The only negative of Hoi An was leaving...

Hoi An was the epitome of a beautiful, quaint, charming, romantic little old city. The "Old City" area is off limits to any motor vehicles, so everyone is walking or riding a pedal bike, which gives it a far more relaxed feel than the hustle and bustle elsewhere in Vietnam. The streets are lined with scattered restaurants between the million of tailor shops displaying dresses, coats, pants, shorts, skirts, tops, suits, shoes...you name it, they make it. I was only there for 2 days, but now I see exactly why everyone told me to plan on at least 4 days there - once you arrive it's too captivating to leave!

I arrived on a night bus from Hue at around 7am Saturday morning and explored the streets for a few hours until my room was ready for check in. I decided to get an "Old City Sightseeing Tour Ticket" and plan my own walking tour so I could wander the streets at my own pace and see the things that interested me. The ticket got my admissions into 1 old house, 1 museum, 1 assembly hall, the handicrafts workshop, and a traditional performance. I have to say I wasn't that impressed by the house, museum, or assembly hall, but it made me realize my lack of appreciation for things that carry a great deal of historical significance merely in there existance....to me they all just looked like big old buildings, but I know I shouldn't be quite so cynical. The handicrafts workshop was incredible...3 stories of people working on embroidery, lantern making, carvings, etc. Every time I see it, I'm still so shocked at the amount of labor and time that goes into the making of each hand made item! The music performance was wonderful and included several scenes of dancing, tai chi type movement, and theater.

In the afternoon, after a wonderful lunch on the riverfront and a visit to Reaching Out, a fair trade shop for disabled workers, I was too exhausted to keep walking around and forced myself to go take a quick nap. I've found it very hard to nap, sleep in late, or go to bed early while traveling....I hate to think I might be missing something! Once the sun set, the entire town was lit by lanterns, which was particularly elegant along the riverside. I wanted to eat on the river, so I found a great place that had a set menu (for $5) that included all of the Hoi An specialties....Cau Lau (noodle and pork dish), Vegetable spring rolls, grilled fish (literally the whole fish grilled with head, skin, and bones!), Fried Wontons, and Iced Flan for dessert).

The next day, I had signed myself up for a cooking class at Red Bridge School through Hai Cafe, as I'd been told it was a Hoi An "must do." Turned out to be one of the best things of the whole trip!! It was just me and two ladies from Australia who were very pleasant company, and we began with a tour of the local veggie, fruit, herb, fish, and meat markets to learn about the ingredients we'd be using. We took a boat ride down the river to the cooking school, and proceeded to make the tastiest food under the direction of our hilarious instructor/chef. We made seafood salad in a pineapple, fresh spring rolls, ban xeo (vietnamese pancake with shrimp), and eggplant in a claypot. We also learned to make rice paper from grains of rice, which involves strapping a piece of cotton cloth to the top of a pot of boiling water and pouring a milky paste on to the cotton before lifting if off with a bamboo stick...very odd but pretty easy actually.

I decided when I first got here that I wasn't going to get into the tailor-made stuff even though the streets are covered with shops and I thought it was a cool idea to have stuff made just for you... but too expensive and not necessary I decided. On my way to cooking class (on a bike I had rented for the day for $1),I saw a cute coat in one of the stores. So I stopped in "just to look" and I now have a brand new winter coat and semi-formal dress made just for me! haha. If you're thinking "Lindsey, you live in Texas and you didn't even finish your application to Boston College," don't mention it...you'll only make me sound and feel stupid :) Even though I probably got pressured into the "tailor" scene, it was a lot of fun, I love the things I got, they were pretty cheap, and really...when's the next time I'll ever had anything made for me?

