Tuesday morning, Pam and I went the opening ceremonies at the FTU. This university is celebrating 50 years and Global Volunteers organization was one of the invited guests. Pam, my friend and the leader of the GV in Hanoi, asked me to attend with her as I came to VN early. Former president Bill Clinton was also one of the invited guests, but came two days prior. Darn!! I am really hobnobbing with the elite thee days. hahaha!
Someone, we didn't know who, was going to pick us up at 7:30 AM, no one arrived and we were getting slightly nervous as this ceremony was only going to last 3 hours and it wouldn't be great to arrive late. But having no control, I didn't stress over it.
After about 40 minute ride in heavy Hanoi traffic, we got to the university and signed in... It was very formal. I tried to dress a little better than normal-haha- but did worried some about how dressy this would be. Now we proceeded to the assembly area. To get there, the students have formed a gauntlet line that we had to walk through. We wanted to walk outside the wall of students but were directed down the middle. I was like walking down the main aisle of a church with everyone watching. The female students were all dressed in beautiful "au dai". which is the traditional garb of the old Vietnam. The males wore more modern clothes with slacks, white shirt, and red necktie. After this, we were greeted by another person who escorted u to our seats. Because we were late, most were already seated, but we didn't miss anything as it had not started. I sat directly under the pole that supported the "big top", a huge canvas tent that covered the assembly. Everyone once in a while, i felt that pole sway and thought will it hold? hehehe! It did.. Lots of different speakers all of which I didn't understand but they didn't go on for long. At the end, there was a dance by students and singing. Very nice.
After the program, Pam and I got a tour of the school and of the neighborhood. The school isn't that big but it has a lot of prestige in Vietnam.
Now, I am waiting to start my volunteer work at a high school in Hanoi. My hotel is near a famous lake in Hanoi-Hoang Kheim Lake, so I often go there to walk or talk to the locals. I met three young people there that wanted to speak English. One works as a nurse, another an accounting student, and the third is attending painting college. The nurse, Dung, invited me to her house, but I haven't decided if I am going yet.
Yesterday, I got an email from my bank about my Credit problem, so I had to fill out some paper work, which I did but wasn't sure I did it right. Then afterwards, I had to find a place to get it printed, scanned and emailed. The printing was easy, but I had to go to three different places before I got it scanned and e-mailed back. The scanning place was most interesting. Everyone works in such a small space that they are virtually working around each other. Paper and books everywhere. It looked like total chaos to me.
After this, my moto driver want me to take me to some restaurant where they served some specially VNese food. One he mentioned was Cobra-snake. I have never heard of that but I declined. Also someone else told me about cat, which I did know about. So now i have learned the VNese words for these foods, just in case. Ha!!
Ok, Have a great day. I am so Thankful and feel so blessed when I can still what I do. I see lots of people here with nothing but still manage quite well, and with a smile. It makes me ponder and try to share my few talents. I am sure you all do the same....
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