Erika's update

Xin Chao everyone,

I haven't written in a while so I have a lot of updates! Bear with me. I'm almost 3 months into my trip (!) and having a blast. I'm currently in the coastal city of Nha Trang, about halfway between DaNang and Ho Chi Minh City. Yesterday, I took the train down from Tam Ky and I don't think I'll be repeating that experience again. I bought my ticket with a volunteer who speaks substantially more Vietnamese then I do, but we still managed to purchase a "2nd class, hard seat" instead of a "1st class, soft seat". I realized this when I boarded the train, which was already an hour and a half late. The seats are hard, slatted wood and very uncomfortable. I shared my seat with a family. The woman laid on the floor for much of the trip (on newspaper) so her kids could sleep on their seat. This didn't leave me much room for my legs, but I shifted position constantly anyway and sat on my traveling pillow for a lot of the trip. The kids were probably two and a half and seven and were very well behaved with big dark eyes and beautiful smiles. You could tell the woman was very poor. By the look of her bicep muscles, I'd say she was probably a rice field worker or did some heavy labor to earn her income. The ticket was about $6.50 (128,000 dong) and I should have guessed that the ticket was too inexpensive to be a first class ticket. 12 hours later, and with a very stiff neck/back, I arrived in Nha Trang. According to the schedule, we were supposed to arrive at 2:30 but we finally pulled in closer to 7:00 p.m. Oh well, TIV. I found a hotel on a road next to the beach with my own room for $5.50 per night with fan. It was $9.00 for a/c but I decided I'd rather spend that money on a massage today. I'll need it! The little map made the train station look very close to Hung Vuong road, where all the hotels are, but it turned out to be quite a ways. I needed to stretch my legs after that train ride but it was definitely a challenge to find! I was so happy to arrive and get a nice shower. I think next time I'll just take a taxi.

I spent the last two days visiting another GVN placement in Tam Ky. I had a great time visiting their orphanages, playing with little kids and disabled babies and teaching a class at a "fishing village" nearby. I was impressed with how eager the fishing village kids were to learn and participate. I hate to say it, but it was far easier to teach the kids then it was to teach the university students. Teaching a class for two hours where no one willingly participates can be a bit frustrating.

Last weekend, I visited Hoi An for the full moon festival and to visit friends. The festival was low key but fun. I went by myself because the other volunteers were in Hanoi/HaLong Bay/Ninh Binh and in DaNang. I went to a restaurant more popular with the locals than the tourist crowd and struck up a conversation with two expat Brits who left their jobs a few years ago and live all over the world. They are currently living in Hoi An for three months. This is actually quite easy to do in Asia because it's cheaper to live in Asia then it is in England or the U.S. The fact they don't have kids helped ;-) I also had a lovely 90 minute massage with my friend Van, and then we both went to my friend Mai's house for lunch. I was planning to take Mai and Van to lunch for Van's birthday, but when Mai's husband's family found out I was leaving, they drove from DaNang to take us all out for lunch. It was a really nice gesture. They also brought a single friend, and repeatedly told me he was single, but I assured them I'm not on the market. I think I'm going to start telling everyone I have a boyfriend in the US so they stop trying to set me up with all of their friends. I know it's just because they want to keep me here, so it's a compliment. It's still not going to happen (especially with their friend because he was NOT handsome in the least!) I love spending time with Mai and Van, even though we can't always communicate everything. They are wonderful people and great massage therapists! I'll be enjoying massages with them when I come back in November.

I'm done with my volunteer work with GVN for the moment. I still plan to return for a few weeks later in the year because I postponed my last two weeks. I want to switch to the orphanage program for my last two weeks and right now they have a lot of volunteers, so I'll do it later. The last two and a half months have been amazing. I have really enjoyed getting to know the students and teachers and I love DaNang. I received so many beautiful silk scarves as parting gifts that I'll never have to buy another scarf again! I've realized that this volunteer work really is more volun-tourism than volun-teerism, but I still feel like I made some impact. I know I've made some great friends and I got to see a lot of the country. I'm hoping that my next volunteer project is more volunteer than voluntour, so I can experience that too, and I think it will be. I've enjoyed the teaching program, but my heart is really in the children's program. I love playing with the kids, teaching them, working with the disabled ones and, most of all, seeing their smiles. Many of them will never be adopted because they are "too old" and I want to bring them all home with me. They have such wonderful personalities and they seem to be doing okay, considering their situation. At one of the orphanages, a toddler they call "Buddha" came right up to me, arms outstretched. I spent most of the morning holding him and playing with him. Children who don't have parents look for love anywhere, so it doesn't matter if they've never seen you before, they just want love. Before doing this program, I was pretty sure I didn't want children because of the cost of raising them and because I want to work internationally, and children can complicate that. Now I'm sure I do want children, but I want to adopt from another country. Vietnam and the US do not have an adoption agreement, but maybe I can still adopt from here someday.

Next, I'm heading to Ho Chi Minh City for two days of exploring with my friend Rebecca, then I'm flying first to Bangkok then to Chiang Mai (on the same day). I'll be in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Chiang Dao for 10 days to two weeks and then heading to Laos for 2-3 weeks. While in Laos, I'll be visiting the "Butterfly Children" project and hopefully helping out there for a few days. The project was started by my Mom's childhood friend's pediatrician (how about that for degree of separation (!) and when I said I would be there, she invited me to visit. I'll be heading from Ventiane back to Bangkok to visit my cousin Nicki in August and then flying to Phnom Penh to begin my leadership residency on August 15th.

Thanks for all of the emails. I'm glad you are enjoying my updates. Photos to come shortly

Tam biet!
Erika