Blessings Amid a Pile of....Bad

Food poisoning = no good. Monday was fine until I returned from a trip with some students to get a heater (see post before this for details about the need for a heater). My stomach wasn't feeling so hot on the back of the motorbike but I thought maybe it was a bit of motion sickness...for the first time in 8 months? Anyways, when I got home let's just say it started coming out both ends. And didn't stop! After 3 hours I called my boss in a bit of a panic and feeling like crap. I got a few tips and tried to tough out the next couple hours. But by 9pm I was severly dehydrated so J.P. came to my house, called the doctor, and took me into the SOS Clinic.

They put an IV in my right arm and loaded me up with some painkillers and anti-sickness. Then they tried to take a blood sample. I guess I was so dehydrated that my veins were too small to find, but that didn't stop them from moving the needle around a ton to find it. It hurt. So did my stomach. And my head. And I was tired. And thirsty. Ugh. I really just felt helpless, like it was just never going to get better. I started crying really hard and saying I wanted to go home...which is a sentence I have only seriously uttered once before this night. The nurses wanted to give me more painkillers, but J.P. explained that I was just sad. It was one of those moments where you just want your mom, ya know? I was only there a few hours and managed to get a few hours of sleep that night/morning. I spent the next 3 days feeling pretty crappy, but was able to attend Bible study on Wednesday night which was some much needed "people" time.

I remember laying on the table shaking due to dehydration with tears streaming down my face wondering what God's plan was in all this. Maybe I would have to opportunity to share a story with a nurse there? Maybe J.P. would have a life changing conversation with the doctor? Well, none of that happened. However I did have an amazing chance to talk with a friend about where I draw my strength from and who would be my Healer. And then the CRAZIEST thought crept into my head...well more like popped in there: I would do it ALL OVER if I could have that conversation with someone else. WHAT?? Who actually wishes to be sick like that? But in some weird way I feel like that was more like what I thought signing up to be a "volunteer" with LCMS World Mission would be like! Plus, I think people relate more to stories of suffering and the "miraculous" healing!

In other awesomely awesome news this week....Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving as an LCMS team. I have to say that is one of my favorite days in Vietnam so far. I felt like we really were a family! Everyone sat close, chatted about traditions from home, and we ate REAL turkey :) I definitely wasn't expecting that! I was actually pretty homesick that day. I woke up and thought, "This is Thanksgiving....but I don't smell my mom cooking anything...and we're not going to the Lions game." God has certainly blessed me by placing me with such an amazing family here in Vietnam- people I can depend on and who love me. I have way more than I can ask for!

Friday was my first day back in the classroom for the week, and although I was coughing pretty hard I loved it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the classroom is one of my favorite places in Vietnam! After class I went to dinner at my new favorite burger place called My Burger My (the second My has a Vietnamese tone on it which makes it mean American). I took one of my new good friends and although it was a lot of food for him (welcome to America haha) I think he liked it, and of course the company ;) Afterwards I went to see Mamma Mia with Yung Ting. Now let me tell you, Yung Ting is NUTS about Mamma Mia. We're talking about listening to the soundtrack or watching the movie at LEAST once a day. Saying he has it memorized is an understatement. He was STOKED about the play and LOVED it! I did too :) The high schoolers did a good job, even when there was a short blackout in the middle of Dancing Queen (how Vietnamese).

Tonight we had dinner at Hank and Donna's from church. They invited tons of people and had the dinner completely catered. I felt like I was at a wedding! The dinner was SO nice! All the "young people" from church sat together and had a blast! I was really feeling like an outsider in their group, and still do from time to time, but tonight was a nice big group event and we all enjoyed each other's company. Another huge blessing: people who are in similar circumstances and the same age as me! We concluded the night with karaoke down the street. I haven't done karaoke with American's before! It was good, but the place had a serious lack of English songs. Seriously, I haven't been to a place that didn't have Spice Girls! I hope we do it again sometime :)

Look, we haven't changed much have we?

I'm looking forward to December a TON! Thursday I will be attending the wedding of one of our LCMS employees and friends out in the villages. Also, Sarah and Betsy, whom I met in Taiwan last Easter for an LCMS retreat, will be visiting for 4 days and staying here at my house! I'm excited to do the tourist thing again! It's been a while since I've been to all the sites! Later this month it seems like everyone's families are going to be visiting so that should be fun. I am MOST looking forward to my mother and sister coming at the end of the month! I miss them so so much, especially my sister. I admire and love her so much...and this will be the longest period of time we'll have spent together in over a year!

