Day 1

So after traveling for more than thirty hours I have made it to Vietnam! It takes some time to get half way around the world! Thankfully, I was able to get a lot of sleep on the flight. My first flight was from JFK in New York City to Hong Kong with a brief layover in Vancouver Cananda. We wound up following the night for at least eighteen hours which really helped with being able to sleep. Also, sunrise while you are up in the clouds is amazing! I'm sorry, I will try to stop ending all my sentences in exclamation points.

It was a pretty relaxed day. Two of the young men that work for Orphan Voice picked me up at the airport and brought me to the office. The one who was fluent in English made a comment that he was expecting someone older, I suppose it is understandable to expect someone who is traveling alone to a  developing country to be older than twenty. Tony later asked how old I was and when I told him his response was "Well, that really shows me how much you want to be here." Boy do I ever! I am so happy to be back. It is strange because in some ways it feels so different and sometimes a little scary, but it also feels like home.

I have to stop rambling. Blame it on jet lag and excitement taking all my brain power.

Tomorow morning, a team of six ladies from Race Around the World will be arriving to help till the end of the month. I am going to join their team while they help out here. Our first project will be renovating a building Orphan Voice recently purchased to become a school for the deaf. It is in a different province and we will probably travel down there and start work on Friday. Tomorow, they will have orientation which I will probably sit in on and just get settled in.

Photo time! (Sorry there are so few and they are rather lame, I did not feel up to going shooting by myself.)

 
Some views out my hotel window.

Aren't palm trees great?! I wish they would grow in NH

Now I shall hopefully fall asleep. I am pretty sure breakfast is from 7:00-9:00 tomorrow (it only took about ten minutes with his English, my terrible Vietnamese, and a notepad to communicate what time and where) Then I'll head to the office. Goodnight!