Phone

Steph and I, unbeknownst to each other, bought the same phone, just in different colors.

One of the first weekends here in August, we went to distrct one after fellowship with Jenni and four other girls from Bien Hoa: Deidra, Holly, Ashley, and Melissa. Steph and I "released" the five to wander and went to have coffee, as I was desperate to be with someone who had lived in Vietnam before (not your fault new teammates, we were the same last year).

It was wonderful to hang out with her, to be with a friend who knew me already, and loved me for who I am. It was comfortable to be together and to not have to explain any cultural happenings around us, or translate something (again, not your fault. happens to the best of us). I don't even think anyone came up to us to ask us where we were from! Good times!

Steph's phone was sitting on the table and we laughed when we realized they were the same. Steph's phone rang, and we both reached for our phones because apparently we had the same ring tone! When she opened hers, I saw that we had chosen the same background!

Roommate October

Reasons I'm thankful for my Roommate Jenni:

Jenni is seriously willing to do anything. Here she is killing her first Vietnamese roach. She arrived as a self proclaimed "picky eater," but I have witnessed no evidence to support this claim. She has tried everything and she doesn't even know all of the things she has eaten!

She STILL puts up with me. This might be a reason every month, as long as it lasts. I actually think Jenni could live with anyone; quite a gift she has. She doesn't get frustrated at things like I do; another gift.

*disclaimer: This was not taken in Vietnam, nor are these outfits Vietnamese

I've already told you that she's extroverted and willing to go out and make things happen. She goes to an orphanage 2 hours away every other weekend, and an orphanage in HCMC as often as her friend Thuý will join her. Good job Jenni! ...She invites me on those Fridays, but that's the day before I have to keep my own classes noses wiped and pants on, and in the moment, there's nothing she could say to convince me to go on a regular basis.

I want to be the moon

Today is Saturday. Hôm nay làThứ bảy. ( or at least it was when I started this post)

The hardest day of the week. By far. Or by like a billion.

But this past week had a little extra negative, so Saturday wasn't as terrible this week. I like to see the silver lining in things...

We've been having some issues at our place of employment. Andrea, am I allowed to talk about this? I'll try not to say too much; and we'll just call it a cultural misunderstanding. In fact we've had a number of "cultural misunderstandings" while working here. We are working on a contract and a fixed salary, so it is easy to give us the classes that no one wants and classes with a moment's notice, or without curriculum. Last year we were even blamed a few times for not showing up to class, when actually no teachers were told about the class. It's a face-saving culture, but it's not always our faces.

Last week was full of failed attempts to retrieve our paychecks for the past month and a half. We were almost out of money. I tried every indirect approach I could think of, to no avail. I tried to hint through, texts, emails, and finally in person that we might not be able to continue teaching without receiving pay. Nada.

So a more direct approach was made, and it was made higher up (with a little help). And I don't know what we did wrong, or how we could have done it differently, but I received a rude (and misspelled) text message shortly after and when I returned the call, I received the harshest phone call that I can remember having. He didn't even give me a chance to speak! And when he did, I only asked if he had other teachers who were currently working without pay. As usual, I should have just kept my mouth shut.

He sternly told me that he wanted to meet with me later and told me to come early. Jenni and I came two hours before class and I sweated and pryed and wondered how much more of his yelling I was willing to take having done nothing wrong. He never came. To make a long story short, we have received most of our pay and our relationship with the people in our office has gone down hill. Other than the normal gossip and taking advantage of us, there's more lying and then just smiling angels to our faces.

Gzus kissed his betrayer on the cheek. But he also busted over some tables when there was stuff going on that wasn't right! I don't have genuine love for these certain people, and a smiling face from me would be full of contempt. I want to be at this school, but I have no idea what we're supposed to do. I'm skeptical and have little (to no) respect for them now... Even as I write this, I know the answer is 'love them anyway.' I'm just not feelin' it yet. Maybe we can just love everyone but them.

That day when I got off the phone with him and I wanted to scream, I went for a run with the ipod. I listen to Sarah Groves sometimes and I've heard this song a lot, but apparently I've never actually listened to the lyrics. You are the Sun:

You are the sun shining down on everyone
Light of the world giving light to everything I see
Beauty so brilliant I can hardly take it in
And everywhere you are is warmth and light

And I am the moon with no light of my own
Still you have made me to shine
And as I glow in this cold dark night
I know I cannot be a light unless I turn my face to you

Shine on me with your light
Without you I'm a cold dark stone
Shine on me I have no light of my own
You are the sun, you are the sun, you are the sun
And I am the moon

These might be the last recent pictures that I post for a while since my camera is showing little signs of life at the moment. I'll keep you updated on that...


The girls came to HCMC for a Sunday and we had a blast. Killer game of Catch Phrase and great food. No group picture beause I didn't think to bring out my camera until one panicky moment when they were about to get in a taxi and go to a bus station. I don't know if you'll like this picture Steph, but I really do.
The Ho Chi Minh team with our mouths wide open. Wasn't intentional.

Support

Some of you have been far more diligent in asking me about my support, than I have been in telling people about my support. I appreciate that so much!

I am back in Vietnam, actually for over six weeks already! I am with a program out of California that is officially known as Educational Services International. I only need to raise an additional $3,500 in expenses this year, which will include my plane ticket home. We also have a very great need for pr@yer support this year!

My teammate, and I are in Ho Chi Minh City, and there are eighteen of us total in the country. We are all teaching English and building relationships in our respective cities. Living here is difficult and wonderful, and we would appreciate any (ANY!) support that you'd be willing to give. And if you want to know more about what we're doing over here, please contact me at ina.carolyn@gmail.com.

If you want to support me financially, you can go to http://teachoverseas.org/contribute.php. My account number is 208061. Truly, I just appreciate that you read my blog every now and then. Thanks so much friends. Thanks for asking about me, and pr@ying for me, and being my friend.

A few weeks ago, we came to our school for a celebration of the Mid Autumn Festival. I'm not completely sure what it is, but it's based on the lunar calendar and that night there was a full moon, and various traditions are upheld. Here's our school:

Many of the younger students came for games, food, a magician, dragon dancers and drums. We stopped traffic and led the children around the park following the dragons and drums.

Here's Jenni with 2 coworkers. One of them is behind her; but I wasn't sure if he seriously thought he was in the picture or not.We had a good time and joined the staff for a big party afterwards. And we also sweated a LOT. Here I am with a former student 'Lisa," who gave me a balloon.

Goodnight from Vietnam and thanks for reading! Thanks to all of have given me so much support already!

ps. Happy Birthday Dad and Leith Tate!

pps. I can't believe no one commented on how cute Tori is. Unbelievable

Look who's skyping now

Dear blog-readers, I neglected to announce the birth of my neice Tori in March (the 24th, right?)!! She and I got to hang out a little this summer and now we're best buds. Tori called me on skype and we chatted for a while yesterday. I kind of took over though, and barely let her get a word in. She's a good listener though. And gosh, so cute!

Ok, so really, Trey and Tara called me and while Tori actually seemed a little frightened of this computer version of me, they did their best to make her smile for me.I think they might have made my day when they told me that Tori has a stuffed ant. Named Carolyn. I hope y'all weren't joking about that because that is fantastic. She only has one aunt right now, and also only has one ant. Appropriately both named Carolyn. I love that!