Ice, Ice, Baby

Welp. It's 1:34am when I am starting this entry. Occasionally I'll stay up this late watching various pirated TV shows that I normally watch in the States to keep me sane here. But tonight I made an effort to go to bed early, and yet I'm up again. Partially because I have what Cana calls "spicy stomach" and partially because it's FREEZING in my bedroom. Basically, whatever temperatuare it is outside, it is in my bedroom. So according to Accuweather.com tonight it is a whopping 44F in my bedroom.

Don't get me wrong. I love cold. I love snow. I love wearing big, baggy, comfy clothes and cuddling up under my blanket with my teddy bear (yes, I am 22, almost 23) and hitting the snooze button 2 or 3 times. But this?? This is horrible. You know how your fingers and toes feel after you've been out in cold, wet snow for a while? That kind of numb so much almost to the point of hurt feeling? Yeah. I've got that. And it's a little hard to sleep with.

However. In the middle of my "omg-I'm-so-cold-and-tired-and-I-want-to-go-home" cry, I stiffed up when I realized how many people there are that would kill just to have a bed to sleep in like me. Like all the homeless people we helped a couple years ago at Beautiful Feet in Ann Arbor. Even more so all the people here in Vietnam who live in what I could barely call a shelter.

In a few minutes hopefully I'll grow a pair and get into bed and try to keep any part of my skin from being exposed. And when I wake up in the morning? I'll thank God that He gifted me with the ability to breathe,  and a hot water heater :)

Thanksgiving is on the way and I am so thankful for so many things. Most of all I am thankful that God has given me the opportunity to be here in Vietnam. Yeah, sometimes it's difficult, but it's the best time I've ever had in my life. I'll never forget the people here, the things I've seen, and the things I've learned about myself.

And in special honor of Thanksgiving...here's a pic of my lovely sister on our way to Thanksgiving dinner two years ago :)

You Know I Like You When...

...I bust out my boxing gloves and start a fight!

Honestly, who fights with people they don't care about? What's the point? Unless you are one of those strange people who gets rush of pure joy from arguing. You're weird. Find something else to do.

Anypunch...

Arguing with friends sucks. The truth about me however is that I only fight with people I love. I feel like you have to trust someone quite a bit to show your mean/bad/argumentative/wrong side. The fact that I can't pick up my cell phone and text the one person I wanna text because we had a spat just gives me tummy ache.

Blah. I think my mood matches the weather today: cold and gray.

Speaking of the weather: I tried explaining this crazy bi-polar feeling going on inside me to my students. A couple days ago it was about 90F here in Hanoi. Today it's 60F. That's a 30 degree drop in just a couple days, so of COURSE I busted out my fleece jacket and scarf! However when I email my mom and tell her I'm freezing at 60F, she's thinking I'm NUTS because it's like 35F in Michigan and they would kill for 60F right now! I'm surprised how well my body has adjusted!

This is the first year of my life that I won't see SNOW!! It's crazy crazy! But I asked Mrs. Nelson's Class to send me some pictures, so I'm looking forward to those :)

This week is Teacher Day on Friday. That means lots of pretty flowers!! I'm not vain, I just like flowers...lots of them :)

Random food fact: I've fallen in love with Mana crackers. They are uber cheap...plus they are called Mana...so I feel biblical when I eat them! Moses...Israelites in the desert...food from God...get it?

Facebook Gone?

So I've had trouble logging onto Facebook today. I talked to 2 students and they said that they are shutting it down here in Viet Nam...at least for a while if not permenantly.

At the risk of sounding like a totally addict, or a giant baby, I almost cried a little bit. The thought of being cut off from my family and friends so suddenly for SO long just plain sucks!

So, if you feel like keeping me sane, please email me: amanda.runey@keptprivate.com. I'd love to know what's going on in your life, and I'm sure you'll all be wondering what life is like in Viet Nam, and by "in Viet Nam" I mean "without Facebook".

Also, if you're in the surfing mood and like some good mountains, head over to www.picasaweb.google.com/amandolinrooney2 for some quality pics from my weekend trip to Mai Chau :)

Yes, I took this photo and Have not edited it at all. Killer scenery!

Wedding Devil

Halloween this year was awesome! Last year was spent bar hopping with my gay ex-boyfriend after a long night of work at Max and Erma's. I know, I know, that sounds un-toppable. But hear me out.

Somehow, last week, two of my favorite students convinced *cough*guilted*cough* me to sing a song as part of their Halloween celebration the following week. I warily agreed and spent that night playing nearly every song on my iTunes to see which ones I truly knew all the words to without thinking about it. Because naturally I didn't want to be a complete screw-up by forgetting the words. I stumbled across "The Way You Love Me" by Faith Hill and found my winner. I immediately downloaded the karaoke version and starting belting out the song in my room, which I'm sure my extremely quiet (aka loudest people I've ever met) neighbors enjoyed. I call that sweet, sweet revenge.

