dude.

i'm home.
stoked.

the final countdown.

what?!

we're leaving tomorrow morning.

oh

my

goodness.

i feel like we've been here for a lifetime, but that simply doesn't seem long enough.

ha long bay was one of the most beautiful places i've ever gotten to experience.

the legend of the island and the surrounding waters has something to do with a dragon and the dragon pooping.

i'm not really sure the details of it.

but poop makes me giggle.

so, i giggled and didn't hear the particulars.

we took a nice long boat ride to the island and got to see a floating village. (legit)

and we ventured out on a tiny thing that they claimed was also a boat, but i would call it a piece of wood, and everyone jumped out into the water.

i sat on the piece of wood and played photographer.

we climbed inside of caves and up a lot of slippery stairs.

oh yeah, we sweat a bunch and have some gnarly sunburns.

stoked.

it was brilliant.

we had our last meal in hanoi tonight

and then! we went to see a water puppet show.

yes.

puppets.

in water.

best thing i've ever seen.

and tomorrow, i am home.

JK.

so i lied.

we are not sleeping on a boat.

we are not even currently on a boat.

we are currently in hanoi.

tomorrow we're heading to hai long bay and there WE WILL be getting on a boat for the day.

and then we're spending the night on the island.

hanoi is the capital and a crazy little place.

it's strange because we're just tourists here, seeing as our work is done and we're just here to see the city.

and, there are foreigners everyone. 

weird.

this morning it was hard to wake up so early.

this morning it was harder leave our friends at the gates as we boarded the plane.

this morning we finished another leg of our journey.

woah.

this very well may be my last blog from vietnam.

tomorrow we are taking an hour long flight to hanoi where we will be until saturday morning when we journey home.

we're staying on a boat.

i'm guessing the boat doesn't have wifi.

but there is always the possibility.

we decided not to say goodbye to anyone, only see you later.

i'm determined to see these wonderful wonderful people we have all spent the last month week at another time. maybe another place. but definitely again.

today a couple of us took the hour long ride by motorbike to hoian.

and the hour long ride back.

two hours out in the sun on the back of a motorbike equals a MEAN sunburn.

i have been seriously laughed at since we've been back, and i'm sure all of my friends waiting at home will have some good laughing to partake in as well.

maybe it will just turn into a tan?

yeah.

let's hope for that.

so long danang!

see you later.

fisher's superkids.

bana resort.

we just returned from an overnight visit to the bana resort which rests in the mountains of danang.

we took a gondola ride up to the top, the steepest gondola ride in the world in fact, and spent the evening exploring and keeping warm by a huge bonfire.

YES!

it was cold!

we actually had to wear jackets.

and i had goosebumps.

it was beautiful.

our work is done, and in the days remaining we'll be flying to hanoi and staying in halong bay.

i still haven't quite come to the realization that by this time next week i will be home and dealing with jetlag.

gnarly.

ehh.

there is a possibility i am not feeling so good and that i had to leave our day camp today earlier seeing as the facilities were not exactly comfortable for someone whose stomach was feeling the way mine was.
yes, that is what i'm saying.
gross.

however, reports about the day-long summer camp have thus far been fantastic.
and the weather hasn't been too bad either.
i made it long enough to star in a play about treating the environment with care in which i played the role of the all powerful mother earth.
upsetting is the fact that i did not get to impart my ribbon dancing skill upon these tiny little children.
oh well.
another time.

in other news, marissa amanda and i took our sweet time exploring the city last night for a good four hours. (that's a more glamorous way of saying we got lost in our attempt to find the grocery store)

streamers.

today is our last official day of teaching.

i don't think i want to go, simply because i'm not going to want to leave once the class is over.

the principal at our school has already assured us that we will be welcome with open arms if we return next year.

...i'm not going to think about that quite yet.

yesterday was amanda's birthday, so we went out for a nice dinner on the beach.

