Bridges and Bicycles!

So... it's Thursday. Can someone please slow time down?! I'm not ready to be heading home in less than two weeks! But as I quickly run out of time here, I work harder to chat and be friends with others and experience as much life as possible here before departure date! So this week this is how I've done:

Tuesday: For the life of me, I cannot remember how this day started out. I made egg sandwiches again for breakfast. This may have been a very slow day... Oh, I know now!! Tuesday was Oasis, the women's Bible study group, and we all met at our house. We explored the story of Lazarus for a while and then closed out with Dominoes Pizza. Sounds much like America, huh? That would be because the majority in that group are Americans probably. That, and Tuesday's Dominoes has a deal of buy one get one free. We enjoyed some pizza and company for a bit and then had to kick them all out because we had to leave. Heather brought me to the Master's Cup coffee shop to get a brief orientation so that I could come whenever and participate in their speak rooms. The Vietnamese like to practice their English on us foreigners. I find it very interesting and feel I learn quite a bit from just being there and listening too! After the training, we came back home so Heather could get dressed for work and I prepared to just chill for a few hours. After that was English lessons which was fun! They went over a few lessons in their books and then since there were three English speakers and three Vietnamese speakers we divided up and did kind of a speed dating type idea. I really enjoyed that! Heather had a friend help her bring her bicycle from home to the coffee shop where we were so that I could officially have my own mode of transportation! I rode it home that night! Odd how I feel more free now that I have my own transportation! Now I can do things while Heather is out and not be on foot!

Wednesday: Busy day! We got up early and headed across town to teach English to children. They were so cute! I loved working with them and loving on them! We worked on phonics and three letter words. By the end of our time together, one boy was already laid propping himself up across my lap. Too sweet. Don't know if I'm allowed to take pictures but I'll ask Heather tomorrow. I think that's where we're going tomorrow morning too. After that, the other teachers from nearby invited us to join them for drinks. I ordered a coffee shake. Have I mentioned I love Vietnamese coffee?! They also got some fried pineapple for us to split. I've never had that before, but it tasted DELICIOUS!! I'd be tempted to try to make that back home! We were about to order fried durian so that I could try the smelly durian for the first time, but we were out of time. Had to jet to get to our next meeting! We met Michael and Emmy at our house to have pizza and discuss the lesson plan for youth on Friday night. That was a good time, good conversation, and fun people. They left just as it was time for Heather to leave for work so that meant I was on my own again for a few hours... Well, I hopped on my bicycle and pedaled myself to Master's Cup and hung out and chatted with a large group in the speak room for over two hours! Then I needed to leave so I could pick up some groceries. I headed out on my own again, found my way to the mall, got my parking tag, parked and locked up my bike, and headed in to explore! First time to do so much completely independently! I wandered the mall for a little bit. They have some cool stores. One called Runway is decorated with bamboo everywhere! They also had a Converse store completely devoted to Converse shoes and apparel! They even had a free art gallery! Cool! Only made it three of it's five floors before I decided I needed to go ahead and shop so I wasn't out too late in the dark. Did the grocery shopping all on my own, not understanding much but knowing what I wanted! I left there having spent over 800,000! Hauled it all out to my bike and tied stuff up every which way and headed home. It was slightly a tough ride because I was weighted down with groceries, but also because the bridges I have to cross felt like mountains with my out of shape legs pedaling hard to earn my downhill roll work free. But I made it home and didn't even crack an egg! Heather asked me today why I didn't just have them deliver it all for free. In all honesty, I think I was trying to prove something to myself, that I could do it! Hahaha. I came home, unloaded groceries, and started preparing a very special meal for Heather! She loves Mexican food and you just can't get that here. But I managed to find random odds and end that equaled out to making taco salad! Beef, taco seasoning, refried beans, tostito chips with lime, bell pepper and onions sauteed, lettuce and tomato cut up, and even grated some cheese! She was beyond ecstatic once she realized what I made her!! And she enjoyed every bite of it. I love treating special people to special meals!

Today: Hard morning to wake up. Just wanted to sleep in. Finally got up though and we went to meet with Ben from church who was loading some things on Heather's computer for media shout. That's where I ordered a dark chocolate coffee ice blended!!! It was soooooo yummy! Then we went up to the top floor of the mall and met the youth and youth workers to see a movie. I got to see Superman with Vietnamese subtitles! :o) Odd thing, they give you assigned seats with your ticket purchase. Anyway, LOVED the movie and hanging out with everyone there. We headed home to eat some lunch before Heather had to split for work. We were supposed to have English lessons again tonight, but they got canceled because no one could make it. Instead, we just enjoyed a leisure evening in for a change.

Tomorrow: We will have English class for the little ones again which I'm looking forward to. We have lunch with a friend, Erin, to introduce me to more real Vietnamese food. That makes me slightly nervous! Ha. After that I'll go to Master's Cup again for a bit and then meet Heather back home to leave for youth Bible study at her church. And Saturday, super exciting, we're going to go hang out at an orphanage!! Can't wait to love on those kids!! Things here keep changing nonstop. My original plans don't always work out. Things are canceled due to difficulties or some things have been deemed unsafe. But with that being said, other things open up for me to experience and I'm super excited! I mean, if we went according to the plan, we'd be going somewhere else this weekend instead of the orphanage. But the orphanage is one of the things I've gotten most excited about! All things for the glory of God! Loving life here in Vietnam with all it's quirks and difficulties. Never knew some things were so hard to do here. Oh, and tomorrow, I will officially try Durian, the fruit that smells up the whole produce section of the grocery store. Heather brought some home for us today. I did eat Pomelo today. It was yummy. Not finding too much fruit I don't enjoy! Thanks for your prayers and enjoy some pictures!