Hello from Vietnam!

Hey everyone!

We are INCREDIBLY busy in Vietnam, but here is an email the group sent to our family this morning that sums up some good parts of our trip!  Promise to write more later!  If any of this post doesn't make sense, I blame it on heat, sleep deprivation, and inside jokes that have taken over our minds :)  Love to all!

We've had another couple of wonderful days in Ho Chi Minh City! Tuesday morning we walked around the city and visited the biggest market.  We saw lots and lots of great knock offs, silk robes, and pajama sets for Rachel.  The market also had lots of really cool Vietnamese handicrafts.  HCMC is really interesting and busy--there are literally motorbikes everywhere you look.  Tuesday afternoon we visited the orphanage again and fell even more in love with the children.  We have such a fun time playing with them.  Tuesday night we went to a really great restaurant--aka a miniature table (Ryan really loved the matching miniature stools) on the side of the road next to a sketchy, urine scented wall.  It was definitely an experience to say the least. We ate "hotpot," which is a traditional meal where the food is cooked in a pot on a hot plate in front of you (which really adds to the already stifling heat). We poured the vegetables and broth (and Anne added some sketchy looking seafood which resembled cuttlefish) over rice noodles.  We even threw caution to the wind and drank the ice.  What daredevils. (No sickness yet though!!) And of course, being the group we are, we found the frozen yogurt across the street from our hostel.  Don't worry, we'll be going there often.

Wednesday was even more filled with beautiful people, and more importantly, us throwing each other under the bus (sometimes the only way to get through the day and awkward language barrier).  After our English lesson at the monastery turned into a karaoke contest featuring Brittany Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, and ABBA, we had a great lunch featuring MANGO, Rachel's absolute favorite food.  We even ate the mango with rice and soy sauce, just like the monks. Wednesday afternoon we played with the kids again, and we learned a lot about how the orphanage was started and is run on a day to day basis.  When we were leaving, literally all of the kids followed us to the street corner, waving goodbye.  We had such a hard time leaving them for just an afternoon, we have no idea how we'll survive without them when we leave.

Wednesday night, we found a great restaurant with a couple of Western dishes and of course, free happy hour with a drink that tasted like cough syrup.  And Rachel got her french fries.  We had a nighttime visit at our hostel from the monks and a surprise lesson in Vietnamese. We're pretty much pros, of course.  Fluent.  They were also kind enough to bring a traditional, very special fruit.  We have no idea what it was called, but it was like durian, but worse.  Even Gheales did not like it.  At all.  The smell alone was enough to vacate a room.  We were overjoyed this morning when we found that the extra mystery fruit Anne and Ryan place outside our room had disappeared never to return.  Ryan's exact words: "My dream came true!" (Don't worry, we were all very polite to the monks and told them we loooooved their fruit)

This morning, we were able to sleep in a bit and are headed to finalize our weekend plans after sending this email.  We're hoping to go to Cambodia this weekend and then the Mekong Delta (not Tri-Delta, like Rachel likes to refer to it...) next week with the monks and Tina.  Hope y'all are all doing well and we miss you tons!

we are family.

The whole fam went to dinner last night at the Cheescake factory! It was hilarious 

(as always) and consisted mostly of Andrew and I ganging up on goodnatured-ly teasing 

Grace.  Reminded me just how much I adore them...

Love 'em.  Definitely gonna miss them this summer.

happy day :)

Home is where the heart is.

I love being home.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE love love Athens, with all my heart.  But there's something about coming home that just... ahhhhh.  The smell of my house (not a bad smell.  a unique smell.  a homey, welcome home smell.  you know what I mean).  My bedroom.  My desk.  My bed (which, yes, even though it's 10:30pm, I'm in bed).  Everything.  I LOVE it.

In a few days, yes, I'm sure I'll be ready to get back to Athens, back to my college friends, back to my college-life.  But for now, I'm enjoying bumming around, taking long, hot baths, eating the food we always have at home, sitting at the kitchen table with my sister while she does her homework (which is now AP World History instead of 5th grade science projects), reading on the back porch while watching our puppies play (ok, so they aren't puppies anymore), watching tennis with my brother, and drinking coffee in the kitchen while everyone gets ready for school and work. I'll enjoy spending time with my high school friends, visiting old teachers, running with my high school coach, and having lunch with some incredible ladies who not only let me spend time with their incredible children (and paid me for it :) ! ) but also truly shaped the person I'm becoming.

