It's already February????

I’ve been here around 10 days, and I can’t decide if it feels like 2 days or 2 months. In one sense, every single day is new and exciting and I feel like I still have SO much to discover about this incredible city, and on the other hand, I’m already so comfortable, feel like I know my way around pretty well, and have mastered the art of motorbike price bargaining by saying “Not tourist. Live in Vietnam.”
Since I wrote last time, I’ve spent a lot of time at the Orphanage and in Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers district. I’m really struggling to deal with some of the stuff at the orphanage, and I feel so torn between wanting to help and being upset about how the children are treated. They’re really treated like objects, and are given NO sense of dignity or respect. Some of them are tied down to the metal crib frame, and although another volunteer who’s been there for 5 months told me it was to “prevent self-injurious stimming behaviors,” I’m pretty sure that’s not the real story. They don’t have enough staff to watch all the kids, so they literally tie them into the room to keep them from causing problem, leaving the room, or anything else. One little boy was running around during what was supposed to be nap time, and they grabbed him, picked him up, threw him in a crib with another sleeping boy, and tied his ankle to the frame. He burst into tears and tried to get away, but the staff looked back at him and motioned to go to sleep. I could feel my eyes tearing up, and I just couldn’t stand by and watch the boy cry, so I went over, sat in the bed with him, and rubbed his back. While the staff wasn’t looking, I untied his ankle but motioned to him to say in the bed (I didn’t want him to get in too much trouble). As I sat there with this boy, I found myself wondering “How in the world am I supposed to sit here every single day and watch this happen. And worst of all, when I leave, how do I live with myself knowing that I walked away from the orphanage without changing anything permanently.” So my new plan is to do something big. I have no idea what. I have no idea how. But I will…...trust me.
It’s really tough to work in the orphanage from 9-11:30am and then 2:30-5pm and not spend the rest of the day depressed and preoccupied with thoughts of how to help these children more than a visit, loving touch, and nurturing. I think this is good practice/training for being a social worker, because I know I’ll be faced with the same dilemma every day. So, as hard as it is not to spend the whole blog writing about the kids, I’ll tell you about the other stuff I’ve done here too!
I’ve spent a lot of time walking around District 1 (Ben Thanh markets, garden areas, Le Loi street, backpackers district) etc. It’s so nice to walk around with no real agenda, no end goal, and no time constraints. Just wander, find a place to eat, sit down, people watch, try some new food, leave, continue wandering, find a shop, look around, repeat. The other day, I was walking around and ran into a guy we had met a few nights ago. Both of us were looking for a place to eat, so we ended up going to lunch together and talking for hours! We talked about travel experiences, our favorite cities, his starting photo career, the economy, global warming….literally A to Z. I love random encounters and conversations with a stranger you know you’ll never see again.
Thursday and Saturday, I took half day city tours. The first one was a tour by a cyclo driver I’d been passing every day who showed us a picture of himself in a magazine claiming he is “Saigon’s best tour guide.” I’m sure the picture was just another Asian man who looked somewhat like him, but the fact that he’s witty enough to know Westerners have a hard time telling Asians apart convinced me to give him a shot. So Shany, a guy Ryan she met, and I each got in our little cyclos and went around the city. We saw the Saigon River (really dirty), Notre Dame Cathedral (beautiful), the Central Post Office, and the War Remnants Museum (equally as disheartening on my second visit). I had a conversation with my driver guy about Communism and what the people think of it here, and was surprised by how verbally opposed he was, even for living in the South. He said the people hate communism, realize the constraints it puts on their lives, and wishes they could have freedom. He talked about Clinton a lot, and couldn’t believe it when I said he’s not our president anymore! Apparently no one here knows who the Chairman of the Communist Part y is either…the last name he could remember is Ho Chi Minh (who’s been dead since 1969). The second city tour was in a taxi, organized by Ms. Hang, and was informative but somewhat unexciting. We visited a lot of temples, pagodas, and historical buildings, but they all started to look a little bit alike after a while. My favorite part was the “handicapped handicrafts” factory and market we visited. After watching the people make the crafts, of course I got suckered into buying a grossly overpriced painting (but it’s made of crushed egg shells and is really cool!).
I could go on forever, but I guess I’ll leave some things for later posts. I’ve pretty much just been working at the orphanage, walking around, eating at yummy cafes, meeting tons of people, sleeping a little here and there, and enjoying life! Oh, and we found a tiny movie theater on the top of a café that has about 12 chairs, a decent size screen, and English movies with Vietnamese subtitles….for FREE! Shany and I watched Vicky Christina Barcelona there last night while eating delicious cheesecake, and it was lots of fun! Tonight we’re meeting a really nice group of Australians at this 5th floor rooftop patio place that does BBQ at you’re table….. some type of Asian BBQ/Habatchi! We’ve heard good things about it and I’m so excited to try it! I’ll update again soon, but feel free to email me in the mean time (oh, or leave me a comment on here if you want…it makes me feel special J)!! Miss you all!!