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!!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!!!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! (Happy New Years). Sunday was New Year’s Eve here and Monday New Years Day and let me tell you….the Vietnamese people go ALL out for the TET Season. Each morning at around 6:30am, the parades start all over the city with red dragons, drums, and guys in crazy masks. They go up and down the streets and stop in each house to do some type of “good luck dance.” Everyone leaves their doors open (the doors are mostly just screens anyways), and families gather in the entry room to await the parade.

So anyways, on Saturday, I met Erryn and Fred, the other volunteers staying at the house and working at the orphanage. I met Erryn for coffee and then we spend the whole day going around the city together. She’s been here for 10 days already, so it was great to get all sorts of advice, tips, suggestions, and ideas from her! We walked around the Ben Thanh area and had lunch at a cute café called Rap and Roll. We shared dried pork spring roll and some type of lettuce wrap with egg, pork, prawns, and veggies inside. Very tasty! She then showed me the backpacker’s district which is a great place to hang out, people watch, and meet other travelers. We then walked through the central gardens and down the main strip, which is incredibly decorated for TET. I can’t even describe the decorations, but I’ll have to post pictures. There are hundreds of thousands of flower displays, statues made from flowers and straw, waterfalls, little bridges…it’s like they’ve created a whole miniature world in the middle of the street! That night we went up to the Rex hotel rooftop bar and we ended up having the best view of the whole city with the streets PACKED as everyone looked at the displays. For those of you who have seen my pictures of the streets during Carnival in Brazil – this was extremely reminiscent of that! We met a few other travelers and I took everyone to Apocalypse Now, a bar that is infamously frequented by Semester at Sea kids! We sat at a table with a few locals and had a great time all getting to know each other! It really struck me that between me, a 34-year old who’s here with her dad, a 20-something guy on vacation from his job with the military in Afghanistan, and a few 30-something Vietnamese men, we all had a lot in common and never ran out of things to talk about! Small world I guess…

Sunday was New Years Eve, and Fred (one of the volunteers here) wanted to cook an American lunch for some boys at a shelter for street kids. So we went over there in the morning, cooked chicken wings, salad, chicken noodle soup, and rolls – they loved it! At one point they needed some more rice vinegar for cooking, so I walked with 2 of the boys to the market. The older one was trying to learn English and I’m trying to learn Vietnamese (well….kind of!), so we taught each other a few words and phrases. I learned to say Happy New Year (Chuc Mung Nam Moi) and count to 100. I taught him weather words like hot, cold, rainy, sunny. After we ate, there were some older Vietnamese men sitting around a table eating and celebrating. They invited Fred, Erryn, and I over to the table, and before we knew what was going on, they were giving us more food and drink than I thought my stomach could possibly handle. This was over 24 hours ago and I’m somehow still alive and even better, not sick, but when you hear about some of this, it might be hard to believe! I ate chicken (the head and claws were in the serving bowl), a wedge of some type of animal fat and ground up other substances, oranges (yum!), pickled garlic bulbs, Kim Chi (fermented cabbage or something), and a few other things I couldn’t even pretend to identify. They just kept dishing stuff into my little bowl, hooting and hollering, laughing as we tried it, and screaming “Happy New Year.” I thought I had handled my disgust pretty well when one of the wives brought out a bottle with a silk cover over it. It was “unvielded” and I literally gagged as I noticed the dead snake in a bottle of liquor. WHAT? Yup, this is a true story… The tradition is they pour a shot, and the person who poured it picks a partner to “shot share” with. Because I’m extremely pale and pasty right now (which is intriguing to Vietnamese…gross!), I got picked first. He took half a shot and handed it to me. There were floaties!!! No joke, little thiiings floating around (snake scales maybe?)and they wanted me to drink it. I tried to politely decline but that didn’t seem to be an option. So I took a deep breath, showed them that my hand was literally shaking, took the shot, and screamed! I honestly can’t believe I did it, but I’m SO proud of myself now! Haha. That night was New Years Eve so we bought tickets to the Rex viewing party. Shany (the volunteer from Australia) arrived, and I took her to the hotel where we met up with Fred and Erryn. The celebration was incredible and so elaborate….a fashion show, dragon dancing, drum lines, fireworks, live music, etc.

