Friday, March 16, 2012

Vietnam Day Five

Vietnam tries it's best to translate text into English, but as the old saying goes- some things are lost in translation! Let's start off with some funny translations at our hotel shall we?
Massage Rates: In green it says, "If you have requirement, we can serve at your room." Ummm, what does that exactly mean?
In our bathroom, "For the Hot Water Please Turn To Red Pass And Wating 3 Or 5 Minutes !" What it is trying to say is for the hot water, turn the handle all the way to red and wait (note waiting is misspelled) and actually wait more like 5+ minutes. I understand why my Viet teacher always has to correct my Viet translations, it is challenging!
Mom and I both agree that our favorite dish so far were these rolls at the hotel. Not sure if you would call them fried spring rolls or egg rolls, but they do not taste like either of those, it is just in the same shape. Black stuff added to other chopped stuff and noodle stuff is inside and put it all together it is some delicious stuff.
We have eaten family style every night (think chopsticks grabbing food from the same large bowls), so I have not ordered anything for myself since in Vietnam (lunch exception first day in Hanoi). It is kinda thrilling, in an odd way, to not know what you are going to have for breakfast/lunch/dinner and it just appears.
In the am we headed back to the Primary school to finish up our mural. As lunch approached, the kids filed into the room where we were painting. It is the hygiene room and the canteen.
This one was too cute. And note the ponytail in the front of his hair. Many boys had clips, barrettes and ponytails in their hair.
When we were completely finished painting, we showed him how to use the camera and he took a group picture for us. Mom and I, along with Thao our GVI helper, and a few school kids.
On the toothpaste is says kem danh rang, meaning toothpaste. Under the tube it says hygiene.
The sentence here says, "Wash your hands to kill germs." And you can see little slimy germs being rinsed away.
It was time to clean up our paint and load it into the car. Each day we used a stick for a hammer to close the paint cans.
We were to have lunch with the principal and the teachers of the Primary school at noon. We finished up about 11:30, therefore it gave us some time to play with the kiddos in the courtyard. Here are two strapping young Viet men. Love his little signature Vietnamese stance.
And "take my breath away beauty" here allowed me to take several pictures of her. She just stood out in the crowd with her traditional brightly colored clothing, brown hair and doe eyes. The team has plans to print all our pictures from the trip and have GVI deliver them to the farmers and school children. I pray she will end up with this picture of herself, stunning.
We had the kids grab some chalk and taught the them how to play Tic Tac Toe. None of them had played the game before. They caught on really quick and then divided up to play against their friends.
Lunch was "extremely traditional" and we spoke to the principal and teachers through our gifted translator Thao. The teachers went to the garden and pulled some kind of cabbage flowers (actual little yellow flowers) that they steamed. They battered and fried pork chunks and served that along with: whole chicken chunks (meaning bone, marrow and all), blood jello for dipping (thickened chicken blood), lemongrass beef and rice. All the food was really good, I want to learn to cook like this! P.S. Didn't try the blood and chose to get over the cooking conditions of the kitchen.
After lunch we headed back to the kindergarten school, which was about 30 minutes away- over really rough terrane I might add, to finish our porthole murals.
Number One.
Number two.
Number three.
We are SO grateful for Thao. She was our sidekick and really helped us complete these projects in just 3 days. We could have her under-paint, touch-up, fill-in areas and more and she was such an asset to the project. I adore a helper who can follow directions and do it with excellence, imagine that Mrs. Perryman! Plus she has a really sweet servants heart and I enjoyed having her be next to us to translate and hear stories about Vietnam.
These ladies were standing in front of the middle school. One was on the way to the market with her rice and the other was washing her clothes with water from the creek that is behind her.
As were were leaving Thao noticed one of the kids backpacks. It says Chua Gie Xu Yeu Em, meaning Jesus Loves You.
He said that a Christian missionary gave it to him. This is such a rarity, that she teared up and was emotional for quite a while. From those who we have talked with (and who have shared their testimony with us) they are all first generation Christians and they have left everything to serve Him. They have a deep abiding faith. They are patient, continuing to plant seeds in their own families and in the community as well, waiting for a great harvest.
Isn't it great when serving doesn't feel like work??
We are half way through the trip and yes there has been rough patches, (enter= traveling for days or hiking up a mountain or pulling the van over this morning to throw up in someone's field), but through it all I am continually amazed by the people, the language, the food, the heart of this nation, I love love love it. It is a gift from the Lord and it just doesn't seem like work to serve them. Just as natural as a spring well on the side of a terraced mountain, it just bubbles up!

"Is it not for Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?" Ex 33:16

NHP

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What joy, Natasha! I am so blessed to know you. Love your story. May Jesus be exalted in all you do. Blessings to Thao.

Veronica said...

Thank you so much for going, sharing and loving the people. Your work will remain and touch lives for generations! Can't wait to see you when you get back!! Love, Veronica