They are leaving!

This picture is of me being happy...with my girl Huong. This will soon change. Why? Because the kids are leaving! I'm just building up my relationship with the older kids at Baby Orphanage (Including my girl Huong) and now all the kids over the age of 6 are leaving. I am seriously upset about this. I'm totally going to miss her.
I didn't expect to fall for a kid so quickly here, especially since communication is limited, but seriously, when you spend your whole day with them, and they give you hugs, kisses and hold your hands you start to get attached. The last few days since school ended we have spent almost all of the day together. She gets me to sit on the steps while she puts my hair in pigtails, pushes my bangs back and slicks them to the side, tries to steal a comb from the 'mothers' to comb my hair smooth, and fails. (Also tried to find a nail clipper to give me a manicure... also didn't turn out as she wanted) She's 8, she gives me hugs, and she's beautiful.
They all leave on Monday. MONDAY. We are planning on doing something for all of the kids on "International Children's Day" (hear that mom? There IS a kids day... not just Mother's Day and Father's Day, haha). Now I guess we just need to make their special day bigger. The kids never get a chance to see outside the orphanage (I guess they freaked when they saw the ocean last month). I don't know what we are going to do, but it's going to be BIG.
Carrie (the volunteer who has been here for 8 or 9 months) is very upset too. The kids aren't just going to another orphanage in the area, they are going all the way to Hoi An (where we sometimes vacation on the weekend.) She has one girl that she absoloutely loves, and now she will have to travel for 2 hours on a bus and stay in a hotel to see her. Maybe I'll get a chance to go with her. Oh man I am very upset. I just am.

Smoothies

At home I enjoyed the occasional smoothie. It's cool, refreshing, and full of tasty fruit. Here in Tam Ky, every lunch is accompanied with a new fruit and ice concoction, some which are wonderful, others are just an adventure.

I enjoyed the following smoothies:
Banana and Yogurt
Grapefruit and Jackfruit
Banana and Pinapple
Apple and Pineapple
Orange and Pineapple
Carrot and Pineapple

I did not enjoy the following smoothies:
Banana and Tomato
Grapefruit and Tomato
Anything with Tomato

Note for those at home, do not put tomato in Smoothies. It may LOOK like strawberry... but it tastes very different.

Sweating

Last year at work when putting away the chairs with the bellstaff boy Jeff, I was complaining about sweating. He replied: Girls don't sweat Danielle, They glow.

If only Jeff could see me now.

The following is a list of the places on my body that sweat in Vietnam that dont usually in Canada:
Inner Forearm
Calves
Backs of my hands
Ear Lobes
Eye lids (eyebrows are only kinda useful)
Between my toes/ fingers
Under my Fingernails
Tops of my feet
Behind my ears
My Belly Button


Things that make me sweat that don't when I'm in Canada:
Waking up
Brushing my teeth
Drinking water
Drying off after my shower
Putting on my Bra/ any of my clothes
Walking down the stairs
Eating a snack
Hanging up laundry on the roof
Writing in my journal
Playing Cards
Typing at the computer

Althought I look forward to returning home and this excessive sweating stopping... I'm having a fun time in the moisture of it all.

