Any time a new group of people comes together there exists a certain level of anticipation as to how well that group of people will get along. This group, from the time they arrived in LAX, has been fantastic. They were already exchanging stories before we even checked into our flight.

We flew out of LAX at 12:30 AM and spent 17 of the next 20 hours on an airplane before arriving in Ho Chi Minh City at 10:15 AM. We immediately went to eat our first Vietnamese meal. Students ordered everything from snails to mud fish to spring rolls to chicken and rice. After lunch we went to visit the Independence Palace and then visited one of the major markets. At the market we gave all the students a set amount of money and another student’s name that they were to buy a gift for. It was great to watch them as they came back with their gifts and their stories of how they had to bargain for the price. After the market we went to dinner and everyone had pho for the first time since we arrived. If you’ve never had pho, we would recommend it. After some long days of traveling and exploring everyone was pretty exhausted. So, after dinner we went to the hotel and everyone enjoyed a nice bed in an air conditioned room.

On our second day we spent the morning going through all the details of the program. We also played some games to help students continue to learn names as well as learn more about each other. They all have done a great job of sitting with, talking to, and eating with different people so that they can get to know everyone in our group.

After lunch we went to visit the War Remnants Museum. This is a museum that goes through the history of the Vietnam War. It’s a powerful place to visit and one that evokes a lot of questions and discussion. After the museum we all went to a cafe and talked about what we had seen and learned at the museum.

We then did some walking around the city to visit places like Ho Chi Minh Square, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Saigon Post Office (it’s an impressive post office). For dinner we went to a pizza restaurant as a final farewell to American food for the next few weeks.

On our third day everyone woke up, packed their bags, and we made our way to the airport. As of this writing we have landed in Da Nang, eaten some lunch, and are riding on a bus on the way to the village where we’ll be spending the majority of the next three weeks. Keep checking the blog for more updates on village life!

— Janie & Rusty