Smoke, Sweat, and Tears

To begin with the obvious, sweat. I think I’ve already mentioned how frickin hot it is here (and I can’t even complain because we haven’t lost electricity for a few days AND we’re the site that has AC most of the time – the other one doesn’t have AC or Wifi, so even though ours is intermittent we are VERY lucky. We also have showerheads rather than buckets AND at our new last week site, we have toilets AND they flush instead of us using buckets!! #blessed). Anyhow, I’m currently sitting on my elbows and knees so that I don’t get my bed any sweatier than it already is and I’m also on the bed rather than my sheet, which is a pretty big deal for me because there are bug guts from the bugs I had to scrape off of it this afternoon. Although we had to get a cockroach out of our room last night and one night in the old site we walked into our room and it was covered in THOUSANDS of gnat bug things, and I proceeded to get locked in there because when I pulled the doorknob it broke. I also had a fever and strep and had not eaten in almost 48 hours so to say I’m proud that I kept it together would be an understatement. ANYHOW, the rain has stopped other than a few 15 minute downpours, which is great because we’re not being drenched while trying to teach, but not ideal because it’s really, really hot. And while luckily part of the volleyball court is in the shade so we’re not getting cases of heat stroke to add to the illnesses that are plaguing us, I’m still slightly concerned about the wellbeing of the kids because they wear sweatshirts and long pants to protect their skin from the sun and stay pale (yeah, that’s what I generally go for too…). But hey, they’ll look great when they’re 50. I will be wrinkled, both from sunburns (hey Irish!) and the fact that I sweat enough on a daily basis here to literally turn into a raisin from dehydration.

As for smoke, apparently it’s a good idea to burn plastic next to schools here. Because obviously we should basically hotbox the basketball court and surrounding field and cement courts, because that’s good for kids. So we live in a haze when it isn’t raining. I’m sure it’s helping our lungs that are already struggling from fumes when we walk outside.

Tears. Have begun. Starting last Wednesday, which is pretty aggressive if you ask me, but hey. Our camp is all girls. A girl on the red team had been crying in class at the end of the day, so the American and Vietnamese coaches in her color took her aside because they thought she was being bullied. Luckily, she wasn’t, but she started telling them about how she was so upset because they were leaving soon. So obviously the coaches started crying, and the Vietnamese coach was pretty upset the entire bus ride home. So that was hard to see, especially because we’ve all gotten unbelievably attached in 2 short weeks. Something about playing sports with them and doing life skills, rather than just teaching, changes the way our relationships have developed, kinda in the same way that in preseason after 3 weeks you feel like you’re already a family. Definitely not looking forward to our goodbyes on Sunday, but we still have a full week left! (On the tears note, we just watched The Fault in Our Stars. If anyone has not watched it…there’s a reason it’s in this section of the blog. Just be warned.)

Originally I changed the phrase from “blood, sweat, and tears” to smoke, because 1. there has yet to be blood and 2. I thought I was being clever. There has still not been any blood other than the occasional skinned knee or stubbed toe, but there’s a possibility that I’m going to punch one of our translators (aka Vietnamese coaches, or less likely but still possibly one of the men who drive by in their motorbike as we run home and mock us. Like I’m hot, I’m exhausted, I want to puke because your fumes are in my face – don’t make fun of me right now, especially not in a language I do not understand) in the near future. Just as a heads up for anyone in the US who would have access to an embassy in the event of an arrest. Since they know how to work the internet better than I do here given that, oh yeah, the ENTIRE thing is in Vietnamese if not blocked (again, cheers for government censorship), I think the explanation should end there on this but let’s just say that 21 in the US means a VERY different thing than 21 in Vietnam, where their curfews are still 9 PM and they’re more matched for our kids than us. Which is saying something coming from me given that Frozen is up there with my favorite movies. They also just blatantly don’t translate for us, making us rudely just follow statements with “translate please,” or they change what we say which we can easily figure out when we mention names or places and they’re just not included. They also don’t really believe in praise here/it’s not a cultural thing, so 99% of the encouragement we give our kids is not translated. Which is sad and very, very frustrating. (Side note about our kids – apparently their small stature is unique to the rural south jungle where we are, because they don’t have the money for dairy products so they don’t get enough calcium. They’re also apparently a lot brattier here, but who knows where that comes from. With the exception of a few of them, they’re still great!)

Anyhow, more to come later! With pictures, as soon as I can download them. Facebook may have to suffice on the picture front for this if I don’t get my act together within the next few days though.

Adios (still have no idea what “bye” is)!

- Alex