Nha Trang

Nha Trang was a load of fun. It was our last weekend with the volunteers that are leaving this month and we wanted to make the best of it. We took a sleeper bus for 10 hours from Tam Ky all the way to Nha Trang. There was one bathroom stop, and some guy stole Carrie's shoes, she had to go up to him and take them back (with the rest of us cracking up in the background).
We arrived our hotel which was called "The Nice Hotel" at about 6am, found a room, crashed for about another 6 hours, then spent the day at the beach. We parasailed, improved our tans and had a nice relaxing evening.
Our second day, we went to a water park. We went in a cable car over the ocean, spent most of the day sliding down slides as "our own little family". We all seemed to walk out of the water park with injuries, I bit my lip, Jenny had a million bug bites, Cat smashed her head off the slide... and I think we all had perma-wedgies. It was a good time.
From there, we got to go to the 'dry rides' which were like, roller coasters, carosels and other amusement park rides. Bumper cars were my fave! I also rode the mechanical bull successfully but I'm sure I looked petrified. Tam seemed bored, Rosie laughed her head off and I think my eyes popped out of my head as I repeated 'I dont want to jump off... just stop, PLEASE'. The bull took a minute and a half to listen.
We went to a fire show on Saturday night, which was pretty cool, danced to an obscene amount of techno and got home to the Nice Hotel pretty late. Shopping and getting my haircut were the plans for the next morning. Big goals, which I did accomplish.
Getting my hair cut was an interesting process. I mean, I know its just hair, and mine grows fast enough but I was still a little nervous. My hairdresser pulled out a few pictures until I found one I moderately liked and told her 'please dont cut my bangs too short, I have a cowlick and It will stick up funny.' (or I pointed at my bangs and said 'not short, sticks up! sticks up!) she laughed and said 'same same' and made her cowlick stick straight up. This reassured me that she understood. I had the longest, best head wash of life. She scrubbed, rinsed, scrubbed, scratched and (weirdly enough) washed inside my ears. I'm not sure what I think about the ear scrub, but it was kinda funny. My hair turned out just fine (all of you that were so concerned for me).
It was a nice break, but today we are back to work!

Orphanage Time

Kids are cool. I'm learnign some new clapping games from the older kids at Home of Affection, learning to deal with rejection from Kieu (from Baby Orphanage, aka B.O.) and starting to make a bond with a few other kids. I had a hard day on Tuesday with Kieu as she was totally ignoring me and pulling away if I tried to hold her hand or anything, and that was very tough for me.
Wednesday was a totally different thing altogether, I went back to where she stays and we were having a great time. The 4 of the little orphan girls and me, running around, laughing; I was chasing them and tickling them and they were just laughing their heads off at everything I did. It was a great feeling. Even the little girl we call 'the non expression girl' (Kieu's friend who is new to the orphanage and still finding her place) was giggling as I wiggled my fingers at her, threatening to tickle.
The next day I hung out with my friend Huong, who I think is realizing that she is my fave. I was talking to Carrie about her, and apparently she doesn't get a lot of attention from the volunteers because she is older (hence, less cute) but I think she's amazing! She was helping me put away toys when I had to leave, and gave my bike a push to get me going as I peddled away.
I'm very excited that starting this week, the kids will be on their summer break so I will get to see her and the other school children every day. I'm sure it will get tiring, but I'm very excited.

Here is a random compilation of some pictures from a few of our trips, Patrick's haircut and lot of the children.

Howdy Strangers!

I know, I know its been too long, but it's hard when you are as busy as us. We started out the week on Tuesday with a crazy free trip that ended up being just about opposite of what we were expecting. The travel agent said there would be mountains, waterfalls and that they would be taking pictures of us to put in some sort of magazine (hence having it be free), but in reality we had to get all snazzy-ed up to drive a few hours up a mountain, drink some tea, get rained on and eat some crazy food with the local tribe. I found out later that the 'getting rained on' was during an opening ceremony so that the tribe's home would start inviting tourists to come and experience their life. We got all snazzy-ed up because the people we were eating our dinner with were the local leaders and very important people.

A few emotions I went through:
I was very pissed that when the tour directors gave the rest of us rain gear (plastic bags with hoods) they neglected Tam, because he looks Vietnamese and they assumed he was our translator. He said he didn't care, but it fully bothered me.

The food was interesting. We drank some really strong wine made from mulbery; I ateg some sort of beef, found out later it was wild boar; and ate some sort of white meat, guessed it was chicken, my suspicions were correct... which I found out when I nearly chomped down on it's foot, talons and all.

I'm off to make up some photo albums and see if I can upload them to here.

