I passed out last night – although according to my fitbit
only spent 4 hr 38 min sleeping and 4 hr30 min being restless – ugh. The joys of a 12-hour time difference.
We enjoyed our cereal for breakfast and got ourselves ready
for the day. Our first stop was the bank
to exchange some money as we were running pretty low. We didn’t have to wait too long for the bus
and this time I was ready with 12,000 VND for our tickets! The bus was really hot (you never know if
you’ll get one with some AC) and Im pretty sure the driver had his hand on the
horn the entire time. Needless to say my
stomach wasn’t feeling too hot when we got off (we also missed our stop but mom
was all over it and the ticket taker was very sweet and the bus still pulled
over just a little late..oh AND I almost got run over crossing the
street). Needless to say I was good for
nothing. Anyway, the walk helped a bit
and today we were in the Big Room as it was a Monday and they were back on
schedule. It changed a bit (just some
stuff moved around) but nothing major. The
usual suspects were pretty much all there (we didn’t see a few faces but they
could have spent the day in their rooms…we will have to wait and see).
The best part was the head lady (terrible we don’t even know
her name) came out and said, “Hello!” and gave us hugs, like real American hugs
(NOT common in Vietnam) which was SO sweet.
It honestly is comforting knowing she is there and will help us out when
we have no clue what’s going on.
The worst part was that Thoung was sick, or has a toothache
or gum ache and you could tell he was crying and kept pointing to and holding
the side of his face. It killed us. We showed the head lady who went to the
medicine cabinet and made him what looked like alka-seltzer (fizziness in water) but not sure how much (if any)
it helped. Ugh it was bad.
We took him, Bob and a few others (Katrina) out for a walk
in the hopes that Thoung may be distracted and he played on the iPad for a bit,
which I think he liked. Bob and I listened
to some music and sang a bit. Mom &
Katrina went for a walk and hit up the snack room (this is new to us).
Then we had to head back inside to eat, which is a crazy
time! A few of the kids can feed
themselves, but most have to be fed. In
the group that needs to be fed, a few have puréed food (the workers
always feed them) and then others have rice/meat in one bowl and broth in
another and you usually feed them a mixture of both. VERY few like to eat/eat everything and today
I had George. George cracks me up and
last year he loved to go out in the stroller and dance!
We started off strong with some selfies and Twinkle
Twinkle. We made it about half way
through when he had had ENOUGH of the food.
I knew this wasn’t going to fly but hate forcing the kids to eat, so
brought it over to a worker who was less than impressed and went back to George
to tell him he better eat. I felt like I
didn’t help at all, but she able to get him to laugh and eat, so all is well.
During this time Bob was also hanging out (he did not want
to listen to me tell him he should eat).
He LOVES to snuggle and I also got some kisses on the check. My favorite, however, was the backrub (while
quick) I got! Nice work Bob, I could get
use to this! Bob also liked climbing all around as I was trying to feed George.
Mom spent lunchtime trying to keep Thoung happy with a cool
washcloth and rubbing his back and rubbing his check. Ugh it just kills me to see him like that,
especially when there isn’t much you can do.
We helped to clean up a bit (the kids all have bibs that go
in the kitchen to be washed, their bowls and spoons, etc.) and then the kids go
down for a nap so we headed out to grab the bus back.
We took well-needed showers and made PB&J (so good) for
our lunch and then got ready to head out with the birthday boy! For those of you who don’t know, I met Long
my first year here when I took a city tour.
He’s the man and has become a wonderful friend over the years. Today is his birthday and we are lucky enough
to celebrate with him!
In accordance with Vietnamese tradition, HE took US out for
a meal! I could get use to this
tradition! We had a lovely meal and it
was so nice to catch up!
He then was kind enough to take us to the market so we could
shop for the kids. We are so lucky to
have him so we can go to a local market (think wholesale). We bought washcloths, clothes and crocs for
the kids. Crocs are really easy for them
to put on since there is no tying, they don’t have to worry about keeping a
flip flop on, etc.
We also bought some special clothes that button in the front
(rather than go overhead) for the children who have hydrocephalus, so we were pretty excited about
that as the chances of that type of clothing being donated is probably pretty
slim. Finally, we went to the pharmacy
to get some medicine for the kids and it was SO super helpful to have Long as
we would have had NO idea what we were doing!
We got a lot of good stuff and are SO excited to bring it
all to the kids! And we really couldn’t have
done it without Long! Thank you Long!
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