Since
I was soooo tired last night I was really looking forward to sleeping in, but
that didn’t really happen. I seem to
just wake up in the morning and can’t fall back asleep, but still try to stay
in bed to rest!
We
spent the morning just relaxing, catching up on blogging, downloading new apps
for the kids to play with, etc.
We
met Wullie for lunch, and asked the front desk for something good nearby, as he
needed to get back to the hit the road to the airport. We thought we understood what she said, but
after aimlessly walking around for 10 minutes, we came back to the hotel and
another woman gave us some recommendations, and within 5 minutes we found a
great place packed with locals! Luckily,
they had a few words in English, but it was mostly pointing, and before we knew
it, we all had Pho in front of us! It
was delicious, although a packed restaurant, with no A/C, in the middle of the
lunch hour, it was hot! Since Wullie needed
to head back to the hotel (and then the airport) we tried asking for the check
so we could pay, but she didn’t seem to understand. So then, we just pulled out money! We had an idea of what it should be, and kind
of pilled it in her hands, but in the end, she took 100,000, or $5! Not too shabby for 3 people for lunch!
We
came back to the hotel so Wullie could get his things (and cab) to the airport,
and we could get our things for the orphanage.
I am SO happy he was able to visit and spend time with us!
When
we got to the orphanage the kids were waking up from nap time, so I was able to
give some of the medicine we bought (too heavy to bring it all at once) and Yen
was VERY thankful for all that!
We
found Thoung kind of resting/sleeping and he didn’t seem like he felt well, but
once we got him up he walked right to his shoes and wanted to go out (although
still didn’t seem like himself) so we decided to round the troops! Kap and Dorothy were there (they must just do
school in the morning) and while Kap is pretty easy to take out (he just needs
a brace on one foot) Dorothy cannot walk at all, so needs two braces and then a
stroller! And, getting her in the
stroller (and comfortable) is a lot of work!
 |
| Right before the fall |
She
needed to be pushed in the stroller, and somehow Thoung was in charge of
pushing her (he LOVES pushing strollers).
I somehow ended up with this little girl (maybe 3 or 4 years old?) who
is not disabled, and can walk, but wanted to be carried. Mom had Bob (who is fine but likes to hold someone’s
hand) and Kap (who can manage, but really does better holding a hand). I had the little girl on my hip and our
backpack and off we went. Well, Thoung
had some trouble and kept crashing Dorothy into the wall. I’ll upload a video to Facebook. However, I stopped the video about 5 seconds
too short (or maybe not) because all of a sudden Dorothy tipped over and the
stroller was on its side! Ohmigoodness!!! So now Mom and I are trying to get her
upright (Thoung kind of fell over as well but I think he was ok) and none of
the kids could help, and about 20 Vietnamese (no joke) coming to the temple
were right in front of us. Oh man I wish
I had it on video, we were dying! I
think at first Dorothy was a little like, “uh what the heck is going on here”
but she really is a trooper and by the time we got her upright she was
laughing.
Needless
to say, we managed to get everyone out!
Although it wasn’t easy!
We
didn’t have a ton of time before the next meal (or so we thought) so we got
everyone set up with a device in “the spot” and basically acted as IT support
when they clicked on something that brought them to the Apple Store!
A
worker came out to tell us it was time to go in, so we packed up and headed
back in, although come to find out they wouldn’t eat for another hour or
so. So we spent time with everyone in
the big room (devices were still a big hit) but while those kids were occupied
we tried to hang out with some of the kids who don’t get as much attention,
really aren’t as mobile, etc.
Sometimes
its nice to take a few kids out because it’s a bit more manageable (even though
it is a lot of work getting them out) because when you are inside you are
trying to play with a few kids and have a handful more jumping on your back,
pulling your hair, etc. But, it was also nice to spend time with some of the
kids we don’t see as much, or new kids we haven’t met before.
George
the 2nd (named because I confused him with George) cracked me up
because he loved this spinning thing that lights up (thanks Dan for putting it
together!) but since he is so weak some of the other kids would steal it, so he
would yell at them (I couldn’t tell if he was actually speaking Vietnamese or
just mumbling) but then eventually he hid it in his shorts!
Once
it seemed like meal time was happening we put away all our devices, but for
whatever reason it still took a while, so it was actually fun to play with the
kids sans technology (I THINK they would still like us minus our phones, but
they really like the games, and we only have them play games that work on their
motor skills/challenge them). Anyway,
everyone loved it when Bob hid behind Mom and I went around asking everyone is
they had seen Bob!
 |
| Meal time |
Thoung
wasn’t eating at all (again, couldn’t tell if he just wasn’t feeling well), but
Mom said after they added some soup to it he was eating away. The food they tend to have is rice and fish
mixed up. Then, some kids also get a
broth, and/or milk, and/or a pureed mix.
We are never really sure if there is any rhyme or reason to how this all
works, but today the boy I helped wanted nothing to do with milk!
At
this point, the kids have diapers changed and clothes changed and we bring them
back to their rooms for the night. I
brought back one little boy, and then George the 2nd who SPOKE TO ME
IN ENGLISH! I was dying! I will try to get it on video, but I dropped
him off in his room and one of the ladies was saying something and next thing I
know he goes, “thank you” and I said “you’re welcome” and he said “see you
again”. It was so cute!