Parade Day

We got a chance to get to know the volunteers in Da Nang a little better this weekend. We drove up to visit them, spent a night in Da Nang then went to Hoi An and spent a night there. We just got back a few hours ago and I'm very tired. I ate a lot of Western food this weekend. They do fries very well but burger's aren't always the best (so salty that I now have canker sores) boo. I know branching out and eating new things is what I'm supposed to do, but you really start to crave familiar things sometimes. I would do some extreme things for a good plate of nachos right now.
We visited Da Nang's Social Support which was a really neat orphanage. Basically, since begging is illegal in Vietnam, they take beggers and put them in a place called 'Social Support'. It's pretty self sustainable, with gardens and stuff, and the people look after each other a lot. It was a very hard place for me to be though because it was drastically different from any of our orphanages. Most people there had mental and physical challenges and they didn't have a lot of people to take care of them. I was very shocked and a little upset at first, but when I saw them taking care of each other, I was comforted.
We left and went to Hoi An, spent some of the night at the beach where I played rock, paper, scissors with a new friend. (The kids at the orphanage have an extreme version of rock paper scissors, I appreciate it). Today we woke up, went to the beach and stayed there till it was too cloudy and looked like it might rain. (Rosie got a great tan and I'm a touch jealous).
We came home and there was a big parade going right in front of our place, I was too lazy to go downstairs but Catrina and I sat on the balcony doing Sudokus and watching the parade from above.
I'm off to bed as I must work with children again in a matter of 8 hours and I need to wash some sand out of my hair and other various places.

Pizza Plus

We got up this morning after a fun night out in Da Nang and went to a place called Pizza Plus. It's a restaurant, owned by westerners who hire (older) orphans in the community. Most of the cooks and servers are deaf so they use sign language with each other, and a lot of pointing with us. Carrie knew one of the servers when she lived at the Home of Affection so her and a gentleman server sat and communicated with us for a while. Carrie and Tam knew some sign language and they wrote down the words they didnt know on a napkin (english AND vietnamese). It was beautiful watching them, and how animated the signing was. The guy had the best facial expressions ever, and even though I didn't understand a lot of the hand signals, it was easy to tell that he had a great sense of humor and that he was making a lot of jokes at Tam's expense (those are the funniest ones anyways). I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the restaurant, and Carrie was telling me that in the future, she wants to come back to Tam Ky and do something similar, take the orphans that are still living there and have a place for them to work. If she does, then I would love to be able to come back and visit.

A little weekend trip.

Well I'm off this afternoon for a trip to Da Nang, then Hoi An. I'm not really sure what the plans are, but I'm sure they include shopping and the beach... mmm beach. It's been raining the last few days so I'm pretty excited to see the sunshine. Now with my own suit and clothes I can rock out at the beach and not worry about my suit being ill-fitting.
We went to the baby orphanage this morning, it was really quiet. BIG change from yesterday. Carrie and I were the only ones who weren't teaching yesterday so we hung out with ALL the kids. This included the kids that are normally at school! We did a lot more nail painting, and the older kids were a lot pickier and kept coming back for touch ups. I nearly passed out from the fumes. I met a new friend though, her name is Huong and she is beautiful. I think I have officially found my favorite kid at the baby orphanage. She is super sweet, gives me sniff kisses all the time, and helped me pick up the toys when it was time to go. She is sooooo sweet. She is only around on Tuesdays and Thursdays so this morning I hung out with Kieu again, but she was more chill... and didn't want anyone to touch her at all. I colored with some of the kids.
Well I'm off to have a snacking-packing party with Rosie... because it seems to be the only way either of us want to pack to go!

A little Singing and Dancing goes a long way

Social Support is probably my favorite of the three orphanages. Today Rosie, Jenny and I made crafts with the kids. We cut out the shapes of shirts and skirts/pants and the outlines of bodies. They glued the clothes on the bodies and drew on some faces. I got a little bored of the crafting activities so I took one of the children, picked her up and starting swinging her around the room. Chaos ensued.
We had children hanging off each limb and we started singing the crazy camp songs that I learned a long time ago. Aunt Emma (dancing like chickens) the banana song (peeling, cutting, mushing, eating and GOING BANANAS) Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes we Can-canned with the girls, and had a whole lot of sweaty, energetic fun. It took a while for us to calm them down as we left, and I got a lot of the Sniff-Kisses from the kids. I drove away, blowing kisses...and nearly ran into the swing set.
We went to the Coop (supermarket) and bought some of the worst chocolat ever! Note to self, if it costs less than 20 cents Canadian.. its probably not worth it. Had fish, rice and potatoes for supper... I am presently laughing at Rosie as she tries to have a conversation with her boyfriend beside me. Common computer/Skype doesnt always leave a lot of room for privacy.