4U RESTAURANT was our choice, and a lovely one it was-until half the team got food poisoning.

(it was the beef! this vegan is feeling fine.)

it was fun to get dressed up though. and we were all looking pretty good, i must say-even our hotel manager noticed that we had made an extra effort.

he loudly exclaimed 'WOW!' when we came down the stairs.

he's evidently tired of seeing us in green and yellow polo shirts that make us look like otter pops.

i can't blame him.

oh!

i finished another book last evening before i drifted off to sleep.

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, by Milan Kundera.

good stuff.

slide.

this morning at the orphanage a beautiful ten year old girl kept me entertained with an epically long game of slide.

i let her win. (not really. she's just better at keeping count than i am. she won fair and square)

yesterday, two of our translators took faryn and i to the hippest little coffee shop this side of the world.

i definitely did not feel cool enough to be sitting amongst the high school boys and girls sipping on their milk tea. 

also, i felt like an old lady because the music was kind of loud and i found myself yelling, "HUH?! WHAT?! this stuff is so loud! i can't hear you! WHAT?!"

so i'm going deaf in vietnam.

that's alright.

the coffee was really really good.

we only have the rest of this week left to teach in danang.

then we head off to hanoi to see the sights and then...home!

insanity.

hoi an, again.

we went to hoi-an, the little art town, again today.

sally and i spend our time terrorizing the streets on really rusty, really squeaky, really old rented bicycles.

that's right friends, MYA RANDLE WAS RIDING A BIKE.

i am conquering the fear.

plus, i got a really nice tan while i watched my dear friend sally here get redder and redder as the day proceeded.

worry not, we have already applied generous amounts of aloe vera upon arrival back at our hotel.

on our way to this lantern-lit corner of vietnam, we made a stop at marble mountain.

a little history lesson for you:

marble mountain is the mounatian that the vietcong hollowed out and used as a hospital during the war.

good idea, right? right.

guess what makes it even better?

it is located directly across from one of the largest US military bases in vietnam.

the US never had the slightest idea their enemy was hiding in the middle of a mountain.

brilliant.

speaking of brilliant, here are a couple pictures of faryn and i teaching our little kindergartens while sporting our lime green and yellow uniform shirts. 

i know, adorable.

eww.

my whole team went out to dinner last night to eat dog.
i stayed back at the hotel and read a book instead.
(what would jesus deconstruct? by john d. caputo)

then i went for a walk about the town.

a perfect evening to be sure.

yesterday we taught our little kindergartens HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES AND TOES.
cutest thing i've ever seen.
really.
like, really.

this morning we had a meeting to plan our big day camp at the end of the month.
you'll all be glad to know that i have been put in charge of the ribbon dancing station.
i guess those classes i took back in the fifth grade are actually coming in handy.
sweet.

toi tang la mya.

^^that's my name is mya.

in vietnamese. and probably spelled wrong.

the principal at the kindergarten where we teach every afternoon has slowly been teaching me some vietnamese and has been very nice when it comes to laughing at me when i slaughter the pronunciation.

by nice i mean that she laughs more quietly than our translators.

the laugh loud. and hard.

yesterday we got massages.

from blind women.

it was tight.

and also, now my muscles are not tight because i got a massage.

can i share that nap time dreams in vietnam are just weird?

i don't know who all is reading this blog, but there is a good chance you have been in my nap time dreams because i have seen just about everyone from the past five years of my life in the past week's worth.

weird.

also, vietnam is hot and God is good.

nouc mia.

another weekend, come and gone.
on saturday morning we took a walk to the park with forty kids.
sounds simple enough.
right?
wrong.
the park is not close. and the weather was less than friendly.
along the way we picked up trash FOR A GREEN CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL VIETNAM.
can i tell you, kids under the age of ten don't realize that leaves are not trash and it difficult to explain that it might not be sanitary to pick up cigarette butts and beer bottles.
however, we did make it to the park, and after getting insanely dizzy from spinning round and round on different contraptions we made our way back to our hotel.
i took a nap.
i was tired.

