The pictures are of craft day at the orphanage and Son in his sit up chair!! Big Boy!
Xin Chao! Most of you are most likely snoozing as I write this on a Tuesday afternoon. In my room with the double doors open, wind blowing through, and yes, my signature wet towel around my neck!! If I had to be fashionably correct here, I would have to go to the store and buy towels to match my outfits! But alas, fashion doesn’t matter as we crawl all around with the munchkins!
This morning took me to the Disabled Hospital to work with 8 children. Amber and I were kept busy massaging babies and helping with their physical therapy – remember they all get treated pretty much the same so it doesn’t take rocket science to figure it out. I could open my own practice back home if this was all there was!! A new young lady is there from the orphanage – Dyeun. She has pretty much been kept in a crib for most of her almost 3 years. She has been at the disabled hospital for 3 days now. She has a mother who cares for her and she comes back to the orphanage on the weekends. Dyeun has not had physical therapy to speak of so she cried a whole lot and really loud this a.m. as her arms and legs were manipulated. The last treatment of the day for her was a massage and she just turned into a dishrag with a smile on her face. It was very rewarding!!
Made a little shopping trip to the Co.op Mart which is their grocery store and a few shops. Still working on this filing system for all the worksheets so got more stuff for that. And then, I just had to look at a few cute, cheap t-shirts to go with my new genie pants and sure enough, there they were!!!! OK, now I’m done with shopping! If only I could smuggle a ginormous amount of mangos back home, my life would be fulfilled!!!
I have a Vietnamese cookbook so get ready for some yummy food coming out of the Mitchell’s house! After eating this way for 5 weeks it’s going to be really hard to get a hamburger or big steak dinner down. Meals are so light here, but very filling. I am looking forward to a HUGE glass of ice cold milk and Cottonelle toilet paper – there’s a combo for you!
Tuesday night – no one in Tam Ky wears tennis shoes. There are no dairy products here. Milk comes warm and you can put it in the refrig if you like or drink it warm – it’s called forever milk because it doesn’t spoil. No, I have not tried it. Bare feet are big here as you most likely know! They don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day here – but the Aussies, the Canadian and I have reminded everyone to wear green tomorrow just to get in the spirit a little bit. We gave Ms. Hanh some green food coloring to put into the food if she wishes!!!
Had a small class of 8 to 11 year olds tonight at HOA. We have new translators that don’t speak really good English so it’s a bit hard to get stuff across but we’re making it! The secret is to have a snack ready for them, and have a word search puzzle at the end of the class, make them laugh a few times, give them a sticker and they are the happiest munchkins in the world – so simple!!! Are they getting any English from me – I’ll never know!! They do get it in regular school but from a Vietnamese teacher so the pronunciation is not usually correct.
Tin came by tonight – he’s the young man I communicated with prior to coming here. He has expressed an interest in doing a little volunteering for GVN plus I think he is pretty fond of Amber who’s going to be here for 5 months - they seem to get along really well. He is going with her to Tam Tanh, the fishing village on Thursday and they are going to visit the orphanage on Friday evening.
I didn’t go to the orphanage today as it was my optional day to be there. I chose to finish my project at the house so that’s out of the way and I’m happy to say IT’S DONE!!!!! But the good news is, the gang came back and said that my Bubbha Boy was looking for me and looked a little bewildered when everyone else showed up but me!! That made me feel SOOOO good!!!!!! Anxious to see him tomorrow!!!
Will add another day onto this blog. Did not take pictures today to go with it and tomorrow could be more eventful than today! Good night to everyone – just as you are starting your Tuesday! I love you all – I miss you!!!
Wednesday night – March 17th: The end to St. Patrick’s Day which means nothing here. However, we did get Ms. Hanh to cook green food for every meal today. So, we did a little celebrating – had a beer tonight but was regular color!!
Back to the orphanage this a.m. and yes, Buddha was glad to see me! We had tons of fun. Son, who I massage each morning, has some real skin issues going on – horribly dry skin. Don’t know what causes it – with his illness could be any number of things but I lotioned and oiled him up good and will do so again tomorrow. Today was craft day so they made paper bag puppets which were pretty cute. Will attach pictures.
Went to Tam Tanh, the fishing village this afternoon. I had 37 children and Julie had 42. All were really eager to learn. When it gets wild is when it’s time to give out a sticker – you would think they were being handed thousands of dollars. It’s exactly the same way when we hand out the fruit at the end of class -don’t know if they are really that hungry and are afraid they might miss some food or if it’s just their nature. The drive to Tam Tanh is very enjoyable, except our car is short on shocks that actually work – it’s a bouncy ride. We drive along the coast as we go through the small, poor neighborhood. People have very little as the fishing is no longer profitable. Randall and Lorraine are donating $1500 to sponsor a class during the summer for the 15¬-17 year old boys at Tam Tanh. They are working with a contractor and the boys will be taught wood work and construction skills 3 mornings a week for 4 hours while they are on summer break. It will give them a vocation that can possible get them to somewhere better and earn more money. There was a similar program last year for the older girls – they were taught sewing and were able to secure jobs in the tailoring field, which is huge in Vietnam.
