On The Road Again !!

Last week Mark and I flew up to northern Vietnam to Hai Phong. It was a two hour flight but due to airline cutbacks they cancelled our original flight and booked us on another leaving several hours later. I am learning to always have a book with me or my ipod for just such occasions. We were invited to share with a group of young people about dating and marriage. We were driven to our hotel about an hour outside of the city and well lets just say we felt like we were on a camping trip. The weather was much colder and because it is on the coast we had a lot of fog and rainy days. The hotel was older and we got the usual box springs to sleep on and as I checked out the bathroom I discovered wet towels and they were about the size of a wash cloth. I had our friend call and ask for more towels and surprise they brought us more of the same, our friend informed us that due to the cold and fog towels do not get dry and as for the size, oh well I guess we were lucky to get any. Have you ever tried to dry your hair and body with a mini towel, quite a trick ! We were also visited by mosquitoes, my face looks like I have been a fight. I have about 8 bites on my face alone, I am very sensative to them and they tend to swell up, its a good thing I am not vain. I would have had to hide in my room for days.

There were about 30 people attending the training. Most in their twenties or early thirties. All were leaders or workers in their groups. We shared for two and one half days with a question and answer time at the end. It was interesting to find out more about what their culture says about dating and marriage. There are still some marriages that are arranged by the parents but most have a say in the decision.

After our training was finished we took a 4 hour bus ride to the south to do some visiting. We rented a van and took four leaders with us to visit some homes. We were told some amazing stories of what they have to do to survive and the pressures they are under. Mark will share more in our newsletters. It is customary for them to serve tea to their visitors. We were even treated to lunch in one of the homes. After our fifth home I was pretty teaed out. They serve a very strong green tea, fortunately it is in very tiny cups. The last day of our trip we took a three hour bus ride back to the north and stopped at one final home. This family runs a cafe. They sell drinks and snack type food and because of the great soccer interest they have been able to buy a plasma tv for their customers to watch the games, he told us no smoking or alcohol allowed in his cafe. They served us a great lunch and then we hit the road for another two hour van ride to the airport and another delay of our flight to finally arrive home in the late evening. It was a great time of seeing the sights and hearing the amazing things stories of so many people !!