The last day of 2010, and sadly the last day of our workcamp program. Immediately after waking up, everyone started to pack their gear up and start the cleaning of the room.
Once we got all the hard packing out of the way, it was time for
breakfast. With Vietnamese baguettes on the menu as always, and the leftovers from the international day dinner we all filled up pretty good.
Right after breakfast we did a round table post mortem of the workcamp where pretty much everyone, myself included got pretty emotional as we all had nothing but great things to say about the experience. Working with these kids has been truly amazing. Seeing the happiness on their faces everyday, and knowing that many of them won't see their families for months at a time really helped me to put in perspective the things in life that are truly important. Many of these kids have severe disabilities, that they will likely spend the majority of their childhood at this centre, never knowing their real families.
I made a point of spending time for the rest of the day we had at the centre with the kids that I worked with the most. After our post mortem we filled out an evaluation form of the camp and then received a
certificate of completion for our work as international volunteers.
The one girl who affected me the most was the one who was always wearing the
orange shirt, who has a mental capacity of a child even though she's in her mid-20's due to agent orange exposure by her mother.
After our evaluation was over, I went over to the embroidery centre as I wanted to buy some of the handmade artwork that the kids make for presents and souvenirs. Many of the other volunteers bought some artwork as well, and I was able to buy a few pieces and get some
photo's with the artists themselves!! Almost all of the kids (mostly teenage girls) doing the embroidery are deaf and mute, so hand gestures and handwriting were the forms of communication over the past 2 weeks. The instructors of the embroidery classes came out and thanked us for buying the art, and let us know that the kids were all very happy we bought and liked their work.
Many of the kids wanted
last day photo's with us. One of the girls had a crush on Boseung and was actually crying because he was leaving. I too was pretty emotional spending time with the kids for the last time.
For
lunch, the staff wanted to eat with us so that they could thank us for our work at the orphanage. The director made a speech, which at the end we all had to cheers and drink our not so favourite Vietnamese 'wine'. Agreeing that the volunteers should say something back to the director, I was chosen to thank the staff for having us, and that on behalf of all the volunteers we all had an amazing experience. Unfortunately at the end of my speech we had to do another
shot of 'wine'. Throughout the rest of lunch, we ended up doing 4 or 5 more shots and at the end we realized that the director was being sly the whole time. He would come to our end of the table, fill our shot glasses up completely full (even though they're only supposed to be half full) and then when we drank, he would only take a small sip and spill out the rest when we weren't looking!!!
Although lunch included chicken, I steered clear as it included the
whole chicken (head as well!!) One of the teachers opted for the head, oh boy the sound of the crunching... Philippe said afterwards he was cleaning his teeth with a toothpick and food was flying everywhere...
After lunch, Kien took me over to the medical nurse to drop off my suitcase full of clothes I wanted to give to the orphanage. I don't know why the nurse takes care of this, but anyways she does...
We were supposed to have taxi's pick us up at 14h00 to take us to the bus stop, however they were about 45 minutes late which allowed for an
extended goodbye with all of the kids. When the time came and the taxi's finally showed up, what was the most heartfelt moment of the whole day was when a group of about 30 of the kids followed us all to the gate and waved goodbye to us all. I couldn't help film this moment and I was the last to get in the taxi. I was truly touched by this gesture and it is something that I will never forget.
As quickly as the whole experience started, it was over. The taxi driver pulled away with Viet-techno music blaring, not really the type of soundtrack for an emotional departure, but once again this is Vietnam, you shouldn't be surprised by anything.
We all piled into the bus, already more than half full, this time most of our luggage had to go in the compartments underneath. My backpacks got to stay with me as they were full already by the time it would have been my turn to put my luggage in the compartment.
Yeonsoo, Ville, Kien and myself were to be the first ones off the bus as we were going to the airport, and the others into town to spend the night in Ha Noi. Getting off the bus we said our
final goodbyes, and then it was just 4.
Kien helped Yeonsoo, Ville and myself get a taxi to the airport, and with a quick hug and thanks we parted ways. Yeonsoo's flight wasn't until 23h00, Ville's at 20h00, and mine at 20h25, but she decided to wait at the airport rather than lug around her suitcases in Ha Noi for a couple of hours.
