Day 15, 16, and 17: Dental Clinic, Things You Probably Don't Care About, and Coffee Shops

Day 15 was sleep and food and pooping. So you don't care about that.

On Day 16 we went to a fancy-shmancy dental clinic to give basic dental care to some kids from the Mai Tam Center. Guess what? I definitely don't want to be a dentist. I worked as an assistant for one deep cleaning, and I was done. I can handle blood pretty well, but the patient's gums were so infected that brushing them was making them bleed like crazy, which I had to suck up with the fun little suction tubes. I got to play with the kids from the center for the rest of the afternoon. It was so hard to believe that they all had HIV or AIDS because they were such vibrant and hyper creatures. I couldn't even fathom that one of the smartest boys there was dying. I also greatly admire Cha Toai for his patience and presence over these kids. Essentially, he is the parent figure in their lives, since they have all been abandoned. He was funny and strict and patient with them all at the same time. That experience along with the trip to Cambodia solidified my feeling that the health profession is right for me.

You probably won't care about Day 17 either. We took a billion taxis around Sai Gon and visited some people. I had wanted to buy some clothes here because it's really cheap here, but it's SO DAMN FOB-BY. Afterwards we went to Bien Hoa to visit my cousin's coffee shop, which is apparantly a happenin spot for up and coming police officers.

Day 13 and 14: Aching Shoulders, Itching Cream, and Temples

The second day of the mission trip to Cambodia was much different than the first because Phuong and I got to go with a smaller group to an even more poor floating village to hand out vitamins and provide other basic medical care. We also brought 130 bags of rice with us to distribute amongst the families there. We loaded the rice into the pack of a pickup truck, and then six of us squeezed in and napped on the bags of rice as we rode along an extremely bumpy road. Then we unloaded about a ton of rice onto another boat once we got to our destination, thus the aching shoulders.

Since there were no doctors along on the excursion, we distributed basic medications, such as vitamins and Tylenol. My job was to distribute vitamins to the little kids. It was amazing to see everybody swarm around me, reaching for the vitamins as if it were gold. I was handing them out so fast, we ran out pretty soon. After that, I started distributing itching cream, and people were reaching for it before I even told them what it was. People there believed that medicine was like magic, since it's so scarce. The best part of the day was definitely distributing the rice. I assumed it was one of the village matriarchs that took charge. Man, this woman was strong! Her voice carried over the voices of hundreds of talking people, as she scolded them like a mother hen for not appreciating our medical team enough. The looks on some of their faces as they received their bags of rice was one of pure happiness that replaces a verbal thank you in my book.

Thus ended the mission trip with Hope for Tomorrow in Cambodia. I was so sad going back to the hotel, because I had enjoyed it so much. I can't wait to go again, and now I'm really serious about getting into the medical field because I realized that it can touch so many people. This is something I want to do for the rest of my life.

After such hard work, our mission group took a day off to sightsee, visiting three ancient temples. It was a lot of walking and sweating, but it was definitely worth it because it breathtaking. Traveling like this and seeing so much of the world in such a short amount of time makes me want to see more. Some of the ruins we visited were massive and falling apart, yet they still had a sacred atmosphere to the place.

I am now in Sai Gon, after a very long sleep filled bus trip, and I can't wait to see the Mai Tam Center. Sorry my posts are long and wordy with no visual aids, but we don't have wireless right now. Therefore, you all are going to have to wait until I get back home and post a long photo essay, and a Picasa link as well. Thank you so much for reading and hope you all are safe and sound at home.

Day 11 and 12: Excessive Sleep, I'm on a Boat, Brown Water, Pills, Blood Splattered Scrubs, and Dr Fish

The vacation part of my vacation has officially ended and today I worked on the Hope for Tomorrow Medical and Dental Mission in Siem Reap for the first time. We drove for about 12 hours to Cambodia from Saigon and I basically slept the whole time, and conked out again once we got to our very nice hotel room.

Siem Reap is a floating village on one of the world's biggest lakes. The water there reminds me of those Hershey commercials where everything is brown; it's actually because of the silt. Contrary to popular belief, the color is not due to the pooping and drinking and bathing all in the same body of water. There are a lot of Vietnamese refugees that lack paperwork to go back to Vietnam or seek asylum in the US, Canada, etc. The Hope for Tomorrow group set up medical and dental centers today in one of the boats, which is usually a Catholic school.