Meanwhile, while I was waiting for one of the fittings, I thought - hmmm, i have a bike and no where to go. So I asked a girl in a hotel what I could do with a bike and about 2 or 3 hours....she gave me a map and told me how to ride to the beach. So I did! But when I got there I realized I didn't have a swimsuit or towel with me and I was sunburned and didn't feel like being by a beach. So I walked around for all of 2 minutes, got back on my bike, and rode the hour back home. At dinner that night at a street food market place, I met some girls from Austria and one from Switzerland, and spend the evening at "Salsa Club" with them, although we never heard a single Salsa song!!!!

Next Stop: Hue City

A beach, a $2 dinner, and a $15 bottle of aftersun lotion....Nha Trang

Is a blog post without pictures really even worth it? Questionable...I know! I got all my pictures dumped onto CD's the other day, but now the computer I'm using doesn't have a CD drive! My goal for the next few days will be to find a really nice internet cafe and get some pictures up :)

So I finished my time at the orphanage and set off to start travelling up the coast of Vietnam! My first stop was Nha Trang, to see the 'beachy' side of the country. The only bus I could get left Saigon at 7:30am, so unfortunately traveling took up a good part of the first day (we didn't arrive until around 6pm!). I got checked into my hotel and it was great - two of the walls were sliding doors to a huge balcony overlooking the ocean- not a bad start! I was a bit exhausted from the all day bus trip, so I was planning on grabbing a quick dinner and heading to bed, but a $2 USD pedicure offer got the best of me and delayed my bedtime by a while. The pedicure was actually quite entertaining...there was a single hard bench which i sat on and shared with another lady getting a pedicure, then the lady doing my pedi sat on the floor with her legs crossed in front of me, and I had literally 5 colors to chose from (although it made my "pick out your color" decision pretty simple!). Anyways, the pedicure looked fine and my toes were a beautiful bright red - ready for the beach!

The next day began with and Island Tour with Boat Trip #4 Company. I was wondering who would ever call their company "#4" as opposed to "#1" but it was explained ot us that the owner's name is Bon which translates to 4 (which raises another question of who names their child "four," but that's beside the point I suppose). At the first island, we had free snorkling, but like most group tours, there weren't enough snorkels for everyone. I was sitting with the "elderly crowd" who didn't want to go snorkeling, when I hear "Hey Texas! Get in the water!" from our guide. I explained to him (who self-proclaimed his name to be Monkey Boy) that I didn't have a snorkel....he ran off and came back with a new set of goggles and snorkel! He let me borrow his personal one, which I thought was pretty nice, despite the thought of sharing a mouthpeice with a guy who wants to be called Monkey. I think that when people figure out that I have no friends here, they take pity on me. Haha. Actually, I made friends on the boat with a young Sweedish couple and a some Vietnamese-American girls who went to BU and were visiting family back in Vietnam. But back to snorkeling...I jumped into the surprisingly cold water and looked down, anxious to see the bright and beautiful corals and fish we'd been told about. I'll keep from complaining and leave it at this - the grayish brown rocks at the bottom of the ocean sure were interesting :) And it must have been nap time for all the fish....

At the next island, we had a great family style lunch on the boat with seafood, veggies, noodles, rice, and a huge assortment of friuts (the Vietnamese girls explained all the unfamiliar fruits to me and made me try at least a bite of each). My favorite new one translates literally to "woman's milk" and is kind of like a creamy apple. We had a kareoke performance by some of the staff on the boat, had a floating wine bar in the middle of the ocean, visited an outdoor aquarium, and enjoyed the day in the sun! In fact, at one island, there was nothing planned but a 2 hour break, so the Sweedish couple and I went to sit on the roof of the boat. Too bad I sat in the exact same position with my back to the sun during the hottest part of the day without enough sunscreen on. Live and learn....

