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!