New Post #4

Here's another update from my friend in Vietnam. Thanks for reading!

"Hello! It’s hard to believe it’s the end of September already! It’s time for ROOMMATE and I to begin traveling to each school to observe the teachers and see how they are doing.

Everyone has been teaching now for almost 4 weeks, so we are hoping that their teaching is going well and that we’ll have some interesting and exciting classes to observe. This coming Saturday we will travel to Ho Chi Minh City to observe the girls who are teaching in a city near there. It will make a busy week for us as we leave as soon as we finish teaching this coming week, and then will get back to OUR CITY right before our classes on Monday.

The rainy season has officially begun! The good part of the rain is that it brings much cooler weather. The bad part is that it makes me want to stay in bed all day. It has rained almost nonstop for this entire week. We didn’t let that ruin our meetings with friends, though. The week began with a breakfast date with Hannah. She has been teaching a cross culture communication class, and was full of questions about Americans. She was also full of questions and comments about the Father.

She shared with me about some really sad things going on in her life. I told her that the only thing I knew for sure that would help is pr*yer. She said that lately she has been pr*ying “just in case there is a G*d who is listening”. That is a huge step from a year ago when she shut me out just for mentioning the word “pr*yer”. I am excited to see her growth! I just want to see her have true joy that only the Father can give.

After our breakfast, we went to the city market to do some shopping. The good thing about being large in a country of small people is that I can’t buy clothes or shoes here. So while Hannah spent money on shoes, I only spent $1 on bananas. I guess there are some benefits to being large!

On Tuesday night for dinner, we invited some of our ch*rch friends out for a meal. We really tried to choose a good, special place. While eating dinner, we asked them if they had ever eaten there before. They said that they used to, but hadn’t in awhile because it is known as an “unsafe” place to eat as far as their cleanliness practices go. We were quite embarrassed, but tried to just laugh it off and remember to not invite anyone else there in the future.

I’ve been teaching my kids class for two weeks now. I noticed a huge difference in the boys this week, when the girls didn’t show up. They actually were quiet and listened to the lesson. I could hardly believe it. I have come to the conclusion that teens are just too hormonal to be taught with students of the opposite sex. I hate to see the girls quit coming to class, but it does make the boys behave much better, so I am enjoying it.

Besides my class at the univeristy, Hannah asked if I could teach her kids class by myself since she had to take a test in another province. It turned out to be a little wild with the language barrier, but as usual, Uno saved the day. That game is immensely popular here! Kids always need practice saying their colors and numbers in English, so I use it a lot!

One night this week, around midnight, someone came to our door multiple times and kept knocking. This is especially strange since Vietnamese people usually go to bed around 9 or 10 pm. I was really scared until ROOMMATE reminded me that I am so much bigger than everyone here, and could easily take them out. I tried to take comfort in that thought and finally got to sleep.

This morning, I almost didn’t get out of bed for ch*rch. It begins at 8:00 am, and it was raining, so I hated to get out of bed. I was really thankful, though, when I pulled up on my motorbike and heard the choir opening the service with “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. G*d certainly has been faithful to us!

Please keep Hannah, Anna, David, and Holly in your pr*yers. Holly’s baby is due any day now, so that is keeping things exciting! Please lift us up, too, as we travel to Ho Chi Minh City and try to stay positive during all of the rain. We appreciate your pr*yers!!

I hope you have a great week!

Love, Friend Jane Doe"

New Post 3

Here are some pictures that i have taken of Friend Jane Doe and ROOMMATE. They are hilarious, and often buy matching outfits, which I think is awesome and I've tried to copy them several times. Below is their most recent newsletter:

"Hello! I hope that you are having a good week!

The day after I sent our last newsletter, we had quite a day. Our motorbike started acting up, my phone wouldn’t work, and our DVD player bit the dust. These are all things that help us connect with the outside world, so we were quite frustrated and didn’t know exactly how to go about getting things fixed.

