An EARLY Good Morning, Vietnam!

I was up at 5:17am today and I cannot remember the last time (if ever) that happened. Ken and Khaly both said they work out in the nearby park. They usually run for a half hour and then join an aerobics class. I couldn’t be the fat kid who slept in, so off I went!

Since I have bad shin splints and was not in the mood for them to flare up, I walked for a bit and then joined the aerobics class which was fun! It amazed me how many people were up and about so early and how HOT it was out!

We came back and I was able to shower, eat breakfast and catch up on some emails! As I was drying off in the bathroom, I spotted him..a salamander! I know it’s not THAT bad but I don’t like things crawling around..and this guy could RUN! I decided to try and shoe him out my front door, which worked! Hopefully I will NOT see him again! Gross!

Then we were off to the orphanage. I met up with Jemma, a girl who I had spoken with before I signed up with WLS because she had been to Vietnam before through WLS. She is now here for 4 months volunteering and living at an orphanage but came on her own (MUCH cheaper). She came with us which was GREAT! She was saying how she has pretty much been alone for 3 weeks and some days doesn’t speak English at all. It reminded me a lot of my first week in Beijing so I CANNOT imagine 3 weeks!
She joined us at the orphanage and today definitely went better. When we arrived it was feeding time so I found my little favorite boy (Steve did I tell you we are adopting him?) and fed him which was NOT easy. He is blind but still likes to feed himself and PLAY in his cup of water so I got very wet! But we had fun! That took a while and afterwards we helped do the dishes and by then they were settling down for a nap so we were able to play with them a bit. I also have another favorite boy (Steve, did I tell you we are adopting two kids?) and he is amazing! He can’t really talk but he is SO smart. I have played with him before but today he was obsessed with my camera and took LOTS of pictures (most of which were VERY good). We then had a quick lunch (which for me consisted of rice) with the ladies who work there and while we were eating I saw the older boy (not the blind one..I am trying to find out their names) helping and comforting another boy (pictures to follow). It was beyond amazing to watch how caring he was.

Like I said, I do feel like today went better but I want to do more. The children in the room that I was in function better than some of the other rooms and I think it’s THOSE kids who need the most help; the ones who can’t walk or never get out of their crib. BUT I don’t feel comfortable grabbing a kid and taking him or her without having ANY idea about who they are, what they can do, etc. It is frustrating because NOBODY speaks English and Khaly is SO SO SO good about translating but I can’t bring her EVERYWHERE with me and say here ask about this kid, etc. So hopefully that will get a bit better.

After a quick lunch we headed back to the main bus station to meet Hang who was going to take us to a school for deaf children. The bus was very crowded but I found a seat for Khaly and myself in the front. There was a bag on one of the seats so I just moved it over (it didn’t need its own seat) so we could both sit down! All of a sudden this woman came up and started talking to Khaly. Khaly asked me if there was a bag on the floor, so I grabbed one, but that wasn’t right so I grabbed the bag next to me. The woman apparently got VERY angry that we put her bananas on the floor. Khaly told her they weren’t on the floor we just moved them over because we didn’t know they were hers and not to get mad at us. The ladies next to us (this is all translated from Khaly) apparently stood up for us and said we didn’t know. Then the bus driver chimed in to say we still shouldn’t have done it. Khaly told him we didn’t know and then he got PISSED. He told us we were talking too loud and we needed to move to the back. I was SHOCKED (and started laughing) when Khaly told me what he had said! We continued to talk quieter (we were NOT being that loud..but we think he was frustrated he couldn’t understand us) until he yelled at us AGAIN! I had to laugh again because I couldn’t believe this guy was yelling at us. We continued to talk to try and figure out why he was so upset and we think it is because Khaly stood up for herself in the beginning (by telling him we didn’t know) and our guess is he isn’t used to a woman speaking back. Khaly wasn’t fresh to him, but just said we didn’t know. We also think he was mad he didn’t know what we were saying. So we continued to talk and say bad things about him! Ha!

Anyway, I guess Hang couldn’t make it so she told us to take a cab, which was fine but it is cheaper to take the bus AND for the future we won’t know how to get there by bus. She called on our way to say we needed to play games with the kids and teach them English. I think we were all a bit frustrated because it would have been nice to know that sooner than 5 minutes before we arrived. But we bought some sweets and went on our way!

We definitely misjudged the age because there were about 20 kids from 16-21 in the class and one teacher. I felt like it was a big game of telephone. Khaly would have to translate what we were saying to the teacher who would then translate it to the students in sign-language. It was pretty amazing to watch how ideas got translated. I can only imagine how tiring it was for both the teacher and Khaly to have to translate back and forth and again, if Khaly wasn’t there I have NO idea what I would have done.

We started off with Ken acting out animals and they had to guess. They would sign to the teacher who would say it in Vietnamese to Khaly who would tell us in English. Khaly and I sometimes laugh because she will say something to me, and I’ll be like WHAT? And she’ll be like oh shoot I just said it in Vietnamese again! But she did GREAT and Ken was a great actor! We also had the kids do it which was fun and then played a few more games with them.

For some reason I wasn’t completely feeling it today..I think because I found it very…hard I guess to have NO communication! It wasn’t like even if I knew the word in Vietnamese I could communicate with the kids. BUT it was amazing to STILL be able to understand them etc.

When we left it was POURING but Jemma helped us find a bus that would take us back! We ended up at the market because I wanted a pillow! The pillow here is SO hard and thick my neck hurts every morning. Bargaining is not as enjoyable here as it was in Beijing, BUT luckily I have Khaly who does it in Vietnamese. We tried a couple of places but their pillows were SO hard. We finally ended up at the place we bought our blankets at! I found a pillow I liked quoted at 80,000VND ($4.45) but I offered 50,000VND and she wouldn’t take it. It was sort of funny to begin with because I would definitely pay $4.45 for a pillow! I have made Khaly into a bargainer and am SO proud. I could tell she was getting more comfortable. I went back at 65,000VND (half way) and she came down to 75,000VND or 70,000VND I think but I wouldn’t take it! I was laughing in my head because it was a matter of $.56 at MOST, but it all comes down to pride! She finally took my 65,000VND ($3.62) and we were on our way!
Ken ate at the market so Khaly and I went out to dinner at this GREAT place. I got chicken and rice and some veggies and it really was very good! We had a great girls dinner and then came back to shower. And guess who is back? Mr. Salamander. I have NO idea how he gets there or WHERE he goes (he is always disappearing) but I would THINK he would get very wet on the floor so hopefully he can climb or swim! Oh yeah, for those of you who are wondering, I still pee in the shower sometimes!

Hugs and kisses from Mr. Salamander!