Our Sweet, Sweet Home...in Can Tho

Greetings from Can Tho, Vietnam!  It's 630p on Sunday evening, the 22nd (I think?!).  We arrived in Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) around 10a and made it through baggage claim and the final screening ~ running all bags through a metal detector, but this can prove to be tricky, as it has in the past, but today it was a breeze.  Our group is made up of 23 (or 24, I cannot remember) folks, mostly from the Bay Area, but also from Israel ~ Meir and Ezekiel (a new surgeon/protege of Meir's) and Amy is from Chicago and I from Omaha.  There are a lot of new faces and new names to learn, but I think I have it figured out ~ or at least I have convinced myself I do.

Here's the team...

• Attending/Resident Surgeons ~ Bruce, Jeff, Meir, Ezequiel, Wing, Narjwa, Anna and Ta
• Nurses ~ Jenni, Nicole
• Speech Pathologist/Medical Records/Database Creator ~ Amy
• Physical Therapist ~ me
• Surgical Tech ~ Jean Robert
• Medical Assistant ~ Mai
• Students (pre-med/interested in medicine + have a connection to someone on the trip) ~ Maddie, Michelle
• Trip Coordinator ~ Henry
• Media Specialist/Social Media Coordinator/Blogger ~ Kim
• Documentarian/Photographer ~ Flecher

Hysterically, and not atypically, I got asked in the past 36 hours if I live in North Dakota, Oakland or Orange County.  Omaha apparently is proving to be too difficult for some to remember.  Egads!

We had a lovely day in the Bay Area on Friday, walking and enjoying Burlingame.  Because of my travel delays on Thursday night, I didn't arrive in San Francisco until Friday morning ~ with a lovely sleepover in Denver the night before ~ and so, instead of traveling into the city, we opted to walk around the lovely little hamlet of Burlingame, California.  Both Amy and I were blown away by the lushness of the greenery and the blooms of the flowers.  I was quite excited that at the end of the day I had walked 18,500 steps ~ nearly 8 miles!  I think this is the longest distance I have walked in a day since getting my Fitbit. 

Pretty purple-y flowers that were succulents.

A field of succulents.

Lots of fishermen fishing off of the pier

Looked like a cross between a hydrangea and lavender, but wasn't either. 

Then, we met the entire group at the San Francisco airport for the marathon trip to Vietnam.  This is a pretty compliant group, so not too much craziness ensued.  Our flights were uneventful and we love our Elite class on EVA Airways...more space, a little more reclining of the seat and elevation of the foot rest and lots and lots of movie choices.

Amy carrying a 'heavy' box (full of ACE wraps, so not so heavy) on her 'flat' head

Jeff's original art to indicate box #20 was frag-i-l-e

I watched St. Vincent and if you haven't seen it, please do.  It's lovely.  And...Bill Murray is fantastic!  Then basically I slept the majority of the time, so was happy with this.

A little over an hour in Taiwan and we walked a lot again and stopped by our favorite Hello Kitty boarding area.  EVA Airways is a Taiwanese airline and they have a fleet of planes which are Hello Kitty planes.  Fully decked-out in Hello Kitty down to the napkins, carpet and wall coverings.  Amy and I would like to fly on one of these planes soon...would be so funny.  The thought of businessmen on these planes makes me chuckle.

Here's some sights from the Taiwan airport...

Aviator Hello Kitty

A beautiful orchid garden

These were really beautiful orchids

The weirdest display about family love...with robots??

Once we were outside the airport and were moving loads of trolleys with our own luggage ~ 1 piece per person allowed ~ and then 20 boxes of medical supplies, we awaited the arrival of our motor coach that would transport all of us to Can Tho ~ about 170km from Saigon.  We couldn't leave though until the doctors from the general hospital in Can Tho arrived at the airport in Saigon to pick up the 20 boxes to take directly to the hospital.  They arrived ~ 3 docs + a driver ~ with a smallish van and we watched them load in the first 10 boxes and then were on our way, but I have no idea how they got the rest of the boxes into that little van...and had a place to sit themselves.  Someone mentioned that a couple of them drove their own cars from Can Tho, so perhaps that's how they were able to get it all delivered.  Tomorrow, when we arrive at the general hospital, the boxes will be there, for sure!

So, upon our arrival we were greeted with rose corsages and apple juice!  And, apparently on April 1st, this hotel will be closed-down for 3 months (at least) and completely renovated and/or razed with a new hotel being built!  The Golf has been our home, sweet, home for all of my mission trips with this group and it is really 'tired.'  Time for an update/upgrade, but needless to say, they haven't really done much to keep it up in the past 2 years.  At least this year, the interior ceiling of the lobby is intact and the pool is functional!  If you want to read about this, I wrote a little about it in my 2013 blog, which you can find at www.vietnammissiontrip2013.blogspot.com. 

So, it's now 715p and I am really, really ready to sleep.  Will have enough energy to unpack a little to prepare for tomorrow and then also to take a much-needed and well-deserved shower! 

Take care...I hope you've all slept well in your 'sweet, sweet homes!'

xoxo
Stacy