At the beginning of the day, I worked at the registration desk, probably because I can read and write Vietnamese pretty well. That proved useless, however, when everybody there has a really strange accent that I couldn't understand half the time. Most of the patients didn't know their last names and took awhile to recall their ages. I'm pretty sure I wrote down some funky stuff onto the paperwork we give the doctors and dentists because I couldn't understand them, but hopefully they figured it out.

After awhile, registration got a little stressful and I decided to help in the pharmacy instead. Our patients were in need of lots of medication and vitamins, so working in the pharmacy to fill prescriptions and count pills was like playing Diner Dash in real life. By the end of the day, I smelt like the oil they put in the multivitamins.

It was a day of hard work but never have I felt so accomplished in my entire life. Seeing people in such poverty but still with so much happiness gave me an amazing adrenaline rush that made up for my physical exhaustion. I'm not sure how to put it into words, but today was beautiful. Distributing pills and making so many people happy was enough payment to last me a lifetime. The children coming in for treatment really made me smile because they were excited by the littlest things, like a toothbrush or a stick of gum. I was working on the medical boat, but they called the dental part the "torture chamber". Let's just say there were a lot of extractions, so Co Thi got a little blood on her scrubs.

I'm so grateful I got to experience such a breathtakingly alive and joyous atmosphere with the Hope group, and I can't wait to work again tomorrow. Our group relaxed a bit afterwards by going into the city and having dinner and getting a foot massage. There were fish eating dead skin cells off our feet. It was freaking scary the first couple of minutes but after awhile it feels really good. The shopping here is good. If I didn't get so much money stolen I would have bought A LOT. RAY BANS FOR TWO DOLLARS. Ahhhhhh I'm going through shopping withdrawal.

The next post will probably be a massive photo dump. Thanks for reading :)

Day 8, 9, 10: The Beach, Citadels, Imperial Palaces, and Bun Bo Hue

So, the last day in Hoi An was a wet one.  After swimming in the ocean for a bit, our group walked in the rain around the immediate village, checking out the million and five restaurants that are there.  We finally settled on one for lunch and it was AMAZING.  The shrimp were so fresh that they still tried jumping off of the grill, the grilled fish was superb, and the ocean crab was really flavorful.  We then headed back to Old Town Hoi An for some shopping and chillin' with the little kids that we met the day before.

Off to Hue!  We embarked on a 3 hour drive to Hue, each with a little 6 year old on our laps.  While retelling old Vietnamese folk tales to the kids, we took scenic pictures and admired the scenery.  Needless to say, the drive felt really short as a result.

We explored the market place in the pouring rain, which is dangerous considering a single wrong step could land you right under a flood of collected rain water.  We tried street Bun Bo Hue, which was pretty good, and grilled meat was surprisingly delicious.

The next day, we went to a citadel, tomb, and the Imperial Palace.  Hue is one of the major historical places in Vietnam, so going to see the sights is an amazing opportunity.  The architecture is beautiful, but appreciating all of it was hard, as a few native-Vietnamese tourists disregarded the "No Touching, Sitting On, or Lying Down Upon the Exibit rules".

We're back in Saigon now, packing again for our 12 hour drive to Cambodia, where we start the main reason of this trip, to help the helpless Vietnamese children get some medical and dental care.  Wish us luck!

Day 6 and 7: Connections in High Places, Five Star Hotels, and Warm as Poo

My previous post referred to an incident that prevented us from going to Nha Trang because of complications of paperwork. to put in shortly, I had to do even more paperwork to replace my missing paperwork because I'm one month away from being 16. Anyways, my backpack was stolen and I lost the following items:
-2 pairs of sunglasses I'm a lifeguard...I am going to die of blindness.
-Chapstick, hairbrush
-Sketchbook, journal, day planner
-THE SCARLET LETTER I ANNOTATED HALF OF IT ALREADY. OH. MAH. GAWDDDDDDDD.

