a day at the beach!

Today we spent the day at the beach. It was camp day! All 300 of the children that Catalyst sponsors plus our 25 kids and 80 or so adults took over a large section of beach for games, food and swimming! It was amazing!

Imagine 300 kids that have never left their villiage, never been in a hotel and never having a day off from work enjoying 1 entire day that was designed just for them! We played games did arts and crafts and just had fun. the kids were so delighted. My favorite was the little girl in the tiarra! Every little girl whether they live in a dump in Kien Gang or in a penthouse on 5th ave. should have a tiarra!!!!

The day started with "organized" games. That last about 30 minutes. All the kids wanted to do is go in their rooms and take showers!!! I guess having never seen a shower it was a much larger attraction than any of us could provide! After lunch we brought our kids back to our hotel for hang time while the Catalyst kids showered, again and rested. Many of them did not feel well after lunch. the poor babies ate so much food they were sick. this is probably one of the first meals they did not have to gather on their own, imagine what that must have been like for them!

we then all gathered for dinner and skit night. the children all put on skits, it was hilariuos. We were treated to traditional dance, music and song.

Tomorow we say good-bye to the kids and head off for our last day as a team. We are spending the day and night at a hot springs resort, about 45 miles from Long Gai. i can't remember the name of the place! It will be our celebration day for loads of hard work!

This trip has been incrediable. Maya and I have made friends that I hope will continue to be friends for many years. as I sit here freshly showered and comfy I can honestly say that I am so glad we did this trip. It has been rewarding, eye opening and some of the hardest work I have ever done. I am so proud of Maya who has worked her little tail off with very little complaint. She has been bagging 10 pound bags of rice, helping to move 100 bikes from one space to another, helped children learn new games without understanding a single word they said. She has been out of bed and ready to move to a new site by 5:30 in the morning and she has figured out friendships with 25 children from all over the country. During most of this time she has done all of this with a smile on her face!

I am ready to come home, eat some good food and sleep in a comfy bed! It didn't help when Gail reported to me what Tyler Florence was cooking on the food network, TEEHEE! Seriously though, we have tried some really, really traditional foods. Some was fabulous and some was not. I have to say that one of my most favorite things was fried sticky rice balls, simply amazing!!!

I am off to bed. Hopefully we will have internet at our next spot and I will post more!

Martha