Vietnam Day Eight

Monday morning we headed to a local Hanoi primary school, 1-5th grade. On the way we saw college students sitting opposite a large French building drawing on site.
We entered the Hanoi Primary school and were shocked that the school was so large. It was 5 stories high, held 2,000 students and 175 teachers, 30ish kids per class. It is a private school and the cost per month is $150 USD.
Some interesting things we learned about the schools in Vietnam is that you pay both for private and public school. Public school is $75 per month with 60 kids per class. Another difference is that buses are provided for private schools for an additional $50 per month and public schools you have to provide your own transportation to/from school (opposite from US).
They took us to their library. They had an English children's book section that they were really proud to show us.
We visited the 4th and 5th grade classrooms and looked at their work. They read English sentences to us. This gal had really great fluency. I didn't know if she would understand that word so I said that she read the sentence quickly. She said in a choppy voice, "Not.Like.A.Ro.Bot." It was really cute, she understood.
The children stood and clapped when we came into the room. It showed such great respect and I wish we taught this to our children in the US. They remained standing while we talked and did not sit down until we left the room. The giggle from this class was brought on by the little girl in the cream shirt in the middle. She asked if we had any pets. Lois said she had a dog and asked if she had any pets. The little girl answered, "Yes, mosquitoes."
Aside from chit-chatting with the kids, the real reason for the visit was to have a meeting to discuss a new partnership between an elementary school in TX and the Hanoi Primary school. They started out as Pen Pals. We delivered letters to the students and they were really thrilled about receiving the letters. Both schools hope to work together to improve structure, teaching strategies and English. Our GVI team with the school faculty.
We were off to have lunch at the GVI office. Here is my friend Thao's desk.
Can you see the red poofy eyes? The damn broke about 7am and I didn't really stop crying until about 2 in the afternoon. (Actually I am crying right now just typing about it!) We had a little debriefing about the trip. What we liked, what we learned and how God was moving. We ended by praying for the GVI team. It was a heartfelt moment that I will treasure.
Tan's office. He has a Psalm posted that says, "My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God." I adore his heart that sings.
They dropped us off and we had free time from 2-6pm. We mostly walked the streets and finished up any last shopping. This little Viet cook is chopping chili peppers to add to her fish sauce.
THEN we hopped on a bike, really! It was a less than a 5 minute ride to our next destination, but it was thrilling nonetheless.
We met up with Dawn and had coffee at Joma Cafe. It was a quaint dive that my mom said she would hangout at if she lived in Hanoi.
Found a "pinterest" type shop. This crafty-girl was super creative. She made hats, button covers, necklaces, bows and basically everything in between. She had a keen eye for fabric choices. We all walked away with items for ourselves and gifts for others.
Known as "Hanoi Telecom" : ) This is pretty much on every street corner. Bless the men who have to work on these lines!
We walked from the Vietnamese Catholic Church (built by the French over a century ago) through the streets back to our hotel.
We packed up all our items (both the stuff we brought to VN and gifts we bought) AND HALLELUJAH for space bags! We filled 5 bags to the brim and used the hotel vacuum to suck out all the air. We easily fit 2 space bags in each of our carry-ons and checked one jumbo space bag in our large luggage piece.
We ate dinner on the rooftop of the Summer Set Hotel. Packed all our bags into the van and headed to the airport to catch the 11:30pm flight to Seoul, Korea.
I am now blogging in Seoul during our 5 hour layover : ) We will board here in a bit for the 14 hour flight to Dallas. Then jump on AA to Tulsa. Arriving Tuesday around noon. Looking forward to seeing my hubs and kiddos, and my dad will be there too.

During the flight we are going to write down our thoughts from the trip and I look forward to sharing those to close out the trip blog.

"For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land." Psalm 37:9