That evening, I walked to Dam Market and enjoyed a cheap dinner on the streets. For some reason, all the street vendor stalls have the tiniest little stools that you have to sit on, so I imagine you burn off all the calories you eat by having to stay squatted for the whole hour or so. The way it's set up really looks like a kids tea party! At least I'm pretty short - the poor guyI ate with was really tall and looked a lot more miserable than me! I've been looking for a certain size and color bracelet and finally found the right one in the market! They make them so they don't actually fit over your hand, but with enough of this goop and water they use (along with some pain and buising), they fit it on. BUT, that means it's stuck on me until it breaks off, which Hang told me can take up to a few years. (Ironically, 2 days after I got this put on, my Brazil bracelet broke off....changing of the gaurds I guess! (wow that was cheesy)). After dinner it was time to head to Sinh Cafe for my night bus to Hoi An! Let's just say that 11 hours on a sleeper bus with pleather seats is not the most comfortable idea with a blistering sunburn!

Being in Nha Trang with the ocean breeze and calm atmosphere was a much needed change from the bustling city of Saigon, but at some point, a beach is a beach and I was excited to move on to new cities and see more of Vietnam! 11 long hours later, I arrived in Hoi An.... (post coming soon)

DaLat

I'm a bit behind with updates, so I'm trying to get a bit caught up :) Last weekend, Jemma (another volunteer living at the house), Cecelia (orphanage volunteer), and Sach (a Canadian guy I met a while ago in Saigon) all decided to go to Dalat together. After an 8 hour bus ride, which I had mistakenly told everyone was only 5 hours, we drove into the beautiful city of Dalat. The drive in reminded me of driving up into the mountains in Colorado in summer...narrow winding paths up the mountain, greenery everywhere, cliffs overlooking vast valleys, etc. Right when we got dropped off by the bus at the Sinh Cafe office, people from nearby hotels all attacked us saying "good price for you. come take a look at my hotel. you stay there miss." Normally, I get annoyed by those people and tell them all no, but one lady seemed really nice and said "6 USD for 2 people room." Really? Since we were travelling on a tight budget, the other 3 jumped on the offer, but I said we needed to take a look at both rooms first. Much to my surprise, they seemd just fine - each had 2 double beds with mosquito nets, a mostly-functional bathroom, working locks on the doors...what else did we really need? So I'm proud to say I only paid $3 a night for our hotel room :)
We started our trip off by walking to the crazy house. I got put in charge of the map, and the streets of Dalat are really confusing to say the least (and don't actually match the maps). Regardless, we made it there, and the "crazy house" was certainly nothing short of "crazy." Apparently the lady who designed and built it spent 12 years in architecture school in Russia just to design this non-sense structure and hotel. It all looks like a giant tree house, and you feel like a kid climbing through a dangerous treehouse in order to see the various rooms. They can be booked for $100 per night, but a guy who works there says they're alomst always completely vacant. I wouldn't stay there...no AC, no fans, tiny rooms, kinda creepy, not my style. Some people in the group were fascinated by the ornate architecture of the place, but I was much more interested in going up and down the staircase that morphed a giraffe's neck with a tree trunk. Different strokes for different folks.....
THe next day, we hired "easy riders" to take Jemma, Cecilia, and I (Sach had already been to DaLat and done a similar day tour) around to all the areas of the countryside not typically visited by tourists. THe easy riders were really funny, and "My Eagle", "Dr. Hung," and "Professor Hoang" as they liked to call themselves gave a great tour. We saw tea and coffee planations, a silk weaving factory, a rice wine production site, learned how they make brooms, climbed a beautiful waterfall, ate lunch at a local streetside cafe with our drivers, visited a pagoda, buddah statue, and French church, and enjoyed the day riding around on the comfortable (as compared to in Saigon) motorbikes. Riding through the mountains on the back of a motorbike was really one of the most relaxing and peacful things I've ever done, with the crisp mountain air offering much needed releif from the unescapable heat and humidity of Saigon. That afternoon, we met back up with Sach and another guy he'd met a week earlier in HCMC for dinner at the Peace Cafe with the most high energy owner and waitress I've ever seen. She never stopped. I couldn't decide what to order, so she ordered for me and told me "not to worry." I ended up with a very nicely done mango chicken breast and rice dish...yum! After dinner we found a rooftop bar on the top of a big hotel and enjoyed the beautiful scenery below.
The next day, we'd enjoyed the Easy Rider tour so much, I wanted to do another one! Cece and Sach weren't interested, so Jemma and I called our drivers from the day before to organize another tour for us. They were both busy, but sent their son and friend (new to the easy riders group) to take us around. We wanted to visit Lat Village, an ethnic minority village we'd both read about, but when we got there, the drivers said there wasnt a whole lot to see because while the villages used to be poor, they've recently gained economic strenght and have become very "Vietnamessed" by clothing, house styles, etc. Disappointed by not seeing much, we asked the drivers what we should do, and they ended up taking us to a waterfall and a different ethinic mornity village. THe waterfall was cool, but the best part was the "roller coaster" we took down to the falls. It was basically a small seat/cart on tracks with a handle to control your speed. Hard to explain but really fun!!!! THe village we visited translates to "chicken village" becase there's a giant statue of a chicken in the center of the village. I'll spare you the hour long explanation we got, but basically, two lovers weren't allowed to marry because tehy were from different villages unless tehy could find a certain kind of chicken. They never did and both died, so the statue commemorates their lost love. Or something like that....
We had to take the bus back that night, so we walked the streets abit more, grabbed dinner on the sie of the road, and hopped on the bus for a long trip back. Jemma and Cecelia both got a bit sunburned, and I was so impressed that I didn't (wait for my Nha Trang stories coming soon though! haha). Overall our weekend in DaLat was wonderful! I still describe the town as feeling like a hollywood movie set though...it's either French trying to create a Vietnamese city or maybe Vietnamese trying to create a western city, but it's an odd combination of both and neither. When I get to it soon, I"ll post some pictures and see if you agree by the looks of it. It's a common honeymood location for locals, and although we didn't have a romantic weekend, we had a great one! I already miss the cool, dry air!!!

