Vietnam (Day 3)

   I don't know how I managed, but I signed up for pretty much the same service visit two days in a row.  I was a little disappointed at first, but then I realized how excited I was to go back to the School for the Deaf and see all the kiddies again.  :0)

   It was just as fun as I thought it would be.  The kids remembered me and were very excited that I came back.  I couldn't participate in the first activity that the kids and SASers did (standing and running) so I drew pictures of the kids with the animals from the zoo from yesterday.  They thought it was really cool and drew some pictures of the zoo animals for me too.  :0)  

    Once again, the picture book was a fantastic thing to have.  The kids loved going through it and showing me the signs for the pictures.  We had the added component of me acting out the some of the pictures.  They were very interested in the medical pictures so I showed them where all the things were in the body and where the braces went.  It felt very cool because I could see that I was teaching them things.  They would excitedly show one of their teachers the new things they were learning by explaining them in sign.  We didn't even come close to speaking the same language but I was still able to use my limited knowledge of the world to show them something new.  It made me start wondering if I may want to be a teacher.     I also learned some new things myself.  Lots of new signs and how to write the names of things in Vietnamese.  

   I still probably wouldn't consider this a good example of service learning.  I remember when tourist used to come to my elementary school and we always thought of it as us doing service to them for allowing them to come and showing them our school.  I imagine that is what the kids here think of all of us coming as well.  It doesn't really matter whether it was service or not though.  I had so much fun, and so did the kiddies.  :0)

   I hung out a lot with my little buddy from the day before.  He was just as rambunctious as ever!  He was the kid in class running around while everyone was coloring and poking people or stealing their crayons.  :0)  

I think he met his match in this little one.  haha

I REALLY didn't want to leave now that I had spend so much time over two days here.  The kids kept sneaking downstairs to wave goodbye and give me a last hug as I was waiting for the bus.  :0)

Our next stop was quite a bit more sobering.  We went to an orphanage for kids with disabilities.  Once again, my views on the trip differed from most people.  They were sad because the kids were disabled.  I was sad because they were abandoned by their families and there weren't the resources to help them meet their potential.  There were kids laying in beds all day and I could just see it in their eyes that they could think far more than their bodies would let them act.  It breaks my heart that at home, these kids would have an electric wheelchair and assistive communication device and could do almost anything any other could have.  Here they had to lay in bed all day in a room with forty other kids and only two or three staff members.  That is to say nothing negative about the facility.  THey were actually doing a wonderful job for what resources they had.  The place had an excellent playground, decent medical facilities, and some trade classes for the older kids.  There was a much better staff or kid ratio than in some other places and the staff was all very caring and attentive.  There was a therapy room which I snuck into while my group went up stairs so see some more rooms.  It was really interesting to see a therapy session.  I talked with the women working there and between the four of us we communicated that I was a therapy student.  THey were really excited that I was going into that area.  I was worried that I was getting distracting so I excused myself and headed out to the courtyard.  I have to say I was a concerned at what I saw of the therapy session.  There were three kids to one therapist and they weren't really interacting.  The therapist was sitting there putting a puzzle together and the kids were looking around the room.  The therapist didn't really do anything to engage them even though I could tell they were definitely capable.  It added to my feelings of frustration that these kids would never be able to reach their potential.  

On a brighter note, some of the kids were only at the orphanage for day care.  They got to go home with their families at the end of the day.  I was so happy that so many of the kids actually weren't abandoned and and had homes to go to every night.  It was nice to see that there were resources for families with kids with disabilities because this is often not the case.  

I rejoined my group and we handed out some toys and played with some of the kids for a while which was really fun.  Then it was time to go and a short bus ride back took us back to the ship.  

India (Day 6)

Boo-hoo it's the last day in India.  :0(  I absolutely LOVED it here!  One more reason to get job so I can travel back soon!

I spent the morning on a grand adventure with one of my friends, Sarah.  We wanted to go to this mall that one of the professors had told me about the day before.  It was the place where people who lived here shop so I thought it would be a really good experience.  Getting there was pretty exciting.  We took the ferry over to near Fort Cochin, where I had gone before, and hired a rickshaw driver to get us to the mall. It was WAY farther (34 km) and more expensive (1200 Rupees) than I thought it would be.  I think we got overcharged, especially because it was originally 600 rupees one way and then we got back and it changed to 600 each way.  Oh well, the guy was nice and didn't take us any random places.  