However, my family is extremely cool and they have connections absolutely everywhere, and Cha Toai, the leader of our mission trip, also literally has connections in high places. By saying that, I mean he's really close to God and important people that could help me with my paperwork. Other than that, I got to stay with my uncle Truong and the rest of his family. Basically we ate and napped because his wife made us, and there was really nothing to complain about because it's the house I posted about before. I can't even count all the people that helped me, and if you happen to be reading this, THANK YOU again!

This morning we finally got to Da Nang and visited this amazing mountain called Ngu Hanh Son, which is actually five mountains that represent the different elements. There were lots of steps and caves and an amazing view.

We are staying in Hoi An, which I like a lot better than Sai Gon because it's much less crowded and more serene. We're right next to the beach, which was as warm as poo but that's okay because it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL here! 













It's Phuong!!!
We're staying at the Palm Garden Resort.  It's a pretty high-end resort.  We're making the most of it, because as anyone who knows us knows, this is the first high-end resort we've ever been to.  We usually take a shuttle bus or taxi right to the heart of town in Hoi An and it's pretty awesome.  A lot of it is so authentic and has such a quaint feel to it.  The architecture is really amazing and I really think a movie should be filmed here.

Tonight, we met some pretty interesting people.  3 in fact.  3 little girls that all have to sell little trinkets in order to get by.  They sell their wares every day until 11pm, when they then walk home together.  The group of people that we're here with are pretty awesome people, who instantly took a liking to these kids and took them out for some che.
Things are definitely a bit different here than in the States and I am intrigued in seeing how much of a difference we can make in Cambodia and Vietnam.  It looks like already 1000 people have signed up for the medical care that our group of 30 people have volunteered to administer.  It's going to be a very eye-opening adventure. 

Day 4 and 5: I Hate Taxi Drivers and Green Uniforms

The first one is stupid. And they have round faces that express their low IQ. The latter think they're almighty and important and they take off their shoes when talking to me.

You probably have no idea what on earth I'm talking about. That's okay. Hopefully I'll be more cheerful tomorrow.

Day 3: Korean Wannabes, Buttloads of Relatives, the Upper Class, and Rhinestones

Day 3 consisted of satisfying familial obligations, meaning we had to visit some of our relatives. The night before, we had a party for some of them, so I had met my mom's cousin's family. Chu Truong has two kids, nicknamed Lucky and Pepsi. It seems that that particular branch of my family is really into nicknames. Anyways, we first set out of the house in a taxi around 11 am, heading to my cousin's house first. The really weird thing about my cousin is that she's middle aged, but she's still my cousin since her dad and my dad are cousins. I was so confused that I had to call her "chi" rather than "co".

Then we went to Chu Truong's house. HOLY FREAKIN CHRIST. IT'S FLIPPING HUGE. The night before, his daughter, Pepsi, told us about how she wanted to come to the US for high school. Then I saw her house. Why would she ever want to leave? It's like a million stories high, because tall houses fit the hot environment of Vietnam, and there are more bathrooms than I could count. In fact, it's so tall, that if you wanted to commit suicide, you could do it in the comfort of your own home. They had three random empty guest rooms, and two stories of balconies. There were URINALS in the bathrooms. I want a urinal in my bathroom, just to say that I have one. The shower was like a freaking time machine, it was so high tech.

The living room, where Pepsi and Lucky are really American and watch Disney Channel.

Pepsi's bedroom. Everyone has their own bathroom. Walking into that house was walking into an episode of Cribs.

It's surprising that so many of Vietnamese teenagers want to be Korean. I saw some pictures of Pepsi's friends, and they all have the hair and clothes of a Korean wannabe. If she goes to high school with me and starts hanging out with the Korean crowd, I'm going to pretend I don't know her, or make her hang out with the druggies instead, because that would be a lot less annoying.

Another interesting thing about Vietnamese kids is that the little boys are all the same. Even the semi-grown up boys of about ten years old are fondled by their mommies as if they were babies. Every single ten year old boy I met was really shy and literally hung onto his mommy like a six year old kid.

