Tet Holiday 2011- pt.1

So, At first I was too tired and wanted to relax and get back on track after a two week holiday... then I was too busy to sit down and type up this blog... Now, I have no excuses! I felt like starting up again and writing but it wouldn't be fair to you out there- if I just pushed forward and failed to recap a pretty stellar trip. 

I'm going to have to just piece together journal entries so bear with me... I still think it'll be entertaining : ) 

Day 1: 

(February 1st, 2011) 

I'm writing from the back of a motorbike. 

-early rise (7:30) met up to take picture on Nguyen Hue street until 11am (this street has a huge floral display for the holidays) 

 

Changed and met up with Tam's brother and friend. Got in a small motorbike accident ( I was not driving :) ) and decided the boys should drive the rest of the way. I'm on the back of Tam's brother's bike and his friend is driving Tam's bike. 

Turning Vietnamese- wearing a hoodie in the hot hot heat to avoid sunburn. 

Saw three nasty accidents, which luckily we passed AFTER the victims were removed. We however made it safe and sound in one piece.. sore bums but alive! 

Tam's house is awesome, can not wait to take tons of pictures- never realized how big Tam's family was- she has two sisters and two brother. 

Did I mention she lives on the beach? 

Day 2: 

(February 2nd, 2011)

Another early rise. 

brisk shower- hit the local street market, one of the shops had 6 women lavising me with compliments and pushing their very shy 15 year old daughter at me so she could practice her English. 

Prepped some veggies for the big meal - used a cleaver... yikes! 

Saw women doing that red chew (later I found out it is the areca nut and the betel leaf you can learn about it here ) and selling it.

Was an active participant in a 'bike of burden' with a giant potted sunflower. 

Sitting under the mango tree/ relaxing on a hammock, tamarind in the tree to my right and coconuts in the the tree to my left... 

Today is new years eve, in the lunar calendar. The father, or man of the house prays to ancestors for the whole house and then they 'party' by sitting at the house eating and drinking beer. 

On the first day of the year the first person to enter the house brings you luck for that year. 

It's beautiful how all of the men take shopping for flowers so seriously during this holiday. There were more men than women at the flower markets and they were examining each flower arrangement with great care before purchasing. 

Day 3: 

(February 3rd, 2011) 

This is my favorite day so far. 

Last night - everyone showered to cleanse before the new year- washing away the last year. 

Then we went to view the fireworks. We were ridiculously close to the fireworks.... 

This morning we walked to all of the relatives houses- prayed and sat around relaxing and sharing each others company. 

Each house has 5 alters, you light incense for each one, you share fruit and give lucky money. 

Days 4 and 5: 

(February 4th and 5th, 2011)

Day 4 was filled with visiting relatives, talking and playing both Black Jack and Bingo.... I was a huge winner- but we only bet with 2,000- 5,000 VND which is roughly 10- 25 cents. 

I had been the first foreigner to visit them and they were SO happy that they invited me to return the following year. 

Today we went to the biggest pagoda in the area. Tam's father happens to work there. 

I lit my 11 incense sticks and went to the various alters to pray for my family, health and happiness. I was filled with such emotion I can't really express it in words. 

I was then taken to the biggest alter- which was built for a husband and wife- the entire pagoda was built in their honor thanking them for their kindness and compassion. 

I sat down in front of their alter, was given these two wooden blocks that when held together resembled a tamarind fruit/seed. I held these to my forehead and prayed. It's a prayer kind of like a wish. Then you drop the blocks and if they land in a certain way, your wish and prayer will come true.  

I made my wish dropped the blocks and they came up with no luck.. however... you are given three chances to make this wish/prayer. On my second turn I did the entire routine again, placed them to my forehead- made my prayer, dropped the blocks and success! The landed the correct way and my wish was/will be granted. 

This was followed by standing in line behind this main monk who gave me two bits of yellow paper. One was already folded and the other I folded around the first. This, he said, should be carried with me at all times for luck, happiness and safety. 

Day 6:

(February 6th, 2011)

We took a trip to the mountain which has cable cars to take you up to the top where a pagoda and some epic buddhas are. 

