Splotchy splotchy. No need to worry; I arrived safe and sound. I have been out of touch because of the less-than-reliable internet service found in Vietnam. I am typing this on a bus to Hanoi, and I am told the hotel I am going to be staying at has wireless internet! For now, let’s recap from my last entry.
When I wrote my last blog post, I was in the Taipei International airport on a public computer. From there, I hopped aboard a short, two hour flight to Hanoi. Upon arriving, I felt a familiar humidity force itself upon me; the weather here feels just like the overbearing heat I have grown to survive in back home. I walked into customs to be greeted by grim looking officers, but luckily passed through with no significant troubles. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for our team bins. The bins, which contained all the equipment and supplies needed for our trip, were confiscated and searched just as we were about to leave the airport. The entire process took about 3 and a half extra hours, which I filled trying to guess what day it currently was. We were greeted in the airport by our Vietnamese teammates, natives who agreed to come with the team and help us help the people of Vietnam. Initially, the air was awkward, especially for the younger generation of volunteers. After several hours, however, I began to make an awkward attempt at communication. This is probably a good time to mention that the average height of a full-grown Vietnamese man is about 5’6’’. Being both Vietnamese and a staggering 5’10’’, in addition to being (forgive my lack of modesty) completely and utterly buff, I draw quite a bit of attention. I receive stares and points of amazement everywhere I go. For the three Vietnamese girls who I approached, to see this giant inconsistency walk towards them and try to start a conversation was too much for them to handle; they collapsed into fits of giggles every couple seconds. After they got it out of their system, however, they were more than happy to strike up conversations. At the completion of our luggage check, the 25 person joint-nation team walked out together and hopped on a bus to Viet Tri, the location of our first stay. Upon our arrival, a slew of Vietnamese hotel workers ran out to greet us and take our luggage up as many as four stories to our rooms. Every time I walked past the workers, they teased me by squeezing my arm and asking me to flex, calling me “giant”. Prior to going up to the rooms, I went out to get a haircut. The barber was extremely skilled and quick with his razor, trimming my long carpet head in a record 6 minutes. The price: $1.50 American dollars! Satisfied, I walked back to my room. The room reminded me of hostels I had stayed at in Italy. To put it kindly: they took the quantity of rooms in their hotel over the quantity. However, the hotel made up what they lacked in comfort with incredibly friendly service. In addition, the hotel provided all the meals for us, and although not incredible, they were quite good considering the size of the group. Tired from my travels (though not jetlagged!), I ran upstairs to sleep soon after dinner was finished. Another note: one of my goals was to improve my Vietnamese and to make friends with some of the natives. I am happy to say that both these goals are well within my reach. The Vietnamese team is friendly and approachable and are more than happy to correct my broken Vietnamese in exchange for a couple of English phrases. For example, I became acquainted with a young man named Hoa and a young woman named Giang during the first dinner. The two had just finished dental school and jumped into the mission trip to lend a hand. At dinner, the limits of my Vietnamese were realized. I used the pronoun “con” to refer to myself while speaking to my new friends, which, as I now know, is incorrect; “con” is used primary for speaking to older people. I had been so used to only talking to older people in Vietnamese that the word “con” had become a habit and it was very difficult to stop using it. Thankfully, my two friends were more than happy to admonish me lightly however often I made the mistake. With lessons under my belt, I went to bed.
I woke up the next day and went running around the town with my uncle. The humidity hit hard even at 6:00AM, limiting us to only three miles. Later, we sorted the bins out into their respective categories (I.E. Dental (my station) , Medical, Pharmaceutical, ect.) The process was chaotic, but I made several more friends through my work. Two young children, a boy named Tu and a girl named Hanh, grew to love my easygoing and funloving personality. They tease me about the size of my arms and my accent, but remind me of some of the younger kids back home. After the sorting, we went to Hung temple, a burial site for several of Vietnam’s first kings. There were lots of stairs, enough to make me regret my three mile expedition earlier that morning. After that, we went to visit a small orphanage where I spent my time playing with several young Vietnamese babies. I was sad to leave when I did! Finally, we closed out our day with a lovely family style dinner. Exhausted, I went back to my room and slept.
The next morning was our first clinic day. Waking up at 6:30, I groggily climbed on the bus and slept until our arrival at the school we would use as our impromptu clinic area. I quickly set up my station and braced myself for the flood of people who were on their way. Surprisingly, the medical team received little patients compared to the overwhelming and endless flow of the dental team. I was put in charge of the sanitation, and was almost overrun by the dentists’ demands for clean instruments. I have mastered the use of the autoclave, despite a couple failed first attempts. =]
My work at the sanitation area left me lots of free time to walk around and explore. Eyes followed me everywhere I went, but I have become used to this. The sheer number of those in need left me dazed; we needed to stay several hours extra to finish all of the patients. The dentists’ all worked hard, pulling what looked like a hundred teeth and filling even more. The hot room and poor electrical setup combined to form a sauna-like environment, agitating the patients. Luckily, Vietnam is currently in the middle of a typhoon (=o) which keeps the weather cooler than normal. Nevertheless, it is still plenty hot. After the clinic, we returned to the hotel for dinner and hopped on the bus to Hanoi.
Which takes us back to the present. I finish writing this blog as my battery dwindles down, so please forgive its rushed feel. Hopefully my next entry will have even more events to write about! Happy summer and happy reading!
It's not letting me upload pictures. Grr.
No comments:
Post a Comment