More Goodbyes

Doug recently wrote about our Aussie friends, Peter and Robin - it was hard saying goodbye to them last Sunday. But there was another goodbye that morning.  A second couple we know from Australia, Phil & Penny, will finish their project in December. Penny returned to Melbourne early to help her daughter with the grandchildren.  We cried as we hugged our goodbyes on that same Sunday morning. It's just hard to see friends go.

Two weeks ago we also said goodbye to Joanna & Pak at our Sunday gathering, although I did get to see Joanna one more time at our weekly Bible study on Thursday.  They left the very next day for South Korea as Pak's contract in Hanoi was finished.  I really got to know Joanna well when she joined our women's Bible study last January.  What an amazing prayer warrior; she's one of the most incredible women of faith that I have met. I don't think she realized the impact she had on my personal faith walk.  As we sent her from our midst that Thursday morning, there were many prayers and tears.  She will be greatly missed by all of us.

Yes, we've been incredibly blessed with relationships here in Hanoi.  As we focus on our work with students, He has provided us with the support and fellowship of many from His family who meet each week at the Hanoi International Fellowship.  We're so grateful for these friendships. Though they are short in time, they are the enduring "sweet fellowship" of the Word. 

"In Thee we trusted, and we were not disappointed."

Aliens in a Foreign Land

Somewhere it's written that we are "aliens in a foreign land" in this life, awaiting the coming of our real home. If we are fortunate, we sometimes come across the path of other strangers who are traveling the same road as ourselves. Those are times spent in the oasis of friendship. Enjoy these moments because the time is fleeting; we soon continue along our separate ways.

Here in Hanoi, we have been blessed by strangers who were truly angels in our path for a season. One such couple came our way via Australia...and a "good day, mate" it was indeed! Robin and Peter have returned to Brisbane for a season of change in their own journey; we were sad to see them go. Their parting was marked by a lovely evening at dinner and a concert at the Hanoi Opera House.

Good food, good music, and good friends...does it get any better than that?

Au revoir, xin chao, arrivederci, adios amigos, see ya later alligators! We love you.

 

Hanoi Celebrates 1000 Years!

The largest parade in Vietnam's history took place today on 10/10/2010 - the 1000th birthday of the city of Hanoi - originally called Thang Long.  There were 31,000 people IN the parade, millions lined the streets to watch.  The parade started in Ba Dinh Square,  pictured at the top of the blog.

There has been 10 days of activities and celebrations all around Hanoi culminating today.  The parade started at 8 am and the closing ceremony is going on now, as I write this, in a stadium not very far from where we live.  The traffic to get there is incredible, thousands of people headed to the stadium - we are at home!

There are just too many great photos to post, so here are a couple of links to help you enjoy the celebration.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/201010/Hanoi-in-full-festival-mode-938654/ - scroll down to the end of this and enjoy the pictures of the laser light show on Hoan Kiem Lake on Friday evening - here's a sample.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/beautiful-vietnam/in-photos-parade-to-celebrate-hanois-1000th-birthday_5220.html - great parade pictures.  Our organization's personnel director was among those marching with the international friends in the last picture - unfortunately, she's not in the picture.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/news/vietnam/military-puts-final-touches-on-1000-year-performance_4951.html - more parade pictures with some great closeups of the marching units.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/beautiful-vietnam/100-models-showcase-vietnams-ao-dai-in-hanoi_5049.html

this link is a show of the traditional dress of Vietnam, the ao dai, pronounced ow zi - with a long i sound.  Here's a sample :

It's a 5 o'clock World!

"Up every mornin just to keep a job

I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob

Sounds of the city poundin in my brain

While another day goes down the drain"

Not classic poetry, just a popular song by the Vogues in the 60s.  Occasionally I'd hear this on the Oldies station in Detroit as I made the commute home on I-75 from my job in the Motor City.  How I hated the "rush hour" (a contradiction in terms if ever there was one!)  But after Hanoi, I don't think I'll ever be able to complain about traffic at home again.

This was the scene below our 3rd floor window, overlooking Chua Lang Street, on the evening of the mid-autumn moon festival, a big tradition in Vietnam.

Apparently everyone left work and school at the same time. They converged in front of our building at 5:30 pm.  It took two hours for this mayhem to clear, the biggest, longest lasting traffic jam we've seen in our neighborhhod.

Buses normally blow through this intersection in front of our school, honking like angry geese at the cars and motorbikes. This night, it took one bus 15 minutes to go 30 feet! You can see that there are no lanes on Hanoi streets. If there is an opening in the mass of humanity, you  just shoot through it.

No room on the street?  No sweat, just ride your motorbike on the sidewalk. From the 3rd floor, the motorbikes take on the appearance of migrating ant colonies, flowing around obstacles in a determined effort to keep moving forward.

It was not a good night to be a pedestrian! And I wonder what the driver of that small cab was saying to the guy in the SUV who was squeezing by?

Like Ripples in a Pond

Susan's story about our night market experience has become a "WOW!" moment in our lives. Fortunately it had a happy ending. Ahh, but it seems it hasn't ended yet. In fact it has continued on in ways we never expected. Like the ripples in a pond when you cast a stone into the water.

Susan explained that the cash she was carrying was our "mattress fund", money to purchase a new mattress. Our backs have taken a beating on the 3 inch foam pad which was provided with our room. Well, as news of our loss quickly spread among our brothers and sisters here in Hanoi, something wonderful happened. Two people felt moved to replace our lost funds. We are now sleeping comfortably on a  9" mattress with springs! Our backs already feel the improvement. In the end, our only real loss was a slashed bag and two bruised psyches. We are rejoicing at the goodness that has come from this bad time.

But, there are still more ripples in the pond.

