Day 35 / Last Day

I think you all know I am back in the U.S. If you somehow missed that, surprise! I will be writing a post about what it is like to be back after five weeks in Vietnam later this week. For right now all I will say is I am a happy mess that cannot seem to sleep or eat at normal times.

My last day in Vietnam I went over to see the kids at Promise House and say goodbye to them. I hardly got to spend any time with them this trip, but they remembered me from last time, and I certainly remembered them well! It was a really nice way to spend my last afternoon. Two of the girls spoke some English and asked me a bunch of questions, including when I was coming back. When I said maybe summer of 2016 she was highly disapproving, and said she wanted it to be sooner. They were also shocked about how long it would take to fly home, which was about twenty-four hours! After seemingly never-ending goodbyes and lots of photos I went out to lunch with Elissa for another goodbye. I was not as sad as I expected to be, and I thank God for the peace He gave to me. I know I will return so for most of them, it was see you later, or until we meet again, not goodbye forever.

 I am going to miss this girl! It is so nice to know that I have a friend already over there for next time though. Love you Elissa, and can't wait to see you again!

 Orphan Voice has some of the best employees! These two ladies did everything possible to love me while I was around, even though the one below did not speak any English. She would turn the fan on or get me water, and one day brought over a book that was in English and Vietnamese and had me read her favorite part and then we pointed out especially powerful sentences we liked to each other.

 The Asian Brewer girls came to say goodbye, the other two were busy and dearly missed. This family has five of the most kind, fun, welcoming, loving, sweet, and funny girls I have ever met! I miss them as much as I miss the kids I went to serve.

 Time to go home. (Or at least where is home at present)

 Goodbye Da Nang

 I loved seeing a plane that said one world while I was traveling from one side of it to the other.

It was a long journey, but totally worth it! I will gladly do it again as soon as possible!

Day 34 / Time to Say Goodbye

Just when I thought I was finished with those Christmas cards I had a little more to do...finishing them off was my morning project. That and giving photos to Ashely for Orphan Voice to use for a number of different things. I would love to be a charity photographer! Just throwing that out there.

In the afternoon Kelbin took me out to the baby orphanage for one last visit. Tank (who has a new nickname of baby budda :P) again came right over to me and wanted to be held the whole time, with a two minute break while he grabbed some toys during which I snapped as many photos of him as I could get. After that I carried him with one arm while taking photos with the other for a bit. It's not as hard as I would have thought it would be. I found out he has Down's Syndrome, which is why he seems so lethargic at times, and why he is so wonderfully chunky. He's built like a brick.

 Georgina really earned her nickname with this pose!

 "I think you would look a lot more handsome with this piece of trash on your head that I've been chewing on."

In less than twelve hours I will not be in Vietnam anymore, I will be in the air on my way to Hong Kong, Vancouver, New York City, and then Home.

Day 32 & 33 / My Final Weekend in Vietnam

Five weeks can go by so fast! I leave in less than forty-eight hours. I am so grateful for the time I have been able to spend here, and for the fact that God has given me total peace about leaving. Five weeks was the right amount of time for this trip, and I know for sure I will be back. It has been fantastic for so many different reasons, one of which is the new perspective I have been able to gain, and the introspection I have been able to do. There will definitely be some good changes in the life of Tatiana when I get back stateside.

Day 32

I spent the morning replying to e-mails and repacking and starting to get ready to leave. After I got sick of that and totally restless I went for a fabulous long walk. It was a little over three miles and included all the rest of the shopping I really wanted to get done. Some of the shop owners here are really lovely to talk to. There was one young lady at a stall who spoke a good amount of English and was overly impressed with my meager Vietnamese, and we had a really nice little chat. I love exploring this city and am probably going to start doing small road trips more often.

After I got back from that adventure I went out for seafood with Elissa, Judy and Kelbin/Phoung. They ordered some more adventurous things than I would have picked, but it was all really yummy! I am going to miss having such amazing street food so readily available.

 That would be stingrey!

After dinner we went down to the Han river and saw the fire breathing dragon bridge and went on walk. I love how colorful and cheerful this city looks at night

Day 33

Elissa brought me to the Vietnamese church again, because she is just the best! The sermon was about love. One of the things he said was it can be hard to define love, but it is easy to identify it. It reminded me of something that happened to one of the girls that was on my team originally and is now in Nepal. There was a girl who did an amazing henna design on her hand because she said Kimberly's eyes showed love.

 It is funny how we think of places having names and those being the only names those places are called by. Turns out a Vietnamese globe has different names than the ones I am used to.

More street food for dinner tonight. After we had our soup Judy and I found an amazing desert place that has fresh fruit salad that they pour sweetened coconut milk over and serve with ice and big, crunchy coconut flakes. I liked it so much I got another one to go to eat with breakfast, and it was less than $1USD. I wish I had found this place on day one! It will be nice for the last two days though :D