i just tried to load a video and right before it finished I got a message in Vietnamese. Several times. So, no video.

Just remember that Phượng's voice is monotone and awesome. She's hilarious.

Laura, Erin, Helen, this is for you.

Helen sent me puppy chow (YAY!!) and I shared some with Phượng. I did not expect her to like it because their desserts are... different. But, she did!

She wanted to find out where to buy it. I told her I could make it. She didn't believe me. So I went on a hunt for chex, peanut butter, and powdered sugar (chocolate chips I brought with me. Be prepared with chocolate, that's my motto). I found them.

I made a bag of it for Phượng. She sent me this text:

"Cake very good, i eat a lot, scared fatter, but can not stop, don't think that you can make it, so surprised."

St. Patrick's Day

ERIN AND KRIS(and Anthony and Ryann and probably more)!!! LOOK what arrived in time for St. Patrick's Day!

We haven't had internet for a couple of days, and I can't seem to load these on facebook, so here they are! **Please note that these are reasons why I am talking about this package and not other packages. I don't want to seem biased... I really have received some great letters and packages.

This one contained a WONDERFUL assortment including (one of my favorite things!) refrigerator word magnets!! I immediately got them all out and spent (I am not kidding) an hour in front of the fridge making different phrases. And there was stationary(with envelopes that you LICK and not GLUE, woot!), a sweet bag, BUNNY EARS, a journal, some loungy pants (that fit), a puzzle (that was the perfect present for our neighbor's son's birthday!), and My Little Book of Words, which my students LOVED and so did Phuong and Jenny!

You might notice that there aren't any pictures of you guys on my fridge. That's becaue they're in my room. Just want to clear that up right away.

I brought an awesome St. Patrick's Day hat to Vietnam and I was really excited about telling the story of St. Patrick, but no one seemed to care. A couple of people said they knew already, but they were lying. Oh well. There's always next year. Maybe?

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

My classes

I have had teenagers for the past couple of months. They are fantastic! They are opinionated, cuss in class, talk NON-stop, have cell phones, make fun of each other and me in Vietnamese and I can't understand it and it makes me crazy. And I love them the most. However, they aren't big into getting their pictures taken, so here they are:However, the little kids are willing picture targets. And they love their teacher, so maybe they won't sue me when they find out they've been plastered on the internet.Lilly is not much of a smiler. She is one of the smartest in the class, but sometimes she refuses to write the sentances on the board. She just shakes her head, no. I seriously do not know how to persuade her.Helen is one of the worst students. Sorry Helen. But she has improved immensly since I started offering star stickers to the students who bring me their notebooks. Now she'll do anything, come find me and grab my arm, drag me over, and display her work with this face, hoping for a sticker.Calvin. When he wants my attention he hides under my desk until I come looking for him. He usually has some injury that he needs my help with too. It's usually nothing at all, but he hams it up nicely. Still my favorite. I can't help it.Michael is the teacher's helper. He brings cd's for me to use, and unsuccessfully tries to make everyone be quiet or sit down when I ask. He also gets over-the-top excited when I write, "SUPER!" or "FANTASTIC!!" on his paper.Vivian and Jenny. They always do their work. And they like to take things off my desk and play with them. Jenny has a raspy voice (which I love!) and when she wants to go get a drink of water, she crosses her arms and slightly bows her head, and says, "TeachermayIgoout," as she's walking out the door.This is Peter 1. His pants are always falling down and he's always pulling his shirt up. He crawls around on the floor like a slug, and usually ends up on top of these desks, the flimsiest desks in the world. I just thought you'd like a glimpse of what I get to see every week.

I'm still scared to death every Saturday morning when my alarm goes off. And while I always get so sweaty and exhausted, and sometimes I give up trying to control them and just take pictures, I feel so accomplished when I can understand them! This past Saturday, I successfully told my students not to hit, and if they hit again I would call their parents (When you set the bar low, you always get results). You have no idea how good it made me feel to communicate that. These pictures of individual children almost make my class look managable, but I assure you it is chaotic, and there is never more than one child absent at a time, no matter how hard I pr@y.

A lot of classes are ending and beginning right now. And we have no idea what classes we'll get this time. I'm nervous since we'll have these classes for the rest of our time here most likely! I've been very spoiled having the classes that I like. And these kiddie classes are good for me. Definitely make me earn my paycheck, but I'm learning a lot. I keep saying that. but I mean it.

Recently...

I really do apologize for my inconsistancy. I recently got a hold of seasons 8-12 of ER, so whenever I have been at my computer I kind of have had one of those playing. I've already seen 1-10 (pre-vietnam, relax), but 11 and 12 are new to me and they all end on such a crazy note that I must always (QUICKLY) watch the next one!! Ok, so now that I've admitted my slothfulness to my supporters, I can finally get on with my blog (also, it turns out there are actually FOURTEEN seasons, so I'm down two, but I can't buy them individually, so I'm in a delimma).

So, Vietnam, huh? Gosh... there's just too much to say. Here is one of our wonderful friends, Phuong and her daughter Chau (pronounced like 'chow,' but we've been told to call her Jenny).
She just comes over sometimes and hangs out with us. I've been promising to make more puppy chow for her and yesterday we procured powdered sugar from District 1 (woot!).

Here she is when Jenny peed. I thought it was hilarious. Erica was holding her about one minute before and I was telling Jenny to go, but she wouldn't listen to me. That would have been way funnier.Steph and Brittany came to HCMC for fellowship and the afternoon. We had some miscommunication, and traffic, and we ended up only making it for the last song. Lame, but a good story. Well, at least, if you think, 3 hours on buses, running across streets, frantically looking at maps, trying to talk to a taxi driver in Vietnamese over the phone, and major pit stains is a good story, then, yes. A very good story.Stephen, the only dude our age-ish at fellowship, tried to get into our girls picture.I'm not always the best hostess. I'm a much better visitor than entertainer. But I LOVED having them come. They weren't here long enough, but it was long enough to get out some refreshing belly laughs. I mean it. I don't realize how long it has been since I've laughed so hard until it comes out. Then I miss laughing.We had a big group for lunch, including Janell. Who I love, but never tell her enough in person, so she can just read it on my blog. She's hilarious. Maybe I don't see her enough and that is the reson for my laughter deficit.


Oh man, it felt so good to laugh like that. Thank you Steph, Janell, Jenny, and all who contributed.

Suối Tiên Park

Erica and I went with our Friend Châu to Suối Tiên Park. He has been trying to get us to go for a long time. Long story actually. Some other time. He's a great tour guide though and speaks English better than most of our colleauges. We took a loooong time to get there on the bus and it was a million degrees. But the park was really interesting!

It was full of little pagodas. You could burn incense all over the place. Buddhas, other statues. Otherwise it was just like an amusement park with lots of incredible statues. Erica with the statue of the Tiger, in a line of all of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac

I'm an ox. No jokes please.

I think this huge guy was a phoenix. Châu was telling us the significance of all the statues, but I forgot. Or perhaps the explanation was vague. Or I wasn't listening.

There actually was a roller coaster, ferris wheel, and little animal boats you could ride around in. There was a water park, some plays, and even randomly caged animals. It was quite exciting.
This bird neck is actually huge and far away.

I thought all of these guys were Buddhas, but this is not so. Only the fat one. The fatness represents wealth. We didn't burn any incense for the record.There were so many magnificent creations.