Rain and Revelations

So I broke my pinky swear; I forgot to write the blog last night. Please find it within your heart to forgive me! I promise this one will make up for it =]

Yesterday I woke up at 5:45AM and dragged myself out of bed. I've been having a little trouble remembering the small things; I think the clinics are burning me out a bit. For example, in the hotel shower, I forgot the curtain goes INSIDE the shower. Then, I grabbed one towel and all the others dropped to the floor. Needless to say, my roommates weren't too pleased with me; I just laughed and ran away. We went to breakfast (which was delicious) and quickly went to the bus. When we arrived at the clinic an hour later, it was pouring down rain. It flooded the walkway to the clinic, making it difficult to get inside. We ended up having to trek through the mud and water just to get to our work areas. I was back at my sanitation station, but instead of being cramped in a little corner as I had been in the past, I was fortunate enough to be put outside. The air was cool and I was nice and dry underneath the roof. I barely sweat! (Which, for those of you who have seen my pictures, is a first.) The work was hard, but I enjoyed my station set up tremendously. I could look down and see all the people waiting. I got to thinking about the trip and how it had been progressing so far. I am satisfied beyond words with how my Vietnamese has improved. I can now communicate fluently in the language my parents spoke growing up without the stuttering I ran into in the past. In addition, I have made many friends, all of whom are too kind and immensely generous and fun. But most importantly, I feel that I have helped those less fortunate than me. Even in sanitation, I take time to walk around and make those around me laugh and have a good time, especially the kids who are scared to go into dental. After a while, because the work is so hard, I can see how it's easy to forget where we are; I have seen some of the American team members become a bit discouraged or frustrated with their patients, mostly because they themselves are so exhausted. In my station, while I work very hard, I have a lot of time to think, which I do not take for granted. I can look at the people we serve, I mean really LOOK at them, before anyone else really does. I hear the conversations they have, where they were before, where they are going afterwords. They talk about little things, but those little things just remind me that I am physically and emotionally helping PEOPLE. Other human beings are directly benefiting from my actions, my smile and laugh, and the compassion I deliver. I realized yesterday that most of the people I help will most likely not remember me; I will fade from their memory within days of the clinic. However, the love I have given them, all that I have done to help them, the smile I gave that made them chuckle inside, that will stay with them forever, whether they remember me directly or not. Those working in the dental room don't have time to think about the things that I do, and because of this, I am grateful that I was put in charge of cleaning. Smiling at what I had just realized, I went through the day with a happy face.

We finished late again, arriving home at 8:15PM. After packing and showering, my uncle, my roommate An, and I went out to dinner again. An was exhausted from a long day, but I made him smile with my jokes and childish antics. We were running around at night in the streets just screaming and yelling, "shooting" at each other with umbrellas and just acting like 5 year olds. It was nice to relax after a long day, and we went home and slept.

It's 11:00AM over here now and my day off. I plan to lounge around and not do much of anything today. We have one more clinic left. It's hard to believe that the trip is almost done, but because I have grown so much and helped so many people, I can go home knowing that this trip has been worth my time.

See you guys tomorrow!

Khang