17.01.2013 and 18.01.13
up early for me at 9am, gotten used to sleeping in over the last couple of weeks. had orientation in the white house with Que about Vietnamese culture and transport which was interesting. really was a list of dos and donts. learnt shaking hands is the most accepted wag of greeting someone - no hugging and kissing. don't wear a white headband as it's tradition at Vietnamese funerals to be wore therefore people will think someone in your family has died, don't take pictures of pregnant women as they believe baby will have bad luck for life, also don't take a group pic of 3 people as the person in the middle again will have bad luckluck, 1 person on there own is fine also 2 or 4 just not three - strange but interesting fact for you!!
Vietnamese not religious but take some things from Buddhism and have an altar in their house which is at the top floor of the househouse, this very scared and to be respected.
impolite not to finish what is put on your plate so good idea not to take to much at a time and yes there is rice at every meal think I'll be sick of it before long but currently it's nice!
transport is mainly ex om which are motorbikes and they are everywhere traffic is mental and don't no how anyone gets anywhere, one of the volunteers Dan cycles to the central and not sure how he does it!! but looking forward to having a go on them! buses are pretty frequent but there is no such thing as a queue apparapparently you push your way on and as long as you keep smiling you should be fine! going to be getting a bus to the centre I'll be volunteering so that is going to be very interesting!!
in the afternoon had a Vietnamese lesson with another volunteer Neela and twee was teaching us! it is not an easy language to learn don't no how I'm going to manage but I suppose some practice and the people may get the most of what I'm saying! I can count which is important for buying stuff in the markets and things and can say hello, the rest will come eventually and as I've been informed no one in the centre speaks English I'm going to have to learn a few words!
rest of the day was free to unpack and chill out a bit and had free morning on Friday to sleep in and try to get over the jetlag taking a bit longer to get into the swing of things!
today just back from the centre, had a meeting with Dr ha (pronunciation not how it's spelt) and Mr son who run the centre for children with autism. in Vietnam children with disabilities don't attend mainstream schooling but this is something Dr ha is trying to accomplish! she also wants to set up English teaching and me and another volunteer Dan are going to help with this. to be honest the whole thing is slightly overwhelming and is going to be difficult as no one to help you with the language! I think a lot of what I'll be doing is playing with the kids and doing some English teaching for young children so if anyone has any ideas on teaching English please give me a shout!
they have just opened a new centre outside Hanoi in the country and going there Monday to see it they have an English teacher there so think I'll be helping out there once a week with the possibility of staying there on a Monday night and coming back on a Tuesday but will see if that happens!
so now back in volunteer house off on a tour of Hanoi tomorrow so will get some pictures then to put up! and will blog again soon xx
