Friday, April 2, 2010

Thursday, April 1, 2010

The lables for the last post got all messed up.  I swear the internet here just messes with evrything from formatting to spelling!  Anyway, the pictures of the houses are houses that Catalyst has built.  They have moved all of the families out of the first dump and into homes.  Now their work is focusing on the new dump.\
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A day of fun!

                                                                                            Catalyst is moving onto dump # 2!  The chickens in the basket were for a game of catch the chicken!  You can imagine how well our children did with that game!  All of the food you see was being prepared for the Khmere Tet, which is the Cambodian Tet.  Catalyst put on a huge Tet party tonight, with the local woman preparing all of our food.  Maya ate her weight in pork!  Crossing my fingers all will be digested well as we have a 6 hour bus ride in the morning!  the party was amazing!  I willl post those photos when we get home.  The pictures of Eric swinging a alarge stick was a game that the local students provided for all of the children.  It was blind fold the child. spin them and send them off to break the clay pot, sound familar?  They then receive the gift in the clay pot.  Clay pot sharreds were flying!  We also played tug-a-war.  The kids had a blast and the adults breathed a sigh of relief that no skulls were craked on the cement and no eyes were lost to sharreds of clay.  And no chickens were killed in the chicken catch!  However I think they may have ended up on our dinner plates?  the next blog will be from our very own kitchen!!!!  I am hoping Maya will write a little!!!!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Food distribution day!

Getting ready for another afternoon of "camp"  The community children have a blast!











We are spending our entire week at the Catalyst school this time.  I have noticed that the community children and our children are not only interacting more, but really excited to see eachother each day!  Last expedition I felt this was missing, so i am so glad to see it this year!  Clare and Noah with a couple of community children!





Ashton getting reading to pass along rice and oils to a family from the community.  It's about 100 degrees and 98% humidity, this was really hard work!

















Noah, John and Jeremy getting ready to share rice and oil.  It looks organized, but 2 min. after I took the photo the children were surrounded!  There is nothing "organized" in Vietnam!






Maya passing out noodles, milk and formula
Today we had food distribution.  Each month Catalyst distributes food to people in their community.  The food consists of rice, beans, oil, noodles, milk and formula.  The amount given will last a family of 4 for one month.  Many people from surronding areas arrived, thinking they would also be receiving food.  We said we could give them all but rice and oil, they were not happy about that.  One mother with a 9 month old and a 6=7 year old was in tears, she just wanted to feed her children.  It's hard to watch.  If we give food away for everyone, th eprogram doesn't work.  the idea is to educate the children and teach the parents, for that they earn vochures for food and other items.  If a child scores well on tests and gets good grades, they get vochures.  If parents attend special trainings on the weekend, participate in comunity events, they get vochures.  If they don't do any of the above, no vochures.  It's the give a man a fish, eats for a day, give a man a fishing pole he eats everyday philosophy.  Even knowing all of that it's hard to watch a mom have nothing to feed her children.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Gekos in my underwear!

Okay, so today was crazy!  We had to set up "camp" for 300 kiddos, get a "market ready for the community and , and get rice ready for distribution tomorrow!  This is ALL done by 29 children and 4 adults.  We also have a lot of community children who like to help.  We got it all done and everyone had a great time.  All of the stickers are covering many children in the dump tonight!  They LOVED the stickers!  They plastered themselves with stickers.  None of the children knew how to use a crayon on paper.  Once the children showed them they were off and running!  Donated toys and Beanie babie, (thank you Ashley) FLEW off the tables!  The children raced to the market ahead of their parents so they could go to the toy table.  They knew once the parents arrived they would be forced to use their "money" for clothing or worse yet, kitchen items such as pots and baskets.  Just goes to show, children are the same all ober the world!
After this crazy day we decided to take the children and ourseleves to a roof top bar/restaurant to enjoy ice cream and cocktails, yummy!!!!!  The place is actually called Yumi:)
I will have more time to write more abou the garbage dump and post more photos.  Sorry about the way the writing and photos matched up, or better yet didn't match up!  Nothing works as it should here!!
Oh, I need to explain the title of the post!  We got our laundry back this afternoon and it was still wet.  I draped everything everywhere and left for the afternoon.  When we returned I checked the clothes and they were mostly dry; the a/c is running like crazy!  Anyway, as I picked up a pair of underwear a geko scooted across my bed!  I couldn't scream because I didn't want Maya to see it.  I thought she'd walk to the airport and book the first plane home!  So I quietlty grabbed a tissue and as I was about to grab the geko, Maya rounds the corner and simply states, "careful not to get the tail, it'll fall off and when it falls off it still wiggles.  Can I go downsatirs with the other kids?"  !!!!!  I was stunned! She was cool as a cucumber! I'm still a tad grossed out tho!
water puppet show in Saigonbeach in Phu QuocPPearl farm, watching the guy implant pearlsMaya snorlelingHanging thing:)This is the garbage dump where the people that we are her to work with live, work and find their food.  These picture show their actual living condiotns.  This community consists of people who are undocumented.  That means they are unable to shop in the store, go into markets, etc...  They must literally live off of the dumpSetting up market day for the commuity.  They will purchase items with vouchers they have earned for various reasons.  This is the only way this communnity is able to buy goods.Maya and friends sorting and organizing for the market day.  The kids were in charge of running the marketKids buying toys at the maket.  These ladies had so much fun watching all that was going on!Beading with the local children