 

On the ferry.

The price of gas if anyone is interested.  

Taking a rickshaw through a village is one thing, traveling for a long time on busy roads was quite another.  It was quite a hair raising experience!  The driver was weaving in and out of traffic and narrowly missing huge busses!  It was crazy!

We had to take a ferry once on the rikshaw with a bunch of other vehicles.  I don't think my lungs will ever be quite the same...

The mall was really fun.  It was pretty much like the malls at home except the things in the stores were different.  The people working in the stores were also much more attentive than at home.  Even the discount stores had people who treated you like you were shopping at Rodeo Drive or something.  We went to the grocery store first and stocked up on snacks.  I was so excited to find peanut butter!  I bought two tubes of it.  There were also clothes and school supplies for really cheap so I bought three outfits and some art supplies for about 1/10th the price they would go for at home.  The prices of items were really interested to me.  There would be a pen for like the equivalent of seven U.S. dollars that would go for one or two at home.  But on the other hand, a nice set of pastels would be like 80 cents as opposed to $10 at home.  

I was starting to feel a little POTSie so we just went into a few clothes stores after that and each bought a skirt.  I took a risk and got a milkshake at Baskin Robbins but so far no sickness from the milk.  :0)  I also got some chocolate for the driver since he was going to be working through lunch.

The drive back was also quite exciting.  Instead of going right back to the boat, we stopped by one last store to spend our leftover rupees.  

By the time I had gotten back to the back to the boat I was feeling quite POTSie.  I was in a rush though, so I tried to ignore it.  I had to get on board, drop off my stuff, get lunch, and head back out to catch my field program to an orphanage.  At lunch, I got to meet my friend Josh's Dad which was awesome.  I was bummed I basically had to just say hi and rush off.  I managed to get to the bus on time after all that.

This is where Invincible Emily (my superhero name, duh) got some holes in her cape.  The bus air conditioning broke after a few minutes into a 1.5 hour drive.  And the windows couldn't be rolled down.  So we were in a metal can on a 95 degree, 95% humidity day with no air ventilation.  Not fun. I, of course was feeling completely awful, but some other people were not doing too well either.  Some people were even crying a little.  I would split my time laying down awkwardly and sitting up when I got too carsick.  Not fun at all.

We finally arrived at the village and got out to the 95, 95% air that actually felt refreshing.  It took me like ten minutes to get to the place where the welcoming talk was because I kept collapsing.  One sweet little girl comes up to me, tilts her head and said, "You are handicap."  I shook my head and said, "Yes, handicap!"  She took my hand and let me up the last bit of stairs.  I didn't have the heart to collapse on her so I made it the last little bit and thanked her very much for the help.  

   I spend the welcoming talk and the first half of the trip laying on the floor getting familiar with the view of the ceiling.  A few kids came up to me, but for the most part I think they were a bit scared of me.  haha  I finally was able to sit up and crawled over to a group of kids to show them the saucer popper thingies.  As usual, they were a big hit.  I got a brief reprieve form the dizziness and was able to walk to and visit one of the houses the kids lived in.  The orphanage was set up in a very cool way.  The kids are divided up into different families and all have a house mom.  They is just like any other family, eating meals and hanging out together.  It was such a healthy way to organize things!

   On my way back, one of the younger boys ran up and took my water bottle.  I thought he was so cute, I didn't even care.  And boy did he love that thing!  He ran around and wanted me to take pictures of him in various poses with his water bottle.  I think we had a strange kid bond.  He had no interest in the other kids or toys, but loved our disposable water bottles.  He had several by the time the trip was over.  Honestly, probably more things happened that were noteworthy, but I can't really remember much of the trip.  :0(  

   The bus ride back was even more miserable than the way there.  I was so carsick and dizzy and it seemed to last forever.  When I got back to the dock, I collapsed SO many times on the way to the line to get on the ship.  During one of my down times, the drum guy who I had talked to before came up and the lack of blood flow let me to buy a huge drum from him.  I'm actually glad I did because it is pretty cool and makes a nice sound.  It's just so big I have no clue what I'm going to do with it.  