Because it was a holiday it was the most busy place in the world. Seriously, I've seen Vietnamese in crazy traffic- elbowing and clawing at each other in line at the supermarket and more but this was the most graphic, horrifying display of complete lack of regard for other human beings. 

To begin the afternoon, we drove for about an hour and stood in line in the insane heat for another two hours. 

Once we got off the cable car and started hiking further up in the mountain, I kept coming up to these beautiful massive buddha statues and was thinking how incredibly awesome a surprise it was because I was under the impression we were simply hiking up a mountain. 

Then we started up the main pathway... and I could see white peeking through the trees. Then I realized that this was no ordinary Buddha statue. It's the biggest laying down Buddha in SE Asia. How they got the rock up there to build it is beyond me! 

After seeing such a beautiful sight, it was time to head back. Now here's where the real chaos and drama occurred. Hundreds of Vietnamese trying to get down a mountain in the hot afternoon, by cable cars that hold about 8... is a recipe for disasters. 

I saw my first ever 'stampede' complete with tasers, shouting, whistles and my friend Tam fainting. This is a view after we finally made it to the small controlled waiting area for the next cable car (and we only got there when we did because Tam passed out and we were rushed to the front) 

I was honestly scared and had visions of this image turning up in the news.... 

BUT we made it out alive, and I was more than ready for the next leg of my journey. 

***

This concludes my recap of my Tet holiday- part one. As I warned, it's not written very eloquently- but hey I'm tired, super busy and at least I'm getting my experience out there : ) 

Stay tuned for parts two and three: The Mekong Delta and Cambodia 

Sunday = cleaning day

...Which is why I'm sitting at a cafe havin an awesome breakfast and reading a book. Oh, don't get me wrong, my house is getting cleaned as we speak. How you might ask?

Only in Vietnam can you be woken up at 7:30a.m. On a Sunday morning by your landlord providing you with no less than 6 cleaning ladies to deep clean your house... For free.

And people might ask, "don't you miss your family and friends living so far away?"

My answer, "of course, but I'm about to spend under 20 USD for an entire afternoon at the spa while 6 ladies clean my house for free"

The Flu

It comes out of no where and knocks you on your bum. Wednesday night, I felt great- had the slightest feeling that I had a fever but thought I was just tired. Thursday upon waking up- I felt as if a bus had hit me in the middle of the night. 

And now it's Saturday. And I'm one frustrated and weak little lady. All my plans and ambitions for the past few days have been beyond my reach and I'm getting antsy! 

So, what I have done with my bedridden two (going on three) days? Finished reading these:

The first two books were given to me by my sister in law for Christmas. I starting reading the first book on the plane home from the states- which was on January 2nd-4th (time zone change- don't ask) And now it's the 22nd and I'm about 100 pages away from finishing the third book.

On Wednesday I was close to finishing the 2nd book so I had to head out to the backpacker district and hope that there was a bootleg copy of it floating around, and there was!

What a great way to spend my sick days. Rather than laying half dead in front of the TV I've been fully engrossed in these novels.

 It's an excellent trilogy, the mystery throughout each book keeps you turning pages and makes it impossible to put down. It's filled with hundreds of surprises and very complex characters. 

Kien Gieng - A Medical Mission.

I mentioned to my Vietnamese assistant teacher that I was bummed to miss a volunteer trip right before Christmas where the school had a few volunteers deliver Christmas cards to a small orphanage a few hours away. She said she was heading out on trip the following weekend and asked if I wanted to join, I said of course!

The trip was lead by one of my students parents. The father is a doctor and mother used to teach literature at a University in Ho Chi Minh City.

We headed out straight from work on Friday, went straight to Thien Phuc's parents house and we had dinner and prepared some prescriptions and waited for other volunteers to arrive.

We headed out to catch a bus at about 8:30pm- the bus ride took 8 hours- arriving at Kien Giang at 4:30 in the morning. We chose our rooms, laid down fully clothed and knocked out! 

We woke up at 6:30 am to get the show on the road. We joined all of the other doctors, dentists and volunteers for a big buffet style breakfast of delicious chicken porridge and coffee. 

We hopped back on the bus for a short 45 minute trip out to the small village where the clinic would be held. We unloaded boxes and introduced ourselves to all the beautiful faces of the village. 