later in the afternoon a couple of us and some of our translators turned new friends went shopping.
here's the thing, i don't fit into clothes that are made for twelve year old girls.
evidently, vietnamese women do.

yesterday, we took the forty five minute journey to hoi an.
it's a little community of artists that was chalk full of tourists and even some western food.
it was a nice break and i tell you, if i was rich, i would be returning to the states with an incredible amount of paintings.

today is monday, which means we are back to teaching. wish me luck.

sunrise.

ain't no mountain high enough

the night before last our translators took our team out on the town.

by that i mean they took us to a karaoke bar.

it was unlike anything i've ever seen.

we all hoped on the back of mopeds and suddenly found ourselves in front of a very very tall building with neon lights on top and a woman at the door beckoning us in.

we squished into the elevator (five different times, because the elevators are small and there were twenty or so of us) and went on up to the fifth floor.

we had our own private room, which came decorated with our own private disco ball, our own private big screen TV and our own private book of songs to choose from.

while the classic were of course sung (including, but not limited to: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Barracuda, Summer Nights, Smoke On the Water, Down on the Corner, and Video Killed the Radiostar), the highlight of the evening would have to be Tyler Workman's rendition of a Gangster's Paradise.

i may or may not have been his back up dancer.

also, Amanda and i do a mean No Woman No Cry.

also, never drink a soda called Sarsi.  it is, in fact, of the black licorice flavoring and might make you do such things as spit it out all over your own private karaoke room.

we have spent our mornings at a safe house for street kids where we get to color and play duck duck goose to our hearts' content and we've continued teaching at the kindergartens in the afternoon. these kids are really smart, i'm telling you. but more than that, they are just really really cute.

the entire team woke up at 4:30 this morning and managed to get ourselves down to the beach to watch the sunrise.

it was beautiful.

like really. like WOW. 

gag reflex.

last night some of our translators took us out to dinner.

we went to a little area by the beach for CHEAP CHEAP (well, at least that's what it sounded like they were saying).

turns out that clams were on the menu.

clams and squid.

and it turns out that's what we ordered.

needless to say, i did not partake in the clam opening, squid squirting nastiness of that meal.

but i did get a kick out of watching tyler's mouth be inked on as a poor squid's last act of rebellion.

i had to get up and walk around for awhile as to not throw up on everyone delicious meal, but i gathered myself back together and returned in time for some pineapple.

everything is ultimately OK when pineapple is involved.

i am gearing up for this afternoon's teaching session.

they have been completely out of control for the first part of this week, and i'm thinking we might just retire having a dance party.

i figure it isn't often that five year old vietnamese children get to dance with six foot six guys from arizona or EXTREMELY gorgeous girls from the greater long beach area ;)

we painted our host's school yesterday.

i am a good painter.

not to brag, but my my green stairs were just fabulous.

also, jessica got blue paint in my hair, but i'm thinking it could be a more permanent look.

yeah? blue haired mya? what do you think?

on my way to teach!

that is all.

monday on the rise.

what a weekend.

after a full week of teaching (we got to I in the alphabet and through the entire rainbow of colors) we took a tour of the city on saturday morning.

we visited monkey mountain.

THERE ARE NO MONKEYS ON MONKEY MOUNTAIN.

i know, i was disappointed too.

we went to a marketplace.

i have never experience so many strange smells at once.

and! our tour guide pointed our a full pig leg, thinking i would think it was funny.

poor guy, i did not think it was funny.

at all.

we went to a store that sold this beatiful embroideried tapestries, and i suddenly wished i had thousands and thousands of dollars to spare to spend on vietnamese art.

for lunch we went to a restuarant that serves western food.

cheeseburgers, french fries, and potato salad, OH MY!

also, it's entirely run by a community of deaf vietnamese people.

i need to brush up on my charades, but we did a pretty good job communicating.

once our bellies were full, we proceeded to the beach.

i sat on a chair under an umbrella and read a book.

