March 1st and 2nd, 2010

Greetings once again! I am sitting in the living room of my new home in Tam Ky. We began the day with breakfast and some of the fantastic Vietnamese coffee – probably can’t replicate it but it’s the best!!! Orientation went well and we learned a lot about the program, how it came to be, and the lives of some of the people involved – they spent time in their lives in the orphanage.

We headed to Tam Ky with half the luggage on the top of the car. 1 ½ hours later we were in Tam Ky. As we were driving the most interesting thing was going on in the fields on either side of the road – there are many, many rice fields. The purveyor of the fields owns cows. They are out in the field with the farmers – and their job is to eat the grass down the paths between the rice paddies. Some were on a leash and some were just being led by hand! Cows here are not used for meat – just as pets. You can see them hanging out quite a bit.

The trip down the roads was just like in town – horns honking, cars and motorbikes all over the place, busses, trucks and a fair amount of road construction thrown in – you don’t fall asleep in a car around here!!!

The town of Tam Ky is nothing like I expected. The GVN house is on a main, busy road. Lots of activity around the house. Not quiet at all. But, very interesting and a great coffee place right next door. My room is upstairs and I’m sharing a room for the first week with a young lady from Australia who has been here for a couple of months. My mosquito net is hot pink!!! Mrs. Hahn, the cook, is just the spunkiest little thing and a fabulous cook. The first dinner was awesome – rice, tofu, cooked pumpkin chunks, Vietnamese spinach, a thin egg omelet – you have a small bowl and chopsticks and it all gets mixed together. It was very, very good!!! Following dinner was fresh watermelon and pineapple. The fruit here is awesome!!

We toured the house – everyone caught up on computer stuff and passed out for the night. It’s been a busy day – Vietnamese language lessons, instructions for teaching and dealing with the disabled children, and getting us ready to do our part for the month. It seems overwhelming just being told things without seeing what they are talking about but folks say not to worry – 1200 people before you have done this job, so can you!!! That puts it in a better perspective!!

The volunteers here include Amber – a student from Canada who is here for 6 months, Lorraine and Randall a retired couple who were here at this time last year and have returned, Julie a nurse from Australia, and for the rest of this week, Tiffany from Australia who is leaving this weekend after being here 2 months.

Heading off to bed so will download this and pictures tomorrow after a good night’s sleep!

Missing everyone but continuing daily to have my eyes opened, my mind challenged, and my heart full of stories of disadvantaged youth and pictures of darling children that will become a part of my life for the month of March.

Now it’s Tuesday morning – March 2nd. Just got the last blog updated and pictures added. I’ll tell you what the pictures are of – the little open market is in Hoi An and was across the street from the restaurant we ate at. The building is the guest house/hotel/hourly rentals place I stayed in DaNang. The bathroom is just that – but the whole idea that the toilet and shower are right there together is really interesting – it’s that way in every house!!! Eating noodles on the streets of DaNang – low tables and low chairs. The last picture is of the organized chaos on the roads of DaNang. I have now walked across the street a few times and lived to tell about it! The word is commit – you get started and just keep going – they’ll swerve!!! At first I thought I’d have to wear my bike helmet to just walk.

Well, heading to shower and ready for a day of some training and visiting!! More later!!!! Tam Biet!!!

It is now 1:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon. That is siesta time here – I don’t think they call it that but it’s what I know!!

We visited all our placements today. The first was Home of Affection. It is a school for kids – now they are aged 3 to 18. It is rather like a vocational/boarding school. Children live there but they do have families and go home to them when they choose – then come back to the school. It appears to be really well organized and well run. Will be heading back there tonight as one of my placements on Monday evenings is Game at HOA from 5:45 to 7 pm. We play indoor and outdoor games, do crafts, etc., just some fun down time for the students.

Next we went to the hospital where GVN finances the care of 2 disabled children. That was very hard for me and I broke down – the babies are just darling and so helpless. It was very hard for me to see. I do have 2 placements there a week so I will get used to it and enjoy doing massage and physical therapy with the babies.

We next went to the orphanage. About 20 bright and smiley faces were cheering and greeting us as we drove in. What beautiful children. They range in age from newborn to 10. The orphanage is large – well organized – full of ‘mothers’ that take care of the children and babies – not enough to cover all 45 of the children but the funds are not there to provide anymore help. The children are happy – this is what they know – they play, laugh, and love us volunteers. They immediately want to be carried, held, played with, etc. It will be a joy to play with them at least 3 times a week for 3 hours.

We then came back to the GVN house for a wonderful lunch of banana smoothies, and a wonderful chicken and shrimp broth with rice and vegetables – the cook here is fabulous. Just the idea of having someone cook 3 meals a day for us is wonderful. We do take turns doing the dishes and doing some chores around the house but we’re taken care of well in the food department.

Sweating a lot – this humidity is wild – it’s like a 24 hour hot flash!!! Hopefully this will get them all out of my system!!!

Closing now – will download another blog in a couple of days. Will also add some more pictures of these beautiful children.