Tea Farm Visit

Last week, I got invited to visit the tea farm run, owned, and staffed by the orphanage, and gladly accepted the offer. As instructed, I showed up at 5:30am the next morning, ready to go but not exactly sure what to expect. I certainly didn't expect a 3 1/2 hour bus ride there... Oh well...on the way I got to talk to one of the nuns who works at the orphanage and speaks a little bit of English. She explained to me the purpose of the tea farm and how it works. Basically, when the children at the orphanage turn 16, they have one of two options: A. If they're able to walk, follow directions, and be productive, they move to the tea farm to work the fields, or B. If they're unable to walk, have behavioral difficulties or medical issues, or aren't fit for the farm, they move to the "alternative center about 30 minutes outside of Saigon.

When we (2 other girls from the orphanage and I) arrived at the tea farm, we only had about 2 hours there before we had to begin our 3 1/2 hour bus ride home, so our time was short and sweet but we had a nice tour and visit. We saw the vegetable gardes, fruit gardens, and coffee and tea farms. When the kids move to the farm, they can be put in the main lodge or one of 4 independent living houses. The main lodge has about 40-50 kids, and each of the group homes have 7 people. I was particularly impressed by the indepenedent living homes....the houses have a small plot of land and a simple house frame. When the kids move in, they are given options of what to grow and how to arrange their houses. When they sell what they've grown, they keep the profits and decide, as a group, how to spend it (food, house decorations, fun stuff, etc). They are taught all the basic life skills, and when they need help with something (how to cook, clean, grow things, etc), they have to walk about 1/2 a mile to the main lodge to ask one of the nuns. The independence seems pretty well established and protected! Some of the 'kids' have been living there for over 10 years and have grown up, gotten married, had kids, and moved into their own houses (on the farm property).

