First few hours in India you wouldn’t believe how dirty I am. I had khaki linen pants on, they are a shade darker and despite having sneakers on my socks are now black and all of the way up to my knees are covered in dirt. We walked around Chennai while waiting for my field trip tonight, a Welcome Reception in which we get henna tattoos and attend an outdoor fair and are able to purchase jewelry and clothing. There were many school children out for lunch and they all wanted their pictures with us and were doing tricks so we would take pictures of them. We taught them to ‘high five,’ they loved it!! As we were walking away we caught them all high five-ing each other. This morning I attended a yoga demonstration where master yogis came in a showed up their moves. Crazy contortionists...my back hurt just looking at them! And I thought sun salutation was hard enough! hahaha. Miss you all, am dying of thirst and need about three more showers but I’m excited for tonight and for what is to come on this trip. Love you guys bigger than the sky!!! B

Nam

Well, here I am on the 7th deck in the 100 degree weather. We will be arriving in India tomorrow morning and I could not be more ecstatic. This week on the boat, in between Vietnam and here, has been so jam packed and stressful--I apologize I didn’t have time to write about Ho Chi Min. I honestly think I can say with solitude that Vietnam has been my favorite stop (we’ll see about that after India!). To all of our surprise the people were extremely welcoming and eager to learn about us and America. Parents of students met us in the port and I’m sure everyone was glad to see their family after such a long time. Our first mission was to have linen pants tailor made for India, and for Matt a suit made for the Ambassadors Ball. A shuttle service was set up for us from the port to downtown at the Rex Hotel-one famous in movies and where American soldiers used to relax in Vietnam. We walked around and tried a few different places, not many spoke english, that was until we found Son and her store. There were beautiful satin dresses, linen pants, shirts and skirts all custom made for your body. We picked out colors, designs, and linen material, paid half and were told to return in two days. For Matt, finding a male tailor was a little bit harder. Us girls (Andrea, Erica and I) stayed at a coffee house-Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world-while Matt went around on a scooter with a native trying places out. You wouldn’t believe how many scooters there are in this country. It really is a rarity to see a car that isn’t a taxi. Thousands of them come swarming once the traffic light turns. There are no rules for pedestrians here, a reoccuring theme in Asia I will not take for granted when I return. When you feel comfortable, you cross, with authority, and the scooters just all go around you (by a centimeter). I was able to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels that the Viet Kong used with Matt which was entirely moving. We learned about the logistics of setting up the tunnels-multiple entrances, dead end entrances to throw off American soldiers, traps made of sharpened bamboo fill with snake venom, smoke transfers from the kitchen stove, air pockets, plumbing systems, escape routes, everything you can image these people thought of. We got to go through a portion of the tunnel, it was funny to see Matt, a 6’3” man, try and go through ;) The tunnels are so small that you have to go on your hands and knees, we all got SO dirty. At the end we came out to a model of what a bedroom would look like-there’s a hammock and a bucket for the bathroom and a table to eat at. I also had the opportunity to visit a Cao Dai Temple service. Caodaiism is a religion based on joint beliefs of Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. The temple was absolutely gorgeous, a rainbow full of colors and I could see how all three religions were incorporated. During the ceremony all the members are dressed in white and seated on their knees. They are chanting along with music that is being played on the top deck of the structure and believe in Buddha. It was a strange and foreign religion to me, but you really could feel some sort of spirit in the air. The colorful decor really had something to do with that I think, such a happy feeling all around. The next day I visited a deaf orphanage/school with SAS and brought them to the zoo. This was one of the toughest experiences of my life. The kids are still kids and need an adults help and to have a constant eye on them, which I’m used to, but what made it so hard was that these kids could not hear, and I could not understand their needs. I was in charge of a ten year old girl named Ti who was the sweetest thing ever. I bought her ice cream at the zoo and she gave me a kiss and signed the ASL sign for I love you. She was very calm and patient with me, since I was the one entering into her world not vice versa. All of the kids were so beautiful and so happy to see us. We brought them toys to play with, the big favorite was a remote control car-other things like bubbles, play doh, stickers, and coloring books with crayons. At the end of the zoo trip it was so hard to say goodbye to them, Ti literally had held my hand the whole way through the zoo. When it came time to drop them off at their school and they all high fived us and gave us hugs and kisses and waved goodbye as our air conditioned motor coach drove away. I’ll never forget that experience-entirely humbling. As was all of Vietnam. There was such poverty and so much to learn and see, mostly about forgiveness. It is incredible that Americans are still welcomed into a country we wreaked so much havoc on. Some students went to the War Remnants Museum and said there were pictures of American soldiers dead or injured and preserved babies who died from deformities. Before we arrived at Ho Chi Min we had a panel of war veterans and protesters who happen to be on the ship with us to talk about the Vietnam War. Nothing could prepare me for that. It was a war so close to our time and effects most of our families yet no textbooks really explain it to us. To see actual veterans cry in front of a bunch of college students over their experiences made me wonder how much Vietnam impacted them if it impacted me so much. I’ll always take Vietnam with me. I love you all bigger than the sky...B!