Monday March 5

Today Muriel, Susan, Dr. Hang, The´, Craig, Tien, Binh, &  Kha went to visit the pre-school that Dr. Hang had told us need help buying playground equipment.  We toured the three classrooms and the common area.  When we toured the playground we realized that they did need new equipment, but not just the two pieces that we were looking at but all four.  Not being in our budget, we had to start looking at alternatives. 

Slide set that needs to be replaced, it is rusting away.

On our look we also noticed that the tables and chairs that they used for class and lunch were very old wooden and in bad need of replacing.  They showed us what they have been replacing them with, folding tables and metal and plastic chairs.  These cost about $40 US for a set of two chairs and one table and have a 3-7 year life.  This like most steal does not hold up long due to the weather conditions here. One other thing is the roof in one classroom needs replaced very soon, that will cost around $5000US (more on that later).

Newer Tables             Old tables

Lunch

After a long discussion with the Buddhist nun we were then invited to have lunch.  Once we finished lunch we headed to the company that makes the playground equipment.  It was a short 15 minute ride that was on the way home.  We toured the factory and asked a lot of questions.  We then went to visit two schools that had bought some of their equipment to see how it looked and held up to the weather conditions in this area.  After two visits and talking to some of the teachers we were not sure what to do, as the equipment might last 2-5 years if we were lucky.  So, we went back to the drawing board.  We decided to return home and sit down and talk about our options. 

We discused at length and over several phone calls to the manufacture and looking at our budget we picked out two pieces, however that left the table and chairs.  To the rescue The´ offered to donate the funds needed to cover them.  We then placed the order and now only have to wait to the end of the month to see the results.

Later that day we took a tour of the Imperial City. 













On the way home we stopped at the Buddhist Temple that does the Silk embroidery.  The girls are between 16-27 years old.  They are taught starting with the simple projects and then move up to the harder ones as they get better.  One print can take up to 2 months to complete, depending on the print.  Here is a video of one of the girls at work she has been doing this for 7 years.

Sunday March 4, 2012

Sunday March 4, 2012

Today was the first day of giving. We started at 9:30 am, there were ten of us and 5 motorbikes. We drove through the city 30 minutes to community of Chaunce Chu. We were headed to visit the gravesite and monument to the Buddhist call "Blind Monk". We meet our guide for the day Tang. We then set out to deliver envelopes to families in need. We gave them 150,000 VND, which will buy: 22 pounds of rice and 1 liter of fish sauce, two main staple foods.

We meet many interesting families; here is a video of a very sweet 8 yearold that sang us a song. He and his Down syndrome brother are looked after by their grandparents while their parents are working.

We also meet two sisters one with four children and the other with two. They both walk one hour to the mountains to collect brush to make outside sweepers.They then return home for lunch with their bundles and go back to work only to return home at the end of the day for a total of four hours walking. If they are able to sell the sweepers the will make less than 20 cents each.


The visit to the last two people of the day was a hike from the road we were on. We walked about 500 yards in the jungle up and over and around. When we finally got to their house the husband and wife both came out to meet us. These had to be two of the friendliest and happy two people we meet all day. She was just so happy that we had come to see her and this was even before she knew that we where there to give her a envelope with money in it. She gave us multiple hugs and wanted to smell our clothes. When we gave her envelope she was crying and hugs started all over. She just could not believe that we would give her something. She did not even know what was in the envelope. Saying our goodbyes we left and headed to the Buddhist monastery for lunch.

We were hosted by the Buddhist Nuns of the Dam Hoa Temple. We had a wonderful lunch and then were given a tour and granted a visit to the Spiritual Leader; she is 86 years and is attended to by one nun.  Then we just walked around and asked questions of the Nuns.  We then took photos and departed.  Later that day we took a tour of the Imperial City. 

 

Saigon

Saigon -
As we made our way through the airport, immigration, baggage pickup, and then Customs, you walk out to this:


There are hundreds of people waiting outside the airport to great friends and family coming in town. It is loud and crazy as people want to offer you a ride to where you are going. We were waiting for our driver “Dong” to pick us up. We did have a little bit of luggage….and the wheelchair. We ended up putting it on top of the car.

Then the fun began…you think the traffic in Seattle is BAD wait until you visit Ho Chi Ma City (Saigon). There looks to be no “rules of the road” except that ciaos rules! Driving around there are as many motorbikes as taxies in New York City and cars are like the crazy bike messengers trying to get in and around any free space that they can.


We were whisked through the city to Loc’s house to have lunch and rest a bit. Then we took off on a tour of the city. After seeing the city via car, we then headed to visit Susan’s grandmother and aunts. After a brief visit we were off to the airport to fly to our finale destination of Hue. We arrived at the airport and checked in, to find out they would only allowed us checked bags and with the wheelchair there were 7 so they charged us the $70 for it to be checked. We then headed to the gate to relax before we board the plane.

Once we were relaxing at gate, someone, yes ME lost their boarding pass somewhere between security and the gate. After a frantic search of everywhere we had been since security, I, with my translator (Susan) went to the gate agent. They were of no help at all and sent us out of the security are and back to check-in. We only had 15 minutes until our plan was to start boarding. We went directly to the argent that checked us in. She was also no help and turned us over to her supervisor. She then asked if we had look everywhere for it. Susan, using her best poker face said “that if we had not of look everywhere why would we be here asking for a replacement”. We hurried up and went back through security and rushed back to the gate. Within 10 minutes we were boarding and on our way to Hue.

We landed an hour and a half later in Hue. Then were meet by Chug and loaded in to a small bus and shuttled to his house where are calling home for the month. In true Vietnamese custom there was a table full of food waiting for us to eat, even though it was 10 pm. Off to bed, very full, more soon.

Craig<

Flight part 2

We arrived in Taipei at 6:30 am and went straight to security to be cleared for our connecting flight to Ho Chi Minh city(Saigon). Muriel was once again driven by an attendant at security Susan and I were separated from Muriel and had to go through the slow line, no fast pass this time! By the time we got through we had headed to the gate, Susan thought that we had a couple of hours till our flight. I looked at the ticket and we were needing to board right away. So we rushed to the gate and talked our way on the the plane early as Muriel was already settled in here seat. As always we rushed and ended up leaving 30 minutes late. Now three hours to relax before a day of touring Ho Chi Minh city(Saigon).

Flight

The first leg of the flight started Wednesday night February 29th at SeaTac airport. We checked in with one bag each and a box of supplies each, loving packed by Tina, and one wheelchair that does not fold. Now this is going to be fun. The gate agent was only able to do one thing at a time, and Tina kept him on his feet and kept asking him question after question. I know she was just trying to ware him down, so we could get the wheelchair checked without having to pay extra. To our rescue came a wonderful baggage handler (thank you!). With that Muriel was to be driven by an service agent vie airport wheelchair through security and to the gate right up to the door of the plane. Did I forget to say Susan and I also got a fast pass through.

As for the flight it was to be long 14 hours. I thought I could at least sleep the first 3 hours... Wrong at the one hour mark, it's time to eat the first meal at 2am. The smell of the food will wake anyone from a dead sleep. Within the second hour the trays are taken away and the light are turned off to send everyone to sleep. For the next 10 hours we are left to sleep until breakfast is served. Now that the trays are cleared we have one hour left and we will have flown almost 6500 miles and a 16 hour time difference it is Friday March 2nd. Taipei here we come!

Leaving

At the airport ready to leave