Monday was New Years Day, so most places were closed down, as the Vietnamese tradition is for extended families to spend the day together in their homes. We went to the orphanage this morning (because they obviously cant close), helped with the morning feeding, played with the kids, took some priceless photos, and put them down for naptime. I was extremely bothered by seeing how some of the staff members treat the kids, but I’m going to wait until I’m going there on a more regular schedule to really form any judgments. I’ll stay optimistic and hope I just saw a bad day. Anyways, the children are undeniably adorable, and I absolutely love being there with them. I know a lot of you have bets on how many kids I’m bringing home….if you’re number was under 2 – you’re wrong…I already picked out my first two this morning! One is a 5 year old boy who has normal mental development but is completely non verbal. He just sat and stared at me all morning and had this little sparkle in his eyes that was captivating! The other one is a little girl, Lihn, maybe 7 or 8 years old, and has Down Syndrome. She’s literally a little monkey and will find a way to be attached to you no matter what. While I was feeding another little boy, she literally snuck up from behind and pounced on my back. I think I’ll add at least to kids to my list each day. So….by the end of my time here I’ll have a list of like 80 kids to adopt, and at that point, it’s it better to just bring all 400 of them home? Too bad I’m half way serious. :)

Good Morning Vietnam!

First of all, all the options on this blog (sign in, add post, etc) are in Vietnamese. That makes it a bit tough to navigate :) Anyways, I got in late last night and met Linh and Hang, who I'll be staying with. They are both as nice as could be. Extremely welcoming, willing to help me, and understanding that I may feel like a fish out of water. Ms. Hang is 39 and 7 months pregnant with their first child, a little girl! They helped me get my stuff upstairs, and went to bed pretty quickly (I got in at midnight this time!). I got to talk to Mom and Dad for a few minutes, which really helped me feel comfortable. The house is someone like a townhouse, and I'm on the second floor. I'll be sharing a room with 2 cots/twin beds with a 22 year old girl from Australia for a while (she gets here Sunday night and stays for 2 weeks). I learneed that this room has an air conditioner, which Ms. Hang said I could use when I'm sleeping, so that's really good news because it's hot and realllllly humid here! I got settled and got in bed around 1:30am Vietnamese time, but unfortunately that's just after noon in Dallas, so of course I couldn't sleep. I spent a good part of the night looking out the window, shocked by how many moterbikes passed in the middle of the night. I was bummed I couldn't sleep, but I'm going to take an afternoon nap after I post this, and hopefully I'll be adjusted after tonight's sleep.
This morning I got out of bed at 7am to shower and be ready to leave at 8:30am. Linh showed me how I'll get to work every morning. I walk down the street a bit to the bus stop, get on Bus 14, pay 3000 dong (about 25 cents), show the guy a paper Hang gave me with my stop, hope he remembers to tap me when we get there, and cross the street to the Orphanage. Sounds simple right? It's quite an adventure but I love it! First of all, here's the trick to being a pedestrian in Vietnam: put your hand straight up in the air to make yourself seen, take a deep breath, and walk into traffic at a constant pace, praying you make it to the other side. Whatever you do, DON'T look both ways or you might have a heart attack...motorbikes, bicycles, cars, and busses come pretty darn close to you! Linh laughed at me a lot and kept saying "you look scared." I had to gently explain that walking into traffic isn't the norm in the US - we have something called red lights and crosswalks. But the drivers here expect you to step into their path, and they'll kindly avoid hitting you. He promises I'll be an expert after a week. So I crossed the street twice under his supervision to get to the bus station and thought the worst was over. I saw bus 14 approaching and got ready to get on - it slowed down a little but didn't stop. Before I could turn around to ask Linh why it didn't stop, some guy on the bus grabbed my arm and pulled me in...while the bus was moving!!! Another new thing - busses here never stop. Instead, you raise your hand while it approaches, and the door guy leans out to give you a hand getting on the moving vehicle. I watched more and more people get on and got the hang of it...it's nothing hard, I was just caught so off gaurd!
I'm sure you're expecting this blog to talk about the orphanage since I went there today! I'm not going to go into toooo much detail because this was just my first day and I was only there for a few hours, and I'll be there a lot in the future, so you'll hear much more about it later! BUT, what I will say is that I know I'm going to love it. The part that I'll be in is a big room with about 50 metal cribs/beds. There's at least 2 kids in each bed - they range from age 5 to 20. Before I had even walked in, I was holding one kid, had one wrapped around each leg, and had a few more scooting on the floor following me from behind. Personal space clearly doen'st exist here! All of the children have severe physical disabilities, but for those of you who know me....that makes it even more right up my alley. The first thing I noticed was the lack of medical equiptment or aids. It made me realize how incredible the technolgoy is in the US - wheelchairs, walkers, leg braces, communication devices, etc. I played on the floor with a group of kids for a while and then it was mealtime at 10. I fed several children (lunch was rice, broth, beef, and some chopped fruit I think....all in stew or soup or sorts). I guess all else I'll say is that they are clearly some of the sweetest, most loveable children ever, and I know I'm going to love working with them every day!
Ms. Hang made me lunch and I ate with Linh and his mother. It was rice, pork, cucumber, some green veggie, a boiled brown egg, and pickled onions. I thought it was very sweet of her to make me lunch...I havne't really gotten the whole 'where and what do I eat' question figured out yet. I came up here to take a nap and I feel myself rambling on more and more, so I guess that means it must be nap time! ps - i'll try to be shorter and organized in future posts :)