   

  After I got on the ship (with some help) I basically crawled to my room and my roommate got my wheelchair for me.  I had to use it when I went to dinner which was a little embarrassing, but after the first shock of wheeling in to the dining area and having people stare at me, I was ok.

   

  I couldn't eat much, but at least it was something.  I also drank a glass or two of water.  :0)  Then it was to the health center with me for an IV.  Dr. Bill is seriously awesome!  He gave me 2 liters and didn't give me a hard time at all.  I also drank a bottle of gatorade while I was there so I was pretty tanked up.  When I got back to my room, my face looked super pudgy!  haha

  Now it's bed time!  IVs always make me so sleepy!  Hope tomorrow is better!  I don't need to make more of a scene than I already have on this ship!  haha

Brazil! (Day 4)

Wow, it's amazing that leaving a place I've only spent four days in can be so heartbreaking!  We are pulling out of port as I write and I almost teared up thinking how wonderful my time here was, the awesome people I met, and how long it will be before I get to go back here.  I am mostly thinking about the people, especially the guides I really got to know.  I now wish that I had asked for their e-mail address or something so I could see how those English lessons one guide was giving his daughter turned out, or see pictures of the child another guide was planning to adopt.  I guess I'll just have to be content that for a few hours we knew each other and talked about our lives.  

Today didn't start out quite as pensive.  I could have slept in, but some noise woke me up early.  I spent my extra hours tidying up the room, getting ready for the day at the orphanage, and updating my blog.  For the first time, I decided to try doing this trip 100% incognito.  No wheelchair, no cooling vest, no explaining my possible need for extra assistance to the leading professor or guides.  It worked out fairly well with the exception of some carsickness from sitting in the back of the bus.  (I'm used to the front where the professors, guides, and disabled people (me) sit.)  The traffic was bad today since it is a friday so we got a slow start.  I had fun chatting with one of the guides who decided to sit in the back new to me and waving to people on the sidewalk.  I challenge any other city to have strangers be so warm in their responses.  I shared many more laughs with random pedestrians as we waved, made goofy faces, and I took pictures of them posing.  One street side vendor even made a motion to symbolize him giving us his heart.  It was a lot of fun and goes to show that connections can be made even if it's only in the seconds it takes to drive or walk by someone.  

The field program of the day was a service visit to one of the orphanages for the city.  I wasn't sure how much service we actually did, but I sure had fun!  The facility was very nice with large grounds complete with a playground, field for sports, and trampoline.  Another homey touch were the handful of dogs that roamed around begging for attention.  (Unfortunately I did not reciprocate due to the flea infatuation the dogs had.)  The kids were a lot of fun!  I'm pretty sure we had more fun visiting them than they had having us there.  I don't know how many tours come there, but I do know we were the second one this week.  Our large numbers would have probably seemed a bit frightening to them as well.  After a brief talk that described how the orphanage was founded about ten years ago to take in kids in at-risk home situations, we were given free time with the kids.  

To break the ice, we spread out some gifts of school supplies and small toys on a table and the kids picked out things that they liked.  The would dart between the table and somewhere inside and I heard later that they would hid their new prizes under their pillow for later.  Just like any group of kids, there were some that jumped right in, chatting to us in Portuguese or grabbing an SASer by the hand and leading them to their favorite places.  Other kids were more reserved or focused on playing with the new toys.  It took a while, but we all were finally getting comfortable with each other.  I pulled out my own back of toys and was happy that the kids really enjoyed them.  The boys went crazy over the hot wheels cars and saucer popper things.  I especially enjoyed giving out my jewelry and nail polish from when I was little.  I had though of how grown up I felt when I wore it and was happy to be able to pass it on for it to be enjoyed all over again.  The girls particularly liked the nail polish so we sat down and did each other's nails.  One of the more outgoing little ones painted my nails a sparkly yellow.   In between bouts of rain, I also joined in on kicking a soccer ball around.  I realized I need to brush up on my skills in that area!  I thought it was very special that one of the older girls wanted to make sure that the SASers didn't leave empty handed.  She gave some of us folded paper boxes and saved some of the jewelry that I brought to give back to us.  She made sure that I took home two bracelets which was very touching.  I've had those bracelets for probably ten years and they held no meaning, but now I will treasure them!  

