What a day. Today has given me so much to think about that it hurts to even wrap my head around. Anyways, here how the journey went today - following a rather interesting night.
My uncle had told the director of the orphanage, named Mrs. Hong, that I would arrive at about 9:00 AM. With that time in mind, I was told that we were to ride off to the city from my home village at about 6:00 AM in the morning. With that in mind, I told myself that I would go to bed early, which for the villagers was about 9:00 PM. I didn't.
The night before today, I went out to my uncle's house and ate a late dinner at about 8:30 PM. People were stirring about, sleeping or staying up with family members discussing the day and other matters. I had actually missed dinner time, which was at about 6:30 PM as I was working on other projects such as this blog (hahaha). At around 9:30, I decided that I would go with one of my uncle's older sons and go see the beach at night. We grabbed a lantern and a sitting mat and went on over.
Darkness. We were the only ones out at that time. I sat and listened to the whistle of the wind and the crash of the waves upon the shore. Little crabs and other night crawlers moved here and there on the beach. I asked my uncle if people slept at the beach. "Not during the summer" he said, "there are too many mosquitos and other bugs that would eat you alive if you tried to sleep around this time." He told me that two months ago, there would be many villagers who would go bring mats over to the beach and sleep, due to the pleasant coolness of the beach. It was nice. We looked up at the stars and talked about a great deal of ideas about space. Knowing that I had to wake up early the next day, I returned back to my grandfather's house to sleep. Not yet asleep, he lay outside the house on the front porch on a mattress, as sleeping outside was much more pleasant for him, due to the hot weather. His dog, named Buong (who had just recently started to stay at his house), lay near him curled up sleeping. At last, I lay down the mosquito net, turned on the fan, and sank into bed, tired and weary from the long day. I was also excited. Extremely excited.
I slept well... until a family behind my grandfather's home started to turn on all their lights and start eating (breakfast?!). It was 3:00 AM! What I learned from my grandfather that the grandfather of that family had just returned from the hospital, so the family hosted a celebration for him or something like that. Still at 3:00 AM.... Anyways, I think I got about 6 hours or so of solid sleep and got up and stretched. I had started to get used to waking up early like the people here. I packed my things and sat outside with my grandfather and his sons and we talked about what and where I was about to go. My uncle finally came and we set off for an hour and half long ride to the city.
Vietnam's landscape is beautiful. Looking off to the distance, I saw countless waves of green and glistening waters. People from the city and villagers rode their bikes, motorcycles, and walked from here and there, going to markets and tending to their business. This was a typical Monday morning. School children were also seen walking to school and riding their bikes here and there. Farmers using oxen and cows led their herds on the streets towards water and other places.
We finally made it into the city. Me and my uncle went off to eat breakfast, which at about 7:30 AM. We ate at a Pho restaurant, which of course, runs in my blood. After feeling our stomachs we FINALLY made it to the orphanage. From the outside, I saw what looked like a resort. The scenic vegetation and spaciousness of the orphanage caught my eye and made me wonder how the students lived like. Stepping past the first few tiles of the road towards the director's office, I saw some children chasing each other near the pond, which I found out had more than a thousand fish that the orphanage children tend to. The houses for the children were neatly painted and spaced as to give much room for each group of children living the houses. This place was nice. Perhaps too nice?
This village was created by a French organization that creates SOS villages, which are villages created to aid people who usually live in poor or difficult situations. In this case, this center is called: Lang Tre Em Moi Coi Thuy Xuan which translates into The Village of Orphans of Thuy Xuan. Thuy Xuan is a ward in Hue. Much of the money sent to the village to operate and also construct different projects comes from the French organization. This particular village at first was at a different location, one that was much dirtier and less privileged than the one today. In the village live about five surrogate mothers for the children and one director. Operating with the director is an accountant and a secretary, along with liaisons and volunteers from France. It was quite interesting to see the French employees speak Vietnamese. There live about fifty orphans on the site, ranging from age 3 to age 22. There are a lot of names that I have to remember!
The orphanage provides many activities and opportunities for the orphans. Each house, usually housing around eight to fifteen orphan, had an adjunct garden, where the orphans grew vegetables to eat. There also was a orchard and, as stated above, the pond, where the orphans also received their food. There is a baking school on site, where people from the outside and also orphans wanting to get into the baking industry could take classes from. The students here had much to do, or so I thought at least.
Today composed of mainly working out my schedule for the weeks and getting to know the orphans. They currently placed me in the house with the older male orphans, ranging from grade 9 to university students. They were so eager to meet me. Some of the orphans who spoke a little bit of English asked me if I would speak to them only in English, as to help them better their skills. Any request they made of me, I felt I needed to honor. That said, I have still very much to iron out as to how it is I plan to teach English as well as interact with the orphans at this site. This entire week here is devoted to just that.
I had fun today. I spent a lot of time talking to the older orphans about college and such and also about how their life was here. They were so friendly, smiling back at me and joking with me too. We went out to the pond to clean it of malicious plants and also feed the fish. The older orphans took me to the different houses to meet the two houses of the younger children and the house of the older girls. Lunch and dinner was also pleasant. All the orphans got together to help their surrogate mothers cook the food and also clean all the dishes and such.While we ate, the students asked me if I ate their food back at home. "Of course I do, my family cooks only Vietnamese food home" I replied. I feel at home here. The whole day brought along many exciting surprises and introduced me to a new, captivating world. At night, we talked, watched a movie on my laptop, and visited some other orphans on the sight. The director, Mrs. Hong, took me out to coffee, inviting along her daughter, who was about to test for entering a university of music. We talked for a long time about what my philosophy was about life, what I did at school, and what I plan to do with my life. She was very interested in getting to know what kind of person I was, seeing as how we exchanged only a few emails back and forth, as my main contact with the orphanage was actually the secretary.
This is where this next day will get interesting. "I have a request for you" she asked. "Tomorrow, five o'clock in the morning, you are to take to orphans out to go exercise." "Can you do it?" she asked me, smiling. "Sure, it will happen" I replied back, smiling after her. So as I write this entry here at near midnight, I am thinking to myself, "are you going to regret accepting that request?" Nope. Bring it on. I am here for the orphans. Whatever way I can better their lives, I will do. They are my new family. I am their fellow "orphan".
There goes this piece. Until tomorrow!
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