Remember when I said I felt like a slut in my shorts? Well, I wore shorts at night and I felt like a nun. On a Saturday night, I saw multiple bejeweled shorts, skintight dresses, lots of stilletos, and spaghetti straps. During the daytime, people here are afraid of getting tan, so they cover up like crazy. The style here is one of the reasons why I haven't gone shopping or felt any desire to. Vietnamese fashion consists of:

-skinny jeans with contrast stitching and rhinestone pockets

-colorful hoodies with rhinestones

-weird high heeled flip flops or wedges with more rhinestones

-hair scrunchies

-floral pajamas

-either really Korean haircuts or really ghetto haircuts

Anyways, we're headed off to Nha Trang in a couple hours. I woke up early to repack and blog...we posted a new video on the YouTube channel of the family house in Saigon. Check it out if you care.

................................

Hey! It's Phuong.  I'm glad that some of you have been reading.  As you've read above, we woke up at 6 am this morning to get ready for our flight to Nha Trang.  Our cousin, Hong, brought me along to buy some suon for our morning meal.  The place is so popular, however, that they sell out of everything by 6:55am!  So, instead, we went to a place that serves Hu Tieu, Wonton, and Mi.  Made by good old Chinese people.  In comparison to the stuff in America, this is WAY better.  The noodles are made fresh and cooked before it even has time to dry, the meat is fresh, probably from the place that just sold out. 

See the raw vegetables?  My cousin Victor warned me against them...(he said that they look delicious, but they are very dangerous lol) but the people there were looking at me funny, so I buried the vegetables into the broth, hoping that it would cook them.  I'm still waiting to see if I have to take Immodium...just kidding...sort of.

I just want to note that although riding on mopeds seems sort of scary, it's PRETTY AWESOME!! Where we are right now, we're a bit outside the city, so Linh and I get to see less shops and more market-esque places.  I noted that when we stopped by the center of the city with Co Hien and her daughter, you see much more stores and more white people.  Center-city is more of a touristy area, but I'm glad that we get to experience the more "real" Vietnamese life-style. 

By the way, I stopped by my grandfather's old house, and it turns out, it isn't a house anymore, which is interesting considering when Chu Tuan and Co Yen took a picture of the house in '02, it was still inhabited by people.  Here's what 170 Le Lai looks like now:

That's right, it's now part of a coffee shop-like place.

Anyway, stay tuned for our next posting, hopefully later on today...

Day 1 and 2: The Flight, the House, Pho, Traffic, and ASS PAIN

The flight: It was really really really really long. In my personal opinion, I am quite obviously NOT Korean. But it seems that even Korean people, flight attendants no less, think that I can understand what they're saying to me even though I have put on a very retarded expression when they are waiting for my response. I was outside the bathroom forever because the lady in front of me was either taking a massive dump over the Pacific or having trouble with her liquid eyeliner during turbulence. The food was terrible, but we had Chex Mix.

B3: That's the family home in Saigon and we have a super airconditioned room that feels incredible when you walk in and super terrible when you walk out. This morning, we ate Pho Tau Bay, a landmark pho place in Saigon. I found it interesting that their system of waiterring consisted of obscenities and shouting, rather than a pad and pencil. Then we went on Hondas to get to the cemetery, to visit my grandfather's grave. It started raining on the way there, which at first was really refreshing, but then it just became painful. The drops were literally going into my eyes and beating against my chest. To say the least, it was an experience.

Fitting in: I'm really dark, so I fit in pretty well. The only problem is that for some reason, everyone is wearing jeans and hoodies in 90 degree weather, and I look like a hooker in my shorts. I packed 5 toothbrushes, but no belt, and my niece and nephew keep on touching my butt to pull up my pants.

Serving as Guest Blogger for the duration of our trip to Vietnam, is me, Phuong, Linh's cousin.  A bit about me: I'm in college, I tend to fail when attempting to be funny on purpose, and I too, LOVE Harry Potter.

Day 1: So Korean Air is pretty awesome, I'd say, even for the poor, "economy" class.  Everybody's got individualized screens the entire trip, so the 14 hr flight was although incredibly long, really bearable.  My only complaint, which is really unpreventable, is the incredible ASS-PAIN that incurs whilst sitting too long.

Day 2:
The market place, (not supermarket) is where you really see how everyone makes a living here.  It's really dirty, but I'm told that's where the freshest food is.  (Which I agree with, because I was able to actually chew the squid prepared for me today.)  You basically moped around and if you see something you like, you stop, (yes, I said stop, not park to get off) and buy what you need, even if you're blocking everyone from coming through.  It was an interesting experience, to say the least.