  

  

Just as we were really starting to connect and have fun, it was already time to go.  It took quite a while for the poor professor to usher us back onto the bus.  We were so reluctant to go!  I hung back as long as I could taking last minute pictures and giving last minute hugs and high fives.   We waved goodbye from the bus until we couldn't even see the building anymore.  As we drove away, I felt extra glad that we would be able to communicate with the orphanages through e-mail after our visit.  There is still a lot of picture and story sharing to look forward to in the future.  

I spent the last couple of hours in Brazil getting cleaned up and catching up with friends who did other trips while in port.  It sounds like everyone has a lot of fun though we are happy to be back "home" at the same time.

Right now we are making  our way downriver and out to the ocean which we will cross over the next 11 days.  Africa here we come!

P.S.  I'm going to have to start posting less pictures because I've already used up a lot of my internet minutes.  After the free ones are gone, it becomes VERY expensive to buy more minutes.  :0(  Also, due to the limited internet access I can't respond to any comments from the ship.  I do get to see them via my mom forwarding them to me and I love hearing what everyone thinks!  :0)  Also you can always e-mail me at emily.block.s12@semesteratsea.org!  

Brazil! (Day 3)

Ok, I really flipping hated my alarm clock when it went off at 7:00 today!  Doesn't it know I like to sleep in until at least 10 or 11?!?  haha  Once again, I had a day that made waking up early more than worth while.  

I was pleased to find that some of my friends would be going on this file program with me.  The plan for the day was to go to an orphanage for kids and adults with neurological disabilities and then to take them on a field trip to the zoo.  I know that many of  the people on this trip got on the bus a little nervous that we would be interacting with people with disabilities.  (I, of course, was excited to be meeting people like me, but still a little nervous about communication barriers.)  

I spent the bus ride there goofing off with my friends 

and chatting with the tour guide.  He was one of those people who knows a great deal about many things.  By talking to him, I feel like I got a much better idea about what living in Brazil is like.  His view contrasted quite a bit from what our gives in the more rural areas described.  In the city, it is very difficult to get a good education.  Private schools are good but very expensive and the public schools are horrible.  A student can go through school and graduate without knowing how to read and write.  He said that a kid had to be very motivated to learn anything and that he had to work very hard to spend time outside of school to learn what he wanted to learn.  Drugs are also a huge problem for kids.  Drug dealers target kids starting around age 11 or 12 buy handing out free hot coco or juice with that is spiked with cocain (not sure who to spell that).  That way the kids get addicted and are drawn into buying and eventually selling drugs.  The guide said that is is rare to see kids live past 22 if they start out on that path.  I asked why the police didn't top this and he laughed and said that he would estimate that about 85% of police workers were corrupt.  All of this was shocking to me since I had only heard of Brazil's excellent economy and growing opportunity before I talked to him.  I asked why the good economy wasn't helping things like schools and he replied that there is corruption.  He added that all these things are getting better in the past few years though.  I asked about health care because that is something very important to me.  He said that there is private and public health care just like education.  Public health care is not so good when you need a check up (there are long lines to see doctors that take all day or more)  but excellent in an emergency (everything will be paid for and you will be taken care of).   By the end of our conversation, we were just arriving to the orphanage.

I must say that it was very overwhelming walking into the orphanage.  After hearing about all of these problems my guide has spoken about, I was worried what conditions I may find there.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was a really nice facility.  The kids and other residents were all wearing friendly blue uniforms and the staff were obviously very caring.  Though the kids didn't have parents, I could tell that they were very much loved.  The facility was clean and other than a lack of toys or playground, it seemed like a happy place.  I overheard some of my fellow SASers talking later about how sad it was, but I didn't really find it that sad.  It was true that the kids had very profound physical and mental disabilities, but for me that is not a sad thing.  They smile and laughed, and gave and received hugs and kisses just like any other happy kid.  The only sad thing was that their parents had abandoned them because of their disability.  

I had a great time playing with the kids and adults there!  My first thing I dis was help a smiling young woman up the stairs which felt really cool because I have needed help up stairs myself.  I used my expert physical therapy strategy I learned from my mom so it wasn't even difficult for me to manage.  I was thanked with a hug which is probably the best way to thank someone.

I spent most of my time showing the kids the flipping saucer things I had brought.  I was really glad that they seemed to be entertained by the thing jumping up off of the table.  The saucer things flew al over the place with random trajectory and the kids had fun running after them.  

