Roommate December

Reasons that I am thankful for my roommate, Jenni:

• She is super easy to buy Christmas presents for. I drew her name in our group exchange and I could think of 5 presents just off the top of my head right then. I could easily have gotten her more than the prescribed limit without even resorting to candy, which was my back-up.

• She doesn't get stuck living in a routine here. I think I could do the same things every week and never stray from it, but she challenges me (without saying it) to do different things. I need a reminder that just because I lived one way last year, doesn't mean that I have to do everything the same this year.
• These outfits. Jenni really wanted to get them so we went and looked EVERYWHERE until we found ones that fit. A lot of women here wear these every day all day, just in different patterns-- not that we had a lot to choose from in the large sizes...

(and often they can sit like this for a long time. I can get down there, but I'm done after about a minute) (also, I'm pretty sure Jenni is cheating here and not squatting on her heels)

more skype pictures

So, here's a lot of (though not all) the family for Thanksgiving. I really don't know why they all look so happy since they told me they were sad about me not being there...

I'm still not sure what happened with our bill, but our internet company chose Thanksgiving Day to turn off our internet. Perfect. Jenni and I had both planned to skype with our families and now it was impossible from our apartment.

I finally got to go to a coffee shop with wifi and see some off my family. Apparently they had skype turned on all day waiting for a call from me. The internet was still terrible and I never really saw anyone moving at the right speed. I could kind of tell that other people were there, but for the most part, this was it.

This picture is a classic. Seriously. And I even played a couple rounds of "Things," thanks to the beautiful MC. I do believe that she was the champion of that, though I don't have any other details at the moment.

It blinked and froze a lot. And once it got frozen as this. Another classic shot. And I couldn't take Denny seriously because he was talking, but to me, his face looked like this.

So I told them and he must have recreated it because a few seconds later the screen froze like this.

So, I got to participate more this year than last, but it was still pretty minimal. Next year...

I have a feeling Mom and Sally are going to love all of these pictures. This was really my best venue for showing them all to you both. The connection was terrible, but the few pictures I got were gems, dontcha think?

There's a chance that we're the best

Oh, and the morning after our meal we ate pumpkin pancakes and bacon. Steph bought the bacon because she couldn't resist it. If you can't read the bacon package, it states it's slogan: "Probably the Best in Vietnam."

Thanksgiving 2010

Well here it is, folks. I tell you, this not having a functioning camera thing is really doing a number on my blog. I'm so thankful that Jenni lets me use hers, but I still don't take enough. There's not even a picture of our pumpkin pie (from Harvest Bakery)!

Jenni and I got together with the 6 American girls in Biên Hoà for a weekend and specifically one large dinner. Jenni and I brought the sweet potatoes, the mashed potatoes, a (very expensive, but delicious) can of cranberry sauce I found in district 1, and the aforementioned--and rather perfect-- pumpkin pie.
It was pretty delicious. Ashley cooked baked apples and mixed it with the cranberry sauce which was SOOOO GOOD! Steph made some delicious dressing and salad and bought all of the meat (combined with leftover turkey and ham, THANKS JANELL!), bread, and probably more. Then Brittany made hot apple cider for dessert while we watched Elf. I had a lot of fun. Below: Ashley, me, Steph
So, that's the meal. If you were only interested in our food, turn back now.
When we arrived in Biên Hoà, most of the girls were at their school for some kind of function. It had been a long bus ride and we just lay on their couches when we came in. Some boys came up playing soccer outside the gate to their house. I was tired, and I've played soccer maybe three times in the last two years, but I thought, "What the heck?"

I went outside and the boys laughed at me. They looked about 7- 10 years old and they mockingly shouted "what yo name!" in my direction. Then I used a phrase that I practice constantly in my classes of five year olds: "Cho Cô đi." (Give it to me)

I heard a noticable change in their tone( or is it 'change their tune?) ('change their tone' is redundant in a tonal language) as they surprisingly expressed to each other that this lady could speak Vietnamese. Finally they put the ball down and started playing. I just tried to take the ball and keep it as long as I could, and they loved it. Teams sort of merged and I noticed that sometimes I would get passed the ball, and other times one person would separate from the group to try to take me one on one. I was sweating like crazy, but having a lot of fun. Playing with kids is an interesting dynamic of needing to not be dangerous or look stupid, but also not appear to be trying too hard. Because that's just embarassing. Also, meg them when you can; they love that.

