Beating the Goliath of JET LAG

And so far I'm losing!!!!

It's early Wednesday morning at 3:30am and I am still awake!!! Uuugggggghhhhhhh WTF! I'm still on Vietnam time. Which means my body thinks that it is 4:30 in the afternoon tomorrow. Honestly, I have never dragged my butt this much since the great sickness of 1995 ( that's a whole different story). I just don't know what I'm going to do, to get back on Utah time. Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm tired of walking around like a zombie!

Anyways................. Coming home was long, but not as painful as going there (thank you Ambien). I arrived in Salt Lake City at 9:45pm on Saturday. I love airports. It is a really good place to people watch. Everybody getting off that plane, couldn't wait to see their family at the front of security, including me. At airports you get the best of both worlds. Their are people saying goodbye, not wanting to say goodbye, for fear of experiencing the feeling of missing someone or something. The other side of this picture is when people are coming back. The joy and excitement that people get in their faces to see a loved one or a really good friend. There is nothing like knowing and being loved.

Reality came and hit me quick when I walked to my family. We gave our hugs, kisses, and "I missed you", but then our conversation turned quickly to school and school work. I honestly didn't miss that much, but none the less, I am behind.

So just in case you were wondering why I changed my template for this blog.......... the reason why is I never realized how pink it was. It wasn't just pink, it was fluorescent pink. I am so sorry to those who have stared at that computer screen faithfully to learn all about what I was doing in Vietnam. Did I cause any seizures!?! LOL Oh and I would like to apologize for my awful grammar and punctuation on this blog. That is why I am not an English Major : )

Well I've almost slept the last 3 days away, and I'm getting pretty sick of it. But I'm back home!! Home in my bed, home were my fam is, home were my friends are. There's nothing like it: )

Final Entry in Vietnam

Sorry for the delay in writing. The last couple days have been nuts, so I'm just going to write what I have down in my journal

3-18-08
We had a clinic near the town (I'm still in Hoi An at this time). The old people were not so crazy this time : ) The weather was not as hot and we had fans. I have become grateful for the little things in life on this trip. We had a few babies that day also. The fav baby of that day was a 20 old little boy. Usuall ywhen the babies are brought to us they sit down with there mom, take one look at us and turn into freak out mode. Not this guy!! He was happy, giggling and smiling our entire visit. I wish I could've taken him home with me. I have to admit I was slow on his exam, cause I just wanted to play with him ALL day!!!! The older people had their usual complaints of OPS. We heard a lot of war stories that day also. Nobody was trying to get in forcefully and sneak in though today, so their were no need for bouncers : )

For that day's main topic I would like to talk about the nasty teeth I've been looking at for the past 2 days. I'm going to have to give a little history lesson first. So back in the day (like 40-50 yrs ago) Vietnam was always getting invaded by China, Japan, and eventually us. When the soldiers would come over they would rape the women. So the girls got this awesome idea that they would find a way to make themselves look unattractive to the men that were doing this. What they did was chew this nut called a beach nut ( strangely in doesn't look like a nut at all. It looks kinda like a mushroom, but it grows on a tree, thus it's a nut) and what this nut does is that it stains their teeth BLACK! Also when their chewing this nut they add a leaf and some kind of a white paste. The leaf and the white paste turns their tongue and lips orange. Sooooo just imagine this....................... Your at clinic all day. This 80 year old women is your patient and you tell her to open her mouth so you can check out her tonsils. Not only do you see this nasty glob of beach nut, but her whole entire mouth would be stained orange. Then they would realize what you were trying to look at and spit it in the corner. Oh did I forget to tell you that it's highly addictive. That's right folks, that has been my life for two days, but they are still sooooooo cute. I will miss the smiles of my old people with their 4 black teeth and orange lips : )

A little tid bit on the city of Hoi An........... Hoi An is known for the best tailor shops in the world!!! Best of all it's dirt cheap. You can give them any picture of anything (shirts, pants, skirts, dresses) and they will make 100% copy of it, plus you get to pick out the fabric. This place is not good for a shop-aholic like myself.

3-19-08
We left Hoi An at 2:00pm ( after a group picture in the blazing hot sun!) had lunch and left for the airport to fly to Saigon. Our flight was suppose to leave at 5:30 and was layed over till 9:40pm. I knew something was up when the intercom turned on and Miss Hanoi started talking. Thirty seconds later all the Vietnamese started to sigh with frustration and Tonk told us what they were saying. I guess what happens here, it that they will delay the flight unitl it fills up. I had mixed feelings about this. I'm pretty done with traveling. I mean I haven't stayed in one place longer than two days! Sometimes I even don't know where I am or what day it is. I just do and go where I'm told to. It was good to just sit one place for 4 hours and think.

