Day 6 - Includes My Top 10 Things That Surprised Me In Vietnam

Today was the day that pastors were coming from all over Vietnam to learn about Awana.  The hope is that many of them will start Awana Clubs in their churches.  I thought they were expecting 60 people but this morning I was told they were expecting 100.  When we arrived, we learned that 140 people had shown up.  There were 2 people from each church so the group represented about 70 churches from all over Vietnam.

We heard from our very own Kerry who talked about the importance of Children's Ministry.

Kerry and our new friend Janice interpreting for her

Then we heard from Mike (from Awana) who talked about the 4 to 14 Window movement.

Mike with Janice's husband Quang interpreting

We heard from a couple of other people but it was in Vietnamese.  While I could not tell you what was said specifically, I can tell you that it was so great to see and hear a pastor talk to his fellow pastors and tell them how great Awana is.  I think in this culture, that goes a long way.

It was a long day and we're praying it will be fruitful.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  It turns out that we are free for the day.  I have no idea what we plan to do other than sleep in.  We are all a little exhausted so a good nights rest sounds wonderful!

Part 2 of this post is my top 10 list of things that surprised me most about Vietnam.  I'm going to do this in countdown form:

10.  The air quality is really poor.  I admit I never gave it much thought but it still surprised me.  We hardly had rain this week which would normally wash it out of the air so maybe it was worse than normal?  Who knows...

9.  They don't use napkins like we do.  None of the Vietnamese restaurants we went to had napkins.  They had individualized wet wipes but no napkins.  For those who drop food on themselves when they eat, this could present a problem.  Also, when we ate lunch at the celebration and seminar, they had a box of Kleenex type tissue to use as a napkin.  Imagine having sticky fingers from eating fruit and trying to use a thin flimsy Kleenex to wipe them off.  All it did was stick to my fingers and rip apart.  I never realized how much I like napkins.  Also, I had nothing to wipe up my Pepsi that overflowed when I poured it into my cup.  Yep, I sort of missed napkins at those places.  Fortunately, the hotel we stayed at is very Western and they had napkins.

8.  No one wears gym shoes!  No one.  95% of everyone we saw wore either flip flops or sandals.  The other 5% were women in heels.  I have no concrete reasons why but I have a few theories.  Considering many shoes are manufactured here, I think that's sort of ironic.

7.  Face Masks are designer items.  Many people wear face masks as they ride their scooters.  We saw a large variety of face masks this week.  It's an entire product market that doesn't exist in the US.  We believe they wear the face masks partly because of the air quality but I'm sure there's more to it than just that.

6.  Considering English is taught in the upper grades, hardly anyone speaks even a few words.  Even in tourist type places like the hotel, it can be difficult to find someone who speaks even a little English.  The marketplace was the big exception.  They know how to say certain phrases and they know the currency conversion rate.

5.  Cab drivers in the city do not know where many things are.  Including many famous landmarks.  This shocks me.  To make matters worse, they don't speak any English so communication is near impossible.  This made for a few interesting cab rides this week.

4.  The French influence in Vietnam.  I had no idea there was any French influence so finding so many breads and baked goods here was a complete surprise.  Who knew?  Meals were often served with bread which did not match up with what I've heard about Asian food.  I must say, I enjoyed the donuts at the breakfast buffet each day.  No complaints here!

This was a portion of what was served at breakfast each day.

3.  Everyone has a cell phone!  I mean everyone!  This was a complete surprise and it cracks me up.  People are people no matter where you go.  They are just like we are when it comes to their cell phones.  We saw so many people texting and driving their scooters it was scary but driving is another topic so I'll stop there.

2.  The types of things that can be carried on a scooter!  I mentioned it a few days ago but every day I see something else being carried that makes me laugh and shake my head all over again.  Who knew you could carry a refrigerator/freezer on the back of a motorcycle?  We saw carpet rolls, assorted animals, up to 5 people, desks & chairs, ladders, 5 gallon water jugs (not just 1, we're talking like 10), cases and cases of beer and much, much more.  It really is a hoot to watch.

And, the number 1 thing that surprised me most in Vietnam is...

THE TRAFFIC!   I could go on and on about it.  I've never seen anything so crazy and unorganized and dangerous in my life but it is how they do it.  I have a very tame clip that does not begin to describe the traffic but I'm posting it anyway since it's the only visual I have.

I really don't have the words to do it justice and I'm pretty sure that I could never get totally used to it.  I'm not sure I could ever drive in it.  I had to bury my head and not watch many, many times this week.  Rick says he wants to try to drive in it.  I want to be there with a camera when he does.

I cannot believe how quickly this week has gone by.  We have seen, heard, smelled, tasted and experienced so much this week.  This blog doesn't touch half of it.