This week at Thanh Xuan Mai and I were actually able to do something more with the kids than sit in a room and play with blocks. We had a different teacher guiding the classroom, and though she was much more strict she was actually more involved with the kids. She told them a story, we sang songs (the English ones I had to lead), and Mai and I were even allowed to take a couple of the kids outside. She had a much better relationship (meaning one at all) then the previous teacher who was there all last week and this Monday. However, she did have a rather passive aggressive tirade basically against Mai and myself talking about Viet Kieu and how they are traitors and now are responsible for bringing the foreigners in which is extremely detrimental to Vietnamese society. It was really rather awkward, even to me and I did not understand 95% of what was said, though I could get the gist through occasional words and body language, so I can't even imagine how Mai must have felt. As horrible as that conversation was I really hope to keep a good relationship with this teacher because she actually kept the kids, and us, relatively entertained. She is also the only adult who I have been able to speak to, though that might be mostly for linguistic reasons.
As far as my relationship with my fellow volunteers has been going, I really enjoy the company of our EAP group at Thanh Xuan. I think we all really want to have a personal connection with these kids despite all the obstacles trying to prevent us from really making a place for ourselves at this organization. Even outside of Thanh Xuan we're getting really close and it's nice that we can bring that solidarity into our volunteering.
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