Good Week

Yes, this past week has been a good one. I've worked almost every day (sometimes at three different locations in the city in one day) and have also been working out. The combination of working and feeling physically fit is an awesome one. Next week I will start private English lessons with three siblings and I'm excited for that too. It's always good to challenge yourself and put yourself in different teaching situations.

This week I've been substitute teaching for kindergarteners and preschoolers and they are truly adorable. In the preschool class, I put the sand shovel on my head and asked them if it was a hat. They laughed for no less than 10 minutes. I love sitting amidst them and making up games to review the new words. With a blanket as a cape, a shovel as a wand, and a pail as a hat, my students quickly became princesses and kung fu pandas. Their joy is palpable and boundless. I sincerely think that God wants us to retain that childlike sense of joy and trust even into our adult years. I'm working on it. :)

This week has also been awesome because I've been sleeping in an actual bed! On Monday, our landlord finally brought our new mattress. The last one was bedbug-ridden, if you remember. The new mattress was accompanied by an actual bed frame! No more mattress on the floor! Sometimes I'm bothered by how much I'll let slide in my life. For example, I was o.k. with my mattress lying on the floor until the bedbugs conquered it. I was also o.k. when my motorbike taxi driver ran my knees into a taxi. Only rug burn-like wounds occurred, so all is well. Anyways, the mattress also features incorrect English and Tom and Jerry, which is awesome.





At night I've been eating with friends, singing with the International Choir, making fruit smoothies, and watching movies. Trinh's birthday party was also this week, which featured a night with friends and cake at Crazy Cocktail.





This week DiDi and I saw the movie "Bride Wars," (DiDi's choice....) which was ridiculous. These two women are getting married and they both go crazy before their weddings. It was scary actually. We also went swimming with friends on Sunday and dancing at Vasco's on Saturday night.





On Friday night, I was observed while teaching my adult class. Observation is a usual occurrence where a guy from my company comes and watches me teach in order to make sure I'm doing well and to give feedback. I was a bit nervous because this was only my second week teaching this class and only my second class teaching adults. Luckily my students talked more this week and the lesson went very well. Afterwards, the observer met with me and told me that my lesson and teaching are very good but that I need to have the students model more of the activities to accompany my aural directions. Other than that he said that my teaching style is effective, my speech is clear, slow, and unaccented (thanks, Connecticut) and I was able to elicit their answers and speech very well. I was happy with this report, especially considering the fact that I don't consider teaching adults to be my strong suit.

Right now I am really excited for next weekend, when DiDi and I will again travel by bus to Bac Lieu. We will stay with DiDi's mom again and I'm really stoked. Great people, great food, and some fun adventures await. :) Also, this week I've decided to unofficially begin studying Vietnamese again. I've purchased a small notebook where I write down all of my new words. I already have quite a few words and phrases, which I'm really excited about. I feel badly when I can't understand my neighbors' Vietnamese, since I am living in their country. Continued learning also feels awesome and will prevent early onset of Alzheimer’s. :)

In terms of coming back to the states, I will book my flight in the next month or so. I love living here but it will be nice to come back and see everyone as well. I'm really excited about August because I just booked Andy and I tickets to see James Taylor and John Williams in concert at Tanglewood (in Massachusetts) at the end of that month. It'll be the perfect end to our crazy road trip from Florida to Connecticut.

That's all the news from this week. Here are some of my favorite photos I took this week:















Miss you all...