Saturday, March 7, 2015

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.  One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.  As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean. He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?" The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean." "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man. To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die." Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!" At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one.” 

Another year :)  I can’t believe it!  I have to say I actually had a hard time this past Christmas NOT being in Vietnam as that has become the "norm".  But here we are in March and we are ready to rock and roll!

I always debate whether or not to blog, as my fear is that I'm missing out on being in the moment.  I'm in Vietnam, do I really want to be on my computer?  The answer is yes :) I am no Saigon expert, but I feel less pressure to be out "seeing the sights" because I've been lucky enough to see a lot in and around the city.  I also realize how beneficial blogging is!  Not only for you, my reader :) but also for myself, as a way to decompress after a day at the orphanage.  It's also fun to look back at older blogs as most of it I honestly forget.  Well, not everything, like last year when mom fell off her chair and Cap could NOT stop laughing :)  But the little things.

But, alas, here we are again!

We decided to fly out of JFK this year – as it was significantly cheaper.  Well, it was until we decided to head down a day early!  We drove down to NYC Wednesday night after work and spent Thursday at the 9-11 Memorial Museum (a blog for another day) but I would HIGHLY recommend it.

Our flight out of JFK left @ 1pm so we basically just woke up and headed to the airport.  Mom worked her magic and while we didn’t get upgraded to business class, we DID get an empty seat between us.  I like the window and she always likes the aisle and so we usually fly with someone in-between us but this time we had the whole row!  Wahoo!  It really was very nice to have some extra space to spread out and not feel like youre gonna whack the person next to you.  I normally try to sleep on the long haul (if nothing else to pass the time) but I really wasn’t that tired so I watched “Boyhood” “The Good Lie” and “Paddington” all good flicks if you’re looking for something!  I did sleep a bit, but it was still a looooong flight.

Our layover was in Seoul (I don’t think I have ever flown thru there) as evident when I made us walk in the completely wrong direction.  Oooops.  So I am the direction lady when we travel, and our boarding pass said gate 39 but when we looked at the massive departure board it said 22.  Apparently knowing your departure time and flight number is important.  We were NOT leaving @ 715 so NOT leaving out of gate 22.  Ooops.  Luckily we had plenty of time so made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare. 

Our flight to HCMC was delayed, maybe about an hour? after we were already on since “there were so many flights leaving at the same time” said our Captain.  One the one hand, what’s another hour when you’re traveling for 24, but in actuality, its another hour.  Ugh.  LUCKILY we again had an empty seat between us so we could spread out.  I stayed awake for the meal (obvi) and then passed out.  Literally could not keep my eyes open type of sleep.

We tried to book it off the plane, as we needed to get our visa on arrival.  You can send in your paperwork to the consulate beforehand but its significantly more expensive and we have done it on arrival the past few years so have it down pat.

Luckily we were third in line and turned in our paperwork, pictures, passports and money and only had to wait about 10 minutes (may be record time) to receive our visa.  After passing thru passport control we headed down the escalators and I gasped in excitement as I saw our strollers on the carousel.

So the strollers.  As many of you know, the majority of the kids at the orphanage cannot walk in their own.  The first year I was here (with the help of another volunteer who spoke Vietnamese) I bought strollers and brought them to the orphanage. It was awesome, as now you can take one of the few who can walk and a kid in a stroller and go outside (they LOVE IT).  However, strollers are a luxury item in Vietnam, meaning you have to go to a special store and it can cost a few hundred dollars for a simple umbrella stroller (which in the states should cost less than $100).  Two years ago I bought strollers here (so now there’s about 4 at the orphanage) however since you are going over uneven ground they get really beat up.  Long story long, I really felt it on my heart to bring strollers this year.  After some research, Mom & I each had two checked bags with our ticket, so decided we would each “check” a stroller.  I ordered two umbrella strollers off amazon (my roommates had a good laugh when the UPS guy dropped them off at our apartment) but then we had to figure out how best to transport them.  At first gate checking them seemed like a good idea, although I wondered if we would be questioned “Uhhh where are your two kids?” and since we could check them for free that seemed like the way to go.  I did order two bags for them just so they would be covered, but was honestly a bit nervous when we arrived at the airport (getting there was interesting as well, as we each had a checked bag, a stroller, a carry on and a backpack) but we made it!  Luckily it wasn’t a problem at all and they put them in a bigger plastic bag and off they went!

SO, we got the strollers (and our other bags arrived too, success) and headed out.  Getting a taxi from the airport can be a hassle.  You have to be very careful to use one of two companies (even locals don’t use the others) so you don’t get scammed and it can be a hassle to get the good ones!  So we booked an airport pick up from our hotel, which was SO worth the extra money.  After traveling for over 24 hours it was really nice to come out and have someone waiting to whisk you away (safely).

Another big change this year is that we switched hotels!  We really liked the hotel we had been using, but this year mom upgraded us to an apartment.  BEST.MOVE.EVER.  The place is awesome.  The idea was that we would each have our own bedroom (I am a SUPER light sleeper) and have a kitchen area so we wouldn’t have to eat out every meal (it gets old).  AND its about 10 minutes closer to the orphanage so we shave off a few bus stops.  While it’s really bigger than we need, its perfect.  It has a kitchen (so we can eat cereal, make PB&Js and have pasta for dinner) a living room and a dining room (open floor plan, only the best for us).  One bedroom has a king and the other has two full beds.  One bathroom has a tub and the other a shower stall and, wait for it, A WASHER/DRYER!  True story I absolutely LOVE doing laundry and there’s no place I would rather do it than in Vietnam (our clothes are disgusting at the end of the day).  So I am super excited about that!  It’s like we live here now!