No power

Today the power turned off at the school at 4:30—about the time students begin to trickle in for 5:30 classes—and was out for about hour. Same thing happened yesterday, which is the funny thing, from about 5:30 to 6:30. The kids poured out of the dim school lobby onto the sidewalk, full of energy, and we rounded them up into a big circle. We sang and danced tried to entertain. Two men in hardhats, orange suits, and sandals showed up on a motorbike and got to work on the transformer outside the school. Just at dusk, *click* an hour later, the school lit up again, and the children rushed inside up the stairs, screaming with joy.

Where are you going?

I filled up my big rolling suitcase this afternoon with some props for the lesson, “where are you going?” I couldn’t help smiling as I pulled it behind me three blocks to school, under the scrutiny of all the neighbors. “Tyler! Where are you going?” asked one, the neighbor with the 2 year-old in her lap. I explained. A little farther, “Oh, going back to America now?” (In Vietnamese). No, I said, not yet. From inside the pool hall a man I had never seen before shouted “Ooh, you come home now?” No, not going home yet, I smiled. I came to the corner and the sandwich vendor pointed at the suitcase with great concern. “No, just for my students” I said. Two motorbikes pulled up asking if I wanted a ride to the train station.