They All Ate and Were Satisfied

It has now become my routine that when I wake up in the morning I decide what would be the best excuse to skip exercise. I am tired, I am sore, I think I am getting sick, I have a headache, etc. So far, however, I have decided it takes more effort to come up with an excuse than to just get out of bed. I was VERY sore and tired today so I decided I would “take it easy”. But, Khaly and I decided to run together (we are less lazy that way..) so I did 4 laps. Easy, snail pace laps, but hey. Aerobics was ok as well, but I can’t tell you how happy I am when I am DONE!

I stopped by my fruit man again and when I walked in he said, “Jessica Simpson!” I smiled and then he handed me his iPod headphones, and guess who I heard? Jessica Simpson! Haha I think he is obsessed!

After a well needed shower and breakfast (no nap though!!!) the three of us (and our 300+ cakes) were off to the soup kitchen. When we arrived we also met up with Lan, a friend Ken had made while in Vietnam, and her cousin. Lan is 23 and studying in Malaysia but is from Vietnam. She was actually leaving this afternoon but wanted to stop by. She spoke GREAT English so it was nice to be able to talk to her!

We cut and peeled and cut and peeled until my own hands were peeling! I don’t mind the work as it doesn’t take a lot of thinking, but I get tired (we all do). They are so use to just squatting (we can’t even get our bodies to do THAT) but they usually give us a “stool” that is about 3 inches off the ground. Today all 3 of us (at one point or another) fell off! Maybe that is also a sign my butt is too big!

My least favorite part is bagging the rice. The rice itself is SO hot it usually burns my hands and since we are all crowded in a small room with steaming food, the room is also SO hot (like all of Vietnam). Erin (my brother’s girlfriend) made me laugh when she said, “…pain from the heat, walking two feet and sweating is never fun. But hey I think it's better than not being able to feel your feet.” So true Erin..and I do think of that every time I think, “WOW it’s hot out!” (Erin I hope you are happy with your cameo appearance in my blog!)

I think this is the least favorite part for the three of us and I was joking with Khaly saying, “I think I will just have to tell the poor they can’t eat today because I don’t really enjoy bagging their rice”. I only said it to remind myself that I shouldn’t even THINK, “I don’t really like doing this” because I am helping people who are hungry! It is nice (and important) to stop and remind myself exactly WHAT I am doing and WHY I am doing it.

After everything was bagged and organized we loaded up the truck and headed out to the soup kitchen. When we got there we realized we were going to have a lot of food. Today there were three bins, rice (Ken), soup (Khaly) and what looked like egg brownies (Me). On top of that they also had some fruit (it looked gross though) they were bagging up to give out. We decided to put our cakes in there too (less for them to carry). On top of THAT some people came with MORE food. There was a Vietnamese women (who now lives in Australia) and her group of people (I have no idea who they were) who stayed up all night making a beef stew type thing and putting it in containers. The poor people of Vietnam were eating well today!

We started passing out the food and I felt my foot was itchy. I looked down and saw two ants (little ones..I think like red ants). Ugh I HATE when things are crawling on me so I quickly killed them and continued passing out my egg brownie things. Then, my arms felt itchy (I was going crazy!) As I went to scratch them I found a few more ants! Gross! And they hurt too! I looked around the floor to see if maybe food spilled but didn’t see anything. I quickly dismissed the idea until I was itchy ALL over. I am so paranoid, I thought, until I looked at my skin to find myself covered in ants! UGH it was DISGUSTING. I didn’t flip out (bugs crawling on me has become the norm) but I was NOT happy. I think I played it cool because if you asked Ken or Khaly I bet they would tell you a “few” ants were on me..but in fact they were everywhere! I looked ALL around me to see where they were coming from..and they were in the bin of food! Luckily my egg brownies were wrapped but I think some of the egg brownies leaked and the ants COVERED the bin. So when I was handing them out (I HATE even thinking about this) they must have crawled all over me since I would reach in and bend over the bin. Ugh I was really grossed out. I tried to get all of them off me but STILL felt them for the rest of the afternoon.

Once we ran out of the packages of “goodies” we started handing out the cakes themselves and I think people were really happy! They went like hot cakes (get it?) and granted there was a lot of food already, but I think they were happy to have sweets!

The soup kitchen is definitely more work than I expected, but I really do enjoy doing it and being able to pass out the food at the end of the day.

We came back and were all exhausted and I needed a shower, badly! Peace out ants! Ahh it felt so good to be antless! I spent some time relaxing and resting before we went out for dinner! It was myself, Khaly, Ken, Jemma and two of Jemma’s friends who she met when she did WLS last year (Trinh and Andrea)! Andrea has been working here since last year and another is here for 2 weeks volunteering. It was nice to all “vent” about WLS and our disappointments and how now we know to never volunteer through a program again!

After dinner we went to a bar/club/lounge type thing down the street and met up with Matt and Talon, volunteers from the orphanage that we have become friends with. They are through a different group but we have all become friends through the orphanage. It was so nice to be able to sit and watch the world go by WITHOUT having to attempt to cross the street! I just love people watching. We witnessed a big fight between a vendor on the street and some woman. The woman knew some English because she dropped some F-bombs but we really couldn’t tell what happened. It was like a free show, but very sad. It was also nice to be able to talk and get to know each other outside of the orphanage when you try and say, “Oh where are you from?” but have to stop because the kid you are feeding is throwing rice everywhere!

I was the first to leave (even Vietnam can’t change me!) because I was exhausted! If there is one thing I have definitely learned about myself, it is how introverted I am! Now by introverted, I don’t mean shy. Not that I don’t think everyone understands what I mean, but sometimes when I tell people, “Oh yes I am very introverted” they say, “Well you don’t seem shy, you are friendly and like talking to people” which is true, but I love my alone time. Once I started writing this I thought, shoot, what exactly DOES being introverted mean..so this is what I found.

“They often take pleasure in solitary activities” …Check!
“An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people, though they tend to enjoy interactions with close friends” …Check!
“Introversion is not the same as shyness. Introverts choose solitary over social activities by preference, whereas shy people avoid social encounters out of fear” …Check!

Anyway I just found this very interesting because I know this is how I am. Most people I know find that groups and social gatherings etc. gives them energy whereas I find it draining! Although this makes me sound like a boring person (Steve, try and remember how much you really do love me!) I have just found that I NEED me time. If I am tired I just need time to be alone and that is how I rejuvenate. I think that is part of the reason I am finding Vietnam so tiring is because I have had very little alone me time. Anyway, I digress, but I am enjoying learning more about myself while I am traveling!

When I got back I was so tired and just wanted to crawl into bed! After reaching the 4th floor and attempting to get my AC to work, I realized it was not turned on. When you leave the hostel they shut off the power to the AC. More times than not they forget to turn it back on when you get back, so I have to make the trip down again to turn it on. Now believe me, I am SO grateful to even have AC so I really try not to complain THAT much when I have to go back down to turn it on, but it is a bit frustrating when you have to be in charge of it!

Hugs and kisses from full Vietnamese people at the soup kitchen!