Today we went on a 3 hour drive down to the Vinh Long City. On our way there we stopped by the supermarket where we found very interesting local candy. On our way we saw cotton trees which we learnt was part of the name Saigon. The landscape was very tropical surrounded by the rivers and the rice fields. We crossed the Meakong Delta which comes down from Tibet all the way down to Vietnam. We also stopped at the Long Dinh Chau Thann Tien Giang café where there was a pond full of catfish with bridges and the architecture was very occidental looking.
Once we finally arrived to the new hotel we had lunch, across the street, where we had pork noodles, fried rice, and deep fried shrimp and curdle fish. Then, couple of hours to spare where we took cold showers and settled down. We then explored the local markets where many different things were sold; such as, fruit, vegetables, fish, chicken and clothes. The fish was still alive and the frogs were decapitated (YUMMY!). They also sold snakes which some of us held and we saw the cutest puppies.
We then went back to the hotel where we had half an hour to get ready for dinner back across the street. Dinner consisted of: spicy pork, fried and steamed rice, fish balls and bok choi soup, barbecued whole fish, salad and for dessert was coffee, cherry, coconuts and beats jelly which had a very funny texture.
After dinner we came back to the hotel where we came into the stadium and made conical hats. These are the traditional Vietnamese hats which are made out of bamboo, palm leaves, wood and plastic. We were all divided into groups where a local lady helped us make the hats. In order to make the hat you had to have a frame and wrap the bamboo sticks around it. After this you would place the palm leaves strips under the bottom piece of bamboo. Then you put a second layer on the bottom of the frame. The next step was to sew with plastic string, the layers of palm leaves together from the top to bottom of the hat. Once this was completed you removed the conical hat from off the frame and tied a chin strap. This is so the hat will not blow away in the wind. The local villagers can only make 5 hats a day taking them 10 hours a day and then gain a 5$ profit. They had given their time to create 25 hats for us to keep. We gave them 2$ per hat. They were really grateful for the donations and wished us all well on our project tomorrow.
Aglae and Tessa,
Friday March 25th 2016
Today was our first day of work in Vinh Long. We started out by having a very interesting breakfast which consisted of mainly fruit, rice, noodles and our personal favorite… French fries! We finally got to try the famous ban mi (also known as a baguette) which was very delicious.
We then made our way to the neighborhood where we began to work on the house. The family that we were building for consisted of a mother, a father, three sons and a daughter who greeted us with open arms. We could tell that the family was very hard working as they helped us with our struggles throughout the entire day. The original house consisted of two wooden walls and thin metal roof which looked quite unsafe and unappealing for a family of six.
We were split into two groups of ten. The first working group was taught how to bend and cut metal using simple tools crafted by the locals. Some were made to cut and measure the wire which was then straightened by others and finally bent the ends. Although this work was hard it was very demanding skill wise and many wrists and arms were hurting afterwards. The second group dug four square trenches, sixty cm in depth, along the left side of the land where the house is planned to be built. While one person used a shovel to dig down into the very hard clay material, others scooped up the dirt and placed it in a pile in the center of the land.
Lunch was very intriguing as nothing was as it seemed. The tofu nuggets were thought to be chicken until a very large bite proved us wrong. We also had the pleasure of trying cooked grapes and homemade Vietnamese ketchup. We also discovered that quale eggs taste exactly like regular ones.
After lunch the groups switched jobs and continued their hard work. Although we were all very tired from the mornings work, we powered through it and got a lot done. We also had the chance to meet some of the local children and tried to talk with them however their English was very limited and a lot of the children were quite shy. There were also many small puppies that the villagers owned which were very very cute!
We finished off the stressful, long day with fresh coconut. Many people tried it and had varying opinions but the experience overall was one to remember. We left the village today with smiles on our faces and a feeling of accomplishment.
Alana and Olivia H
March 26, 2016
