that effort does not equal success. Even the achievements that result from effort don’t equal success.

Rather, it’s the journey. It’s the process of life. It’s the daily obedience to the Father as he leads us a step at a time. It’s the resting and trusting in that obedience, through the joy, fun, adventures, hardship, and, yes, even pain.

As I sit here with my tea pondering these thoughts in the wee hours of the morning, I know my four-page to-do list awaits. I know the room my family is graciously allowing me to stay in is strewn with clothes, bags, and random items asking to be sorted, cleaned, and packed.

In fact, I awoke late this evening to a camera flash and realized I'd fallen asleep on the floor in the single corner of clear carpet space in the entire room - something my dad apparently found amusing and decided to document. (I don't blame him. ;) I’m tempted to be overwhelmed. But I’m going to try to savor these moments. To cherish the process and journey as a good gift from a perfect gift-giver.

And it is the stories of the journey that I hope to share in this blog, both big and small, pretty and ugly. I invite you to join me as I strive to make the journey the destination.