Sooo just about come to the end of my time here in Hanoi and trying to think how to sum up my experiences here! Had quite a non-stop last couple of weeks working with lots of other volunteers from all over the world to try and decorate the children's play area beyond a few yellowing pictures from 1997 on the wall, and see all of Hanoi in a few days (I failed miserably). Still, apart from one brief anti-cultural phase last week where us volunteers went to see Pira...

Hello again! So another week has passed and I can't believe it's June already! Had another busy one this week. I'm continuing to enjoy working at the hospital and am now a plastacine animal maker and bubble blower extroadanaire! Today was Internationl Children's Day apparently so we had a big celebration with lots of sweets and new toys for the children. It's great working there a bit longer as well as the children start to recognise you and it's truly amazing ho...

Not quite sure where to start describing last week!! Started off working at the hospital which is really great. Took a while to get over my first impressions of it being over crowded, dirty and very basic, but now I know it a bit better, I don't think it's a bad place at all. The staff are all lovely, the children's parents are great and now I've éxperienced a few more Asian tolilets, the place seems spotless! Most importantly, the children are remarkably cheerf...

Can't believe it, finished project number 1 in Hai Doung and about to start on my four weeks at the children's hospital tomorrow. Had a much better week last week and our classes definitely improved as we got to know the children better, and learnt more about how to communicate with them through lots of pointing and miming (I'll be amazing at charades by the time I get back after all this!) and a few pathetic attempts at Vietnamese. Ironically, the children it wa...

Hello again :) sooo have now spent my first week in Vietnam, which has been a rather mixed experience to say the least! Despite all the forewarnings, it's still taking me a little while to get used to the fact that organisation here is done to a very different level (i.e. barely at all) than anywhere else and, Vietnamese being a tonal language, learning enough to sort myself out is not really going to happen... All in all, this has been quite a tough week but eve...