Soon it was time to go to the zoo so we loaded up onto our busses and headed out.  I got some pictures of the city as we drove and got a good laugh when someone on the sidewalk saw me taking a picture and posed outrageously for me.  We were separated by the window and language, but we shared a good laugh in the few seconds it took the bus to drive by. 

When we first got to the zoo things were a bit chaotic.  It started pouring and our group had many people in wheelchairs (including me) and not so many people who knew how to push them correctly.  People kept getting suck in ruts and I would jump out of my wheelchair, show them how to told the front wheels back to get over the barrier and then get back in my chair and wheel myself a long.  My fellow SASers helped serve lunch to the kiddies and I looked on and took some pictures.  I was mostly unable to help because I was stuck in  a wheelchair traffic jam.  haha  

Once lunch was done and the rain had subsided, we ventured out to look at the animals.  I did ok wheeling myself for a while, but the zoo wasn't quite accessible so I had to steal one of my friends to help me up a cobblestoned hill.  I tried to get out of the chair because I didn't want to take up any pushers, but my legs started their shaking thing and I sat right back down.  

Too soon it started purring again and we rushed back to the tiny overhang. Luckily it was a warm rain and all of us seemed to enjoy it more than anything.  I have never heard laughing like the kids as they were getting soaked in the rain and watching the other kids form their wet hair into spikes and mow hawks.  I had a chance to play with the kids while they waited of their bus to come pick them up.  I was happy that my party blowers were a big hit.  Many of the kids couldn't actually use them, but they thought I was hilarious as I demonstrated.  Also as we were waiting my guide translated to me that some of my workers joked that they were going to take me back with them since I was in a wheelchair too.  I thought that was very funny.   :0)  Too soon we were waving goodbye as their bus pulled away.  I felt like the whole experience was amazing and yet quite hectic and rushed.  

Back on the boat, my friends invited me a long to explore the city.  I was ridiculously excited because I had kind of resigns myself to only doing filed programs since I wasn't sure how people would feel about pushing me around in my wheelchair.  They didn't mind at all so after a lunch on the boat, we set out on the town.  

We decided that there were most definitely weeping angels in there.  (Doctor Who reference to be ignored by non-Whovians)

One of my friends proved to be an expert tour guide and took us to the opera house and a museum.  The opera house was really fascinating because it was made in the style of French Neoclassical.  As I was touring it, I felt like I was back in Paris!  The museums were one room each and all in one building.  It was air-conditioned and we met a cute guy who worked there so we stayed much longer than the collection warranted.  Most of the time we spent talking to the guy we met about the U.S. because he was really interested.  

Yes, yes.  Quite, quite.  Being up here in the box seat sipping a good year of bottled water is far preferred to the tedium of sitting amongst the common masses.

From there, the three of us meandered the somewhat accessible streets until we got to the main market.  The ground there was relatively even so I was happy to be able to wheel myself around to look at all of the booths.  It was amazing how quickly I settled into communicating in broken Spanish, my two words I know in Portuguese, and hand gestures.  Later, when I got back to the ship, I was a little overwhelmed when everyone was speaking English again.  I was able to spend most of my remaining Brazil money (SAS makes you get $50 worth as a minimum) on some really cool things.  I achieved my goal in finding something in Brazil wood which is the beautiful red, smooth wood that instruments are made out of.  It was carved to be a fish, but one of the eyes was missing as well as the stand it was supposed to rest on.  They guy I bought it from kept trying to have me choose the one that wasn't broken, but then laughed when he saw I was set on the funny looking fish.  I also got some polished seed pods, a woven bracelets, and a ridiculous jungle hat.  It strangely  felt really good to be back in the chair and working out my arms.  I guess it would seem strange for someone missing using a wheelchair, but it is a similar experience to missing walking when I first went into the wheelchair.  

After we had made our purchases and chatted/gestured with some of the vendors, we headed back to the boat.  On the way I was really happy to stop in a CVS-like place to stock up on crackers and some sweets.  Right before we got back on the boat we finally found someone selling Brazilian flags to add to our collection.

We enjoyed a dinner full of great stories and laughs before they set out on a nighttime field program and I gratefully showered and went to bed early.  What a day!