Today
There are only 3 words to describe today. Depressing, unfair, and humbling. Today we went to a Youth Center (aka detention center) In Vietnam they put foster and juvenile deliquents together in one place, this place. The youngest is 5 and the oldest is 17. They sleep on bamboo wood frames with no mattresses and are locked there rooms at night, cause there is no adult supervision. All day I heard stories of how they were abandoned by their parents. " To many mouths to feed, so my parents gave me away" or "my parents didn't want me" they would mainly state. Their sadness and fear of the unknown future crippled me inside. They can't leave the center until they are 18.

After a long hot day of clinic, we went to the orphanage across the street. The first place we stopped was the baby room. We held, loved and fed all every baby in that room (about 20-25). Then we moved to the babies who were abandoned because of their handicaps. "Life is not fair" is the absolute definition of these two rooms. These babies have handicaps that could and would be fixed in the states, so they could live full and productive lives. No questions asked! But because these babies do not have parents they are denied treatment and forgotten. What right does any human have to put a price on a life? My soul ached and my heart broke for these beautiful babies that cannot be picked up for fear of the weight of their heads would surely break their necks.

I don't mean to be preachy or anything, but everyone should count and be grateful for there blessings. To be in a country that is free is a blessing in itself. Free to not be persecuted, free to dream and make it happen, free to hope, and free to live. I never realized that people are denied those simple, yet important freedoms that everyone yearns for. Or maybe I did realize it, but didn't want to acknowledge it. I will never forget today. I will not let myself forget. May God forgive me for my foolish pride and my ungrateful heart. This trip has been exhausting. Emotionally and physically exhausting, but it was so worth it. Every bit of it was worth it. Tomorrow is a shopping day and Saturday I leave for home. I can't wait to see everybody!!

Love you all!

The Old People in Hoi An are Crazy!!!

Hey everybody!!!! I'm in Hoi An now, since we got kicked out of Hue. Today we had clinic in a remote village 2 hours away from our hotel (which by the way are Nazi's. We had to fight to get a shower curtain!). Okay back to the clinic................. so this village was torn up by us in the Vietnam war and ever since then they have never seen American people. Soooooooooo they kinda don't like us and I completely understand. I know there are two sides to every story and that both sides try to make it sound more positive for their cause. But from what I have seen so far, we messed this country up. It's harder for us to recognize it in our own country, since we do not see the consequences of it. We have never had to worry about the next bomb or soldiers burning our houses down and beating us.

Anyways, back to the crazy people at clinic. We only saw old people, CRAZY old people. There was even a need for bouncers at todays clinic. They kept trying to sneak in or they would try to reach into the building and try to steal stuff. They definitely kept us on our toes. Their complaints were the usual for OPS ( Old Person Syndrome). Everything aches and they can't see LOL. To make things just a little more interesting, the heat was to much today. It wouldn't of been so bad if we had some kind of air conditioning, but we didn't!! The team did an awesome job though. We saw 250 patients and left as friends. I'm so glad that we could help change their opinion of us.

P.S. I slept in a mosquitoe net for my first time : ) (just for you Suzy)

Communism .................... It SUCKS!

To tell you the truth, I can't remember exactly what has happened since I last wrote. All my days seem to fade into one. Yesterday we had another clinic at the Kim Do Compassionate home and we saw 300 children and elderly adults. This home is ran by the cutest and sweetest catholic nuns. We saw some REALLY sick kids! Their were even a couple that if they don't get further medical attention (way more than we can provide at our little clinics) they will probably die. This whole trip has been the biggest wake up call to me. We were there for a total of 14 hours and then the nuns had a little thank you ceremony after the everyone had been seen : )

Can I just say that communism sucks! I mean, I knew it wasn't a spectacular thing or anything, but now I can say from experience that it's no bueno. The whole time we were there, the government officials were trying to shut us down. Apparently there were times when we needed to be guarded (the governors guards) to prevent anyone from being arrested. The government feels that we are making them look bad, because it seems that they cannot take care of their people. Well DUH, we wouldn't be there if they could!!! The nuns will probably be arrested today, to make an example out of them to the village. They know this and they don't seem to care, because they have an unconditional love for the people they serve. It is amazing to me how the people that have the least to give, give the most.

We were suppose to go to the Sweetwater clinic today, but we have already been told that we cannot go. The government officials are already there. It doesn't matter if it is COPI's building and that they paid for it, we are not allowed to visit. We are still negotiating if we can even go and have lunch with the nuns that work there. So right now I'm kinda upset. These people have been waiting since December for us to come. The nuns have been preparing weeks for us and the children need the care that we are there to provide. But because of "the way it looks" and "we did not do the proper paper work" we cannot go. I just found out that we are actually getting kicked out of the Province of Hue. That's new, I've never been kicked out of a city before. The government follows us wherever we go. We cannot escape them!!