And I'm excited.

happy day, folks :)

sweet summertime.

Holy moly.

Thank goodness finals are over.  Update: I have slept.  Quite a bit, and it's been lovely.  The past few days have been filled with celebrations--graduation celebrating with Michael's sweet family, Ryan's birthday, and of course, Mother's Day.  All in all, a great last few days to an incredible semester.

To all the graduating seniors--I can't believe y'all won't be here next year.  And I really don't wanna believe it, either!  Y'all have been absolutely incredible, and you'd sure better keep in touch. :)  The graduation ceremony was actually not bad at all--they kept it quick, and Alton Brown was absolutely HILARIOUS.  Seriously.  I'm going to try to find a video of the speech to put up here.  The student speaker, Christie Haynes, was wonderful, too.

So summer.  Here's my schedule...

This week (May 9th-14th or 15th), I'll be back and forth between Johns Creek and Athens, visiting anyone and (hopefully) everyone!

May 15th or 16th: leave for Seaside, FL

May 22nd: Head to Thailand!

June 4th: Return to Atlanta (hopefully without food poisoning)

June 17th: Fly to Philadelphia to intern with Teach for America as an Operations Coordinator at "Institute," which all TFA-ers attend before going out into the world of education. :)

August 5th: Return to Atlanta

August 6th: Back to Athens :)

So excited for this summer, but missing Athens more than I can explain. :)

happy day.

After finals...

I have a list next to my computer of all the things I can't wait to do when I'm done with finals.  In 24 hours. WOOOOO!

• Run.  A lot.
• Sleep
• Tan
• Read
• Make cookies
• See people, and not have to leave after 0.000004 seconds to go work on another paper
• Sleep
• Sit and do NOTHING
• Watch movies
• Write notes to my friends who are doing absolutely incredible, amazing places this summer
• Dream about going to Vietnam
• Sleep
• Not rely on caffeine to stay focused :)
• Clean
• Did I say sleep?

happy finals :)

more books

How do I know it's finals?

Because I'm obsessively cleaning.

And adding to lists.  Like my list of books to read:

1. Strengths Based Leadership
2. White Oleanders
3. Stones into Schools
4. Pathologies of Power
5. Half the Sky
6. The Bielski Brothers
7. Everything is Illuminated
8. Long Way Down
9. Sophie's Choice
10. Profiles in Courage

And no, I don't plan on doing anything except reading when I finish finals.  Reading.  What I want to read.  In the sun.  Falling asleep.  Drinking Diet Coke.  Or sweet tea.  ahhhhhhh.  This might actually motivate me to write papers.

Or not.  Whatevs.

oh finals.

Me: I wish I was an insomniac.

Unsuspecting roommate: I'm sorry. What?!

Me: I wish I was an INSOMNIAC.

UR: Um, no.

Me: Ok, ok.  I mean... I wish I had magical superpowers so that I didn't have to sleep.  Ever.

summer reading

In high school, I always saved my summer reading until the very last possible moments of summer.  now, I'm the nerd who makes her OWN summer reading list.  So here we go...

1. I am Charlotte Simmons
2. Remembering the Forgotten God
3. The Lost Symbol
4. The Reason for God
5. The Freedom Writer's Diary
6. Nanny Returns
7. One Day, All Children
8. Pride and Prejudice (No, I haven't read that...)
9. Kite Runner
10. A Thousand Splendid suns
11. Committed
12. Jhumpa Lahiri  one called "The interpreter of Maladies" and "Unaccustomed earth." 
13. "Bel Canto" written by Ann Pratchett
14. Peter Hessler's "Oracle Bones"
15. "The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them"

The last few are spring break reccs that I never got a chance to read!  Eek, thinking about reading these will probably get me through finals haha.  And add to this a ton of books I have stacked up at home that I can't remember... :)  Just a few days!!