I could take care of the phone and DVD player, but as for the motorbike, I am always way overcharged, and usually it ends up not even being fixed. So I called Hannah and asked if her husband could help us take in the motorbike sometime when he wasn’t too busy. We thought we would probably have to wait a few days, but about 10 minutes after my phone call to Hannah, her husband appeared at the guest house. He took the motorbike in for me, made sure it was fixed, and then brought it back that night. When I took the motorbike in at the beginning of the year, it cost literally 20 times the price that Hannah’s husband paid, and this time it was actually fixed!

While we waited for the motorbike to be fixed, I helped Hannah teach her kids class and then we went out for ice cream. While we were there, she told me that especially loved the book, Oceans Apart, by Karen Kingsbury. She told me that she cried a lot while reading it, and wanted to translate it into Vietnamese so that other people in Vietnam could read it. Unfortunately, she said that since it talked about G*d so much, she would probably get into trouble with the go*ernment if she tried to get it published. I am just happy that she is reading them and that she is hearing the Message over and over again.

Last year right before I left, I gave my translator at ch*rch some children’s books that Naomi Wiederkehr had written. When I got in contact with her again this fall, she told me that she is in the process of translating the books for the ch*rch to use. The children will love them, I’m sure. Naomi, you will soon be well known within the ch*rch in MY CITY!

Tina, who is in charge of the English department at our university, invited me out for coffee. While we were there, she told me how fortunate the university is to have us there. She went on to explain that right before we came, an Australian man was supposed to come and teach there as well. He had been approved by the p*lice and the c*mmuist party office, but as he was on his way to MY CITY, the c*mmunist party changed their minds, and said that he wasn’t allowed to have any interaction with the students at the university. I now feel even more blessed that ROOMMATE and I have been allowed to live in MY CITY and teach at the university.

Thanks for pr*ying for Hannah, Anna, Holly, and David! Please, also, continue lifting up ROOMMATE and I as we teach and share about Him. We have had a great start to our year. PTL!

Blessings to you and your families!

Love,Friend Jane Doe

New post 2

Another post from "Friend Jane Doe" and "ROOMMATE", being obedient over in "MY CITY", Vietnam. Read and enjoy. Their stories are wonderful, personal, and amazing.

Happy Labor Day! Isn’t it nice to have a short work week? We celebrated Vietnam’s Independence Day last week, so this week we began teaching. It went really well for both of us, and we are so thankful! We are both teaching mostly government officials and employees right now. Usually they are pretty serious and stoic, but the students this year are much livelier. We had a handful of them last year as students, which makes it nice. It’s easier to get to know the students when they are not all first time students in the class.

I am also teaching children, which is always a test of my patience. I try to look at teaching kids as a way to stay energetic and flexible! I’m not sure if it’s working, though! One of the teachers from Da Nang contacted me this week and told me that one of my students from two years ago is now his student. She came up to him after class and asked if he knew [friend Jane Doe]. She then asked him if he is a Believer. She told him that she is now a Believer because of [friend Jane Doe]. I always pr*y for my students, but I never know what happens to many of them after I leave. This is a good encouragement for ROOMMATE and I to keep pressing on and not give up.

We’ve had a fun week spending time with Hannah. She seems to never grow tired of going out with us, and we enjoy being with her. She cooks a meal for us every week, and always tries to cook squid and morning glory, our two favorite dishes. This week, we decided to invite Hannah out to lunch since she has cooked for us countless times. We ate at a restaurant where everything is cooked in a clay pot. The meal was fun, and at the end, when they brought the bill, I told Hannah that we would pay because she always cooks for us. I got my wallet out, and immediately panicked when I realized that I had forgotten to go to the ATM machine!

I ended up having to borrow money from Hannah to pay the bill that was supposed to be a treat for her. She was so sweet, and I paid her back later, of course. She must not have been too upset with us because she called yesterday and invited us out for dinner to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her and her husband. That’s not typically how people celebrate their anniversary in the States, inviting two single ladies along, but we definitely would have gone had it not been for class last night. We felt complimented that they invited us, though. Hannah said that we are their only friends who don’t drink and get drunk when they go out, so she likes to do things with us so her husband stays sober.