At lunch time, we talked with the nuns about the orpahange, the children there, adoption processes, etc. I teared up and admitted how badly I wanted to adopt about 25 of the kids...every time I see the nuns in the orphanage now they say "you ready to take kids home???" I think they're more excited for me to leave hoping I might slip a few kids in my suitcase than they are to have me there volunteering :) But in all seriousness, I became extrememly upset to hear about the future of these children after they turn 16 if they aren't able to move to the farm. The "alternative center" they're put in has 1000 people with 80 staff and is for disabled people, drug addicts, street people, and any one else who doesn't have a proper home and requires care. The nuns told me that the drug addicts are typically given responsibilities and end up taking care of those who are bed-ridden. The whole scene literally gives me nightmares. I honstly can't imagine how miserable that would be living in a cot for the rest of your life if you're NEVER taken out (even for the bathroom, eating, bathing, etc).

When I returned to the orphanage, I realized how heartbroken I was to play with the kids there and know how many of them will end up in the center in just a few years. BUT I learned how easy the adoption process is for the kids with disabilities... Adopting a child without a disability from Phu My takes about 18 months from start to finish and costs around $20,000 USD while a child with a disability can typically be adopted in 1-2 months and is free. Now that I know that, sorry Mom, but I really am brining them all home.

Sorry this post is so heavy...I didn't intend for it to come off that way, but this new info I learned on my tea farm visit has been sitting really heavy on my heart for several days. Today was my last day at the orphanage (i'll refrain from going into details about how tramatic leaving was), but I think it's a really good thing there are other wonderful volunteers there so I know I'm leaving my little ones in good hands. On that note - if anyone is every looking for an international volunteer opportunity....the Phu My is by far the best place to be for a few weeks or even a day or two!!!!

Pictures of the kiddos!

**More about the orphanage, visit to the orphanage-run tea farm, and trip to Dalat coming tomorrow, but thought I'd post some pictures of the kids for tonight...

My precious little Liem! (above). Sang is the coolest 7 year old I know and clearly rules Cot B room!!! (right)

Thuan...aka the one and only Mr. Flopster (above). Feisty big brother Hiep and calm litle bro Toan (right)

Jemma (the other volunteer living in the same house as me) with her buddy Hien. (left). Anh in her cot after lunchtime to keep her from eating ALL the other kids food!! (below)

More updates coming soon! I'm getting really upset that I only have 2 days left at the orphanage....I'm contemplating just running away with all these precious little angels :)

