Day after my birthday

On Monday morning, I was awakened by a text message from Steph that made no sense to me, so I gave the phone to Erica. We went for coffee and then went to the school to fill out paperwork. We didn’t eat breakfast and shockingly, the little amount of paper work took longer than expected (which we expected). I was getting hungry and kept hinting that to Erica, hoping she would agree and we would stop for food soon. It started pouring outside and our plans of exploring the other side of the bridge today suddenly didn’t seem so important.

While we were still there, one woman in the office told me that one of my classes would like for me to speak slower for them and to repeat things more for them. No big deal. I don’t mind constructive feedback. But I have told this class repeatedly that if they don’t understand what I am saying, please tell me. Just raise your hand and ask me to repeat. Over and over I tell them. They just smile and nod (in hindsight, that should have tipped me off). And I KNOW that the communication is indirect here. “Talk about, not to,” is what Dawn has told us from day one. This was my favorite class and I thought they liked me too (as if asking someone to slow down is now code for "I hate you")! I knew it was no big deal, but it felt like betrayal.

The woman giving me the feedback also said that she still couldn’t give me my passport and I needed it to buy a plane ticket to Taiwan. That brought my spirits down too. So I was annoyed, a little hurt, and my hunger was making me more irritable.

As we walked back in the rain, Erica said that we could go back to our apartment for our helmets. I didn’t understand why she still wanted to go downtown in the rain, but I agreed. “I’m just really hungry. Aren’t you?” She shook her head. I thought, dang how could she not be hungry? It's almost lunchtime now! I told her how I was feeling after being told to speak more slowly and said that maybe I was irritable because I was so hungry. “Can we just stop and eat on our way back?” To which Erica replied, “Can you wait?”

That was extremely out of character for Erica. A scowl crossed my face and I said, loudly because of the traffic and rain, “WHY??!” Something was going on.

She simply stared ahead. She was wearing her poncho and I knew she had no peripheral vision like that, so she was clearly ignoring me. “Erica!” I said, trying to get her attention, “What is going on?” This was not like Erica at all. I explained to her again that I was getting very grumpy from the hunger and rain and being frustrated in the office and I could just pick up something quick to eat and bring it back.

I realized at that moment that I don't think that I like surprises because I don’t like not knowing what is going on. She was being secretive and it made me feel left out. Erica already does a lot of stuff that I’m not allowed to know about because she is the Central Administrator for our team, and that doesn’t bother me so much, but this was about me! I want to be talked to, not about! And now, i just wanted to eat, dry off, and watch a movie or something on this, our day off.

She kept being vague and I was getting more and more annoyed. We were literally walking past dozens of places that sell all kinds of food, everything for less than a dollar; I could see it and smell it cooking. I told her that I felt like a brat, but whatever was going on, I wanted no part in it, just let me eat! She said we could go back to the apartment and have some dragon fruit. She still wasn’t looking at me, but I was giving her the stink face that said, “Are you kidding me right now?” She refused to tell me anything else, but said that if I guessed it on my own, then that wasn’t her fault. I didn’t want to guess. We made it back to the apartment and she took off her poncho. Wait, why would you take off your poncho?? I thought. Surely we’re leaving right now to go eat..?

I cut up a dragon fruit (picture stolen from Lance Baker) and pouted while Erica busied herself in her room. Then our doorbell rang. It was Steph and Brittany! They had just made half off the 5 hour journey from Bien Hoa in one afternoon. They brought with them presents (Madagascar I and II!) and a moon-cake shaped like a mama pig and four piglets. The rain stopped, the sun came out and I forgot to be such a brat. We got to go downtown to the market and we explored and hung out.

I got measured for some clothes and I didn’t understand a word the tailor said, so it will be interesting to see what I end up with. I bought 15 roses for about $2 and declared the 7th of every month, ‘Buy myself flowers Day.” We had a good time and the girls missed their bus and were forced to spend the night with us. It made me feel really special that they came so far for my birthday just to hang out. They definitely sacrificed their day off to have us drag them all over district 6 of HCM City. It feels pretty rotten to have people sacrifice for you when you are having a bad attitude. But it was a wonderful day-after-birthday surprise.