I'm currently at the beach, and finally have learned the art of doing nothing. I'm wasting away days by the beach, swimming, reading and generally having fun, then dancing, firetwiring and drinking cheap cocktails during the night. I met up with up with a friend from Bris and her brother and friend in Phnom Penh. It was quite exciting to see familiar faces... and 2 of them in the one country (Adam and Ang) i just don't know what to do with myself...hahaha.
I'm really loving the traveller lifestyle, being able to make decisions in the moment and knowing that regardless of what i do, it's all ok. This morning for example, i decided that infact i wasn't ready to leave beautiful Sihanoukville...and thus changed my bus ticket back to Phnom Penh to some time other than today and told the guest house that infact i wasn't leaving....they seemed quite pleased with the decision..haha.
I love that my hardest task during the day is deciding where to eat dinner, or do i want another massage? Today i had (my very first) a manicure while sitting on the beach.followed by a full body massage (all for $10)...life doesn't get much better than this!
So to sum it up... life is amazing. haha. yesty was Australia day and also Chinese new year, and also Indian Independence day... so to everyone around it was just another cause to celebrate... and how better than to enjoy the beautiful beaches and run amok?
I didn't do much in Phnom Pehn. Mainly lay around Adams house and recovered from all the hard days of sightseeing etc i had been doing previously. But i have to end up back there, so the killing fields can wait until i'm ready.
One of the things i love about Cambodia, is the fact that it is socially aceptable to be wearing your pjs in public atany time of the day or night.
In Saigon/HCMC i only really saw the tunnels and fired an AK47 and hung around the backpacker district. I wanted to go on a trip trough the Mekong Delta but you can only use evisas on certain entry points... and the one i'd need to go through wasn't one of them :(
Hope everyone had a grand Aussie day
xxx
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Morning Star and VPV
So as it turns out, i'm not actually working at an orphanage. I'm working at a school for disabled kids. The class i'm helping out in has 12 autistic kids in it. Although i don't think they all actually have autism, i think some of them have ADHD or the likes and have been diagnosed under the autistic category.
It was a bit hard working there at first, as no one has ever told me what to do/what is expected of me etc. I was just thrown in a classroom with the 3 teachers and left to figure everything out myself. But i've gotten myself into a bit of a routine with it and hopefully i'm actually helping the teachers out (and not just being just another thing they have to worry about) The kids are really cute but they can also be really annoying.... how can you reason with a 5year old autistic kid when you don't speak their language?? However it has been fun for the most part.
The other night we were told there was a mini celebration happening at friendship village - boarding school for disabled kids (one of the places VPV volunteers at) - and that we should go along. However we forgot that this was Viet speak for - you should make an early tet celebration for the kids tonight. hahaha. One thing i've found about Vietnam is that communication isn't a big thing. Messages always seem to get lost in thin air, and if you want more than one person to know something, then you need to tell each person individually - rather than letting the message be passed on. The tet celebrations were great anyway. We made a giant bonfire and roasted sweet potatoes on them and played games with the kids. I kinda wish i'd been placed there instead of morning star. Everyone at friendship village were so friendly, and so happy we were there. As they live there full time, there was no rushing and prodding along all the time like there is at Morning star - where they have limited time.
Well that's the week pretty much summed up. Working a lot means that all other activities have been put on hold. Except of course going out at night with the other volunteers - which has provided some VERY funny/random nights indeed.
Looking forward to some warmer weather down south!!!!
It was a bit hard working there at first, as no one has ever told me what to do/what is expected of me etc. I was just thrown in a classroom with the 3 teachers and left to figure everything out myself. But i've gotten myself into a bit of a routine with it and hopefully i'm actually helping the teachers out (and not just being just another thing they have to worry about) The kids are really cute but they can also be really annoying.... how can you reason with a 5year old autistic kid when you don't speak their language?? However it has been fun for the most part.
The other night we were told there was a mini celebration happening at friendship village - boarding school for disabled kids (one of the places VPV volunteers at) - and that we should go along. However we forgot that this was Viet speak for - you should make an early tet celebration for the kids tonight. hahaha. One thing i've found about Vietnam is that communication isn't a big thing. Messages always seem to get lost in thin air, and if you want more than one person to know something, then you need to tell each person individually - rather than letting the message be passed on. The tet celebrations were great anyway. We made a giant bonfire and roasted sweet potatoes on them and played games with the kids. I kinda wish i'd been placed there instead of morning star. Everyone at friendship village were so friendly, and so happy we were there. As they live there full time, there was no rushing and prodding along all the time like there is at Morning star - where they have limited time.
