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5h30 - It's still dark outside, someone starts banging on a gong to signal the start of the day for the orphanage. We don't have to wake up just yet though. About 45 minutes later, slowly one by one we all wake up to shower, brush our teeth, and get ready. I go to take a shower, the room has a sink with a shower head mounted on the faucet. Not much water pressure and the water is barely lukewarm. There's nowhere really to put my clothes in the shower room, except for a ledge on the far end of the room. After my shower, it's 7h45 and we all head to the smaller dining room for breakfast. Kien has brought some Vietnamese baguettes, jam, peanut butter, Nescafe Viet Cafe, and Milo. It's a good breakfast, and I introduced the group to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!! Nobody had ever eaten one before... As it's already day two, it's Thuyen, Yeonsoo, Ville, and my turn to wash the dishes for the day.
After breakfast, we return to our room and have to fill out some government forms to register ourselves while staying at the orphanage. Once this paperwork is out of the way, we head off to have a tour of the orphanage. Initially, we were supposed to meet with the Director of the orphanage but Kien explains to us that one of the children died during the night and the Director is busy attending to the burial and is not available to meet with us.
As we walk around, we see the classrooms where some of the girls are sewing and knitting, we also walk past the physical rehabilitation centre, and the gardens where there are many herbs, medicines, fruits (mainly papayas), and vegetables they grow for use here. These gardens are where we will spend most of our mornings working.
Just outside the garden, there's a commotion and we are asked to come over. There is a small crowd around a safe, and we are asked to help them move it into the orphanage. It's not such an easy task as we have to maneuver the safe through a small opening in a cement wall. With about 7 other men, we walk the extremely heavy safe into the orphanage, much to the thanks of the orphanage staff.
As we finish off the tour of the orphanage, Kien takes us outside the grounds to show us where the internet 'cafe' is. The going rate is 2000 Dong/hour ($0.10). We double back and head the other way towards the 'main' street of the village where there is a market not too far away. Along the way, many locals are very curious to see us, and quite happy to have a photo of them taken. The market is covered with tarps strung up by string, but only about five feet off the ground, most everyone (locals included) have to crouch down while walking through. Fresh fruit, veggies, chicken, fish, cookies, toys, clothes are all here. Near the back, there is a lady selling sugar cane. We all decide to sample some, seeing as none of us had ever seen a real sugar cane before. It's quite fibrous, but you're not supposed to chew or eat it. You just bite off a piece between the joints and suck out the sweet juice. Quite good, but maybe only for a couple of tries!!!
On our way back to the room at the orphanage, we have some free time before lunch. As we're walking, we walk past a hollowed out unexploded bomb hanging from a tree. It's this bomb we realize is the 'gong' that woke us up this morning!!!
For lunch, we eat some rice (of course!!!) with pork, tofu, some pumpkin and garlic, and peanuts. Dessert again are oranges. The big test at lunch is to see how many peanuts you can pick up with the chopsticks. Can you get two peanuts side by side?!? Kien upstages everyone by scooping up about ten!!
After lunch, Thuyen, Yeonsoo, Ville and I wash the dishes again. Once we're all done, we meet back at the room and have a bit of a break before finally getting to meet the Director and the Head Administrator. We meet with them in a conference room with a very nice conference table. A lady passes us all water as we wait for them to show up. The Director welcomes us in Vietnamese, and Thuyen translates everything for us. He goes on to explain that many of the children are here because of exposure to Agent Orange (or their parents were exposed). The boy who died actually had lung cancer due to Agent Orange, his mother died too a long time ago from exposure. Now his father cares for his other two boys alone. I met a girl earlier in the day and one of the teachers explained to me that because of Agent Orange she is here. If it wasn't the case, she would already have had her own family as they estimate she's in her mid 20's (nobody knows her exact age for sure). She can't talk and looks still like an adolescent. She is very cheerful, and took me by the hand and we walked around the courtyard of the orphanage and just stared at the trees and fountain.
After our meeting with the Director, we go up to the classrooms to play with the kids. Philippe, Thu, Ville, Boseung, and I are in a classroom with autistic kids. We help them draw some pictures, play with lego's and pick up the kids to have piggy back wars. Many of the kids want turn after turn getting picked up, some of the kids are doing a great job at their artwork and are eager to get photographed with their work. A couple of the boys start getting in a fight with each other over some cards with a picture of a truck on it. To help diffuse the situation, I get a real toy truck and start driving it up their arms, on their head, on my head... The kids love it and start doing the same to me... Soon they start grabbing other toys and before I know it, I have horses climbing up my back!!!
With our time with the kids finished, we have a break before dinner. Our dinner tonight consists of: potatoes, rice, pork, eggs, tofu, and the green vegetables in water that nobody seems to know the name of.
After dinner, the nighttime activity is set aside for a crash course in Vietnamese. We learn the basics like hello, how old are you? and counting. There are many ways to pronounce the same words as there are five different accents. Every word is just one syllable, but they use the same alphabet as English save for a few characters.
It's a full moon tonight (apparently there is a lunar eclipse tonight, although I was unaware of this). I guess that explains some 'weird' behaviour back in the room before bed!!! One by one, as we all enter the room from brushing our teeth, we notice the facial mask that Boseung has put on... "Interesting" I think is the appropriate word to sum it up!!
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