Finally settled and almost leaving :(

Happy Valentine's Day! Life is still wonderful in Vietnam, but I'm starting to panic just a bit that my time here is more than half way done. It feels like the first few weeks were busy exploring and getting a schedule planned out, and I'm just now settling into a normal day-to-day routine. Speaking of routine, one of my favorite things here is the motorbikes, and I've finally gotten drivers established who know me, wait for me, and don't make me play games to get a good price! Every morning, after getting my Ca Fe Sua Da (delicious Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk) and Asian pear from his wife's hawker stall, I ride to the orphanage with Tien. Most drivers charge about 25,000 VND to get to Phu My because it's all the way across town, but I've worked out a deal with him that I'll ride with him every morning, and he'll only charge me 15,000 VND each day! Then, I usually take the bus to and from the market area for lunch because it only costs 3,000 dong each way(around 20 cents), and I really like Bus 46 that goes on that route (it looks like a trailer that would carry cattle or some type of animals, but I like it better than the other busses because it's open air!). Then, after going home to shower or change, I ride with Toan into Pham Ngu Lao for dinner. He's 47 and learning English, so I let him go the "long way" so we have more time to practice English. He asks pretty much the same questions every day, but he says he's just trying to practice his pronunciation and listening skills. He gave me his phone number and said if I'm ever stranded and can't find a driver I can call him to take me home, which was really nice, but there are almost always drivers every 5 feet saying “Moto m’am?”, so I don't imagine I'll ever take him up on the offer! At the end of the night, I always know Lem will be waiting outside the 999 store to take me home! It's great to have drivers I trust and can count on to take me to the right place without getting lost or ripping me off, and it makes me feel like a local or regular customer, which makes me feel cool J ha.
Speaking of the people here, I'm constantly overwhelmed by how genuinely kind and friendly the people are. There's no hostility towards Westerners, and while they may stare a bit too much, I've learned it's truthfully out of curiosity and interest. I was sitting at the bus stop the other afternoon, and I stuck out like a sore thumb. ONLY locals take the bus, and even Hang (my house mother) told me people would probably think I was lost if I got on a bus, but she still recommends it because it’s so much cheaper. Anyways, the lady next to me, probably around 70, said "where?" and I answered (in Vietnamese…yay me!) "Bus 14 to Rap Hat Hoa Binh." She smiled and nodded, and then went over to a hawker stall and bought a bag of these thing that I can't remember the name of (they look like giant peanuts but have a soft, sweet potato like center) to take home with her, but offered me one when she sat back down. I politely refused, as I didn't want to take what she had just bought. She insisted, so I took one, cracked open the shell, and tried it. I said "good, thank you" in Vietnamese because that's all I knew how to say, and she set a huge handful of them on my lap, motioning for me to put them in my bag. I again tried to refuse, but she insisted. While I was putting them in my purse, she saw my bus coming, flagged it down for me, helped me get on, and waved by. Maybe it was just me, but it stuck out to me as such a gracious and giving gesture by an absolute stranger; I expected her to ask for money or something in return, but it was truly just a random act of kindness.
Orphanage update for the week: I refuse to leave in 2 weeks, I’m adopting 25 kids, I’m sending the rest endless toys, clothes, and food, and I’m opening up on my own international orphanage for kids with disabilities. No but really, I’m obsessed with most of the kids, and I’m really not sure how I’ll be able to tear myself apart from them so soon. One of the guys who’s been volunteering (from Australia) for several weeks left today, and when he said bye to his “favorites,” he didn’t cry, but I did. Typical. I’ve gotten really settled into one of the rooms of toddlers, and it’s much more comfortable now that I know most of the kid’s names, the staff recognizes me, and I feel like I belong as opposed to being some random kid who steals their kids twice a day. There’s one little baby in the room that I’ve gotten extremely attached to and am protective of to an extreme. Little Mae just got brought to the orphanage a few weeks before I got there, so she’s really easily agitated and does NOT like to be put down or left alone. I assumed she was about 5 months old, but when one of the nuns who speaks some English came by today, I asked and found out she’s actually 18 months. She can’t hold her head up alone, none the less sit up, walk, or talk. Most of the kids get dinner at 2:30, but Mae gets a bottle after all the volunteers have left. I’m always SO afraid that the staff might forget to give it to her, so I try to say around and watch to make sure she gets it (although they’re pretty serious about kicking us out at 4). A few days ago my favorite nurse caught on to my concerns, so now she always grabs my arm when I go to leave and points to Mae. I think they should hire me full time…my new job is to give Mae her afternoon bottle from 4:30-5 (it takes a while because she doesn’t like to eat), and get her to sleep for the night shortly after that. Someone told me today that I looked ready to steal her away, and I think they were right!

1 giant snake, 2 flat tires, 3 stubborn spiders, and 4 advil later.....

