TIV (This is Vietnam)

Xin Chao,

Ban co khoe khong (How are you?). If this sentence is addressed to an older man, I would say Ahn co khoe khong; to an older woman, Co co khoe khong; to a friend about my age, Chi co khoe khong; and to someone younger than me, Em co khoe khong. Of course there are various accent marks on several of these words, but I don't know how to create them in blogspot yet. I am slowly learning this language, or at least parts of it. One of the teachers at the vocational college, Chi Lien, is going to meet with me once a week while I am here to teach me Vietnamese. I'm quite excited. My students are also teaching me. If I can hold a basic conversation with someone by the time I leave this summer, then I will be happy.

Jen, our Operations Manager, said that if I wasn't careful, I would have plans 24/7 my entire time here. Once I purchased a cell phone yesterday, I realized that she was right. Last night I went with several teachers from Duy Tan University to sing karaoke. They said I'm a great singer. I think they need their hearing checked.

This morning, I visited Social Support, one of the poorest orphanages GVN (Global Volunteer Network) works with. My camera was out of battery, so I'll have to share photos the next time I go. They work with both disabled kids up to 24 and babies at this orphanage. Several of the kids have cerebral palsy and some are in extremely contorted positions. One little girl was fine until she was dropped by a babysitter and hit her head. Now she has severe brain damage and is very low functioning. A few kids also have Downs Syndrome. We play with the kids, hold them and entertain them. In the baby room, there are about 10 babies waiting to be adopted and most will be adopted by the time they are one year old. Unfortunately the US agreement with Vietnam to allow adoption has expired so the babies go to Italy, Canada and other countries who still have such an agreement. One of the volunteers, Kerry from New York, was in the process of adopting a girl named Yang (who is absolutely adorable) when the agreement expired. Now Kerry splits her time between the US and and Vietnam, spending the vast majority of her time in Vietnam.

The babies love to be cuddled, hugged and loved. They reach up to be picked up and bury their little faces in our shoulders. It is so wonderful to spend time with them.

Today I went for a beautiful run along the river, just as the sun was setting. The weather was beautiful, barely humid and high 70s-low 80s. The only thing I don't like about running is the stares. I am stared at all the time, no matter how I'm dressed or what I'm doing, simply because there aren't that many Caucasians in DaNang City. However, when I run, EVERYONE stares. Oh well, TIV.

Hope all is well at home. I'm enjoying another day in paradise!