Team building

I can't remember the last weekend we didn't spend at least one evening with new friends.  The core are St. Paul teachers from the states, but Vietnamese friends and Spanish families add diverse cultural flavor to our free time.  A few weeks ago we burned the midnight and early morning oil dancing at a music festival just outside of Hanoi the peninsula of a massive lake.  It was a colorful way to bond with co-workers sleeping in the dirt and wearing... well, sometimes not very much.  After the festival, Molly contacted the lead artist from our favorites two sets, the Hanoied Jazz Band, and sang at weeknight gig with them.  Unfortunately a demanding professional schedule doesn't jive with regularly performing at late night jazz clubs.  Her dream lives on.

Spanish footballers, Taylor (happy 30th) & Dana

Our friend & school athletic director (Taylor above) coordinated a super fun 5k turkey trot and thanksgiving feast for all our students and families at school.  It was a great community building event and a few of the students and staff including myself shared gratitude's in front of the entire school.  Shortly after the event, fourteen of us flew down to Nha Trang on the southern coast for a weekend of mud baths, theme parks, beaching, and powerful stream exploring.  We are both so grateful for the community people we have met and friendships we have made both here and the eternal relationships we have with our friends and families pre-Vietnam.  We told ourselves before we left the only way we could manage a second year here was to develop bonds a community of fun adventurous people... so we signed contracts for 2018-2019 school year!

Humbled by a powerful flow - Nha Trang

Two more gratitudes go out to my bicycle and the Vietnamese teacher at our school.  The last 4 months was the longest time I had gone without regularly riding a bicycle.  Now I have made the 10 mile commute to school through the chaotic but relatively slow Hanoi traffic a few times.  Pedaling brings so much good energy into my life - I am glad to have it back. Secondly, I love learning Vietnamese (although it's a two steps forward one step back type of process.  I still can't even say what I want 95% of the time, but the few survival phrases and informal yet contextual greetings I have learned form my last two weekly lessons have elevated me from the casual tourist lingo group to the I-actually-live-here-and-want-to-learn category.   It's fun to noticeably improve in something that offers such a huge reward - the ability to communicate verbally and learn about wonderful people.  Chuc may man!  [good luck]

Moloi, Michelle, Antonella - 

Katie, Itoro, Moloi at Vinpearl - Nha Trang