(its called No God But God. it's by Reza Aslan, it's really good)

everyone else went in the water. i hear it was nice.

but i don't do water.

today we ate some more traditional vietnamese food which involved a lot of rice and tofu for me. and then we came home after a walk under the very hot sun and took a three hour nap.

i wasn't aware i was capable of such a nap.

we now have another friend in our room to join sally, moses the gecko and i.

his name is Papa the Roach.

...a little bit gross, but we are trying to love him.

nam.

(another picture of the orphanage, but this time the inside!)

and this is my main man Nam.

they found my bag and sent it to me today.

so, i am now in possession of my nalgene, hebrew flashcards, fanny pack and sidekick once again.

i was secretly hoping they wouldn't be able to find it so i'd have an excuse to hop back on a plane to ho chi minh city and find it myself.

(stopping in on nam, hung, and my little peanut ti-na in the process)

as for daNang, 

teaching was INSANITY today.

you might not want to call it teaching.

maybe simply referring to it as headache would be more appropriate.

the kids like the alphabet, and aren't big fans of colors.

they mostly just like it when i dance around the room like a complete fool.

...i must say, i shake a mean tambourine.

hello/goodbye

yesterday was our first day of teaching adorable vietnamese kindergardeners some english.

they knew a lot more already than we assumed they would, but they still seemed to get a kick out of saying hello and goodbye over and over again, especially once we set it to a tune and danced a little bit.

today we'll begin the alphabet and maybe even move on to colors, depending on how quick they pick things up...i wouldn't at all be surprised if we start on existential philosophy by the end of the week.

however, that kind of brainwork always works better with cold weather and a soy vanilla latte at hand. and i can promise you that neither of those are in the cards for me any time soon.

next week will be working with the local orphanages in the morning before we continue on to the schools in the afternoon.

we went grocery shopping yesterday and i almost had a panic/heart attack inside the massive store called BIG C.

it is worse than costco.

yes.

worse than costco.

i do miss ho chi minh city.

and our orphanage there.

and all of the wonderful kids i was so blessed to come into contact with.

(hopefully i can figure out how to get pictures of them up soon)

but i have a lovely feeling i'll be returning someday, so i'm not going to spend too much time missing them.

on another note, sally and i are sharing a room and our bathroom smells like rotting eggs.

we are blaming that on tyler and chris, their room is above our and we have a mysterious leak in the ceiling.

we also have a resident gecko on our ceiling.

i think i'll name him moses.

moses the gecko.

he can be my friend as long as he stays up there and doesn't decide to come cuddle with me in bed.

what up Da Nang?!

today has been quite the day.

we left siagon early this morning, and after a very tearful goodbye and weird car ride in a taxi (tyler and marissa spent the entire time discussing different methods of catching carp and the difference between elk and moose meat), we arrived at the airport where i realized that one of my bags had not been put into the car.

no carry-on for mya.

no ipod for mya.

no phone for mya.

no money for mya.

no nalgene for mya.

NO NOTHING FOR MYA.

i proceeded to cry a lot harder and the laugh when they couldn't seem to find my ticket for the plane trip.

they found it.

eventually.

so, now i find myself in danang, with a promise of a 90 percent chance that we can get my bag here.

i have my doubts, but i am joyful-because this second beginning has been beautiful.

DaNang is a lovely little beach town.

the school where we will be working for the next month is permantely staffed with the most wonderful of people. 

we begin tomorrow.

i'll get back to you on exactly what were doing.