Well that's the week pretty much summed up. Working a lot means that all other activities have been put on hold. Except of course going out at night with the other volunteers - which has provided some VERY funny/random nights indeed.
Looking forward to some warmer weather down south!!!!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Vietnam Happenings...
Well i figured it was about time for another update, although i don't really know where to start. New Years was lots of random messy 'glam rock' fun... although i saw a girl from our hostel get hit by a motorbike, which was not so fun...especially for her - although she seemed to be ok. I was very surprised at myself for staying awake until 6am as i'd only had one hours sleep the night (i blame you jj.... and family guy!) before and a 4 hour nap during the day... but had to remember i was representing my country... and mustn't let anyone think Australians are weak! (unlike some other aussies i know who were in bed by 9!!!)
Sapa (where i went before new years) was beautiful. It was like a mix between Nepals countryside and Thailands hilltribes. The first day was so foggy that we couldn't see more than 50 metres in front of our faces. However the next day i got up and watched the sunrise and that was absolutely beautiful! It was the clearest and warmest day i've had in Viet the whole time i've been here (and in the place everyone told me was going to be freezing!).
I haven't done anything at the orphanage yet. Thursday and Friday (Jan1/2) i had my orientation days where i learnt about Viet culture and VPV and some basic Viet phrases. Everyone from the volunteer dorms where i am staying was heading over to Sapa for the weekend, so i decided to fly down to Hoi An (bypassing the 16 hour bus ride) to meet up with some people i had met at the Hanoi Backpackers, and to hopefully get some sunshine. I found some of them on the Saturday, but they left that night. So i spent Sunday sight seeing and getting the final fittings done on a (very pretty) dress. It rained all day, and i have more than a sneaking suspision i have a cold... something about the continuous coughing up of green crap.... but all in all i had a very good weekend.
I'm now back at the volunteer dorms and will (hopefully) be seeing where i am working thisafternoon...and (hopefully) finding out what i will actually doing there.
I just went for a walk though the little town close to the dorms we are staying at. It was a very funny experience indeed. We walked past a school (not one we work at) and instantly we were surrounded by kids who kept saying 'hello hello' and shaking our hands... then when we walked off the followed us for a good 5 minutes....soooo funny.
Another thing that amazes me about the country here, is that on one side of the road there will be houses/factories/buildings of sorts. But on the other side of the road there will be a guy wading through his rice paddies...certainly different to home!
Anyway, i'm off to get organised before i see the orphanage. Hope everyone is great back home
xxx
Sapa (where i went before new years) was beautiful. It was like a mix between Nepals countryside and Thailands hilltribes. The first day was so foggy that we couldn't see more than 50 metres in front of our faces. However the next day i got up and watched the sunrise and that was absolutely beautiful! It was the clearest and warmest day i've had in Viet the whole time i've been here (and in the place everyone told me was going to be freezing!).
I haven't done anything at the orphanage yet. Thursday and Friday (Jan1/2) i had my orientation days where i learnt about Viet culture and VPV and some basic Viet phrases. Everyone from the volunteer dorms where i am staying was heading over to Sapa for the weekend, so i decided to fly down to Hoi An (bypassing the 16 hour bus ride) to meet up with some people i had met at the Hanoi Backpackers, and to hopefully get some sunshine. I found some of them on the Saturday, but they left that night. So i spent Sunday sight seeing and getting the final fittings done on a (very pretty) dress. It rained all day, and i have more than a sneaking suspision i have a cold... something about the continuous coughing up of green crap.... but all in all i had a very good weekend.
I'm now back at the volunteer dorms and will (hopefully) be seeing where i am working thisafternoon...and (hopefully) finding out what i will actually doing there.
I just went for a walk though the little town close to the dorms we are staying at. It was a very funny experience indeed. We walked past a school (not one we work at) and instantly we were surrounded by kids who kept saying 'hello hello' and shaking our hands... then when we walked off the followed us for a good 5 minutes....soooo funny.
Another thing that amazes me about the country here, is that on one side of the road there will be houses/factories/buildings of sorts. But on the other side of the road there will be a guy wading through his rice paddies...certainly different to home!
Anyway, i'm off to get organised before i see the orphanage. Hope everyone is great back home
xxx
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