Quang Ngai Hotels
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Quang Ngai
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Hi all,
I am at my placement in Quang Ngai! I arrived last night and was inducted into Vietnamese life by going to a Kareoke bar: very surreal. A local girl, Lily, who has befriended the vlounteer house, had rented a room for her 25th birthday. I drank beer (no, really) and danced to a trance version of the OC theme tune. I had an odd but fantastic night out in Da Nang before I left: I will write another entry about Vietnamese nightlife for you another time. Very different to the Bathhouse in Cambridge...
In the last couple of days I have been to Hoi An (essentially the tourist captial of Vietnam!) the Marble Mountains and China Beach. I will post the photos and captions at some point when I am not in the middle of moving in! All beautiful, although the recurring theme is that, there is a reason Vietnamese all go to sleep in the middle of the day, instead of wandering up and down baking hot streets looking for somewhere to have Vegetarian food. I have not got sunburnt yet and survived my first night without air-con and my first squat toilet (I didn't fall in!)
The house is lovely: brand new and with wide verandas and marble floors.
The placement is also new and has a few teething problems. It is under resourced compared to some of the estanblished placements so the craft things I brought will go to good use (thank all the parents for me Tracey!) and some of the staff in the orphanages apparently aren't caring for the children as you would want. The volunteers here are worried about a 3 month old baby who currently doesn't have somone to watch her all the time so she's left in her cot alone. The director came down with us and is going to try and sort it out but everything here takes so long- watch this space! I am going there this afternoon so I will see how it all goes. The staff in a lot of centres work long hours for very low pay and don't always have the time/skills/training to look after the children in the way you would expect/hope. I may find it very hard to cope with when I see it!
This morning I went to a centre where currently the volunteers teach one class of English with the children of the staff and one teaches deaf children. she was teaching them to read and write English until she found out they can't read or write Vietnamese, so now she is doing craft activities and working on social skills. It is hard as the over-riding feeling in Vietnam is that children with disabilities are 'crazy' and can't learn or be expected to behave. It was obvious from watching the children today that actually most of them are very bright, but bored and frustrated as they find it hard to communicate and they are on school holidays with not much to do...
It was good to see the children though, they are keen to join in with things and have adult attention (not always in the most appropriate way!) There were fewer children than normal as there is a bug going round. I think I can do this, which is a big relief to me, as I have never taught English as a foreign language before. We'll see how it goes. I am going to an orphanage tonight (where there are some concerns about 'neglectful' staff) and some adult teaching this evening. Then sleep!
Hope you're well and happy. My email and facebook seem to be working fine so let me know how you are and what you are doing- it seems so long ago I saw anyone! Sorry to Paula and Will for sending you house related emails without personal messages: I'm missing you! I am going to try and view my guestbook which, ironically, is the thing that's not working today! The computer is just tempremental though so it should work normally...
Will post again soon.
Beka
Latest Comments (6)
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Hi Mum! (reply)
Aug 12, 2007 10:30 EST by beka
The message worked perfectly! Thank you. I guess you are back in the UK now as you said you were back for your birthday- If you fancy something Vietnamese, let me know and I will go shopping! Hopefully speak to you soon. I will send a proper email tomorrow, when all the Vietnamese people are having a siesta and the internet is faster!
Lots of love
Beka
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bean here.... (reply)
Aug 10, 2007 16:39 EST by beanaround
....at heraklion airport happy to have seen your photos at last and sending lots of love
I have been thinking of you lots but no internet yet at home and work wouldn't let me in before you left.
Hope this works as it's the 2nd time Ive tried to post a message here goes
x love always
your mum
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Missing You Too! (reply)
Aug 5, 2007 08:11 EST by teafairy27
Hi honey don't worry about sending us house related emails! Glad you're feeling confident and congratulations for not falling down the loo!
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Hi Beka! (reply)
Aug 2, 2007 14:01 EST by cubabit
Good to hear you've settled in. Hope things go well for you - I'm sure you'll do fine!
Keep us updated!
Pete and Jo
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Proud father...! (reply)
Aug 2, 2007 08:22 EST by steve.kimberley
...so when people ask me 'What's your daughter doing these days?' I can tell them 'Well, the last I heard she was drinking beer and singing karaoke in a bar in Vietnam...'
That's my girl! :-)
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