OH! p.s. i got peanut butter here in DaNang, so i don't care one bit about my lack of carry-on bag....i have peanut butter.

last day.

today is was our first last day.

we have finished our week of working here at the orphanage.

i am so attached and most definitely heartbroken to have to leave.

i wish i could adequately describe what this short week's experience has meant to me, but i can't.

maybe after i have a little bit of time to sort through my thoughts and make sure that i have the images of these little darlings burned permanently in my head, i can make a second attempt.

tomorrow we are going to see the old war tunnels.

being the peace-loving, war-hating, hate-hating person that i have always been, and coupled with the vietnam-loving person that i now am, i am not at all excited.

on monday we leave for DaNang where we will have our second beginning.

i am very much excited.

there is no peanut butter in vietnam.

if you would like to send me some, i would be overjoyed.

however, i haven't a clue as to how you would do so.

last night, as i was sleeping, i was sure that i heard four gun shots in a row.

i was positive there was as some dangerous and also very exciting happening.

unfortunately, it was simply the circuits breaking due to an overflow of energy.

evidently the vietnamese are very actively using technology at 4:30am.

i, personally, enjoy actively sleeping at that point in the AM, but each to their own.

(the battery on the computer is about to die! i'm typing quick!)

i made a new friend today named Nam.

he's a gorgeous little boy who wouldn't let me even touch him before this afternoon, but now we're getting along quite well. 

he even let me sing to him, and if you've ever heard my voice, you know that's saying a lot.

rainy day.

for the record, i have been attempting to steal a slow internet connection from some lady named Irene12 for awhile now, and I JUST DID.

thank you irene.

however, the computer is about to die.

so i'll make this short.

today is our third day working at the orphanage and i have fallen in love with two little boys: Ti-Na and Hung.

if you see me toting the both of them around with me once i return to the states, don't be surprised. 

i'm pretty sure they would both like good ol' southern california.

Hung is pretty gangster, and would definitely fit in with the long beach crowd.

he's about 7 and has an attitude.

Ti-Na is overwhelmingly joyful and i'm thinking he might be more partial to the beach.

i'm going to guess he's 4 years old.

we found oreos today.

needless to say, we have eaten a lot of them.

it's almost inappropriate.

(reminder for those who don't remember, oreos are vegan. do not get excited. i'm sticking with it)

also, i feel like i just went to five classes of hot yoga in a row.

the amount of sweat that has been produced by this team of ten is even more inappropriate than the amount of oreos we have consumed.

and i'm pretty sure you weren't as interested in the sweat as you were in the oreos.

my apologies.

it's been raining and i was informed that it is in fact monsoon season here in vietnam.

oh good.

we have arrived.

we are in ho chi minh city, also known as siagon, in beautiful vietnam.

after a very very long plane ride (i watched the first half of bride wars, the first twenty minutes of the wrestler and most of valkrie before i gave up and decided to sleep) we hopped into a big taxi, sweat more that we have ever sweat before, and saw the city.

here are a couple of highlights from our adventuring yesterday:

-one man at the market and i discovered we were both partial to obama, so we proceeded to give each other a thumbs-up for a solid two minutes.

-i met bin laden (KIDDING!), but that is how one vietnamese man decided to introduce himself...it was funny, i promise.

-i had some coca-cola light because, and i blame this on my mother, i can not go very long without a diet coke these days.

-i rode of the back of a moped, which will never happen again because i nearly died, three times.

-my team had traditional vietnamese pho for lunch, because i'm vegan i had rice.

-it rained. really hard. but it was still very hot.

-i had the best iced coffee i will ever have, and proceeded to eat the ice before anyone told me it might not have been the best idea.

-i watched my friend amanda get a pedicure in the park after the woman insisted her toes were simply terrible. now, amanda just could not have that, so now they are bright pink and beautiful.

while here, we are staying and working at an orphanage for disabled children.

we began this morning and i'm already exhausted.

but these kids are worth it a hundred times over.

it's go time.

ok.
here's the thing, team vietnam is leaving on a jet plane in about 12 hours.
correct. we are leaving at 1 o'clock in the morning.
we're ready.
...at least we think so.