Thriving in Saigon!

After the first three weeks of working three jobs I crashed and burned.  My body rejected the added stress, I got sick with a fever and had all my energy sapped from me.   On my first day of the two week Christmas break, I thought about quitting everything and moving back to surprise everyone at home in the States.  So I did it.  Well, most of it anyway.  I changed my plane ticket so that I would be back on Christmas day.  I told all of my employers that I was leaving.  I put my moto on Craigslist.  I told my landlord I was leaving.  It might sound strange but one of the hardest things for me to do was to tell my fellow teachers that I had to quit the play in which I now had the part of the Prince.  This was on a late Thursday night/Friday morning and I was leaving on the coming Monday.

I went out to eat with the teachers from the play that Friday night, the dinner was planned from before, but it now turned into a going away dinner.  The reality of leaving was really settling in and as you do I started to look at everything as if I was saying good-bye to it all.  This made me start to doubt my rash decision.  I texted the HR lady from VAS that night and asked her if I could change my mind and stay -- she was delighted to hear the news.  I went home that night and changed my flight back to the end of May.  $1000 later I have a story to tell.  That's about it!

Things didn't get easier, but I didn't regret my decision to stay.  VAS has been my greatest challenge towering over my stretching semester of teaching 9th grade English in Hugoton, KS.  When I was hired at VAS, I was told that I would have the classes that require additional patience.  I thought how bad can it be?  ...Way worse than I thought.  It was bad.  Then it got worse.  Then I felt worse.  Then I wanted to quit.  Then it got worse.  Then I felt worse.  Then I was thinking it was insane for me not to quit.  And then... seriously, it got even worse.  I was at my wits end with these students.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  Kids laying on the floor shaking like they were being electrocuted, kids throwing stuff, hitting each other, doggy piles everywhere, dancing, screaming, yelling, turning over desks and storming out of the room, and then there was me, the teacher, standing in front of the wreckage with my book in my hand -- smiling, crying, laughing, peeing my pants, and steam coming out of my ears.

But then, what is this... a week long camp for the students out in the mountainous jungle?   Yes!  I'm in! If I can only hold out until then!  I can't wait!  Fast forward...It was exactly what those students needed too -- open spaces for them to run, roll down hills, swim, feed crocodiles, sing, and dance around a blazing bon-fire.  What a blast that was!  Plus the staff got to bond throughout the process.  I wish I could tell you more about our staff meetings that lasted all through the night, but our truth or dare game stays in Madagui, and other topics during the mens night should never be talked about again.  That week was the best week I had since I arrived in SE Asia.

It was so great that I started to contemplate staying at VAS until May.  Even though at the time I thought that it was crazy to even think about that actually happening.

It wasn't easy going back to work after the great fun of camp.  I got to the point of writing my letter of resignation during one of my project classes.  But I didn't ever send it.  I talked to my head teacher and supervisors and was offered some different perspectives from them.  One guy told me to stop trying so hard to make an impact on the students and take a few steps closer to just doing it for the money.  "The ying and the yang kind of thing", he said.  I didn't like to hear that.  The head supervisor told me that the students know that they don't need to learn because their rich parents will take care of them after they graduate and that the school is a business it is primarily about earning income.  All of this made me feel very meaningless as a teacher.  But, my friends and fellow teachers reminded me that it is worth it if one student is inspired.  So with the combination of that one student that could be inspired and the pay check I trudged on.  And low and behold, I am seeing fruit.  It reminds me of my Lithuanian friend who hardly ever showed any sign of affection or friendship in the first year of my interaction with him.  But I made it my goal to continue to be oddly kind to him.  I was convinced that I was the only one in his life that would continue to be friendly to him after his rude behavior and condescending mannerisms.  At one point I asked him to come and live with my family for the summer and my family offered him a job, he accepted!  Long story short, we are now friends on Facebook and we would actually consider one another as real friends in real life!  I say all of that to say that persistence through pain can bring about fruit and thank the LORD that I am seeing it!!!  Some of my most disruptive students have become my favorites.  (Remember the one that lays on the floor acting like he is being electrocuted?  That's the one!  I regularly give him 5 minutes at the end of class to lay on the floor and act like he is being electrocuted.  I write it on the board, "Now is the time to lay on the floor and act like you are being electrocuted."  But I don't know if he enjoys it as much now that he knows that I have given him permission to do so.)

To all my teachers out there:  I am getting what I deserve!

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