Travel, travel, and more hours of travel

I left Wednesday morning and took a 13 hour flight from DFW to Tokyo and then connected to a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City. Needless to say, 21 hours of flying time is A LOT! But I can't really complain...I had several things in my favor to make it a bit easier! My dad was awesome enought to upgrade me to business class for the DFW-Tokyo leg, and I had the coolest seat that reclined from a seat to a 'lounger' to a bed. They gave me a comfy blanket (not your typical American Airlines blue gross thing), served me delicious meals, brought me drinks whenever I wanted, and made the trip seem pretty easy. I had my own TV, and I watched 12 episodes of the office in row. I'm obsessed. I tried to watch 30 Rock or whatever that's called (I gave it my best shot Zach), but couldn't get into it. I slept a bit but not much.
We finally got to Tokyo and I found my gate with plenty of time to spare (I was a little nervous only having an hour layover). I had brought some Japanese Yen, and I didnt have time to buy sushi (bummer!), but I at least got a bottle of water. I sat next to a really nice guy who was born and raised in Vietnam and moved to Michigan 19 years ago. He was going back to see his 4 year old son for the first time since he was born and he brought him a huge transformers set which I thought was cool. I digress. I had saved my iPhone battery for this flight since I didn't have my own TV (actually I did, but mine was broken), and I watched a bunch of episodes of Mad Men (thanks Lisa!!!). I'd never watched it before, so something new and exciting was the perfect distractor to keep me from realizing how tiny my seat was.
So, I get to the airport, find my bags, go through immigration and 'customs' (which dont really exist here), and walked into the strangest sight ever. The airport exit was lined with people meeting their traveller. But I'm talking about 600 people all pushing, shoving, waving signs, and quickly speaking Vietnamese. The other 2 or 3 tourists all pulled out their cameras to take pictures...mine was unfortunatly tucked at the bottom of my backpack. I cant describe it, but it was crazy (think fans lined up along the red carpet...I legitimately felt like a celeb). Amongst the pushing and shoving, I spotted a sign with my name, pointed to it, and met Linh (Hang, my program coordinator's, hustband) beyond the crowds. He grabbed me stuff, gave me a paper with the house address and his cell phone number, and went to get his moterbike to follow. I think that's how the airport scene went, but it was so quick and chaotic I'm not really sure.

