Jon’s going away party

The previous post on this was very brief and honestly an incomplete write up in my book. It surprised me that I never wrote a full extract based on Jon’s health throughout the internship and I feel this would be a better way to write about it.

Jon was one of the first people I clicked with, sharing that eternally common bonding thought in Vietnam of “this river fish felt more undercooked than we thought huh?!”. From there we were chilling out on floor 4 in house 5 for the most part, so it was easy to have small talk with him and Megan after classes. Jon had been doing fine for the first month and a bit through January and Tet. However, it had become apparent by mid March that with his mounting illnesses and mindset, he was not fit enough to actually teach a crazy class of 60+ students every day, and had been reduced to spending weeks in his room. Myself and Megan were always concerned about him, hoping he was OK, and heading to the shops to get him food and drink when he felt like it. When his mother visited, it was a welcome relief, but he still was inside his room, sometimes moving furniture around to change the monotony of what his small living area was.

The tipping point was when Tu visited the house when I was on an afternoon break. Herself and Nathalie were in the building checking on him and basically getting him to sign off on employment with BME. I never knew if he did or not, but they clearly wanted that room for someone else and weren’t getting their moneys worth. Jon may have been in his room recovering, but to BME they saw 4 out of 12 weeks teaching as bad. But BME always think like that, money over people and all that.

And of course for me, the nadir was when we got so excited to see him out and about on Cat Ba, only for him to be in his room for 99% of the trip. So in a way I was glad that he was leaving for the UK and set to recover back home. I had a lot of craic with him and hoped he would be better.

Which leads to his going away party at Cowboy Jacks. Diane, Andy, Kristina, Alex and I were planning on bringing Jon to what is as close to an American dining experience as we could find. He had posted on Facebook about the event and it seemed like a locked in plan. They did burgers and chips, so it seemed like a good idea. We sat down and enjoyed a beer, taking in the atmosphere and just unwinding. It was an enjoyable meal, but there was just one small problem…

Jon wasn’t there.

He was still in his room and had called off his plan to go to his own going away party! And it just so happened that when we were leaving the pub, that a whole host of interns had also found out and wanted to surprise Jon by appearing outside. It was actually impressive that we had all the ingredients to an amazing night but missing the actual person we were celebrating. Think the hangover, but with 50+ people rather than a handful of characters. We decided ‘feck it’ and headed to house 5, demanding Jon make an appearance at the lobby. Thankfully he did, and we just had a good lot of chill, with drinks and music.

It was really lovely seeing Jon with all the people that were happy to see him before he left. I hope he enjoyed one more big session. Then as the other groups headed their own ways, be it to the city center, the bia hoi’s, or just their own houses, it was back to a quiet night in. I had some final cans, before heading to my room to chill.

I hope he’s doing well with whatever work he is doing back in the UK. He was sorely missed for the rest of the internship and was a real tribute for all the subsequent drinks and football tournaments. This bia is to you Jon!