I found out I needed to attend a rehearsal. But wait, let me inform you first that I have never sung alone in front of a large group of people. I took voice lessons my last year at Concordia and pretty much bombed my "small group" performance and completely bombed my final exam. I'm not exaggerating. I forgot the words, my voice didn't hit a single correct note, and my body was shaking violently. Remind me why I agreed to sing fot this Halloween thing again?? Anyway, rehersal consisted of plugging in speakers in the parking lot, hooking up my iPod, and singing for the small group of people there. I didn't forget the words, but I pretty much sucked. My students avoided saying how horrible I was by politely suggesting I practice with more confidence. I love them. I love the cultural idea of "saving face" a little bit more these days.

One rehearsal turned into two and the next one was with legit microphones and about 3 times as many people. I sucked equally as much and again was encouraged to practice more confidence. Yeah. Okay. Got it. I suck. You are the ones who asked me to do this so now you live with the consequences. And by consequences I mean my horrible voice.

The day of the performance I had a couple female students come do my hair and makeup for me. I added more makeup when they left. And completely changed my hair style. What can I say? I think my hair is the best thing I've got going for me, especially since it sets me apart from basically this entire country. I put on the only nice dress I have here and matched it with some black flip flops from Old Navy (classy, right?) and headed to school. I was calm, cool, collected, you know. I was supposed to be the 3rd singer during the play, a good 45 minutes at least until I went up on stage. I wandered around a bit to see the booths my students had up. I came back to the waiting area and suddently, "Okay, Miss Amanda, go!" What?? I wasn't prepared! But thankfully wasn't shaking. They started my music too early and I didn't get a microphone. That's cool, just start it over, no biggie. Then it stopped after about 10 seconds the second time. Again, no big deal, one more time. Music stopped a third time. WTH?? I started getting uber nervous and considered just walking off. But alas, it turned on again and I managed to get through the song and the improv dance with my white prince without any major mess ups. Thank goodness for the giant, too bright spotlight that blinded me from seeing the HUNDREDS of people watching me!

Afterwards I didn't have many people say I did a good job...however they didn't say I needed more confidence either, so I was happy. Everyone said I looked beautiful. Good. Now I can look frumpy in class more often because they know it's not a permenant thing. I did enjoy hanging out with ALL my students that were there and a lot of them are beginning to be some of my best friends!

All in all, although I'm sure the gay ex-boyfriend stories make for a better laugh, I feel like the memories from this Halloween will stick with me for the rest of my life. Plus, I have pictures to prove it happened :)

Trick or Sick

So with the approach of Halloween, I feel like I should state that the devil fights dirty and I am not a fan. I haven't gone 2 weeks without being sick since I arrived back in Vietnam. I'm not saying the devil made me sick. But he is sure using it to try to get my spirits low, and no doubt make me think I am a horrible teacher and friend to the people I am letting down at school. Forcing me to stay in my room for a day/days is a great way to get my mind going in a million directions, usually leading to a low point.

Thank God that this time my illness was proceeded by two KICK BUTT AWESOME days of classes! My students and I are finally starting to click and it's a great feeling! I'm actually starting to look forward to class, even the ones early in the morning! I think I've found my groove, well besides the whole getting sick part!

I think I'm even starting to come out of a second shell! I must, because I agreed to sing a Faith Hill song as a part of a Halloween show on Saturday night in front of literally over a hundred people at least! What am I thinking?? No doubt it'll be on YouTube like...an hour after the show!!

I found out my family is coming to visit at the end of December. I am SO excited to show them this life and place that I have come to love! I can't wait to introduce them to all the important people in my life these days and for them to experience all the crazy, awesome experiences that Vietnam has to offer! Mostly, I just want to see my mom's face when she crosses the street :)

Things You Would Probably Never See on the Streets of Rochester Hills

1. A cockfight.

2. 7 brides getting their picture taken on the same day in the same spot.

3. Molding water in the gutters.

4. A giant dead rat.

5. Tons of dead cockroaches.

6. Wires above the intersection that are touching the ground (in good weather).

7. A scale with wheels and an option to tell you how "in shape" you are.

8. Large pieces of motorbike bumpers tossed aside after a collision.

9. A person selling anything.

10. Minorities....haha....just kidding! But seriously...

Real Thoughts

I've been delaying writing real thoughts on here because...well basically because I find my thoughts hard to organize these days. I hardly ever feel myself in the moment. I'm either thinking about how crazy/weird/ironic/"planned out" my past was to lead me to the place I am...or I'm thinking another step ahead about where I'll be in the future. It's probably not a good thing and might be part of the reason I went through some aweful culture shock the first few weeks here.