Her husband has changed a lot, for the good, since I met him last year, which is a real answer to pr*yer. Today ROOMMATE and I decided to try something different, so we ventured out to a restaurant that serves hot and sour vegetable and noodle soup. You choose your meat or seafood and then they bring an assortment of raw vegetables and meat to your table and you cook everything yourself over a little fire. It’s a lot like hot pot in the USA, except with different vegetables. When they brought the raw shrimp to our table, I felt a little nauseous just looking at them, but we quickly dumped them into the hot pot and got them cooking.

We have finally gotten used to eating shrimp with the head, shell, and tail on, so we ate most of them that way. We were about half way through when ROOMMATE’s eyes started to water and she began shaking. She drank all of her drink and then asked for more. What happened is that she got a large piece of chili pepper in her bite. It was so hot that it was making her shake. If you think jalapeno peppers are hot, they are really mild compared to chili peppers. I really enjoyed the meal, but felt bad that I had talked ROOMMATE into trying out a different restaurant and then forgot to tell them to leave out the chili peppers. I will never forget that again!

Tonight for dinner, we ate pork and noodles with our friends from chrch. It’s always fun talking with them about the Father. We were sad to hear, however, that our p*stor and his wife were in a bad motorbike accident, and he is still in the hospital. Please lift them up when you think of it. They are a wonderful couple. Thanks for keeping ROOMMATE and I in your pr*yers! Please continue to pr*y for David, Anna, Holly, and Hannah. I was able to meet David’s family this week for coffee, and I included a photo.

I appreciate your thoughts for all of us! I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Friend Jane Doe

If you want to support my friend Jane Doe and her ROOMMATE, you can go to http://www.teachoverseas.org. If I have permission to give their names, you can support them directly. Thanks!

New Post

Ok, pardon my 2 month hiatus. As many of you know, I am in the process of moving from house to house, getting married, and turning 26. I'll be living in America for a while it looks like, and I'm very pleased to be here, near family, and have some stability and prescriptions that I trust.

However, I woke up this morning and wanted to share my friends' newsletter on my blog. It seems more fitting that I continue to write about Asia since I named it such. My friend is living in Vietnam for her 4th year with the same program that I was with. She is an excellent teacher, and has stepped up into the roll of regional director since December of 2010. PERFECT job for her as she is so good at encouraging those around her, supporting fellow teachers, and making us all laugh.

I like her newsletter because often times similar things happen to me, but since she has such a better attitude about it, things tend to be a lot funnier because she goes along with it all. And she's so positive. And she's 6 feet tall and lives in Asia.

Also, she and her roommate have always supported me, and especially this last year as I struggled with culture shock, anxiety, and nervousness. And I believe that they are being obedient in Vietnam and great things will happen!

Let's try this out. I hope you enjoy her newsletter. I haven't decided whether or not to divulge her name yet, so let's call her Friend Jane Doe (they both like to watch CSI like I do, so I think she'd appreciate that).

"Hello! I hope you’ve had a good week! Thanks again for reading and pr*ying! Well, this week has been a very full one, even though we haven’t begun teaching yet. Last Saturday, we finished moving into our old room in the guest house. It was supposed to happen at 4:00 pm. Instead, they showed up at 6:30. At least it got done! It was a lot to move, but we survived, and even got up at 5:00 am on Sunday to go to the beach with Hannah.

Vietnamese people usually only go to the beach before 6:00 am or after 4:00 pm because they want to avoid getting a tan. White skin is the “thing” in Vietnam. We had a fun time swimming, and between getting overtaken by waves, had some good conversations with some of Hannah’s friends. After swimming and talking, we went to the shower area. Here, men and women shower together, with their clothes on. Most people wear their clothes to swim because they feel like swimming suits are immodest, so everyone just showers in their clothes. Yes, it’s kind of weird and awkward. After showering, you go into a little personal dressing room. The problem? They are built for short Vietnamese people, not 6 foot tall Americans. Everyone in the shower area always laughs when I go into my changing room because it only covers me up to my shoulders. Not only can people see me shoulders up, but I can also see into all of the other changing rooms. This makes for lots of giggles for the Vietnamese people in the shower/changing area. I’m used to getting giggled at, so it’s not even uncomfortable anymore.

