HIIIIII
Right now, Devyn and I just found the coffee shop with wifi that is about a five minute walk from our guest house…We had to go in a couple of different ones while everyone looked at us like we were crazy. We had to buy a coffee to use it but it is SO worth it! Also, their coffee here is really cool-it sits in this metal container above your cup and drips down sort of like a mini coffee maker, filtering itself---totally tastes like chocolate.
Time for the update!
On Saturday we took a 1 hour 30 min flight (who knew Vietnam was so big?) to the central region. We are now in city called Quang Tre. It is very different from Ho Chi Minh. Unlike the huge city before, this is a pretty small town next to a river and it is UBER, UBER hot and dry!!! We are staying in a guest house similar to the one before. I have learned now that a guest house is sort of like a hotel but the government owns them.
At the airport, we got in a bus and went to pick up our new roommates at their school. I was super nervous but my roommate is AWESOME! Her name is Nhung…but she tells everyone to call her Mushroom HAHAHAHA (She is SUPER tiny and very cute). So far, we have gotten along very, very well! She loves the picture book that I got her and keeps saying how “beautiful” my family is (I haven’t told her how crazy we actually are yet). She takes me around the markets and helps me to bargain with all of the ladies. She even gave me this really cool wooden book mark that her dad gave her and a necklace. Today, after she saw me picking at my nail polish to try to take it off, she went out and got me some remover!
It’s a pretty big deal that she gave me things because most FAMILIES make only about $1,000 a year, and even though all the prices are much cheaper here for Americans, it’s still expensive for them. Her dad is a police man and her mom works on their farm where they grow peanuts, rice, corn, and some other stuff that I didn’t really catch lol.
The market here is SOOOO crazy and neat. There are SOOO many things to see and buy. It is set up right along the river and there is some pretty gross and strange looking things in the food market part---tons of raw meat, fish heads and parts, baskets of dried sardine heads and maggots, strange looking fruit, HUGE piles of salt on these open baskets, and lots of NASTY smells haha.
But it is really cool and everyone LOVES us. They want us to take pictures with us; they follow us around; and they tell our roommates that we are “so pretty and beautiful” Well duhhhhh J
Last night we had our opening ceremony with all of our roommates and local officials at this really cool restaurant in the jungle that was directly over a lilly pond. They even had these 2 monkeys just chillin in a cage! We at this huge 10 dish meal (family style) and people would get up on stage to perform. It was sooo funny because ALL of the Vietnamese officials stood up to sing songs and give speeches. It was like our own Karaoke bar….we kept saying how this would NEVER happen in America. People were pretty much fighting for the mike. All the Americans got up to sing a Vietnamese number song we learned in class and then started shouting the YMCA. Then we had a huge dance party…super fun!
Our full schedule starts this week. We have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, work till 11, eat lunch, then from 2-5 we teach English to middle schoolers, dinner at 6, and then we are supposed to plan with our group the next day’s teaching lesson. WHEEEEEWWWW! It’s a LOT!
There are two separate projects: one at the local youth center in the middle of town to build a parking structure and one in the rural village to build a restroom at an elementary school. Devyn and I are working on the restroom. It is an AMAZING ride into the village. We ride down the small town’s main road and then get off on this dirt path and ride along a river, through rice patties with mountains in the distance, and cows just chillin in the fields. The elementary school for the village is actually pretty nice. It is very, very open. There are no doors and a few windows to let the breeze in.
So this morning, we had to wake up at 4:30!!! To get to breakfast by 5 (I had my favorites noodles: Beef Pho) and then we rode our bikes about 25 minutes to the site. I couldn’t believe it was actually hot and the sun hadn’t even come out yet.
We had to pull out and rake up TONS of weeds and lots of creepy bugs, frogs, and lizards in them! Then some of the group set off to bend and cut the steel for the frame of the building. I went to start digging the holes and it was THE HARDEST WORKOUT EVER! For 4 hours we swung, hit, and tried to dig holes in the driest, hardest land ever. It took us the whole time to just make 4 separate, square holes that were each a foot deep. It was really, really tiring but everyone had a good time too! Afterwards, it was off to lunch where everyone CHOWED DOWN!! We were all starving from all the exercise and ate EVERYTHING in silence hehe. Our bodies were so sore, all we could do was eat (I was too hungry to even bother using the chopsticks)
In the rural areas, all of the meals are served family style. However, unlike the US where there are big spoons in each dish to serve yourself, everyone just sticks their chop sticks in whatever they want and sometimes puts it in their own bowl. UGGGHHHH….this is a little difficult for me seeing that I am a GERMAPHOBE, but so far, I’ve been too hungry and had to get over it (don’t expect me to stay this way once I get home though!!!!)
Now Dev and I are in the coffee shop just chillin. We have a 3 hour break to eat lunch and rest before we have to ride our bikes 20 min to the youth center to teach the kids….over 120 kids from all over the local villages signed up for the class but we have no idea how much English they already know. Should be interesting…..
No comments:
Post a Comment