It hasn't even been a solid month yet and I already feel like it's been a lifetime! In contrast to last time, there isn't much point in saying, "Oh, I'll be leaving in ____ days/months", because that number is still huge! I've spent the past 4 weeks organizing and planning out how to keep myself completely exhausted for the next few months. All in all my only free time exists on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, Friday mornings, all Saturday, and Sunday evening. That seems like a lot, but it's really not, especially when the heat and lack of sleep due to obnoxious children and dogs feels like it sucks half the day away from me before I even started. Let me just say that if I were the mother of the children that live on my alley, I would have smacked them into next week...so many times that they would be like a year older then they really are. Seriously!

I enjoy my limited amount of free time though. Living in this house all alone is, well, lonely. I try not to spend too much time here, and when I do it's normally downloading episodes of TV shows back home that keep me sane: Grey's Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Greek, Drop Dead Diva, and Glee.

Speaking of nerdy things I do, I feel like there is a list coming on, because I love lists. And there are that many things.

1. I'm afraid to put the toilet top down because I'm afraid that a bug might pop out at me the next time I open it. This is a completely irrational fear because I've never had this happen to me, nor have I heard it happening to anyone else.

2. I'm a little scared of my kitchen. It's kinda half under the stairs, and again I'm afraid of bugs popping out. However, THAT was is rational because I find dead roaches in the kitchen almost every morning.

3. On the topic of bugs, I feel like Raid is my new perfume. It'll catch on.

4. I have a jar of peanut butter and a jar of strawberry jam (the real kind, I totally splurged a whole $3 on it) in my fridge, but no bread, so I eat them alone, and seperately.

5. I've been living here for 4 weeks now and JUST discovered that to avoid taking cold showers every day I should have turned OFF the cold water on full blast. Who woulda thunk??

6. I have conversations in my head of what to say to people who speak only Vietnamese. Instead of taking a minute or two and calling someone to translate for me. So "Xin Chao" will have to do.

7. I always say temperature in Fahrenheit, even though I know full well everyone uses Celcius here.

8. I habitually place my order for street food and then check my cell phone for text messages to avoid the stares. Sometimes I even write fake texts to keep myself occupied.

9. I mentally thank Old Navy everyday because I currently have 6 pairs (all different colors to coordinate with outfits) by the door and they are all I wear.

10. I check my email at LEAST 20 times a day, always hoping there will be something, then getting angry if it's Facebook or spam.

11. I daydream about what is waiting for me at home. Then I freak out about what's not waiting for me at home. Then I tell myself not to think about it again. Then I do it again.

Sometimes...

...when the light in the bathroom naturally goes from dim to brighter as time goes on...I imagine that I am being enlightened with some amazing idea.

...I get really sick and don't tell anyone.

...I want to yell whatever "shut up" is in Vietnamese down my alley to all the obnoxiously loud children...and their gossipy mothers...no matter what language you speak, gossip all has the same tone.

...I get attached way to quickly.

...I worry where I'll be a year from now.

...my students make my heart smile, like today when they told me I am beautiful and a good teacher!

...I wish I knew pig latin.

...I drink whole bottles of water at once.

...hugs are the only cure.

...I buy gifts for people who mean a lot to me.

...I sing random musical notes for as long as possible, changing the pitch and tone, imagining that I am making up some new song that someday I will write (in musical notes which I cannot read or write) and then write lyrics to and sell it and I'll be hella famous.

...I dream that I'm in a room full of colorful balloon type blobs...and I wake up crying??

...I wonder what it would have been like to become Christian later in life, rather than having been raised that way my whole life. Would my faith be stronger? Would I still be Lutheran?

...I wish I had been born back when there is no electricity and you had to do everything yourself and read by candlelight. Then I turn on my laptop and that thought is the farthest thing from my mind. Why does this thing run so slow?? Wow, I feel materialistic.

...really simple things make my heart skip a beat when I think of a fond memory...like certain flowers, a movie title, a smell, or the way someone laughs.

...I am reminded that true love is out there somewhere when I see an old couple walking down the street holding hands.

...my mind gets away from me sometimes :)

I Hope I Don't Have Swine Flu

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes. ~St. Clement of Alexandra

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. ~Aristotle

The best way out is always through. ~Robert Frost

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking. ~William B. Sprague

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall. ~Confucius

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. ~Benjamin Franklin

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult. ~Hypocrites

To live is like to love--all reason is against it, and all healthy instinct for it. ~Samuel Butler

As I grow to understand life less and less,I learn to love it more and more. ~Jules Renard

In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet. ~Albert Schweitzer

Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though 'twere his own. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances. ~Benjamin Franklin

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. ~Henry David Thoreau