Friday, May 25, 2012

The Last Few Days


Only one week remains until I board the plane and head home! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by.  I've learned so many things, met so many people, and had such incredible experiences.  Although I am looking forward to going home, it's going to be so hard to say goodbye to the place I've called home for the past nine months.  It's crazy to think that when I first came here, I was completely lost.  I couldn't even cross the street by myself. But now, I can navigate through the city, speak the language (not great, but enough to argue with the taxi drivers when they overcharge me) and cook the food (not as good as my host mom)... I no longer feel like a foreigner in this land. I'm a local. That's really an amazing feeling.  And although I have to say goodbye now, I know that I will return again.  Vietnam will always be home to me.


Here are just a few photos from my last few days.. 


I'm always so impressed by the elderly people riding bikes around Hanoi. It seems to me that Vietnamese people keep on working until the day they die. My host grandparents, who live in the countryside a few hours outside of Hanoi, are both 80 years old and still work on their farm everyday! That's impressive. 


Chaos at Peace Village, as usual. I'm going to miss these kids so much! They've been a huge part of my life here.



This little guy may look innocent, but I always catch him stealing candy and other things from my bag. 

Bin, acting sassy as always. 


Two of my favorite little kids at Peace Village. 


This is Thinh.  For the past nine months I've volunteered at Peace Village, he has always been very confusing to me.  He used to be very unresponsive when I talked to him, and would barely pay attention to me even if I touched him.  He would always have these violent outbursts where he would scream and cry very loudly, and try to hit himself and pull other children's hair.  But in the past few months, he seemed to have some sort of breakthrough.  He barely ever has any outbursts anymore, and I even figured out how to make him smile! Last week, he was so much fun.  He was climbing all over me and laughing so much.  I took a million pictures. 
I'm definitely not going to miss all the traffic and smog. 
As part of our final community service project, my fellow students and I visited a local hospital and spent the morning playing with sick children.  

A little girl resting after having surgery.  

A father plays with his little boy who is waiting for surgery.  


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Circus!

Yesterday was a Independence Day in Vietnam, so we went to the circus. We had a pretty good time.







Sunday, March 25, 2012

So much fun

Bin, the sweetest kid you've ever met.  He runs up and hugs anybody who comes into the room. 
Bin loves to have his picture taken.  Whenever I bring my camera, he always steals it from me and takes pictures of everything! 

Hanh, the troublemaker.  He's so much fun and so sweet, but always stealing candy and food from my backpack.  

Not sure what this little boy's name is (he can't speak), but he's so sweet and lovable.  His eyes are so big and kind. Sometimes he is very serious, and then I can always tell that he's thinking really hard about something.  I wish I knew what he was thinking about. 

Hieu! When I first met Hieu, I was a bit shocked and little nervous.  He cannot speak very well; his words are always constrained and forced.  He also walks very erratically and does not have very good control of his movements.  Whenever I see him walking around, I have to resist the urge to grab his hand and help him walk more steadily.  But, after spending some more time with him the other day, I realized that he is incredibly smart, enthusiastic, energetic, and quite the little joker too. Although his motor skills aren't developed enough for him to be able to write, he can read very well and spell too.  When I asked him what his name was, he tried to say it but I couldn't understand him because his voice was so strained.  Hieu, clever little boy, came up with a solution.  There were words written on the bench that we were sitting on, and Hieu began pointing at different letters to spell out his name.  It took a few minutes to figure it out, but after I finally said his name he smiled so wide and gave me a big high five.  

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Visas and Pizza!

My family successfully managed to obtain Visas to come visit us in the US this summer! It's very hard for Vietnamese to get Visas to travel to the US, so in order to celebrate, I made pizza and cake!

Cuc Phuong, Hue and Hoi An with the Family

The whole family!



Harvesting cassava at our homestay in a Muong village in Cuc Phuong National Park.

The mother at our homestay weaves scarves to sell to visitors in her spare time.  

Our "boat".. six bamboo sticks tied together.  We only got a little bit wet. 

Weiner siblings reunited

Cassava roots

A woman fishing

We met lots of little children while trekking through the villages!

A woman making lanterns in Hoi An.

The river in hoi an.  

A fisherman in Hoi An.

Drying out corn in the sun for chicken feed. 

More kids we met along the way!


Sugar cane, absolutely delicious

Andrew, doing a little fishing. 





Dinner!

Our wonderful host family

Buffalos, such big animals, but so gentle and friendly. 
Eating dinner with our host family.