What an exciting, rewarding, extraordinary day. This morning I woke up and went to breakfast as usual. I had my standard bacon (so yummy)! Today they were serving potato rounds that I decided to try. They were absolutely delicious and tasked like a mix between a hash brown and french fry. After breakfast we boarded the bus for our first adventure.
We took a 30 minute bus ride to a small village on the outskirts of Hanoi. Our bus couldn't fit down the streets inside the village so we had to get out and walk a ways. I knew we were going to a mindfulness temple however details about this excursion were nonexistent on the internet or any travel guides. As a group we decided this was because it was so hidden and hard to get to. Walking down the streets we saw many dogs. Most were about medium size (a little bigger than a beagle but smaller than a lab). Most appeared to be young. Most of the dogs I saw looked to be a Shepard lab mix. There were definitely no distinct breeds. I had to keep reminding myself not to pet them because of the chance that they would have rabies. We continued walking through this village. The village had concrete like structures that lined both sided of the street. These were mostly small homes, without doors. We finally got into town and boy was it an experience! It was a picture perfect old school market. There were women weighing fish and cutting them up for customers. There were slabs of meat and women slicing them as well. There were many stands of fruits and vegetables that lined the streets. There were locals shopping in the market and others passing through town. This was a very small town.
We entered the temple which was located in the middle of town. We were given the opportunity to explore the temple for a while. It was beautiful and simple. We were then taken into a room to learn how to meditate. For quite sometime we sat on the floor quiet and 'becoming one with ourselves'. We learned how to meditate by sitting, singing and walking. The goal of the meditation was to only focus on the present and finding peace within yourself. We spent what felt like forever learning about this process. By the end everyone was ready to be done and do something else!
The temple had more in store for us though. We were served lunch and taught how to meditate while eating. Our meal was all vegetarian because the monks believe in preserving life, not wasting and not promoting global warming. They food not only looked disgusting, but of what I tasted was disgusting. I ate a roll that tasted like an elephant ear without powdered sugar and a spring roll. I was still hungry but didn't like any of the other foods!
We left the temple and walked back through town. I was able to take some great pictures on the way out. I was very excited for the next part of our day!
We rode the bus to the Friendship Village. The Friendship Village is a community for children and teens who have been affected by agent orange. Many of these children are offspring or grandchildren of others exposed to agent orange during the war. Agent orange exposure causes many physical and mental handicaps. The children in the Friendship Village learn different traits depending on their abilities that can help them work when they are older. For example, some are taught to hand sew silk artwork. Others are taught how to make and hem uniforms. We also witnessed a group that made artificial flowers out of a paper fabric combination. These flowers looked so real too! Some of the children with lower abilities were learning how to develop their motor skills as well as how to work with computers. It was very neat to see these children. I decided to talk to a child that had downs syndrome among other disabilities who was sitting in the back of the classroom coloring. He was so excited I came over to talk to him. He saw my big camera around my neck and motioned that he wanted me to take a picture of him. I did and showed him what it looked like and he laughed and said 'that's me' and high fived me. After that he motioned that he wanted to take pictures with my camera. It was so cute to see him turning the camera all different angles and different zooms while taking pictures. He was pointing to indicate who and where he wanted people in pictures. I loved hanging out with him. When I got my camera back I high fived him again and he told me I was number 1. I replied telling him he was number 1. In the classroom where they were learning to make flower arrangements approached a girl who had many physical disabilities. She taught me how to cut the shapes that made up the flowers. I loved interacting with these children. It was so very rewarding. Here is a picture below of the boy and me!
After leaving the Friendship village we headed back to the hotel. I took a short nap before waking to go to dinner. All the students decided to go together. We went to a restaurant called Al Frescos that served international food. I got a chicken pesto pasta that was very good. We all had a blast eating and laughing together. The group I am with is already so close knit even though there are a range of personalities. There are no cliques yet and I love hanging out with everyone. That aspect is a little different than my trip to China.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel. I finally got to skype with John for a short time before my computer died. I showered and packed up my clothes because it was the last night we would be staying in this hotel. I got in bed and fell right to sleep.
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