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.