Thursday January 19

Ok, so not a very good night sleep last night.  I just took a little sleep medicine, obviously not enough!  I think I was literally awake every 10-15 minutes, and then finally at 530am I just said I was up for the day! 

I was able to catch up on email (work and personal) and then got myself situated for the day!  After some breakfast and an awesome FaceTime session with Dan and Nate, I was ready to start the day!

We made our way to the bus stop and were lucky as one pulled right up!  When you get on the bus, the ticket person walks over to you and you pay your fare (6,000 VND, about $.27) and you get a little ticket.  We usually end up stuffing them somewhere in our backpack, but today I am SO glad I knew right where it was.  About half way into the ride we saw about 4-5 men dressed in uniform get on the bus.  All of a sudden people were pulling out their tickets and I scrambled to get ours.  Luckily, I knew from years past that sometimes they (whoever they are, the bus police?) will get on and check tickets to make sure you have paid.  Mom and I had a long (ok pretty short discussion because we were confusing ourselves) conversation about this.  What exactly are they checking for?  There is no way you could get on the bus and not pay, as the ticket person comes right over to you.  I guess the ticket person could take your money and NOT give you a ticket, and in turn pocket the money for themselves, but I think people would give them a hard time and be like, hey give me my ticket.  Anyway, it felt a little scary at first because we weren’t expecting it, didn’t know what anyone was saying, etc. but luckily because we knew this was “a thing” it wasn’t a problem.  I’m not exactly sure what on the ticket they are looking for.  There is no date, or time, or anything like that, so it seems like we could have used a ticket from another day.  ANYWAY, we passed the test and as quickly as they hopped on the bus they hopped off and we were on our way!

As usual we were lucky girls and got lots of hugs when we arrived at the orphanage.  Dorothy had her leg braces on but seemed like she was ready to get in the stroller.  George was all set up in a brace type thing that I think helps train his body to stand up straight – I will have to look tomorrow if the weight is on his feet, or more so it holds him up.  Anyway, Cap seemed to want George to come with us, but I felt bad that he was already in his gear, however, Cap seemed to make enough noises at Yen that he got her approval that we could take him out!  So off we went, Dorothy and George in the stroller and Bob, Cap and Thoung walking.

For some reason Cap doesn’t have shoes (Im pretty sure there are shoes for him, he just doesn’t want to wear them?), and he gets about half way to our spot and wants to be carried and man is he heavy!  We managed to get everyone to our “old spot” which is nice because it’s very private and there is nothing around so we don’t feel like we are bothering anyone or getting in the way of people worshiping.  However, it’s really hard to get to, because the pavers are awful and then there are a bunch of stairs (ok maybe only like 5 little ones, but enough that we have to lift the strollers).  I think we have created a bit of a monster that they all like going there!

As we got started, Cap was sort of grabbing at himself and then pointing to the corner.  Do you have to pee?  I said.  Go ahead; who cares this is a Pagoda.  Oh my.  So he walked over to the corner but then seemed a bit freaked out about something, so I walked over and there was a spider hanging from a statue, HA!  I wiped it away, he laughed, but he decided to pee in a different corner.  BOYS!

The iPads are definitely the hot commodity, I think mostly because they are the biggest/easiest to see and use.  We only have 2, so there is usually a bit of an argument over who can use what.  Bob and Dorothy are pretty good, I’ve never seen them throw a fit, but Cap and George are the worst if they don’t get what they want.  So today we had a huge meltdown when Cap wanted the iPad and Thoung was using it.  Full out stop your foot meltdown!  We let it go for a bit, and then switched things out so that Cap could use it and Thoung used something else!

We made sure to make it back in for meal time without someone having to come get us, although Thoung was in a bit of a bad mood walking back in.  Im not sure if he wanted to push the stroller, or didn’t like the way Cap was pushing the stroller, or who knows what, but anyway, we were able to make it back inside as meals were being prepared!

I had someone new today who had a HOT (yes I checked) porridge type thing that I did need to cool down before I fed it to him.  We probably took the longest (we were one of the first to start and the last to finish with help from Mom, thanks Mom!) but we made it!

After cleaning up we said goodbye and took the bus back to the apartment for a well needed shower, lunch, and a nap for me.  I was falling asleep on the bus (which is hard to believe because it is the least relaxing place I’ve ever been) but I was so tired I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it the rest of the day.

I felt much better after I woke up, and so we headed out to the pharmacy.  Long had called Yen to ask what types of things we could purchase and she said medicine would be very helpful so she wrote up a list that she gave to us.  There are pharmacies throughout town so we found the one closest to us and made the walk over.  Luckily, the pharmacist said she spoke a little English (we probably could have done it without much English, but its always nice) and so we explained we wanted everything on the list.  She looked over the list and then looked around her pharmacy (the place is tiny, about 3 people can stand comfortably and then she is behind the counter).  After a few minutes, she asked us to come back in a bit so she could get everything together.  Since there was nowhere to wait, we headed back to the apartment and got our electronics cleaned and charging and then headed back to the pharmacy.

When we arrived she was still getting some things together so we had to wait a few more minutes, but then she had everything ready.  She went thru it with us, like we had some idea what we were getting.  Sometimes she would say something like “upset stomach” so ok, we got that, but otherwise, it was like, does it match what is on the list?  If so, we are good to go!

We are really excited about everything we will be able to bring to the kids.  We were talking on the way back that we aren’t really sure how the “budget” for the orphanage works.  Is Yen in charge of a budget for the big room?  How does she allocate?  If we weren’t here, would the kids just get less medicine?  Get it from somewhere else?  Can she spend money on something else now?

We brought the goods back to our apartment and then got ready to head out for dinner.  We met Amber, also volunteering at the orphanage, and she said it had been a while since she had talked with Americans so wanted to have dinner with us!  We met at a burger place (really good burgers, we haven’t even been gone for that long but a nice taste of home) and it was so interesting getting to know her.  She has been teaching in China for the past 4 years (in Egypt the 2 before that) and is originally from California.  She is taking the year off from teaching and only planned to come to HCMC for a day or so, but has also fallen in love with the kids and now has it in her heart to stay until March!  It was fun to talk about travels and the orphanage and Vietnam and all that good stuff so we had a great dinner!

This was the latest we had been out at night (party animals) so by the time we got home another shower was needed and it was off to sleep!