Monday, March 29, 2010

Clothing, craft supplies, paint, oh my!

So today began around 5:45 am.  The medical team was off to their work sit at 6 as the rest of us went about our morning in a sloth like fashion!  We hit breakfast at 7:30 and work sites by 9.  We were up to greet our friend Brianna as her mom is on the medical team.
Today our team, the school team, made our way to the school to begin the monsterous duty of seperating art supplies, clothing ,shoes and a multitude of other items.  We are a team of 29 children between the ages of 8 and 14, a group of teenagers and 4 adults.  We then have our teams split into 3 groups. One group is painting the building.  They consist mostly of the older boys.  Then the other teams are sorting items for our market we will be holding for the  people of a specific area.  These folks will be given vouchures to purchase clothing, shoes and toys.  The kids will be organizing and running the market. We are also preparing for a camp in the morning and another camp in a day or 2.  The kids will be running stations; tye-dye, beads, friendship bracelets and arts and crafts.  All of the village children will come to enjoy, 300 kids to be exact!  Should be fun, I think!!!  Oh and did I mention how hot it is???  No, not in tis post you say?  Well, it's HOT!!!!! 15 bottles of water per day per person. Even with that you don't find the need to use the rest room very often!  It's also really humid.  The sweat never actually dries to col you as it is meant to be!  You just spend your day soaking wet!  Always happy to see the shower at the end of the day!
The hotel we are in is fine.  In the states it would rank maybe 1 star, here it's probably 3.  After taking a shower we have a river running through the bathroom.  If everyone statrts flushing our bathroom seems to collect all of the sewage oder, pretty I know, but I had to share!  The gekos have managed to find other rooms to hang out in, thank heavens!  We do have a flat screen tv, a fridge, wifi, a/c,hot water, and a lock on the door, so no complaints really!
My computer will not recoginize my picture card, so I plan to borrow a compter tomorrow to post pictures from our snorkeling in Phu Quoc, work here at the school and other stuff, so stay tuned!
I leave you all to go to sleep, count my blessings and e humbled by all I see!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Phu Quoc to Kien Giang

We just arrived in Kien Giang and the work is about to start!  We are getting a bit of down time before heading off to sort all of the meds and tons of other doantions.
I have a boat load of pictures to post from the last few days. I have been having internet issues.  Yesterday, Saturday, we took a tour of the northern part of Phu Quoc.  It was suppose to be a half day tour, but turned into a full day!  We visited a pepper farm, vey interesting to see how pepper grows!  Then went to a beach area , I think the purpose was to buy sea shells!  I am pretty sure our tour guide was related to the sellers of the sea shells:)  Then off to luch and 2.5 hours of snorkeling off of a small, remote island, simply spectacular!!!!!  I will post pictures later tonight, they are awesome!!!!! 
Well that's it for know, off to work we go!!!!!!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Our resort in Phu Quoc!

Phu Quoc

We arrived in Phu Quoc yesterday.  The island is amazing.  rain forest to the north and amazing beaches to the south.  the flight from Saigon was 45 min.  We will atke a ferry back to Kien Giang on Sunday.  It is here that we will meet up with the expedition.
Today we took a tour of the island with a tour guide.  We went to local makets to buy our food for luch; elephant fish and squid.  We then headed to what was voted the most beautiful beach in the world by ABC News.  How they became the experts on beaches, I'm not sure, but they were right!  Sao beach is amazing.  White sand, blue water, just like the Caribbean!  We all had a blast swimming and eating our freshly purchased seafood!
we then went to a pearl farm.  These pearls are amazing!  The prices are equally amazing.  Maya scored a pearl necklace which will be her high school graduation gift, something I could never swing in the states!  Then we headed back to our resort.
The Sea Star resort is great.  We have individual bungalows steps from a beautiful beach.  Coconut and almond palms are every where.  The beach has resorts and restaurants all up and down.  When we want to eat we just walk the bach and find a good place, very fun!
louise, if you are reading this, my hair is up every day!!!!!!!!!!  It is so humid that MY hair actaully gets frizzy!!!  I have NEVER had frizzzy hair in my life! HAHA!!!!
So, all is well!  We are so excited to be experiencing things that I never that we would.  We are so fortunate!
Miss you all!  I'll try and send a little warth and sunshine your way!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Elephant fish, deep fried and quite yummy!
Coconut candy "factory" The candy is really fabulous.... OSHA may take issue with some of the practices!