Last Monday I encountered the colleague who had invited us to the night market. In the teacher lounge between classes I told him what had happened - the theft, the loss, the anguish, the talk with Father, the positive results. He was stunned at the details and the happy ending.

Yesterday, I met him again as I visited the faculty offices. He asked about the woman who had found Susan's wallet and told me I was very "lucky". I replied, " not lucky, blessed". That simple word led to an hour long conversation about what, who and why I believe. It felt like I had walked through a door that was not open last year. His questions were relevant and searching. I know that work is ongoing in him. Just as our guest house is being renovated, so is his heart! Please remember him in your quiet times.

We understand more clearly that what happens to us isn't what's important. How others see us handling life, that is the issue!

Our Amazing God

I want to share our unforgettable "roller-coaster" weekend with you.  On Saturday evening we went to the Hanoi Old Quarter to have dinner with a teaching colleague. Then it was on to the night market, something we had yet to experience.  We were excited about the opportunity to spend some time with one of the Vietnamese teachers and his girlfriend.

The night market is usually crazy crowded, festive and hot, all the time.  But this was also the initial weekend of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The crowds were enormous!  We found a couple of bargains and there was a  colorful "dancing dragon" competition that was fun to watch. But as the night wore on we were jostled almost continuously. We simply wanted to get out and go home.  So we jumped into a taxi and did just that.  Our two hour adventure was over.

 

This morning as I prepared to go to church, I went to the bag that I had used last night to get my wallet. It was gone!  And then I saw the slash on the side where it had been cut and my wallet removed.  We had been told to hold tightly to your bag - I made sure the one I brought was around my neck and shoulder and positioned in front of me the whole time.  The only time that I was truly jostled on the side with the cut was by a couple of young boys, maybe 10 or 11 years old. I do remember one of them looking me in the eye for a long time during the crush, a distraction.  Apparently, some of them learn how to steal at a young age, somewhat reminiscent of Oliver Twist.  I marvel at the fact that they were able to cut the bag - and not me - when it was right up against my stomach the whole time, I've been told they use razors.  Needless to say, this situation threw me into an emotional tailspin.

After Doug was able to calm me down, and our team mates went off to church without us, I got on  Skype to cancel our credit and debit cards.  Realizing how angry and upset we both were, Doug and I sat on our bed to talk to our Father.  An incident like this could cause us to lose focus, to forget why we are here and  just become discouraged. It's a personal invasion and threat, after all.

 

As we were finishing our plea to Him, my cell phone rang. It was the SOS International Clinic calling to ask me if I had lost my wallet!  A Vietnamese woman had found it in her basket - she is a street vendor who carries her items for sale on baskets attached to her bicycle.  She went through it to find some way to identify the owner and saw the only thing with a Hanoi address, my SOS card.  She drove quite a distance this morning to go to the clinic to bring the wallet there.

We asked her to please wait while we drove there, a 30 minute taxi ride.  She waited and personally returned the wallet to me.  I'm sure she's never quite been hugged that way by a stranger, but I had tears of joy in my eyes. So did she. I tried to give her a reward; she would not take it.  She was just happy to get my wallet back to me.  Everything was still in the wallet, credit cards, checks, license, and some personal items. Only the cash was stolen, about $300US, the money we were going to use to buy a much needed mattress this week.

The lessons learned: 

1.  Never take your wallet to a crowded place in Hanoi again; carry cash only in a front pocket and keep

     your hand in your pocket.

2.  There are good and bad people everywhere, a point the Father needed to remind us this morning in all

     our anger and frustration.

3.  He hears our pleas and delights to surprise us with His answers.  Our plea was only for the ability

     to forgive and keep focused, He gave me back my wallet with all the important things still in it.  This was

     truly a miracle.  There have been other teachers from our organization that have had their wallets stolen

     through the years, but no one has ever had it returned!

4.  Sometimes we just don't know how a problem will have something good come from it.  The only reason

     the SOS clinic had my cell phone number was because I went there last May with a toothache.

5. Finally, like the song says, "Life is hard, but He is good!" 

Construction = Chaos

No, we haven't disappeared from our blog - we just can't seem to get back to our routine!  After three weeks back in Hanoi, we're still not fully settled.  We came back to major renovations in the building where we live; in other words...noise and dirt!  Doug & I are in our rooms, but our teammates haven't moved in yet because their rooms aren't ready. We haven't cooked in our kitchen since we got here. Hopefully that will change this weekend. The good news is they made the kitchen and dining area into one large room by knocking down a wall.

In our 2nd week back we were off to attend the Team Vietnam orientation for 5 days. It was fun to see all the returning teachers and meet the new ones.  The Vietnam team is growing - and there were 6 adults and 4 children missing from this picture!


Doug is now in his second week of teaching. He has 5 speaking classes this semester, 4 of them start at 7 am!  But it is cooler in the morning, so maybe he won't be so uncomfortable while he's teaching.  He does have one class at 3 pm.
 
I've been busy with a number of activities, my one day a week job at Hanoi International Fellowship, tutoring sessions three times a week with students and just trying to figure out what and where we will eat dinner!  Now, you might think that getting take out or dining out is easy, but we are NOT in the good old USA.  The choices and variety are limited and we need to take a taxi just about everywhere - it gets expensive. We,ve been able to shop for cold cuts, bread, fruit and yogurt, so breakfast and lunch are ok in our room.  But until I can use my kitchen, our diet is hit and miss, not what we prefer.
 
 
Many student friends from last year have come by; they are as anxious as we are to start our weekly meetings again. Seeing them has reminded us why we came; they are great kids.  But for now, the construction keeps us from using the meeting room and common area. After all, what will we do if we can't all eat brownies together!  We just hope that we can start next week or soon after. Then we'll happily get back to normal, whatever that is!