Auntie and Uncle

Brett and Heather are Ava's surrogate auntie and uncle in Vietnam. We have hands down travelled more with them than any other staff members and have been to Sri Lanka, North Sulawesi and Hoi An in central Vietnam just this year. And it's not even June. Despite not seeming to be rushing to the opportunity to have kids of their own, I'm always taken aback for their love of Ava and how much they take of her. How did we get so lucky?

We had a big negotiation a few weeks ago and persuaded Brett and Heather to stay at our school another two years, which is our tentative plan as well. Two years goes by fast though. I remember when we landed 6 years ago and walking the streets of Phu My Hung for the first time thinking that Vietnam might be a temporary thing though. As the school as grown and as it's quality has as well, we have less reason to leave. Our friendships have strengthened and I play music with a great bunch of people-who I'd hate to leave. What guarantees do we have that such people can be found in new places?

That's the nature of international teaching: high turnover. Our school's turnover is low but people have already come after we've come here and left before us. I feel that we've been at our school so long that we're starting to become the place. I hear of people that have been at a school for over a decade and my first thought is "what is wrong with you?" But here we are approaching the ten year mark like fast ticking hands on a clock.

Next year will be Ava's last year at "Kids Club" and then she enters our school. She'll come to school with us and hang out in our classrooms until she has to go see her teacher. I hope Brett and Heather will be around then too. Good friends are hard to come by.