My flight here was very easy and straightforward and I was picked up at the airport by Thu, the coordinator for Vietnam Volunteers. I booked into the hotel and had a wander around the area, which is known as district 12 GoVap. My first impressions were good, it is busy and I have never seen so many motorbikes and scooters on the road but it is friendly and easy to walk around.
This morning I had a huge noodle soup for breakfast with Thu and she taught me some basic Vietnamese phrases, talked me through my schedule and gave me lots of useful advice and tips. She is a very bright and competent young woman, only 23 but very good at her job and interesting to talk to, we have covered the war, linguistics and sex tourism already. We did a quick tour of the Pagoda and met some of the key people. The temple part of the pagoda is ornate and very gaudy, I liked it a lot. The orphanage rooms are not as grand but they are clean and well maintained.
I was very intrepid at lunch time and ordered some street food near the Pagoda...I have no idea what the dish was called, it resembled Dim Sum steamed dumplings but cold and it was absolutely delicious-photo below. I then spent the afternoon helping in the 'therapy room' with a range of children from about 1 year to about 16 with a range of different disabilities. I thought I would find this much more difficult than I did . I was particularly taken with a couple of young boys with cerebral palsy who just had beautiful smiles. There were 4 other volunteers there from Germany and Australia and we helped feed the children and took them out into the garden.It is probably not as' touchy feely 'as a European institution would be and some of the staff were quite severe looking but the children were well looked after and although it's not the life any of us would chose for our own children it is certainly a much better life than these kids could have had. It is however only my first day and I may feel different after 2 weeks.
Tomorrow I teach English to some of the mainstream kids at the orphanage...don't know what I'm teaching or where but I'm sure everything will be ok....I might have to do some homework tonight...I also have to learn my Vietnamese numbers because Thu said she would test me!!
So far it feels like a good decision to have come here and to volunteer.
This morning I had a huge noodle soup for breakfast with Thu and she taught me some basic Vietnamese phrases, talked me through my schedule and gave me lots of useful advice and tips. She is a very bright and competent young woman, only 23 but very good at her job and interesting to talk to, we have covered the war, linguistics and sex tourism already. We did a quick tour of the Pagoda and met some of the key people. The temple part of the pagoda is ornate and very gaudy, I liked it a lot. The orphanage rooms are not as grand but they are clean and well maintained.
I was very intrepid at lunch time and ordered some street food near the Pagoda...I have no idea what the dish was called, it resembled Dim Sum steamed dumplings but cold and it was absolutely delicious-photo below. I then spent the afternoon helping in the 'therapy room' with a range of children from about 1 year to about 16 with a range of different disabilities. I thought I would find this much more difficult than I did . I was particularly taken with a couple of young boys with cerebral palsy who just had beautiful smiles. There were 4 other volunteers there from Germany and Australia and we helped feed the children and took them out into the garden.It is probably not as' touchy feely 'as a European institution would be and some of the staff were quite severe looking but the children were well looked after and although it's not the life any of us would chose for our own children it is certainly a much better life than these kids could have had. It is however only my first day and I may feel different after 2 weeks.
Tomorrow I teach English to some of the mainstream kids at the orphanage...don't know what I'm teaching or where but I'm sure everything will be ok....I might have to do some homework tonight...I also have to learn my Vietnamese numbers because Thu said she would test me!!
So far it feels like a good decision to have come here and to volunteer.
No comments:
Post a Comment