Once Ville and I had checked in, we said our
farewell and Happy New Year wishes to Yeonsoo, and Ville and I were through security. Noi Bai Airport, is just like what all the guidebooks and online articles say about it. Small, antiquated, confusing, and like a bus depot moreso than an airport of a capital city of a country with 83 million people!!
Just through security, I wanted to look at the souvenir and duty free stores and quickly lost Ville. About 30 minutes before his flight departed we met up again and said our
final farewell of the trip. As Ville boarded his flight to Hong Kong, I waited for my flight to Bangkok and finally I was alone.
Getting into Bangkok it was a rush, only a 2 hour layover, we had to take the bus to the terminal, clear transfer security, go all the way to terminal C all taking close to an hour. I barely had time to shave, shower, change into winter clothes and make my way to the gate for boarding.
On my way to London, I will pass through 7 timezones, and 7 different 'New Years'. I passed New Years in Bangkok by saying Sawasdee (Thai for hello) to a flight attendant. That's no exaggeration, I was looking at my watch and exactly at midnight, that's what I was doing... About another 29 more hours and I'll be back in Vancouver.
Some facts about this trip:
Total flight distances traveled:
#1 YVR - FRA 8060KM
#2 FRA - BKK 8960KM
#3 BKK - SGN 0740KM
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TOTAL FLOWN 17760KM
#4 SGN - HAN 1140KM
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TOTAL FLOWN 18900KM
#5 HAN - BKK 0967KM
#6 BKK - LHR 9540KM
#7 LHR - YVR 7580KM
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TOTAL FLOWN 36987KM
Circumference at the Equator - 40075.16km
92.3% of the Circumference
My 7 hour stopover in London was spent alternating between the Air Canada/SAS and Singapore Airlines lounges. To be honest, neither lounge was very impressive when compared to even North American lounges, but Asian lounges (save Ha Noi's) are by far superior in most every way.
I was able to take advantage of the wifi at the lounges to speak with my good friends back home just past new years 2011 in Vancouver. I was pleased to learn as well that my good friends Marko and Liz gave birth to a little girl, Isabella the day before my own birthday, and as well that another couple, also good friends of mine are expecting right now!
I have spent the last 2 days reliving the same day on 3 different continents. I feel in a lot of ways like the character Bill Murray played in Groundhog Day. At the end of this day, I will have spent sizable amounts of time on 3 continents all on January 1st, 2011.
While passing time on the London to Vancouver flight, I finally watched the biopic film "The Social Network". While finding it extremely hard to 'like' the principle character of the film, Mark Zuckerberg's portrayal reveals a lot about modern society and its social order. There are so many conflicting and contrasting ideas flowing through my mind as I go over in my own head the last 3 weeks.
Working with the kids at the orphanage reminded me of how some of the basic things in life can be taken so easily for granted. The fact that I grew up in an environment that allowed me to be who I am today, is something that much of the population of the world will never have.
How many times do you go around arguing with your family, wishing they weren't the way they were? When was the last time you left the hot water in the shower running, even when you weren't in the shower? When was the last time you threw away clothes because you didn't like them anymore or threw away food just because?
We are all guilty of these things, myself included, I'm not trying to advocate that we should all drastically change everything about what we do, but I do believe we need to regain our focus on what is really important in our lives.
A lot of our modern world has been shaped by convenience and consumerism. Sadly, because of this fact, the importance of the family structure has faded, and so has the importance placed on our surroundings.
I was really impressed to see Kien's family living all together like they do. This was something I first experienced when I was 12 while I was living with a family in Paraiso, Costa Rica. My sister and I lived with Roberto Solano and his family on a street which all of the other residents were in Roberto's extended family.
I was, and am still amazed at this concept. I grew up in a family structure where both my parents came from large families: my mother, the oldest of 8, my father, the youngest of 6. I have 13 cousins on my mothers side, and at least 10 cousins that I can think of on my fathers side, however there are many I have never met, or met but don't even remember their names or ages. I wouldn't even recognize them if they walked past me on the street.
The children I worked with, weren't given an option or a choice to be in their situation. We, on the otherhand do have options and choices. We should live our lives, in a more gracious manner, one of appreciation for what we have, remembering that there are others without, and life is never certain. It can easily be you any day that falls on hard times. If you foresake your family or live an ungrateful life, think of who will be there to support you in your time of need.
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