| Erin Bradshaw Vanna Ou I find it ironic that my life has been influenced so much by strangers. Sometimes I wonder if the meeting of strangers is something planned, to teach you something in a memorable way. Some of my greatest lessons came from an unlikely source, a stubborn Cambodian woman named Vanna Ou, who I knew for only five days. When my dad told me that he had gotten me a job working for his friend I was really surprised. I had been working with him for weeks and having me switch jobs made me think that I was not doing a good job painting houses and stripping wallpaper. All Dad would tell me was that his friend was a lawyer. Ready to file papers and take messages I went to Mr. Kesee�s office to find a small woman dressed in painfully bright orange pajamas answer the door. My job was to teach Mr. Kesee�s wife, who had only moved to the United States from Cambodia three weeks before, how to read. Vanna Ou had Dr. Seuss books all over the floor and she just stared at them. I noticed from her wandering eyes, her tired sighs and her changing the subject every thirty seconds that she did not want to learn how to read. Communicating with her proved to be even more difficult. I couldn�t understand what English she did know how to speak and she couldn�t understand any words that weren�t in the Dr. Seuss books. Well, actually, she only pretended not to know any other words than the ones in the Dr. Seuss books, when Mr. Kesee returned from his lunch Vanna Ou starting carrying on a conversation with him, half in English and half in Khmer. The next few days were rather interesting. When we actually worked I found my patience being tested in a way I had not experienced before because I knew how to read and half the time I knew she could do much better if she tried. The majority of those days however, were filled with her plots to get me to leave. After throwing my bag in the trash and ripping up my money for a ride home I really wanted to leave. Mr. Kesee hired me, however, to do a job and despite her best efforts I had to do my best to get through to her. I quickly learned that two stubborn people with opposite goals spelled trouble. Vanna Ou continued her antics and I continued to come back. I was beginning to see improvement in her reading and I didn�t want her to stop, which I knew she would the day after she could finally get me to leave. I learned to hide my money and not to bring bags, not to drink anything she offered me and somehow between her putting salt in my soda and pretending to be dead I realized that I had never been pushed to these limits before. I was able to control myself and not give in to some of the thoughts that went through my mind. Obviously our arguing prevented any productivity and I eventually explained to Mr. Kesee that I wasn�t worth what I was being paid because I could not get her to do the work. I thought that maybe if he found someone closer to her age she would feel more comfortable working with them and not have the same problems she had with me. I did not give up on her; I had to let her win so she would have a chance to learn. Walking away from the cold office and thinking on the ride home I realized that Vanna Ou taught me about a lot about who I am, which I never expected from her in a million years. She brought out new things about me that I didn�t know. It makes me wonder how many other things about me that I still don�t know because I�ve never had to find out. I find myself surprised to say that despite the unpleasantness of those 5 days, I wouldn�t take them back. |