I NEED A DIET COKE!!

Hey Guys

Sorry its beena few days since my last post, finding an Internet cafe around here can be tough at times.

Things are going great!!! We are almost complete with the school, instead of just working on three classrooms we decided to do six of them. Today we finished grouting the floors and painting the shutters, tomorrow we will give the rooms on last clean and then finish varnishing the desk and chairs. I will post pictures of the finished project after tomorrow. Some of the pictures i posted are of people in our group in action.

Today when we arrived in the school yard we saw the young kids outside playing with a shuttlecock like object. They were working on there hand eye coordination, take a look at the picture i took of the kids playing with this, they were using little boards to hit it in the air but i am told that once they get older they will actually use their feet to do this. (kind of like hackiesack in the US Its a pretty popular game that many people play.

As we were working today i noticed that every time the teacher walks in the room the class stands up and greets the teacher, i was talking with one of the Vietnamese volunteers and she was telling me that they have a great respect for teachers in Viet Nam. Its till amazes me that these kids go to school with a thin work book and are in class for 4 hours. They practice reading and writing over and over, one by one standing on front reading aloud. No computers around, not much electricity or any fancy smart boards. One of the pictures that you will see is a group of kids spinning little mini helicopters in the air, very simple straw with a top on it. This thing entertained them for the whole break they were on. Still amazes me how little they have but still are in high spirits!! They get a 30 minute break for the day, many of them use this time to walk across the way and visit a store that sells little candy and snacks for hardly nothing. This store is part of someones house, you walk up and see the living room, and rest of the house. During the break today i taught the kids an American game, duck duck GOOSE!! They thought it was the most hilarious thing they have ever done. I still cant get over the face that these kids are always smiling and laughing all the time, its really refreshing to see them smile and laugh constantly. Another interesting face about the education is that all college students have to take a second language, they don't have a choice.

Saturday they are having a celebration for the completion of our project. All the kids will be in attendance with family, teachers, and the head of the YMCA of Vietnam and the Education Department of the Ben Tre Province. Food, music and dancing will be apart of this celebration, Central Kentucky's very own Cathy Calloway will be representing our group and speaking to everyone about this experience and what it has meant to us. I'm really excited that she is the one that will be speaking on the United States YMCA'S behalf.

The things that i brought for the kids will be handed out as prizes and incentives for the kids throughout the year, so we will have some YMCA of Central Kentucky shirts worn around here!!

After the celebration on Saturday we will board the bus and head to Dalat, i am told that its about a 7 hour bus trip and will be exploring the city.

Everyday i wake up and still am amazed by this experience, i am looking forward to Saturday when everything is done and ready!! Well that's it for now, hope everything is going well back home, i will try and write tomorrow.

PS...about my title of this blog, out here in the country they dont have any diet coke, well anything diet for that matter. I'm looking forward to getting into Dalat to hopefully be able to find one!!