So I basically have figured out Vietnam's traffic, and how it works, when such a system is essentially chaos.  The rules: There are no rules.  There's no "right of way", few street lights, jaywalking is the way of life, and there's an incredulous amount of beeping.  The beeping is not actually meant with any spiteful intent, but in fact just a warning to say, "Hey, I'm here...so don't hit me".  When entering traffic, whether walking or mopeding, you basically do so at your own risk, trusting the person who's about to hit you to stop.  99% of the time, that trust isn't broken.  The other 1% is probably why I did see 2 whole traffic lights in the whole city.  Anyway, that's how I see it.  It works out.  Still, I can't help but pray every time my cousin decides to swerve in front of SCARY ONCOMING traffic. 

Stressed and Frankly Quite Pissed Off

I've never had an all-out rant on my blog before, on topics other than miscellaneous things that bother me. But I think this is a good place for my to type out my feelings angrily and also get the satisfaction of more people on my flag counter and hopefully some sympathetic comments.

I am going on a BIG TRIP in a couple of days, a trip that concerns a lot of preparation safety-wise, including registering the trip under the US Embassy, getting medication into my system, packing, and emergency contact information because in a place like Vietnam and Cambodia, getting mugged isn't something you see in a PSA about not talking to strangers; it's real life. Between working, logging volunteer hours of about 20 hours per week, and stealing some chances to see friends before I leave, I have been extremely stressed about absolutely everything. My dad just makes it worst.

The thing with my dad and I is, we are very much alike. That is probably the primary reason why we fight so much. A lot of the time we misunderstand each other, and we're both too stubborn to admit it, or won't admit to ourselves that the other person may be correct. But this fight wasn't about stubbornness on my part at all. Over the years, I have learned more or less to back down or at least dig my fingernails into my arm to let out my anger rather than screaming bloody murder about how wrong he is.

This time, the fight was about registering the trip. I was having trouble with it because I didn't have enough specifics, and so I asked my mom. Then he starts yelling at me about the following untrue and completely ridiculous aspects:

-I am too lazy to do anything myself and I want everything handed to me. I wanted the kill him. All I could do was stare at him in confusion because that's completely false. Sure, the helped me with some stuff, but not to the extent of having to do everything for me.


-Even though I didn't know the specific address of the Cambodian hotel we would be staying at, I should put down a random one anyways. Okay, that was completely stupid. The whole point of registering a trip to an embassy was to notify them of my location in case I was in trouble. How would a fake address help?


-That I shouldn't put all my information regarding the trip in a flash drive, but put it in a folder just like he does. I wasn't even planning to, but who is it going to hurt if I do? If I want to use a flash drive, I'll use a flash drive, and my dad had better like it. 


In conclusion, my dad pissed me off tonight because he won't stop to try to understand that I don't understand, and stop with the attitude of "my way or the highway". He's contradicting himself by saying that I need to do everything myself, yet he wants it to do it exactly the way he does.

I am

Every time I go to work at the hospital, I pass the Children's Art Gallery and admire the beautiful "syringe paintings" and decorated gloves. My favorite piece of work is a poem titled "I am". It's such a beautiful, inspirational poem that defines the spirit of many patients at the hospital. Today was an amazing day at work, unlike many other weeks when it's very boring. I got to shadow a social worker in the ICU, meet some people involved in organ donation, and sit in on a meeting regarding ethics on death. Anyways, I'm posting the poem I saw in that little corridor, and decided to jot down on the back of a receipt I had in my bag. I hope you enjoy, because I certainly did.

I am
I am Jaycee
I am from Philadelphia and New Jersey
I am from cheesecake and the shore
I am a daughter, grand-daughter, sister, cousin, and friend
I am outgoing, photogenic, lovable, and sassy 
I am 7 yrs. old and I am a 2nd grader
I am a superhero and an artist
I am a videogame player and a Bubble Blower
I am made from Mom and Dad and God
I have recycled parts
I am a transplant and oncology patient
I am a survivor
I am a miracle!


by Jaycee, June 22, 2010