On a lighter note though, the hotel is fabulous and it's right on the beach of the China sea. To bad we are getting kicked out : ) The weather is an awesome 80 degrees and I'm absolutely loving that part of the trip.

Back in Hanoi

So I just got off of the worst train ride in my life. I know, it's only my second ride, but it was the worst. First of all on this ride I learned that sleeping on a train without any drugs, is somewhat impossible. Second thing is that I do not like to jarred, craddled, and bumped when I'm sleeping also : ) Lesson learn, Vietnam!

Ok back to my awesome adventure. Yesterday we went to a village with a communist school and did a little TLC for the villagers. The kids were so cute and some of them were really sick too!!! Thanh Phin was the name of the school and it is around Sapa. One thing about Sapa that I won't miss is the Mong girls crowding you like the paparazzi, to sell you things that they've made. To make it worse, you have to barter with them for there goods. I mean, Vietnam is dirt cheap, and I feel like I'm robbing them some how.

The whole time in Sapa we were in a cloud. A misty, cloud. You couldn't see two feet in front of you and the driving time in it, was frightening! So we fly to Danang in the morning at 6:00am and do another clinic. The clinics are hard work and my feet and back ache afterwards, but it is totally worth it.

Clinic at Sapa Orphanage

All of got to say about today is WOW!!! I don't think I've ever worked so hard in one day. We arrived at the orphanage at about 8:00am. When we got there all the kids (300 of them) lined the street and started clapping for us (almost made me cry). We worked till 8:00 that night. The children are so sweet and grateful. Today made me realize what a spoiled little brat I am, and that I should stop whining about whatever is going on in my life!!

The kids are the from the families of the indigenous people of Vietnam. These children wouldn't have any opportunity of an education if it was not for COPI. The families send them from villages around SaPa. I couldn't imagine not being without my parents at the age of 8.

To make kinda a long story short. We ended the night passing out notebooks for school and they sang us a song (which did make me cry). After the song, they lined up again and said goodbye. This trip has already changed my life and I am truely grateful for it: )

Day 4 Sapa Vietnam

Ok so I posted fromViet Trei in there crappy Internet cafe and I guess it didn't work!!! So I will break down the last 3 days.

Viet Trei, Hanoi, Vietnam
First thing I thought when I got off the plane is this place smells like fish and BO!! We had a two hour bus drive to our hotel. The ride was definitley interesting. Driving directions and rules are only a suggestion and nobody takes it. The building are dirty on bottom and immaculate up top with a french colonial style. Dogs,chickens, and cows have free range everywhere. There are a million acres of rice patties and the women are working in them while the men stare at them drinking beer. The hotel is nice. The rooms are just the bare neccessities. My only complaint is the box spring they call a mattress!!! It really is just a boxspring with sheets on it. The city is loud with people honking there horns 24/7, people yelling, and motor bike engines.

At 5;30 every morning, Miss Hanoi gets on the speaker phone and yells the national athem and screams propaganda. Awh to be in a communist country!!!

Thanh Ba

Our first clinic. We saw 120 children. The main things we saw were sinus infections, strep throat, and false compliants. We were there from 9 to 3. The people are very grateful and endearing towards us. The kids were horrified by all the poking and cold instruments we put on there chest, but they all survived : ) When we got back home we hurried and packed to get on a train for an overnight ride. First train ride and first overnight train ride. Woo Hoo!! It wasn't bad. Everybody had the thought of being on the oriental express.

Sa Pa

I've just arrived in Sapa. IT is one of the most beautiful places I've been! It is high in the Vietnam mountains and borders China and Cambodia. All the people wear bright and colorful colors and the children love to talk to us. They follow wherever we go :) We'll I'll try to write tomorrow. We have another clinic at the Sa Pa orphanage. The expect over 300 children tomorrow. TTYL

Day One of Adventure: Taipei, Taiwan

Well what can I say about Taipei? It's so smoggy, you can't see outside or I've never seen so many boys wearing girls jeans in one area. LOL, It's definitely an experience here and I'm just in the airport. I'm the minority and I'm not use to it, but I kinda like it.

The flight here was 14 painful and horridous hours and I have another 3 hour flight to Hanoi. I met a nice gentleman on the plane though, that flies to Vietnam once a month for business. CRAZY!!! I could never spend that much time on a plane, on a regular basis. He was able to get more excited for this trip and gave me very helpful advice. I was hoping that I could post pictures for everybody, but it doesn't look good for that situation. Bummer! Maybe Vietnam will be different : )