After changing, Hannah’s friends invited me to a breakfast of rice cakes, which they cook over an open fire, dipped in spicy pineapple fish sauce. Yeah, as you probably already surmised, they are better without the sauce. We had a really fun time talking and sharing. I found out later that one of the ladies with us at the beach and restaurant is a member of the Vietnamese Parliament and is famous throughout Vietnam. I am glad that I didn’t know this when I was sitting across from her at breakfast! Oddly enough, I ran into her a few days later in the supermarket. It is really fun being in Tam Ky for a second year and knowing people around the city. It’s hard to believe that this is our fourth year in Vietnam!

On Wednesday, there was an outreach service at one of the chrches in town. I invited David and his friends, and they actually agreed to come. I was surprised and thrilled! The service was really good and relevant to young people. There was good music and a great message. I was sad, though, when David and his friends left about half way through. I was really hopeful, and was disappointed that they didn’t stay for the whole thing. At least a door has been opened, and I am thankful for that!

On Thursday, we went to Da Nang to visit the teachers there. We met them at an American restaurant, which was a huge treat for ROOMMATE and I since there is absolutely no American food in OUR CITY. Some of the teachers have been sick, and others homesick, so I was glad that we could go and help them out with some of the issues they are dealing with, such as not being able to put a water filter together.

Some things are really confusing the first time you do them. Even simple things, like going to the supermarket, are complicated in another country. The most interesting part of our trip was the bus ride to Da Nang and back. It took about 2 ½ hours each way to travel the 40 mile trip. The buses are smaller than US city busses, and yet around 70 people were crammed in there. There were people on top of each other, including us, as well as live chickens, live crabs, and large containers of gasoline.

We were in the back corner of the bus, and I started panicking when I saw people jumping out of the windows to get out because they couldn’t maneuver themselves over to the door. I really started panicking when I realized that not only could I not get to the door, even in an emergency, but I also would not fit out the window. The bus drove so wildly, and we were pr*ying as we had several really close calls with semi-trucks. Thankfully, we made it back to OUR CITY, but I have bruises to show for our crazy excursion. Unfortunately, the train doesn’t run at times that will get us back for chrch the next day, so the train is out. It costs about $50 to hire a driver and car to go to Da Nang, so we are trying to figure out a way to make that work so that I can continue meeting with the Da Nang teachers twice per month.

Friday was Independence Day from France, so almost everyone has the day off. I started off the day at 4:45 am at the beach. While there, some of Hannah’s friends invited us to go to the mountains with them. We went way up into the mountains where there is a huge lake. We had a picnic around the lake and grilled squid and small fish over a little fire. We just ate the squid and fish whole, excluding the bones. I tried not to think about all of the crazy seafood parts I was eating.

There were lots of children in our group of friends, including several teenage girls. The big hit for them was my arm hair. Apparently Asians do not have hair on their arms, so they began touching my arm hair and laughing. At least my differences seem to provide amusement to people! Usually it’s my height or weight, so arm hair is a good change! On Saturday, I helped Hannah with her children’s class again. As some of you may remember, I do NOT teach small children. However, for Hannah, I try to summon all of my energy and have fun with the little ones once a week. I also found out that Hannah has a friend who is a reporter for our province’s newspaper. He wrote an article about OUR CITY and talked about me in the article and why I enjoy living there. I will copy part of the article below. The translation into English isn’t the best, but I did my best, with the help of the Internet. I also attached pictures of our rice cracker/fish sauce breakfast with Hannah's son, Tom, the grilled squid at our picnic, and ROOMMATE and some friends at the picnic.

Please keep lifting up Hannah as she reads the books I brought. She has told me how much she is enjoying them. Also, please keep Holly in your pr*yers, as she will be having her baby in about a month, as well as David as he has at least attended chrch with me once. Also, please remember the other teachers as they deal with homesickness.

I appreciate your pr*yers and support! I hope you have a wonderful day! "

Love, Friend Jane Doe