Yesterday was a busy day. It all started with waking up super early to be at the school by 7AM for our breakfast, steamed buns w/ pork, duck eggs, and some other mystery stuff that we really don't know what it is. We started out our second day of English showing a video on how to make the "sh" sound, this was quite an interesting task because not only is the instructor in the video a little bit funny, but he also has a strange choice of words for teaching the "sh" sound. For example, the sentence that they came up with for the sound was "will the shy showgirl shake her shoes" made us giggle, thankfully the concept of making the sound got across. I discovered that it helps them to learn if they have a physical motion to go along with the sound. Like when you are trying to tell someone to be quiet you put your finger to your mouth to say shhhhhhh. This worked, but makes for a funny time when you see people trying to say "mission" and having to put their finger up to pronounce the "sh" sound.
we were on our own for lunch after class, so we went to a small place near the hotel and got some pork, rice, soup, a typical meal. Here's where things got better, we got to go to the Sunrise cafe afterwards and get coffee, orange, piña colada shakes. They were extremely delicious, I think we will be frequenting there.
Random Vietnam fact #1 Despite the extreme heat (it's been in the 80's but with the humidity, it feels really hot) the sun doesn't beat down and burn people like it does back home
Full with food and about an hour left until our field trip of the day we headed back to the hotel to rest up before the long moto ride (in a light rain). funny note, on our last field trip it began to rain on our way back, the teacher I was riding with didn't have a rain coat, so we had to stop for a couple mins to let the rain stop (he was concerned about my camera, super nice) I asked if I put my camera in my backpack (which has a rain fly) if we could just brave the rain and head back. We tried, got about 700 ft then had to pull over again cause the rain was too much. Back on track, so we were headed to our field trip, which was to a place called Ao Ba om which was a large pond with what looked to be an alter of some sort in the middle. This was an awesome field trip, the location was beautiful as we were surrounded by trees. While we were there we got to visit a pegota (temple where bhuddist monks live) right as we were getting ready to leave the pegota it started to rain (let me paint a picture, when it rains, imagine someone following you around with a hose, that's how it rains here) we all ran for cover to wait until the rain dies down (that's another thing, when it rains, it rains like crazy, but only for about 5 mins tops). Once the rain calmed down we headed back to our motos so we could go out for an early dinner with the teachers. Thankfully dinner was right across the street, because I know I was hungry. for our super early dinner we got to have Phô noodle soup. We got to eat some in Saigon, but haven't had much of an opportunity to eat it as I would like. I Like. Phô.
with dinner out of the way I headed back to the hotel (confusion about what our plans were, turns out everyone went to a coffee shop... the irony). It all worked out for the best because those couple hours gave me time to go through and organize a small portion of the pictures I have taken while here (approx 7500 in 5 days) after going through the pictures I re-grouped with the group and we headed out for out nightly cane juice routine. The main reason we go to this cane juice place is because one of the teachers that is in the class runs the stand at night after going to class and teaching during the day. But it is cane juice, who's gonna turn that down? After enjoying our sweet treat the teacher invited us to go to the beach. As I'm typing this I'm counting the hours of sleep I'm gonna get as we have to be up and ready to leave by 7AM so we can make it there (about an hour bus ride) and back in time for our team meeting etc.
ok, that was yesterday, let's move on to today
what can I put as a tagline... oh
you though people with bad shopping cart skills were dangerous in the market, lets try a moto ^_^
today was our "relax and do whatever" day, relax we did, kinda. The morning plans got a bit jumbled up in translation so instead of going to the market at 10AM some people were just getting out of bed at 9:55AM while some of us were up and ready to go by 7 as usual. I slept in until about 8 or so, sorted some pictures until 9, then went down to grab some breakfast in the cafe right outside our hotel (pork and noodles w/coffee grand total for the meal $2.50 (including buying Tyler's coffee) Once I finished my meal the rest of the guys showed up (probably out walking the town) we waited for the other hald of our team to be ready to go to the market (it's about 9:45 when all this is taking place) Ed slipped a note under the door of their rooms so that they would know where we were when they finally woke up to head downstairs.
Eventually they came down but were ready for food (since they hadn't eaten breakfast. So as a group we all headed over to the cafe around the corner that way we could enjoy a cup of coffee while they ate. Instead fo getting to the market by 10, we ended up leaving for the market by 11... oops, thankfully we didn't have a too strict a schedule for today. I always enjoy a nice day trip to the market, it's a great experience that everyone should at least see (and smell) once in their life. The Vietnamese market was very similar to markets I have visited in Cambodia, there was one difference though, People were driving their motos down the small cramped walkways of the market. In some cases there was barely enough room for normal foot traffic, let alone a full blown moto with a family of 3 on it.
my walk around the market got halted as I realized I had to use the restroom but had no way of asking where the restroom was (donde el bano didn't work). That's one problem that won't go overlooked next time.
we all met up at the vinitex market (kinda like a mix of walmart, and smart n final) got some snacks, then headed to Palace 1 (the hotel Bob, Tyler, and Abi are staying in) to have our team meeting/ devotional/debriefing/brainstorming. Our theme verse for the trip is 1 Peter 3:15, we've been reading through 1 Peter. New experience, since none of us are musically inclined (In the sense that none of us had a guitar or instrument to play) we played worship songs off an iPhone & my laptop and just sang along ^_^
After our team meeting we all packed up, dropped off our goodies at our hotel, then headed over to the sunrise cafe for some food and shakes. Honestly the best shakes I've had, so delicious. With just a little time to rest before our night time activities our group headed back to the hotel to rest, Ed, my Dad, Bob, Tuan, and I met Twii (the english teacher) at a cafe down the street for coffee. They discussed ideas as how to have more teams here on a regular basis, and possibly the option of having people come on extended periods (like what Tyler and Abi are doing)
Finally on to night time we had two activities to choose from, go down to the arena and watch Tyler play soccer (and play if we felt up to it) or go watch Abi in her English class she teaches.
I went to the soccer game tonight, it was a lot fo fun.
That concludes the evening, now I'm super tired, but looking forward to the beach tomorrow
Continue praying for the English teachers that an opportunity will com up to plant seeds
pray for health and safety
pray for wisdom and guidance for the ministry to continue on
Soli Deo Gloria
Until next time
Brandon Goodyear
BTW
I GOT A PICTURE WITH A COW!!!!!!!
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