Baby Steps

I've already told you about Kieu, the young girl that hides in the back of the baby orphanage. I have gone back to her room a few times to play with her and her friends but she shys away from me each time. I had never seen her smile at me and backed away when I tried to hold her hand. It has been a little disheartening. I figured it just took time, because I saw her being a little more comfortable with Carrie and Tam, volunteers who have been here for a while. Sometimes Tam would try and help me by telling Kieu my name, or speaking in Vietnamese to her, but she never really responded to any of it.
Today, I went out back, assuming that her friends would be there, but she was sitting on the floor, doing a puzzle all by herself. I sat down quietly and watched as she took a few pieces out of the completed puzzle, and put them back in, giving me a big smile once she had put the last pieces in place. I took this as a bit of an opening and smiled, said 'great job' and held my hands up for a high five. She went for it! There were high fives all around! She must have taken 5 pieces out of the puzzle and put them back in about 20 times, and by the end of it, we had a crazy high-five handshake for celebration.
As I was leaving, I said 'Tam Biet' (goodbye) and hugged her from behind (very nervously) and she cuddled right into me! I bounced out of the room to tell Tam, (who was ALMOST equally excited for me) and I've been grinning about it all day.
They told me that she goes in and out of her shell often, and that I shouldn't get my hopes up too high that she will jump on my lap any time soon, but I'm proud of the small steps that I made today.

Manicures at the Orphanage

I never knew how much fun painted finger nails could be. Yesterday we brought some nail polish to the orphanage so we could paint the girl's nails. We had shiny pink and purple, most girls went for the pink. They sat as quietly as I've ever seen them, while we painted their finger and toe nails. After seeing the colorful fingers on the girls, the boys came over and wanted us to do theirs! We figured it's harmless (wouldnt turn them into drag queens with a little bit of pink polish) so we painted them too. Some of the boys were super pumped about their pink and purple toe nails. They followed our lead and blew their nails dry. It was really sweet. Some of the older kids would take my hands and start painting mine.
Tam, (Australian boy) and I taught at the Economic Zone today. The class commented that they wanted more time with discussions instead of reading so we got them to answer questions such as:
What are three words you would use to describe yourself?
What is your greatest accomplishment?
What is one thing you like about yourself?
( Tam wanted to ask more personal questions like :what are you looking for in a guy? What was your first kiss like? but I told him it might not be the coolest idea)
WE got them to answer the questions and read it out to the class while we helped them out with their pronounciation. They seem really appreciative of the lesson.

Wearing my own pants baby

We saw Viet today, that was pretty exciting, especially because I GOT MY SUITCASE BACK. After two weeks of wearing everyone else's clothes, I finally got to put on my own pants, shirt, bathing suit whatever. Our room got significantly messier once I emptied out my suitcase, but Rosie didn't seem to mind as she saw the excitement in my face. It was like Christmas or something, re-finding my clean towel and the pretty skirts that I have. I put on my sky blue skirt and my new purple top just to eat lunch. They laughed at my as I spun in circles saying "look how pretty I am in my own clothes". It was totally worth it.

A good day

Today has been pretty kickass. I Woke up this morning, chilled out at the baby orphanage, sat down and had a great chat with one of the other volunteers. Carrie is 27, is from Australia and has been working here forever. She is super enthusiastic and I had an awsome talk with her.
We went to the beach for a few hours, I remembered to put sunscreen on so my burn didn't get any worse, it started raining (which is a nice change around here) and now I am chilling out with the rest of the crew, listening to my old Savage Garden C.D. reading some Get Fuzzy (my favorite comic of life) and waiting for the cake and party which we are having tonite. Tam, our Australian boy, has been saving up some money and is using it to pay of the mortguage on our cook's house. It's a big surprise and we are really excited for it. She thinks we are just going out for a beer or something, but we are all planning on dressing up and surprising her. I can't wait to see the look on her face.

