here they are: ROOMMATE and Friend Jane Doe.
Though I've decided to rename them: Boo Boo and Yogi.
So, again, now and hereafter, Roommate will now be referred to as Boo-B00, and Friend Jane Doe will be Yogi.
Here I am with Boo-Boo and Yogi in CITY, Vietnam-- the name of their city has been changed for the protection of the friends they have made and are continuing to make over there. Thank you for your pryers!
"Hello again!
It feels like awhile since I’ve written. We went to Ho Chi Minh City last weekend to visit and observe the classes of the two teachers who are teaching near there. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to the trip. It means that we essentially don’t get a weekend. It’s tough to fly out right after we finish teaching for the week and arrive only a few hours before our evening classes on Monday.
I shouldn’t have dreaded it. It went beautifully! I’m so amazed and thankful to see the girls flourishing there. They are on fire for G*d, and He sure is doing incredible things through them. This is when I absolutely love being Field Director. It makes me to happy to see the teachers flourishing and growing in their walks with Him.
Great news! Holly had her baby! His name is Joseph San Beaumont. She only went through eight minutes of intense labor. I’m sure all of you women who have children are feeling envious! He is absolutely adorable, and looks just like her. I’ll be flying to Hanoi to see her at the end of this month.
Because of the wet rainy season, and to be more economical, we started cooking most all of our meals ourselves instead of going out for Vietnamese food. The market, which is like a farmer’s market in the States, is just a 10 minute walk from our room. We’ve been buying vegetables there for our lunches each day. We buy tomatoes, potatoes, onions, green beans, eggplant, and okra and boil it all in our rice cooker with a little bit of beef bullion. It’s been really good, and probably much healthier than the other food we eat.
David took me to the market this morning and suggested that I buy some shrimp to put in the veggie mix. It sounded like a good idea. It even looked good when it was finished cooking. The problem was that it tasted bad. Susan tried to comfort me, and even ate some of it. In the end, though, we threw most of it in the garbage and happily settled for a lunch of chocolate.
While we were at the market choosing the food that went into our disastrous lunch, David told me that I was speaking Vietnamese with too much of the local accent and insisted that I speak “correctly”. I just smiled and nodded, but kept thinking that I would rather be understood than correct. I don’t plan to move anywhere else in Vietnam, so I think my local accent is okay. I’m just thrilled to be understood here at all!
David, his girlfriend, and I went out for fried bananas last night. They make them by taking black (overly ripe) bananas, mashing them into patties, dipping them into some kind of milky substance with shredded potato, and then deep frying them. They are really delicious!
We then went out for coffee and practiced my Vietnamese and their English. I thought by then that the evening was over, but they really wanted to go out for snails. I actually have grown accustomed to them, so I really don’t mind eating them. The are kind of slimy and crunchy, but do taste better than they sound like they would be. We went to a cheap restaurant which sets itself up every evening on the sidewalk outside the guest house. They just put little plastic chairs and tables up and cook on a small gas burner.
Well, at this particular place, the snails were super spicy. I was already having trouble getting them out of their shells, and had to ask for a toothpick, which caused a lot of laughter with my friends and also the cook. Then, the snails were so spicy, that my eyes and nose started running like a faucet. It really looked like I was crying. That, of course, caused even more laughter. I had to laugh at myself imagining how strange I must look to them. I’m glad that at least we all have fun together.
A few weeks ago, the head of the English department asked me to meet with her. She wanted me to start an English Club where students could come and practice their English. I really didn’t want to do it, and politely told her no. I am busy enough and didn’t think that I wanted to take on that big of a project. Since then, the L*rd kept putting it on my heart. I lifted it up, and knew that it was the right thing to do.
I met with her again, and thankfully, she had an even better idea than an English Club. She wants me to come once a week and help the Vietnamese teachers teach pronunciation and just talk with their students. She said that the teachers and students are excited to meet a foreigner. She said that no major planning is involved. I’ll just meet with a different professor every Monday for coffee and discuss what we want to do for the class. Then, I’ll come to one of their classes later in the week. This really sounds like something I will enjoy. It’s also something that I can get out of if my own class schedule increases or I feel too much stress. I’m hoping that it opens many doors!
My kids’ class continues to be a good challenge for me. I enjoy it, but it tries my patience for sure. This week, they were doing a music activity in their seats while I was turned around writing on the board for the next activity. When I turned back around, one of the boys had lots of blood running down his arm. I have no idea how this could have happened during a calm activity that they were doing in their seats, but it did.
Another night, during a game similar to Scrabble, they used the word “reproduction”. I think these things must only happen in classes full of 13 year old boys! Thanks for your continued pr*yers for us and our friends! It is so vital to our work here!
(I included a picture of how we cook in our bathroom and what our concoction looks like.)
I hope that you have a great day!
Love,
Yogi
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