Ms. Tam taught them how to properly wash their hands and brush their teeth. They listened with such great intent and respect- taking in every word. Which is funny because when we give this same speech to our students at school they roll their eyes and tune us out : ) 

We also handed out Milk to many different villagers. A lot of them actually arrived by boat.

Each room held a different form of clinic. There were a variety of health check rooms, including ultra sounds and other technical equipment that was over my head : ) the room directly next to our room had a dental clinic where dental checks and teeth were pulled. 

We took a lunch break and a nap... ok only Ms. Tam, myself and my student took naps but we were encouraged to I swear! When we returned to the clinic, we took up spots filling prescriptions. The first few minutes of this was intense because I don't speak Vietnamese and I was the person on the trip who couldn't understand Vietnamese! But I got the hang of it pretty darn quick and ended up rapidly filling prescriptions and doing a great job of it! 

Finally, around 4:30 it was time to start packing and cleaning up. What a day. It was life changing, encouraging and beautiful. We took our group pictures and said our goodbyes to the village before we headed off to the prison (yikes!) to give out more medications. 

We arrived at the prison as the sun was setting. The warden (or whatever you call the head of the prison) had put together a huge feast, free of charge, to thank all of the volunteers. Complete with bottles of Vietnamese rum. 

We toured the grounds, well we didn't see the actual prison and all of the prisoners, just the main beautiful building that the head hanchos lived in. It was very beautiful, however... even the animals were in prison. : (

Dinner was delicious and different members of the police and prison staff not only served us, but took shots with us! This was followed with some good ol' fashion Vietnamese Karaoke, half of the volunteers decided to head back to the guest house we were staying at. We spent the rest of the evening drinking beer and playing blackjack! 100% Vietnamese spoken all the time, which has encouraged me to get my act together and actually learn it! It was so much fun and even funnier to watch Ms. Tam cheat. 

The following day was another early morning- up by 7 and we headed out to a coffee shop for breakfast. We were gifted with a trip down the Mekong at the U Minh Tuong National park. This was a breathtaking boat trip! 

After our trip down the Mekong we headed about 45 minutes away to have lunch at this beautiful natural reserve. They made their own honey and everything they cooked with had been raised by them. This lunch was also free of charge as thanks for all the hard work our team had done. I couldn't believe it! 

We ate fish and it was delicious but being the klutz I am, I got a pretty sharp fish bone stuck in my throat.... good thing I was traveling with 20 doctors. 

We finally hit the road... around 4pm.... I was happy to have my headphones and a book since they had a TV playing a vietnamese comedy act! We snuggled up and tried to relax the rest of the way home. 

All in all it was an incredible trip. And the first of many to come. I've done different volunteer trips in the past but this one was different. I guess I underestimated the power of medical trips. 

I've posted all of the pictures from the trip on Flickr. Feel free to check them all out here! 

Kien Giang

Heading out for a volunteer trip this weekend, we are bringing gifts and teaching about good hygiene to a poverty stricken provence. 

We head out straight after work tomorrow, I'm going with my Vietnamese teaching assistant Ms. Tam and the parents of one of my students. I'm really looking forward to it! 

Stay tuned for a recap and photos : ) 

The last month or so...

Holidays. Man are they time consuming! 

I haven't been able to sit down and write on here but I have had so many great things happen. 

Going to America was a trip! I mean, obviously it was a trip- but a mental trip as well. 

Christmas celebration at school:

Detour through Pasadena for the weekend : ) 

Joy rides the Polar Express! 

Rented a condo on the beach for two nights : ) 

Pops came to visit : ) 

We went to the science museum! 

Then came new years - and my new years eve kiss

Back to back Medicine for the People shows- 

I was front and center of course! 

And you can witness my mind being blown as well. 

What an amazing two week holiday! That being said, even though it was spectacular to be with family and friends- it really made me appreciate the life I've chosen for myself out here in SE Asia. I love my job(s), I love my friends, I love my routine, I love the orphanage and I love my motorbike. 

2010 was a challenging year. I'm ready for 2011 and all it has to offer! 

-Stay tuned for more frequent posts and some exciting travel plans!