When
I came back to the “big room”, Mom and Bob were hard at work sweeping and
cleaning the floors!
At
this point, all the kids were back in their rooms and we were exhausted, so it
was time to go!
We
hoped back on the bus and back to the hotel.
Showers felt even BETTER today, and while we had talked about going out
to dinner, we both got right into our PJs and warmed up pasta! These are the nights I am SO thankful to have
an apartment!
As Julie said we got a recommendation for lunch near our hotel and headed off. The three of us (Wullie, Julie and I) couldn’t find the seemingly simple directions for the lunch suggestion. Humbly and sheepishly we headed back to the front desk. Luckily for us there was a different woman there. We told her our dilemma and she said we were better off getting a suggestion from her anyway. She said the other lady never goes out for lunch but she does and so she has the ‘best’ suggestions. Long will be so proud of us. We’ve already eaten two Vietnamese meals already!! (I’m thinking my ‘weight loss strategy when I get back from Vietnam just might be eating with chop sticks. I probably burn quite a few calories trying to re-pick up the food that falls before making it to my mouth!)
ReplyDeleteJulie shared with you poor Dorothy’s stroller ride and crashes on our way to our play area, what she didn’t mention is the difficulty I had trying to get her ready to go out. One of the older orphans (we call him Inappropriate … another story for another day) knew we wanted to take Dorothy out. So he got her leg braces. (As I think about it I’m not sure why she needed them since she simply rides in the stroller.) Anyway, Dorothy is a pretty cool kid. She’s chill, she’s kind and seems pretty happy. She clearly knows I know no Vietnamese and that I’m basically clueless on how to get her ready. She’s very patient with me as she points and directs me on what I need to do. There’s a lot of nodding of heads up or down as I try to guess what to do. So, we have two braces and two legs that don’t ‘simply’ fit into them. Poor Dorothy is trying to get them on herself – pushing and pulling and trying to shove one foot that refuses to cooperate, into the brace. It isn’t budging. She looks at me pleadingly. Okay, I’ll give it a try. She’s been pretty rough on herself so I figure I can’t do much worse. I push and tug and silently beg the leg to fall into place. No luck. I have to track down a worker to help me. Good news? I’ve learned how to loosen up her legs to get them to cooperate! Bad news? Dorothy has no idea what is in store for her as Thuong tries to manage her stroller (a stroller with a mind of its own) over uneven and broken pavers in the courtyard. (Julie gives the details … it was rather mortifying to have a sweet, young girl with braces on her legs lying on her side, strapped into the stroller, as a group of Vietnamese people are walking toward you.) But our Dorothy is a trooper and once upright had a smile on her face and was ready to go!
ReplyDeleteOne of the workers called us in at 3pm (we thought that was a little early, but we try to do what we are told … hey, maybe they heard we were tipping kids over and didn’t trust us with them alone much longer!) So, we packed everyone up (this time I was responsible for stroller pushing) and headed back in. The kids didn’t end up eating until 4-4:30 so there was a lot of play time in the big room. Good news? We get to give more kids more attention. Bad news? It’s really hard to give more kids more attention. One of the girls who is new to us this year (today I named her Veronica) decided she really wanted to hold my hands while we were sitting on the floor. She wasn’t content with holding just one hand, it had to be two. In the positions we are sitting and with multiple kids tugging on you from all angles, it just isn’t possible for me to sit in an upright position unless one hand is holding me up. Veronica didn’t like this and to show me she didn’t like it, she decided to put my toes in her mouth. I don’t know what she had planned for my toes, but I managed to get them out before I could find out. So now I had to make her let me keep one hand on the ground; protect my toes from potential danger and touch and tickle as many kids as I could, while also managing any electronic issues that popped up. At one point Kap came to me with the iPad pointing and obviously upset. I take the iPad and realize he has gotten on the Expedia site. There are many apps open so I start closing them…. Tripadvisor; booking.com; hipmunk and Travelocity to name a few. Where is he planning on going? Making a run for it out of the orphanage with his Thomas the train backpack?? Somehow he had gotten into the folder of travel apps instead of the folder with Vietnam games. Oh boy!
ReplyDeleteBefore leaving on the trip I’ve been having some back issues and going to physical therapy. Traveling to Vietnam and volunteering at an orphanage is probably not the best way to improve back issues. By the time we were ready to start feeding kids my back was throbbing (and I had forgotten my litany of pharmaceuticals I always travel with back at the hotel) AND I got the very nice, easy going …. But EXTREMELY slow child to feed. Julie, possibly being the best daughter in the world, rescued me when everyone else was done eating and finished up feeding my child.
I’m back on a daily dose of aleve and Tylenol. I don’t want to miss out on the rolling around on the floor, playing hide n seek, tickling , hugging etc that goes on daily. I’ll just have to work extra hard at PT when I get back. ☺
Another interesting day for the Wilson ladies, and for the children of the orphanage. Thanks for the shout out, I'm happy they like those toys. Keep up the excellent work you guys!
ReplyDelete