The classes at Home of Affection were canceled tonight as the University students provide an evening of entertainment for those children once a month and tonight was the night. I chose to go to the Economic Zone with Randall and Julie. This is where people who have good jobs come to have a couple of our volunteers help them with English – comprehension and pronunciation in particular. It was very interesting. The professions represented were – a lady who worked in the office for a paper company; a lady who is an environmental scientist; a man who works in the mortgage/lending department of a bank; a lady who works in the PR department of a bank; and a lady who is an accountant for an insurance company. All fairly young. They were asked by Randall last week to bring a prepared paragraph with them tonight to read to the group then we would critique it and correct their pronunciation. It was fascinating to hear the subjects they chose to speak on.
The first lady spoke on the mental illness issues with the children in Vietnam. They were issues related to stress – parents are putting too much emphasis on education and having their children attend school for long hours 6 days per week. They are adamant that their children will go somewhere better than they did – in the meantime the suicide and illness rate is up among the children who are pushed so hard by their children. When asked what a solution might be the general consensus was that parents should listen to their children when they say they can’t do anymore at the moment.
The next lady spoke about customs. Every custom of Vietnam shows that people lead a simple life. Each custom stresses the importance of family in their social structure. The patriarchal joint families include four generations. The external matters are controlled by the men while the women take care of the household. (however it’s mainly women in the rice paddies) Children are supposed to live with their parents until they get married. It is their responsibility to look after their parents and they respect their ancestors. Custom in Vietnam reveals the modesty of the people. Loud body movements during interaction with women are considered to be impolite. They are quite serious about their promises. They use their hands keeping their fingers down. Although marriage and funerals have been their chief ritual, they now celebrate birthdays. Drinking or smoking by women are publically restricted. They smile modestly on being appreciated for something.
Weddings – the date is chosen by a fortune teller. The groom, bride and the groom’s parents go to the fortune teller and he/she tells them the best date and time to get married. If it works out that all the family can be there that day, it’s a go. The exact time is very important so nothing can be late. This practice is part of the betrothal ceremony. Some days before the wedding, the groom’s family will visit the bride and her family with round lacquered boxes known as betrothal presents. It consists of areca nuts and betel leaves, tea, cake, fruits, wines and other delicacies which is covered with red cloth and carried by unmarried girls or boys. There is the actual wedding ceremony. On the wedding day the groom’s family and relatives go to the bride’s house bringing a lot of gifts wrapped in red papers. These gifts are similar to those of the engagement. The persons holding these trays are carefully chosen and usually are happily married couples. Everyone is very dressed up in their finest. The troop is usually led by a couple that is most wealthy and successful among the relatives – this means to wish the-to-be wed couples a blessed life together in the future. The groom’s family will stop in front of the bride’s house. The leading couple should enter the house first with a tray of wine. They would invite the bride’s parents to take a sip. By accepting the toast, the bride’s family agrees for the groom’s family to enter their house. The firework is immediately fired to greet the groom’s family. The groom’s family would introduce themselves and ask permission for their son to marry his bride. The bride’s parents present their daughter. The bride follows her parents out. She wears a red traditional wedding ao dai, followed by her bridesmaids. The couple prays before the alter asking their ancestors for permission for their marriage, then express their gratitude to both groom’s and bride’s parents for raising and protecting them. The couple bows their head to each other to show gratitude and respect. They receive advice on starting a new family. The parents share their experience and give a blessing. The rings are exchanged and they receive gifts from their parents such as golden bracelets, ear rings, necklace…the ceremony ends with applause. The party takes place at the groom’s house – sometimes in these days at a restaurant. Guests sing songs on the stage to give luck to the bride and groom. There is a band. In the middle of the party the couple goes to each table to get good wishes, as well as money. Even if they have chosen to get married in a church or temple the traditions still stay the same prior to the actual wedding ceremony!
After learning all of this we went to the home of a lady who was in this Economic Zone group last year. She gave birth to a baby boy on February 15th of this year – the 2nd day of Tet celebration so a very lucky birth and baby. The baby is not named for a month. During the first month, the mother and baby do not leave the bedroom. For the first 3 months and 10 days, the mother goes to no social functions. Only family can see the baby the first month. There is no day care to speak of – family takes care of the child if both parents work. In this case, they do – she is a high school math teacher and her husband is a banker for an investment bank. They do very well and have a beautiful home – totally unlike anything I’ve seen since I’ve been here! We were served green tea which has more caffeine than coffee – therefore I’m wide awake for awhile!!!
That’s it for this installment! I hope you enjoy all the information – it just never ceases to be interesting here!!!
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