Meet Team Vietnam

There are teams of teachers here going to Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Kazakstan, and Vietnam. Let me introduce you to the Vietnam team.

We shall start with Susan. A one-year alum in Danang, VN, she is a paramedic turned English teacher who frequently recounts to us the times in her life when she almost died. I can't remember how many times she has broken her neck and back. She is sarcastic and enjoys breaking the rules. Consequently, I really like her.

Next we have Dawn. She has lived in Danang for three years and she is now the Regional Director. Her love language is words of affirmation. From knowing her for a month, and even longer if you count facebook, she seems to be a pretty up-front person. Her reaction is right out there for everyone to see and I appreciate that. She is obsessed with Dr. Pepper.

This is Brittany. She is our resident Texan. Her diploma is larger than everyone else's (those Texans have to make everything bigger). She was on the worship team here at training. Represent Vietnam. Made us all proud. She has an incredible memory for all things, but especially song lyrics and anything comedy. She is a quiet spirit. A journaler.

Here is Barbara. She isn't what you would expect from someone her age (no offense to her or anyone 'her age'). She is open to new things and will spike her hair with gel and look crazy with the least amount of persuasion. She likes loud worship music. She has been one of my roommates for this month and is going to live in Danang.

Steph and I became friends through facebook immediately and I wasn't sure if we would be such fast friends in person, but we were. She is hilarious. Hailing from New York City, her accent is fantastic, as is her personality. She sings in the shower and often throughout the day. I love her voice and listening to her dad when he calls. She pushed me all the way uphill to campus in the Barbie corvette that we found.

Nikki is from Oklahoma and proud of it. I am borrowing some country music from her as we speak. She also roomed with Barbara and me, and because she was the last one of us to arrive, we gave her the middle bed with the sheets that were just a tad too small for the mattress. Sorry Nikki. She is an old roommate of Dawn's from college and has a history as a youth leader and I haven't asked, but she MUST have a history of working on a ropes course or being a camp counselor.

Kristen is beautiful. That was my first impression. But it turns out she has a great personality too (a potentially irritating combination). She has a great sense of humor and I'm not just saying that because she laughs at me... She is from Michigan, so obviously we're friends. Also, she's a vegetarian and has great teeth--not that those are related--I just thought them both worth mentioning.

Lance is the lone man on team Vietnam. Also a vegetarian, he is married to Kristen and they will be in Danang. I confessed that I wasn't excited that there was a married couple and secretly did not want to be on a team with them because I didn't want to feel like the third wheel. I could not have been more wrong about them. Now I wish that we were goign to be closer to their city! They are fantastic to hang out with.

Liz is a returning teacher. She is extremely tall and has a unique but hilarious sense of humor. She taught for a year in Vinh, VN last year and she and her roommate lived in a house with one wall that was almost entirely gone except for bars. Their bathroom only worked for half of the year and when they showered, they had to squeegee the water down the drain in their room. She'll be in Danang this year too.

And last but not least: Erica. Meet my roommate. I do love her. We are both nervous because everything is going so smoothly right now and we don't want to mess that up. Knowing that I am going to be living with her in HCMC and that she is easy to talk to and committed to being here, and adament about praying together, makes me all the more excited to go. Yesterday she said that she wanted bangs, so we stopped into a hair salon and she sat in a chair and got them cut just like that. Unbeknownst to each other, we both packed our knitting needles and we both make Brian Regen references throughout the day.

I feel like I wrote increasingly more about each person so maybe the first few people got cheated out of a more wordy paragraph. I'll try to make it up to them later.