Part 3: Kieu

I only met Kieu today. She is a very shy girl who prefers to stay in her room and have her friends visit instead of coming out with the rest of the children to play. Her mother was a prostitute and did not have much time for her. I understand that she spent much of her early life locked in a closet. She came to the baby orphanage after her neighbor heard her screaming. When she cried, her mother would push her head underwater until she passed out, and if she woke up, she would do it again.
Stories like this seem so unreal to me, and I know I'm in over my head. It's tough learning about what their lives had been like, but it is good to know that they are doing better where they are now.

Part 2: Tien

Tien is toddler who has a cleft plate. He has a sweet smile and can throw a ball right at your head. Two months ago, one of the volunteers figured out how to get him an operation and started making plans. When she was just about finalizing everything, an American couple decided they wanted to adopt him and have the operation in the U.S. Adoptions take a long time, so in the meantime there isn't much we can do. Within the last few weeks though, the Vietnamese government has gotten into some problems with the U.S. and they are taking away the possibility of Americans adopting Vietnamese babies. If the adoption doesn't go through within the next few months, then Tien will be back to having no operation, and no adoptive parents.

Heartbreak Hotel Part 1

While working in the three orphanages, we learn a lot about the children. While their personalities and smiles are wonderful, sometimes their stories are a bit harder.
Some problems are widespread among the children, most of the babies have flat heads because they lay on their back too often. The 'mothers' (women who look after the children when we aren't there) have too much to do to hold them all the time. A doctor came in about a month ago and checked the children, all of them are malnourished. We take fruit to them every day to help give them some kind of vitamins, but often all the orphanage can afford is packets of dried noodles (aka Mr Noodles) which gives them some calories, but not enough nutrients. My next two entries are about two children whose stories were very difficult for me. They both live at the Baby Orphanage, their names are Tien and Kieu.

Rules of the Road

Since coming to Vietnam I have traveled in several ways:
taxi, motor taxi, pedal bike, jogging, strolling. I have learned a few things along the way. #1 rule in Vietnam when on the road: there are no rules. I have obserived that speed limits do not exist, signal lights are useless, the middle dividing line is just a guideline, and bigger/faster vehicles always win.
Motor scooters are swerving left and right, staying away from real cars. Often the drivers will wear cloth covering their mouth and nose because it can get very dusty... when cruising at 30km per hour.
Biking is a bit easier: yield to everyone. We have some pretty cool bikes actually, pretty much an adult version of the bike I had as an 8 year old (sadly, no banana seat though). The handle bars curve up, i have a bell (I go
dring dring" when I pass slower bikers) and a nice basket for when I go to the supermarket to get some chips. The seat is a bit of a problem for two reasons: it heats up incredibly within the 15 minutes it could be sitting in the sun, burning my bottom quite harshly when I start to cruise; and (althought I never thought I would say this) there just isn't enough cushion on my bottom! I go over bumps and dirt roads and my tush ends up quite sore. I'm sure I will get used to it.
Walking along the streets of Tam Ky isn't too tricky. We have sidewalks most of the time, our biggest risk seems to be turning and responding to each person who wants to say "Hello!" to the foreigner! So far it is still endearing but I hear it will get old fast. Otherwise, watch out for puddles, small dogs and large bugs.

New Photos!

To view some pictures that we have been taking so far on our trip, take a look here!

E.T. is a friend of mine and he is kinda spacey. He traveled across the universe to party and go crazy

I had a few first this weekend: first time at the beach; first Vietnamese sunburn (they are painful), first motor-taxi ride (not that scary, they only go about 30 km per hour). All of the above happened in Hoi An, our first road trip in Vietnam.

Our Friday consisted of us leaving the orphanage, caming home and eating, then packing and heading off to a new town. We hopped in a cab, and the cabbie was rocking out to some english techno. The ET song (please refer to my title) was one of my favorites, and had the tune of 'Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination'. We checked into a gorgeous hotel with a pool, air conditioning, continental breakfast for 15$ for a 2 person room. (yeah, it really is that cheap). We wandered around the city for a while, and tailors jumped out of their shops asking if we wanted anything made. Each of us left town with at least one personally-designed item. I have a cute summer dress, white with turquoise polka dots. Very me.

