On the road again.....

Sorry for not posting last night. We took a 5 hour bus ride over the scariest bridges and the bumpiest roads I have ever been on! We have moved from Kien Gang to Dong thap, i think! It's hard to keep track, but anyway after 5 hours and 2 ferry rides we arrived very late, so no time to blog!!!

Yestarday,Tuesday, the school team got the day off, YES!!!!! We took 25 kids to the beach. We went to Ha Tien which is located as far south west in Vietnam you can go. We had a blast!! I have added a couple of picture, but the best was sitting to eat luch. people just lined up and stared at us. We now know what animals in a zoo feel like. We are getting use to the stares. People just come to a dead stop and stare and I mean stare! It's ver unusual for white people to be in this area, nevr mind white people with vietnamese kids!

To Mrs. Smo's class: Great questions! We understand very little. we can understand hello, thank you, and good bye, that's about it! The children here love to yell hello to us and then they giggle! We can not read any signs what so ever!!!!
We are enjhoying most of the food. Maya is being very adventuresome in her eating. Last night she was eating and came acroos a chicken foot! She stopped eating!
There are no american resturants.
The hotels are okay. not as clean and nice as American hotels, but they are not too bad. We do however have a geko living in our room, yew!!
The actual temp. is about 100-110. The humidity is very high, higher than anywhere in the US. We ahve to drink at least 20 bottles of water a day to stay healthy!
On the TV we have found cartoon Network and Disney Channel, both in english!!!
Please don't hesitate to ask more questions, those were great!!!!

Okay, here is what our day is like! We are up at 5:30 and on the bus by 6:30. We take a bus to a town and then travel by Tuk-Tuk for about 20 min. into the villiage. The tuk-tuk goes over these bridges that the planks rise up after we go over it! When we arrive in the village we head off to the school. They usually preform a dragon dance, have a little ceramony to welcome us and then we play games and pass ou beanie babies.
We taught soem students, about 40, how to play duck, duck, goose. Only we called it Viet, Viet, goose! Viet (VIT) is chicken in Vietnamese. It took us 20 minutes to get the kids to understand! I have never laughed so hard! Our kids and gthe school kids really don't interact. They both keep a distance from one another. This game helped to bring them all together, it was really neat to see.
I think the language barrier and the obviuos difference in "status" is the barrier. We are really working hard to get them together!
After the school we take another tuk-tuk ride to the food distribution area. In this area the kids are passing out food and bikes. This is also where they are handing out fun bags. The reaction of the children recieving all of this is very somber until they hit the street, the the smiles begin and the giggeling. It is the most amazing thing to watch!!!
I can't even begin to tell you how amazing all of the kids are. They are working so hard in very difficult conditions, never mind the emotional stuff with being in their birth culture! They whine very little and complain even less. I told Maya that the bar is being raised at home now that I know what she is really capable of!!!!!!
This trip continues to humble me! It is truly amazing to see first had how the Vietnamese people must live and what they must do meach day just to survive! I shall never complain of my small house again!!!!! So we are happy, hot, tired, dirty and humbled!
Once again I will post pictures, they really are worth 1000 words!!!
Love,
Martha