Shany (the other volunteer I'm sharing a room with) is leaving this afternoon to go back to Australia, so the two of us decided a few days ago we needed an 'end of trip adventure'....so we headed off into the jungles of Vietnam! We took a bus to Cat Tien National Park, because I'd read in a travel book that they had elephants, rhinos, and other cool animals wandering the park! When we checked in and found our bungalow, I was pleasantly surprised to see the bed had a mosquito net and we had our own bathroom with a toilet and shower - impressive! Since we were there to explore nature, we set our stuff down and headed out into the wilderness right away, pretending not to be city girls :) The lady at the desk showed us a big map of the park and told us which trails to take to go see some rapids... we followed her directions and ended at a dried up river with absolutely beautiful rock formations - no rapids but wonderful sights! A Vietnamese couple was walking around on the rocks, so we did the same to explore the area. In the wet season, I figure it's a fast flowing river, but in the dry season (now), it looks more like volcanic rocks with a few trickles of water here and there. As we were leaving, I hoped from one rock to another and unfortunately, the rock I jumped onto wasn't too stable and wobbled over, leaving me sprawled out amidst the rocks! Needless to say, I was lucky to leave with nothing more than a scraped up ankle and mildly sprained wrist :) Life happens.....
We continued our hike, but not for long after our path was crossed by an unwelcomed slithering creature - a HUGE snake! About 4 feet in front of us, we saw a black snake, probably 7 ft long and the diameter of a tennis ball!!!! I couldn't believe it was a REAL snake, and when I realized there was no snake trainer standing there holding it in the zoo, we quickly screamed, turned around, and made it back to the main path as quickly as possible! Glad to be back in our room without any snake wounds, we thought we'd shower and relax, but some lovely spiders beat us to the bathroom. After about 30 minutes of deliberation and strategic planning, we managed to kill the 'baby' spider (about an inch big), but when mama and papa spider appeared, we had to go get help from another traveler (who happened to be a wildlife conservationist!). That night we went on a night safari to see the elephants and rhinos we read about, but managed only to find some deer and rabbits....were we in Vietnam or Texas???
The next morning, we decided we'd catch the bus back a day early after realizing neither of us were cut out for nature! Before we left we rented some bikes and went on a great 25km bike ride. One problem....halfway through, Shany's bike got a flat tire, and she didn't think she could ride it anymore, so I got to ride over the rocky path for the last 15km. OUCH! But other than a few minor setbacks and creepy crawlers, I really enjoyed the stunning scenery, adventure, and time in the "jungle." On our way to the bus stop, the motorbike I was riding on got a flat tire....the irony of yet another 'setback' was somewhere between frustrating and hilarious, but we got it fixed in time to make it to the bus stop and come back to Saigon where I was greeted with the comfort of a warm shower and mostly bug-free room!!!
Other than our jungle adventure, nothing exceptionally new...lots of time at the orphanage, backpacker's district, and walking around! Last night we ate a vegetarian buffet (vegetarians are really common here because of the high rate of Buddhism), and for the equivalent of $8 USD, I've never been more stuffed in my life...delicious food! In the orphanage, I found a new room....babies and toddlers! They are absolutely precious, and I feel that my time with them is even more appreciated than with the older kids (who are on the main level and get more frequent visitors). The baby room I was in has about 25 kids, aged 1-4. I walked around and played with each kid for a while....singing to them, playing peek-ab-boo, holding them, rocking them, taking them for walks outside, etc. None of them can walk due to their physical disabilities, but I think a couple have the ability to learn with some training and therapy, so my goal is to work on this and show the staff how to help teach them. I wish I had more training in physical therapy, but I think I've picked up enough to be able to do at least some good. My favorite little boy was all the way in the back corner, and he was crying, kicking, screaming, and scratching at his face. I went over to comfort him and noticed that he had no eyes. I didn't want to startle him since he couldn't see me, but I started talking to him calmly and eventually picked him up. He clung to me like a monkey, had his head immediately situated in the space between my shoulder and neck, and sighed a big sigh of relief. I carried him around for about an hour, and he never once budged. If I adjusted him at all, he tensed up, fearing I'd set him back down. When the staff told me to leave, I couldn't help but tear up as I set him down and he went back to kicking, screaming, and scratching himself. Without any Vietnamese language, I have no way to tell him I'll be back to visit soon. I can't even imagine how much fear and agony he must live in, having no idea of where he is or why. These babies and toddlers were SO receptive to touch and nurturing...I realized how impactful it is just to hold them and show them love and care.