Thea beach was gorgeous. The water was much warmer than we have in Canada (big surprise) and the sand was pretty white. Most people on the beach were not from Vietnam. Many Australians, or New Zealanders. We actually left the beach and had a Vietnamese motor-taxi driver call out to us 'Gudday mate!' Which made me giggle. I mean, I've been mistaken for an American before, but never an Australian. I truly think I'm too pale right now for that to be believable. We decided to take motor taxi's back to the hotel, so Cat, Rosie and I hopped on 3 bikes, showed them the card for the hotel so we would go to the right place, and cruised down the road. It was a pretty slow pace, so I stopped with the death grip on my driver after a minute or two. We got home safely, with only a few mariage proposals.

Anyways, I have coffee to drink, and volunteers to mingle with!

Tam Biet!

First Day at the Orphanage

We woke up on Friday morning to a scream of 'EVERYBODY' which is the call that our cook has to wake us up and tell us that our awesome breakfast of baguettes, laughing cow cheese aka 'la vache qui rit' cheese and fresh pinapple. I was not dissapointed to say the least.
Our plan for the day was to stop by each of the places that we will be working at while we are here. The children are halirous, hugging and jumping on us as soon as we got there. The boys were a little more tame. One girl took Rosie's sunglasses right away, put them on her face, and started strutting around, acessorizing with someone else's purse. It was adorable.
Because the children are often lacking in nutrition where they are staying, we handed out bananas and stuff. When we offered the fruit to the children, they crossed their arms, then held our their hands. It confused me pretty good, because I thought they were turning down the fruit, but I found out later that it was a sign of respect, like a 'thank-you'.
Anyways, I'm off to wash the dishes, and I will tell you about my weekend soon.

Fredericton???

Can someone please tell me what is going on in Fredericton? We are searching for like, pictures and stuff on the internet but can't get much information.
Thanks! d

Tam Ky, pronounced "Tam Key", not "Tam Kai"

Orientation started today. We met all the other newbies in the program and hung out in DaNang for a while. The most interesting part came when Viet, the organizer told us of why he started the program in Vietnam. His father was a soldier in the war, and one year after Viet was born, his father passed away, leaving him to his mother who had mental challenges. She left him in the middle of some farmland, where a farmer found him and took him to an orphanage. His mother stayed in a hospital for a year and a half before she recalled that she actually had a son. He says he doesn't remember anything about the orphanage but is very grateful for what they did for him. He wanted to help make orphanages a better place for future children.
After a few hours of stories, rules, language training we hopped on a bus for Tam Ky. I sat by the window as Mr and Mrs Smith played with Vietnamese subtitles (somehow the bus was run-down but also had a TV?). Of course we got some stares, but it was not as uncomfortable as I expected. It was pretty entertaining seeing the people on motorized scooters weave around our big bus.
**I just jumped out of my seat because a bug the size of my middle finger just flew by my face. We have some interesting creatures here in Tam Ky, including geckos running up and down the walls.
Our house is beautiful. I am rooming with Rosie, while Patrick, Catrina and Jenny are all in another room together. We spent some time exploring the house and standing up on our roof at the gorgeous view. The cooks are very friendly but get very upset if we do not finish all of our food. This isn't TOO hard as the food is pretty darn good. The best pineapple I have ever experienced was served after supper this evening. Sooo juicey and sweet, it blew my mind.
I was invited to our cook's house (Mrs. Haun) for a beer and to see her place. It was very nice. She did a wonderful job with her small, traditional Vietnamese house and had a beautiful bed and very comfortable furniture. The kids from across the street came over for a visit and there were thumb wars and very messy braided hair by the time we left. It was interesting driving a bicycle again, something I haven't done in years. I was a little nervous biking along those busy streets, but by following Carrie and Kyle (people with a ton of experience) I got there safely, along with the help of a few hand signals.
Well, I'm off to bed, or at least lie on the kitchen floor with Rosie as she squashes a rubber lizard against the wall. Nighty night!