More from Vietnam

Hello Everyone!

Yea, we found another internet cafe and it seems like blogging is a go!

I want to share a few stories from the past couple of days:

We usually rest at the school grounds for about thirty minutes following our lunch at the teacher's house. On Tuesday, I offered to stay behind and help clean the dishes. However, one of our Vietnamese YMCA hosts said not to worry and I should head back and rest. The teacher immediately started to show me to her room so I could rest at her home. The people here have been absolutely welcoming.

Another story....

Again, after a lunch at the teacher's home, I started to walk back to the school with a couple of the YMCA Vietnamese hosts. An elderly woman smiled at me and placed her arm in mine. Neither of us could speak the other's language, but our smiles said it all. We just walked arm-in-arm down the road to the school, and the woman just patted my arm. One of the Y host's said the woman wanted me to meet her family. It was on the way to the school, so we stopped by to visit. We all just smiled at one another...and it spoke volumes. What a powerful moment.

Update on the school work: We've been working long and hard finishing the classrooms. Three were completed by Wednesday morning, and we will have completed three more by Friday afternoon. We paint....we grout....we clean grout...we varnish furniture...we paint some more. While we were out in the country, all is far from quiet. On the contrary! The sounds I hear while we work are constant...roosters, motorcycles, mopeds, dogs, and every once in a while, the children singing in their classrooms. Saturday morning we'll have the official opening ceremony. I know the teachers and children are excited!

Kids at Maxwell, I am going to try and post some pictures of the school and of the kids playing in the school yard. And, like many of you, I believe their most favorite time of the day is when they get to leave the schoolyard, and run across the road to the little store that sells SNACKS! The children wear uniforms to school. You may notice that some of the children do not wear a red neck scarf. Only children in first through fifth grade wear the neck scarf. I also have some exciting news to share with Maxwell's fifth grade classes...the fifth grade students at the school we're working on are working on letters for me to bring back to all of you! The teachers and students are very thankful for all the fundraising you kids did, and are very much looking forward to exchanging letters with you!

That's all for now folks. I'm going to try and post a few more pictures.
Hope all is well with everyone....take care,
Cathy C.