Free to Follow Him

JANUARY 25, 2011 ---

I forgot something very important in my post a few minutes ago. I want to thank everyone for all your support while i've been here. Your prayers and financial contributions have sustained me; thank you to those who have also supported me emotionally through phone calls, skype calls, emails, and Facebook messages. You have no idea what it means to me when i get a message or post on my profile saying that you are thinking about and praying for me.

Please continue to pray; God is doing a new thing in me and is showing me what the next steps are for my life. Before i left, my parents and i prayed that by the time i came home i would know what God's plan was for the next little bit of my life. Now i believe i know how i will be spending the next 3 years for sure...

I've told a few of you, but for most of you this will be brand new information. Once i return home, i will be working until August comes around, then i will be entering college again. I really feel like God is leading me to go back to school to qualify and and work as an RN. I'm excited about this - i always wanted to do something that helped people and made their lives better. I got a taste of that last year working at the Educational Center for Autism, but i know now that that job is not something i want long-term. Nurses are always in demand, and nursing is something i can take overseas if i want.

So please pray that God will continue to open and close doors as He desires. Thank you for all you have done to guide me to where I am right now. You will never know how big a role you've played in my life....thanks!!!!

JANUARY 25, 2011 --- I have just over 2 weeks left in Vietnam. I'm done with teaching and am spending my last few days here wrapping up the life i've had here for the past 5 and 1/2 months.

A week from right now i will be on a night train north to Lao Cai - a smaller city near the China border. Jeremy, Dakota and I will be spending a couple of days there celebrating Tet (Chinese New Year) with our friend Phuong's family. I'm excited to see how the real Vietnamese celebrate this important holiday. I'm preparing by collecting bills of small denominations to put in the famous red envelopes. In case you didnt know, at Chinese New Year, children are given red envelopes containing money by older family members and visiting family friends. I've already received two such envelopes myself, and i must say, i highly approve of the tradition!!!!

After the holiday, we are headed west to Sapa, near the mountains. While it is a touristy place, there is a lot of history and culture to absorb that you don't come across in Hanoi. It's also the only place in Vietnam that sometimes gets snow, so i'm half-heartedly crossing my fingers....snow = cold.... :o( ......

Once we return to Hanoi, there will only be 2-3 days before Jeremy and I fly back to Malaysia.

I will do my best to update during or just after Tet....check back in about 10 days!!!

Love to you all!!!!

JANUARY 8, 2011 -- It has been nearly 3 months since my last post on here!!! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast!! The last time i posted, i was counting down the days until i left for Singapore and had just said goodbye to a short-term team from the UK. Singapore has come and gone, as has Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND New Year's. Do your best to stick with me here, as i will try to update you on all that has happened in the last 3 months.

Halloween is pretty much a non-event here in Vietnam (as i imagined it would be), though a lot of people know what it is. I found myself missing seeing little kids dressed up as princesses, spiderman, and various other heroes and villains. I also missed having the opportunity to dress up myself....i really wanted to be Cleopatra again this year!!

I left for Singapore on November 12, after 2 days holiday in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). In HCMC, i saw so much history and lost my cell phone in a xyclo. See my friend Oanh in said xyclo below....


Once in Singapore, I, of course, had to buy a new phone! Then i met my supervisor/trainer Liza; for the next month i worked with her, teaching kids how to read English using phonics. It was fun and satisfying, if a bit tedious. I really did enjoy seeing the lightbulb come on for these 5 and 6 year olds. They already could speak English, but for one reason or another, they needed some extra help in learning how to read.They were absolutely adorable and i could see myself tutoring kids in the same way back home.

The last week i was in Singapore, 2 friends from Singapore flew down to have a holiday. We used those last few days to play tourist. We tried to go to Universal Studios there, but we didn't realize that you had to buy tickets weeks in advance. Instead, we went shopping at their fancy malls, explored the Singapore Zoo, and rode on the Singapore Flyer. (my next post will include pictures!!!)

One weekend in Singapore, I caught the bus up to Kuala Lumpur in order to drop off some things at my friend's place there. I got to see a couple of other GMT interns (hi Christine and Sarah!!!!) and was very happy to eat Indian food again (yuuummmmm! I love tandoori and naan!!!) On the way back, the bus i was on broke down on the side of the highway, in the rain, no where near a restroom....and i NEEDED a restroom!!!! After an hour, things reached an emergency level, and i apparently was not alone. Three other women and i made the trek up a hill into some trees and....well....you can imagine.....

I also spent Thanksgiving in Singapore....it was really just another Thursday, except i didn't actually work that day and Liza took me out for real American food. I never realized an appetizer sampler and country fried chicken on a riverboat would make a memorable Thanksgiving, but i will definitely never forget it!!

I arrived back in Vietnam on December 8 and was no so excited to eat pho bo (see pic below....it's a kind of beef noodle soup) or to have a pseudo-winter (Singapore is only 1 degree above the equator so it's hot year round). After my return, I jumped right back into teaching my English classes. I had really missed my kids! I also had to buy a blanket because even though it doesn't get much below 50 degrees here (even at night), the house i live in is made of concrete and has 10 foot ceilings, no insulation, and NO HEAT!!! So while 52 may not be that cold in the grand scheme of things, imagine it never getting above that no matter what you did!!!


For Christmas, a lot of my classes were canceled and i relaxed alot. On Christmas Eve, I drove up to the international church i go to for their Candlelight Christmas Eve Service. It was lovely and i enjoyed continuing that tradition here in Hanoi. On my ride back home, i saw the strangest thing.....i saw no less that 10 separate Santas on motorbikes; some had bags filled with presents while some had messenger bags and some were carrying nothing at all. It was a strange sight for sure. I was driving so i couldn't take pictures but i did find this online....


On Christmas Day, i opened the couple presents i received from friends and students here and spent lunch eating pizza and bbq ribs with Jolly, a GMT staff member here in Hanoi. We lazed around her flat, watching Ice Age until i had to go to meet some Americans for a real Christmas dinner and party. I found out that there are a lot of Americans who live within walking distance of my house!! I was invited there by Nancy and David Farnum (who know my brother and sister-in-law from Rochester, NY) and enjoyed a Christmas ham and a white elephant gift exchange. I was lucky in that i was last to pick so i was able to steal these great fleece lined slippers that were made in Nepal. My feet are toasty warm now!!!!

On New Year's Eve, Jeremy and I headed downtown to have dinner at a restaurant where a V'Namese friend works. After that, we drove around the area looking for a celebration of ANY kind. What we found was amazing!!! At 11:55pm, we stumbled upon a full-blown party complete with flashing lights, techno music, and a DJ....we actually got to experience the very first public New Year's Eve party in Hanoi!!!! It was even written about in the Shreveport Times!!!

Since then, classes have begun again and things are falling into a rhythm again. I just looked at my calendar and realized, i only have 3 weeks left of classes here!!!! February 3rd is Tet, which is Chinese New Year, and apparently that is the biggest party of the year here. Our V'namese friends have invited me, Jeremy, and Dakota up to their home in Lao Cai to celebrate the new year in the most authentic way possible. Then we are headed to Sapa to experience mountainous Vietnam....i may get to see snow!!! This is the only place in Vietnam that EVER sees snow, so keep your fingers crossed for me!!!


Then on Feb 10, I am headed to Kuala Lumpur for debriefing with the rest of the GMT interns. I get on a plane at 10:30pm Feb 22 to start the journey home. After about 25 hours in a plane or airport, i will arrive in DFW about 5:00pm on Feb 23rd. I am so excited to return home, especially in time for my birthday on Feb 25th!!!

Check out my next post for more photos!!!

Leigh