Day 3 and 4 Two different worlds within 30 mintues

Day 3

Chao cac Anh Chi, the day was a neat one. First we had to find a new hotel, because at the one we were staying at, our bathroom constantly smelled like someone just went number 2 in it. I think it was because of the water piping. We asked a taxi driver to find us a better hotel, and we just went down a block to find one. The only trouble was that our hotel kept making us move rooms because they bookkeeping was just awful.

But anyways, after we found a new place to stay, we went to visit the families at the garbage dump with one of the teachers from the school. We first went to the old dump and then to the new dump. It was really sad, but interesting because the families didn't seem sad or depressed at all. They live right on top of trash, but still find the subtle gifts and enjoyments of life.

For example, right when we got there, we were just dumbfounded by the poverty, when a kid about 8 yrs old came out with a huge smile on his face and a simple bamboo fishing stick in hand, asked us if we wanted to go fishing. I followed him to his " fishing pond", and found just a small body of water that was filled with trash and darker than coffee. There wasn't really a place to fish on land so the kid didn't think twice, and just jumped in the dirty water. It was up to his chest, and he had to move trash out of the way to get some open water to cast, all while laughing and smiling at us.

The old dump was nothing compared to the new dump. Because they stopped throwing garbage at this location, there was no smell. There only remains of the dump was a ground filled with plastic bags and torn clothes. The houses in this location had some normal living conditions with beds, TVs, and even DVD players.

This year there's a new landfill that we also came to visit. At this new landfill, it was still operating, so every few hours a new trash truck will come and dumb trash. It was about 20-30 minutes away from the school. The minute we got there, our taxi driver opened the door and the smell hit us. Oh my God, I have never smelled something so bad. The taxi driver had to jump right back into the car. Also there were flies and bugs everywhere, just like swarming our car. We just had the door open for just 10 seconds, and there was about 20 bugs that got in. We were all freaking out about the smell and bugs and I turned to the side and there was a family eating dinner on a mat on the floor.

The smell was so bad, so we had Nhan, who was riding behind us with the teacher from the school, stop and buy air masks. Then it started to rain so we were going to turn back. I was kinda disappointed that we were turning back because we were already there. We were about 10 minutes on our drive back when we finally built enough courage to go.

The landfill was more active than the old one. People just stood around by the trash trucks waiting for the new trash so they can sort through it. They weren't wearing masks. It was such a eye opener. I still haven't really taken it in, because our hotel in the city is completely different. I guess the difference in classes is the same in the states but it's hidden away. Here in Vietnam, it's right in front of you. They don't try to hide it.

After the visit, we went back to our hotel. Tommy and I were told to take two female front desk receptionists out to the beach later in the night. We laughed it off. Everyone was really tired so we all napped for a while. Later we went to get some banh xeo. My dad told me to that Rach Gia is famous for their rat meat, so I've been wanting to try it. At the banh xeo place, there were tanks with eel, and fish, and there was a cage with hamsters. I asked if they were on the menu, but our waitress said "KHONG!". I was disappointed. After dinner, we all passed out.

Day 4

This was the first activity day with the kids. There was about 120+ kids that showed up at the school. Some of them weren't actually enrolled at the school, but heard that we were coming so they showed up. They were so cute! We broke all the kids up into four teams: Yellow(Nhan & Mai, Blue(Quang&U), Orange (Ann&Tommy), and Green(Alice and I). It was really hard to keep control. At the start all the teams were pretty even, but by the end Ann and Tommy's team was only about 10 kids. Their kids would abandon their team because Ann and tommy couldn't really communicate with the kids. They would join Nhan's or my team because we kept winning.

One thing that was surprising is that the older kids were the best behaved ones. I had about 4 older boys in my team that I used as my helpers. We had to cut out some of the games because the kids couldnt understand how to play. I felt like the kids like the team concept and the activities that were completions, like the tug of war and soccer matches.

The water balloons were a bad idea. The kids had alot of fun with them, but they would never listen to us after they got their water balloon. Tommy got hit in the face with one. The whole day was soooo chaotic.

The 3 leg race didn't work well because it was too hard to control the kids to race one pair at a time. Also our plans kinda fell apart after lunch because all the kids went home to eat, and they all came back at different times.

We also gave out prizes at the end. The most popular one was the bubble blowers, then the color pencils. We actually ended early, about 1, but I felt like i just worked for a 12 hour shift. By the end, I was soaked in sweat and lost of voice and had a pounding headache. I did not feel like coming back tomorrow. The kids were no longer cute.

When we got back to the hotel, everyone showered and passed out except for Nhan, his cousins(Quang & U), and me. We played monopoly deal for a while, then snuck out to get some food. Later we woke everyone around 9 because we didn't want them to nap too long. We went out to dinner and ate Lau. Tommy and I bought some Tiger Beer and drank it during the USA world cup game. I'm still amazed by that extra time goal. I spilled half of my beer when Donovan scored that goal. After that we sorted the toothbrushes went over what we were going to do tomorrow. Then I passed out.

- Vuong