T minus 24 hours!

The past 2 weeks have flown by, and I can’t believe I’m actually leaving for Vietnam in the morning. I’m sooooo excited, but I haven’t really started packing, have some grad school applications to finish up, and am staring at a ‘to do before I leave’ list that seems to still have a million things on in. But, I know I’ll get all the stuff I haaaave to get done taken care of, and I’ll be ready to leave in the morning one way or another!

Here’s some contact info if you need to or want to get ahold of me while I’m gone (and by that I mean pleeeeease stay in touch!!! :)

Calling: My international cell phone number is +44 792 422 8436 (keep in mind you’ll be paying international rates if you don’t use a calling card or something else, so I wouldn’t recommend calling unless it’s really time sensitive. While my US Cell phone will be working, please only call it in emergencies, as it is pretty expensive over there!

Text messaging: I can receive and send text messages on both the international phone (number above) and my regular US Cell phone!!!

Email: I’ll be checking lindseyohare@gmail.com as frequently as possible (probably at least once every other day)

Skype: Linds613 (I have free wireless at the house I’ll be staying at, so this is an easy and FREE way to talk or video chat…all you have to do is download skype for free on your computer!)

Mail: Homebase GuestHouse – Lindsey O’Hare
207/56 Ba Thang Hai Street
Ward 11, District 10, HCMC
Vietnam

Since I started this post by complaining about how much I have to do, I guess it's time to get back to work. My suitcases don't seem to be packing themselves like I was hoping for :) I leave tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon and get in Thursday night, so I'll try to post an update within the first day or two of arriving to let you know how it's going! Thanks for all the emails, cards, and calls of support in the past few days - I clearly have the most supportive and amazing family and freinds ever! I feel so incredibly blessed, fortunate, and grateful for this incredible journey I'm about to embark on......

Less than 2 weeks and counting!

Hi family and friends! As most of you probably know, I graduated this December, and I've got some time off before trying to go get my Masters in Social Work in the fall.....so I'm going to Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam from Jan 21st -March 18th. For the first 6 weeks, I'll be volunteering at a shelter for street children and an orphanage for children with disabilities. Then, I'll be travelling around with my mom and sister for the last week and a half! I'm going through a program called WLS International, and they've helped me set up housing and connect me with the agencies (there program website is http://www.gapyearinasia.com/). Here's some info about the two agencies I'll be at:

Shelter for street children: This is a shelter for street children in the center of Ho Chi Minh City. The charity provides education, recreational activities and opportunities for street children so they can get a job when they grow up and go back home to integrate with their own families.Volunteers will be conducting English classes and offering support to the children whilst being a positive role model for the children, through involvement in a variety of activities, including teaching English, outdoor activities, arts and crafts activities, games, songs and social education.
Orphanage for Children with Disabilities: The Orphanage for children with disabilities cares for abandoned children with mental or physical disabilities and agent orange victims and helps to educate them to the fullest extend of their capabilities, both physical and intellectual, and to help them, as much as possible, towards independent living. There are about 400 children. Volunteers can talk/play with the children, help the physiotherapists when they do the therapies for the children, feed the children and teach some children to feed themselves and take them on their wheel chairs for a walk in the orphanage’s front garden.

I leave in less than 2 weeks, and as it gets closer and closer I'm getting more nervous and excited at the same time. I think I'll have an incredible experience, and I know this is a once in a life time chance I couldn't pass up! I have all the shots I need (from Semester at Sea), will go pick up my visa from the post office tomorrow, and then it's almost time to think about how to pack and what else I need..ahh!