After a few minutes, a neighbor pulled a lawn chair to the street and sat down to watch, grinning broadly each time I got the ball. Finally one boy picked up the ball, yelled to his friends and then spoke to me quickly. I wish I knew more soccer vocabulary, but I don't even know the word for soccer field (I live in the city). It sounded like they wanted me to come with them so I went. We walked on the gravel road to a park and a field of grass and sand. The leader of the boys yelled to a group of older boys and it seemed like some kind of challenge. Our little team of boys was going to play these mostly older boys.

We got slaughtered.

We held our own at first, but when the goals started, they didn't stop. Slightly out-sized, except for me, we put up a good fight. It was really fun, though I felt a lot of pressure because a crowd sort of gathered to watch the foreigner girl playing soccer. The older boys would occasionally yell out phrases in English to each other ("Good!" "Don't be scared!") and then look at me for my response. I had a great time.
I miss playing soccer a lot.

I had been kind of stressed out--- on the bus all afternoon on Saturday trying to get our internet turned back on, buy cranberry sauce, pick up the pie, not be late for class, blah blah. And that next morning I was cooking potatoes and cleaning up my mess and forgetting why we even celebrate Thanksgiving.

Which brings me to my point... If you're still with me... There's something about soccer now that clears things up for me. Brings me back home. And I remembered to be thankful.

We celebrate this holiday because the pilgrims wanted to w*rship freely! That's why they came to America and they feasted out of thankfulness that G()d had not forgotten them and had provided for them! And two out of those three things are TRUE here!

We have so much to be thankful for it's unbelievable.

Daily Happenings...

Let's just talk about a few stories from this week... (in keeping with my crazy blogging streak!)

• Walking to school the other day, I was waved over frantically by one of my neighbors. He seemed very concerned about me. After trying with words I didn't know, he finally motioned with his hands. He was worried that someone on a motorbike would grab my earrings while they were driving by, and rip them out. So I obligingly took them out... And put them back in when I was out of sight.
• I don't have a lighter. I have been lighting my pumpkin spice candle on the gas stove, but I finally decided that I've had enough of that. I want to buy a lighter. I tried to buy one from a lady near our apartment and she refused. She got a terrible look on her face and asked me why I wanted it. I don't know the word for candle, so I tried to explain it. She looked horrified at my explanation and wouldn't sell me the lighter. Finally a student came over and translated the word and she gave it, slapping me on my behind.
• I've told you about our neighbors before. One of them has a perpetual cough. But that's beside the point. We also have a 19 year old male neighbor who only ventures beyond the threshold of our door when he is hammered. He thinks that it's easier for him to speak English that way. He came over this week and we tried to get him to walk a straight line. That was funny.
• Tonight my student asked me what I call a person who sells drugs. I gave her a curious glance and said, "A dealer." "I want to be a dealer," she said. Wait, what? "Oh, no, no," I said, "You want to be a pharmacist."
• Phượng's birthday was December 1st. She had to work all day, but Oanh and I decorated a vase and gave her some flowers. The next day we all went out to a buffet with some of her friends from work. It was fun, though Jenny (Phượng's daughter, not my roommate) was cranky and bit me in the arm.

Tori

If you get the chance, please lift up my niece Tori and by brother and sister-in-law, Trey and Tara. Tori is almost 9 months old and was born with Spina Bfida.

Today, on the east coast, Tori had to have another surgery to repair the shunt in her brain. She's already had it repaired once and I thought they weren't going to have to do it again for years. I don't know how many surgeries she's had already, but she beats me.

Thanks Tara for letting me skype with her!

Trey's behind the computer trying to get her to smile for me.

These are from a while ago now. She's even cuter now and has a tooth!

Please remember Tori, Tara, and Trey this week as she recovers from another surgery.

-Thanks