A Word of Welcome...

On September 1, 2011 fifteen young people from a range of high schools around the U.S. arrived at Noi Ba International Airport in Ha Noi. Jet-lagged and overwhelmed, they spent the weekend getting oriented to their new home amid Independence Day revelry and celebration. Now one month later, they are members of host families, interns at various community organizations, students on a university campus and participant-observers in a foreign culture and society. Thus begins their year with School Year Abroad – Viet Nam.

This monthly blog will chronicle the students’ lives in Viet Nam outside the SYA classroom. A process of sharing and peer-editing in their English class will precede all posts thereby creating an individual and collective narrative. Travel-journalist Tom Miller said “The finest travel writing describes what's going on when nobody's looking.” May these young writers seek out and find their moments to see, with new eyes, what no one else sees. May they write their stories with sensitivity and passion. And may you, our readers, enjoy imagining their Viet Nam.

Becky Gordon
SYA English Teacher

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Elliot Crofton

Dim lights, ragged furniture
Abhorrent waiting room
Visitors drink beer and smoke cigarettes
Ugly people lie in simple beds and stare at me
An adorable oddity in this hospital circus
I lie in a modest bed, look up at scrubs, face masks, outdated medical equipment
Stomach wrenches again and I vomit on the tile floor
It is as if the world is ending
Pain seeps from my body into my mind
My thoughts become scattered and dark
For just a moment I would rather die
Perrine’s hand comforts me and I know that I am okay
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