It's been a few days since the last we've checked in...a lot has happened. We are now in Can Tho, leaving tomorrow morning. We finished work at Lang Chim, the last few days of work we contended with a rain storm, and being true troopers we (or at least four people from the group) put on rain jackets and jumped in the rain. The kids went crazy, they loved it, and obviously wanted to jump in and join. When the rain let up they did...a game of splash ensued, Dr. Quynh got the brunt of the kid's attacks but he held his own pretty well. Later that day we visited three households close to the school. We brought rice, sugar, and other essentials to them. The last house was a 4 k hike (to and from)...we sat and spoke with the father of two kids affected by Agent Orange, it struck a chord with everyone to see the painful and helpless lives that these kids have to endure and the strain on the family, but it was quite admirable to see the family endure and care for their children regardless.

We had a soccer match the following day after work, and we all thought "friendly cultural exchange" little did we expect to see grown men in uniforms awaiting us at the field after we took a short trip across the water way...since forfeiting didn't seem to be an option the match started out with the guys only. Then brave Chi and Kim joined in. Surprisingly we lost the first match 3-1 our defense wasn't there. I decided to help that. So the 2nd match I ran in and took over defense. It was fun! The second outcome? We lost. We played a sudden death match with 5 kickers / team all girls...I can't remember who won, all I remember was making my field goal!!! Whoot! The locals allowed me to toast a beer later at lunch.

The completion ceremony was our last day at the school, government officials, the school children, and sunflower all celebrated the opening of the four room school. There was a ribbon cutting, music, and speeches. Several of the young girls sung and danced, it was precious...we gave out the backpacks, notebooks, pencils, and pens to all the children...they were so cute how they bowed "thank you"...I definitely was sad to leave the area and say goodbye to everyone. Especially my precious little boy that the kids jokingly called "fat one" he had the cutest cheeks and a heartbreaking smile...I wanted to tell him, don't worry my nickname when I was little was "fat girl" and I turned out ok.

We've been in Can Tho two days now and will head out to Bac Lieu and Ca Mau in the morning. Today we went to an orphanage and many of the children here were abandonded by their families because of physical deformities or handicaps. There were some incredibly mild deformities to very severe ones. Because of the amount of staff many of these children only get a few hours of attention a day...you wanted to just hold them forever to give them the love and human touch that is so rare in their lives. That was a difficult trip, and hard, very hard, to say goodbye to the kids there as well.

On a good note we met and had lunch with several scholarship students today they were all so sweet and it was nice getting to know them. Unfortunately, yours truly did not bring her digital camera cord to upload photos to go along with the stories, but as soon as we are post trip, we will get them out. Our day started at at 5 AM! We heard the chickens and birds chirping eep eep as we boarded the boat for the floating market. It was well worth it, we (or everyone but me, I still haven't aquired a taste for the aromatic fruit) had a delicious durian and one of the sweetest mangos I've ever tasted from the market...um um um!

More soon, I have a 10 min. limit on this computer!

QTM