Paddling along the river ways








Local fresh fruit. Logden berries, durien, pineapple, papaya and lechee nuts.


markets on Unicorn Island
Maya and Jesse riding in the paddle boat




Typical home on Unicorn Island
A visit to a bee keepers home. Drinking sweet tea and eating candies made from honey





Crossing the Delta, passing many islands where a large percentage of people live and work along the delta. Most fish, dredge sand to sell to Singapore and other islands that would like to become larger. they provided most of the sand for the expansion in Dubai. The barges were impressive! I hope to figure out how to upload video soon!!!



Simply awesome!

Amazing and breathtaking! We started our day riding in a bus for about 3 hours going about 50 miles! The traffic is so bad in Saigon that it literally takes 3 times longer to get anywhere. The sights were great and we all had a nice time meeting new people from all over the world. Once in the Mekong Delta area we boarded a motor boat that took us across the river to Unicorn Island. Once across we treked through the villiage. We were treated to some local honey, tea, and candied banana, ginger and peanuts.
We then boarded paddle boats and made our way through the intericate water ways that connect islands and villages. Due to the remote location the children do not receive any form of education. Maya thought that sounded perfect! The paddle boats were amazing, it was nice to see village life in the remote areas.
After the paddle boats we got on another boat and went to Coconut Island where we were able to watch them make this delicious coconut candy. We bought a total of 240 pieces of this decedent candy, yes, we'll share!
Then it was off to lunch which consisted of pork, rice veggies and elephant fish. Maya ate 3 pieces of pork and quite a bit of the elephant fish, which was okay, not sure I would eat it again.
We then hopped on a motor boat for our 3 hour ride back to Saigon. So fascinating to see how life works on the river.
I will post pictures which can say so much more than I can. I also have video, but it's having a hard time loading, I'll try!
Marjorie, in our group was a newlywed couple from Ireland. He was from Northern Ireland and she was from Limmerick, I think.
Tomorrow is our last day in Saigon before we head to Phu Quoc, so off to finish our shopping and a swim in a hotel pool with some new friends we met today!
The picture won't load! I'll try again tomorrow!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Today's adventure will be........................

Off to the Mekong Delta, home of the floating markets, great food and amazing sights. Along the way we plan to visit Unicorn Island, Turtle Island, ride bikes to a village and of course, do a little shopping. With the exception of the bike ridding, this promises to shape up to be a fun day! I like bike ridding, but there is a person in our group who shall remain nameless who does not know how to ride a bike! We'll have to see how we get around that. Maybe they will have a bike built for 2?
We had a great dinner last night at a fabulous outdoor restaurant, then home and to bed early. The jet lag is just bubbling under the surface! Hopefully today everyone will be a bit more acclimated.
Stay tuned for some pictures and hopefully some video of our amazing tour.! I will try and post tonight.
Also, a great big happy birthday to Shealyn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy 4 year old birthday, we LOVE you!!!!!!! (It's March 23 here :) )

PS, spell check does not work here, sorry for the misspellings and any other ways I can slaughter the english language!!!!

more pictures from the day

Views from our hotel window


lunch at Wrap and Roll, really yummy!







Out side of the market. This young boy and his mom were seperating seeds to sell.



Not sure what happens with the sea horses, but they were in jars in the fish secdtion of the market. I can't imagine they would be good to eat, but who knows?
The street near our hotel. The hotel is nice. It's located in the baqckpack district, so loads of shops and very fun to walk down the streets!
Fresh fish! Too bad it's not smell-a-blog! The aromas are intense!
In the produce section of the market


On our way to Behn Tahn Market AKA Heaven on earth!~!! Best shopping bar none!

Breakfast! Pho for the kids
So far everyone is having fun! We are back at the hotel as it is almost 2 in the afternnon. We are all tired and it's really HOT outside. So after a morning of shopping we are back and enjoying the AC.
For Mr.Brinkman's class; the answer to the question in the last post is...... 500,000.00 dong equal $30 US dollars. Maya found something for all of you at the market, but it's a surprise!
Later today we will head out again to explore the streets of Ho Chi Mihn City!!!