This month we are in Vietnam. Vietnam is a closed country hence the password that I have put up on my blog. When we leave here, I will take the password off of it.
We left Thailand at 7:30 pm on November 1st and 48 hours later we arrived at the hotel that we are going to live at this month.
Wow. Two huge things to address in that sentence.
FIRST, we had 48 hours of travel!! We took the first bus and drove overnight to the border of Thailand and Cambodia. We attempted to leave Thailand around 11 am. Our visas actually ran out the day before… so, we got held up. A couple of hours. Just trying to leave Thailand. At this point, we can’t get to the other side of Cambodia before the border closes for the night. So, we crossed the no man’s land into Cambodia and got on another bus. We got to Phnom Penh at midnight that night and unexpectedly stayed the night in a hotel. The next morning, we got on another bus around 8 am and drove to the Cambodian border. We exited and entered Vietnam without hassle and at 7:30 ish that night, my team arrived at the hotel.
SECOND, we are living in a hotel for the month!!!!!!!!
*Bug free showers
*Lights
*Air Conditioning
*Toilets that flush!
*Toilet paper
*Soap to wash our hands with
*Air Conditioning!!
What is this life?! I can’t believe how much I appreciate the little things now. It. is. awesome. My team decided that it is such a good thing that we started in Cambodia! (We were going to start in Thailand)
My team, Burning Joy, is in Ho Chi Minh City this month in the Go Vap district. We are working with the youth in this country, specifically the students at the local university. The first three days were spent at the University, talking to the students there. Let me tell you, so many students came up and talked to us- we didn’t even need to go find some to talk to! It was because we were foreign and the students are intrigued by foreigners, but still 🙂
When we went to the university, we had to be careful. We had to try to be less conspicuous than we automatically were. We didn’t want to draw too much attention. We would split up and make sure that there was a student with each group. On the third day, we ended up getting kicked out because there was a crowd around us and the guards didn’t like that. There is this one student that has been a really good friend to us and has constantly been our translator, protector from unknown foods and provider of comic relief. 🙂 He said to me that they probably kicked us out because we are taller than them and they didn’t like that. 🙂
We hold an English club every Tuesday night, Friday night and Saturday morning. At the English club, we play an icebreaker game: “The Human Knot”, “Would You Rather”, sing songs: “Peel Banana”, “I’ve Got Peace Like A River”, and then work on vocabulary/idioms/English from the lesson topic: Food, Holidays, Family. The three clubs that we’ve had so far have been huge successes.
When we aren’t planning a club or holding a club- we meet up with the students. We practice English with them, share stories with them, eat food with them, go to coffee with them. The students are so willing and excited to hang out with us. It’s awesome! As soon as you meet a student, they want to know what your Facebook is or what you phone number is!
I just wanted you all to know what we are doing here in Vietnam. Soon, I’ll start writing blogs about what Dad is teaching me here 🙂 *remember- closed country
I love Vietnam and the people here! I can’t wait to share more with you all!
<3
Ash
*We are now just 3 1/2 weeks away from the December deadline of $11,000. I am about $3,100 away. Please consider and pray about supporting me financially so I can stay on this awesome journey.
“We are owners of nothing,
stewards of everything”
