Soccer is the universal language

Well, it's the end of our first week at ASEM School. We've made it through unscathed, though we did meet with some rough patches. I was going to blog yesterday, but I got distracted by an impromptu game of soccer.

But I guess I should start at the beginning. Yesterday morning, Eleisa and I went with one of the teachers to do aerobics. We were out of the house by five, and put in a little over an hour at the gym. We rolled up to the gym in workout gear: bermudas, t-shirt, tank, sports bra, sneakers and find ourselves in a roomfull of skinny little Vietnamese women in bathing suits. A few women were in leotards a la Jane Fonda circa 1986. They were doing step aerobics on little wooden steps and then we moved into some regular aerobics. Then Nhuong took us through the routine one more time so that we could learn the moves. It was fun and I worked up a good sweat. I do miss my usual workouts, so I hope to go more regularly. Oh! I took a xe om to the gym - a motorbike taxi, and we rode three to a bike on the way back with Nhuong's aunt. She told us we could get workout clothes like hers at the market: bikini top and a little swim skirt. We told her we'd keep it in mind. ;)

After that, we had breakfast at the hotel, all four of us together: Eleisa, Andrea, Thanh, and me, and then we came to the school to check our email, minus Thanh.

The three little boys who live here at the school were here hanging on us and being generally adorable, so we invented a game of soccer with a bottle cap. They ran off and searched out a small ball, and we turned into a full scale game in the school lobby (it was nap time, so we were the only ones here). We kicked the ball around until it broke in half, and then we kicked the half-ball around for a while until the oldest boy, San, came back triumphantly with a Christmas ornament he'd found somewhere. We tucked the ornament into the broken ball and played teams: Andrea and San vs. his two younger brothers and me. They won by one goal. It was a lot of fun, and I got the feeling that those boys hadn't had so much fun in a long time. They don't generally have a lot to time to act like kids because they are always fetching things and generally helping out around the school. But my gosh, they are beautiful kids, and they have so captured our hearts. We brought them jelly candies yesterday and a couple bags of nuoc mia to drink. They are so adorable.

We each taught two classes last night. I have a listening and conversation class which is a ton of fun. There are only five students, and one of them is Korean, so they are forced to speak in English. They are in level one, but they really want to learn, so teaching them is a pleasure. We did a lot of speaking yesterday which was good for all of us. There is one girl in the class. Her name is Anh, and she's adorable. She's also twenty-five, so we've been able to talk a bit. I hope we can hang out some time after class. I really do enjoy spending time with the whole group.

My other class was a General English class of twenty students, 11 guys, 9 girls, most between the ages of 13 and 15. Fifteen year old boys are fifteen year old boys everywhere. LOL... I had to give my talk about hitting: "You can. Hit (mime punching). Outside (point to door). In here (point to floor). No more (signal no with hands). Yes?" "Yes." There was no more hitting after that.

After class, my teammates and I went for karaoke. One blissful session of all-English karaoke where we made fools of ourselves and laughed until midnight. We got ripped off, but it was still a good time. Tonight we're going out with Ms. Yen and tomorrow, we're visiting Ho Chi Minh's homeland. I'm excited about both events.

Oh, and this morning, we were reading Psalm 62:1-2 about waiting in silence for God. How appropriate, I think, for this. He's been faithful when I've been worried about teaching certain classes, about keeping me safe on a motorbike, about giving us time on plastic stools with our students. And I am glad for that. While we are here, we are waiting silently for Him. This is a beautiful country, a place unlike any I've ever visited. Muggy, hot, dusty, and slightly schizophrenic. But there is beauty. So much beauty in people's smiles, in their resilience, in the broken sidewalks and plastic tables laden with rice and beef and pho'.... I miss home food: beans and cheese and bread, but I'm glad to experience all this love and loveliness. I can't wait to show pictures and share more stories.

Oh! Finally, the team from Hanoi is coming next weekend. They'll be teaching here at ASEM with us, and staying at the hotel with us. So keep that in mind, because it might be a rough transition for them.