VIETNAM

okay. so vietnam is officially one of the coolest places ever, and its weird because its communist and not at all what i pictured a communist country to be like. actually, you can't tell that its communist at all! but im having a hard time with the language barrier here, everyone acts like they know what you're saying and they really have no clue. and i officially bought more cheap stuff than i have ever seen in my life, we're talking like 4 dollar wallets, jerseys, etc. i was so sick last week and i thought i was going to die.i literally have never felt worse in my life. but im a lot better now, but i spent easter in my bed running back and forth to the bathroom and couldn't make it to the church service :-(. so far i have gone to the cu chi tunnels where the vietnamese hid from us and attacked during the war. it was so interesting and humbling to see that sorft of thing from another perspective. i also saw the war remnants museum which was heartbreaking. agent orange did so much damage. i couldn't believe it. i have been going going going and hardly getting any sleep but theres no time for sleep!! last night we went to this crazy vietnamese restaurant with my vietnamese friend Trang and our meal was about 4 dollars a person for so much food. its insane. i also am getting two dresses tailored which im so excited about!! and i got a full spa treatment today with my girlfriends for so cheap too. we're having so much fun but of course learning lots too. i went to a school for the blind this morning, and the kids were adorable. tomorrow we are getting in canoes and going up the river market! i can't wait for that. the people here are so friendly and love Americans very much. and im still not homesick at all! (only when i get sick on the ship and get very lonely which seems to be happening a lot lately). my roomates parents are taking me out the last day so that should be fun. miss everyone! xoxo

malaysia

hi guys!
malaysia was actually pretty amazing! i feel like a lot of people downplayed it but it ended up being really really fun. i got to do something i always wanted to, ride horses on the beach! so that was really fun. i saw a lot of buddhist temples, ist really interesting to see how other religions are so different from mine. i have never seen any temples like these, they were pretty decorated and really gauddy but pretty in their own way. i went to a tropical fruit garden which was awesome, they had a full out fruit buffet which i LOVED. and i got to see the two tallest towers in the world in kuala lampur! that was a highlight, that city was so amazing. but malaysia was a lot more westernized than i thought which was really surprising. but a very beautiful country with many friendly people:)

India part 2

Hey everyone!
I just left India last night and I definitely have to say its been my favorite port so far and definitely life changing. Tuesday my friends and I drove 2 hours in a rickshaw to a little beach town with all these ancient hindu temples, pretty cool to see. I got a lot of gifts for people there because Indian crafts and things are so beautiful and are at really good prices. Riding in a rickshaw for that long was actually really fun because we got to see so many things and you feel so low to the ground like you are part of the streets rather than above them like in a bus or something. That afternoon we went to Mother Theresa’s orphanage in Chennai and I have never seen anything like it. It was totally different than the orphanage Monday because the kids were all mentally handicapped. There were 300 kids and they had such physical and mental impairments it was so heartbreaking. There was a room of about 10 kids who were just laying on a mattress on the ground and couldn’t even lift their heads. They would just roll around and moan and their waste covered the ground. It was so sad. Some were completely unresponsive unless they were sung to, I could hardly sing without getting choked up. Then we fed them dinner before we left, it was so hard to do. It was spilling everywhere and the kid I fed peed while eating, it was just really intense.
The next day, I took a SAS trip to a rural farm and village. It was so great to get a different perspective and see the country life! We got to ride in a bullock cart pulled by cows, harvest some rice, and pick peanut plants. We also watched how the men climb coconut trees with their bare hands and they picked some for us and let us eat. I loved it! That evening, we went to our rickshaw drivers house (Vijay’s) for dinner. His mom couldn’t speak English at all but she was so excited to have us. She cooked an Indian feast (surprisingly none of us have gotten sick yet…) and it was overwhelming to see how different their lives are! They had a two room house and Vijay still lives with his mom, brother, brothers wife, and his wife and he is 31! He showed us his wedding pictures that were completely the opposite of American wedding pictures and taught us to eat with his hands. Oh, and the babies don’t wear diapers and his nephew peed straight on Danielle!! So funny.
But our last day here was definitely mind blowing. 5 of my friends and I woke up and took the local train (all by ourselves!!!) about an hour out of the city to go to the HIV/AIDS hospice for kids through YWAM (www.pactywam.org) . My cousin Justin got me the contacts to visit this place. Wilson, the man who began the program met us at the train station and took us to the house where they keep the kids. Ten children live in one little house but it was the most special thing I have ever seen. We had the opportunity to talk with Wilson about his project and ask questions. He is such an amazing man. Then ten year anniversary of the project is this year. These kids have to go to their own school because they are not allowed to go to normal school because people aren’t properly educated about the spread of HIV and AIDS. Once the kids are diagnosed, they have about 7 years to live on this treatment where in America they could live up to 40 years because we have better drugs. We went to the school just before lunch in order to see the kids singing praise songs to Jesus about how they are thankful for their health. Talk about feeling small, I almost lost it right there. We walked them back and had lunch with them ( I think my stomachs had about all the Indian food I can handle). We just spent the afternoon with the children playing games and just loving them. They were so excited to have visitors and had SO much energy. Their stories are amazing and some of them even spoke pretty great English. That house was just so full of love between the staff and children, it was amazing. We brought them some toys which they loved. It was so hard to say goodbye and their pictures keep flashing in my mind. It made me miss the Russian children so much as well. We took the train back and got kicked out of first class (How were we supposed to know!) and met up with Lora who got me connected with Wilson for the day at a really cute American restaurant where the proceeds go to YWAM. We ordered just about everything on the menu and ate so fast because it was so good! Heres where the night got crazy…we jumped in two rickshaws who told us they knew where we were going but didn’t speak English and we had a half hour to get back to the ship. They started driving and halfway into the drive we realized we were going AWAY from the ship. So we jumped out and ran to other rickshaws but those drivers chased us and were grabbing us because we didn’t pay! It was so scary but we got in other rickshaws and these guys said they knew where to go but we only found out they didn’t and we were going the wrong way AGAIN. It was the most stressful situation I have ever been in. What if we would have missed the ship. I can’t even imagine. So then we realized we were out of money and only had 3 dollars to give him. We finally got close to the ship but he stopped under a bridge until we gave him all the money we had. We were SCREAMING at him. But we finally made it and sprinted up the steps to the ship. It was so intense. Danielle and I spent the night just looking at our pictures of the kids and reflecting on our experience. What a roller coaster. India was amazing.

India

Hi!

I am now in chennai india which is by far the most different place i have ever been in my entire life. They kept stressing that before we got here because I think they have had some trouble in the past with people hating it and such because of the poverty, overcrowded streets and the filth of it. However, i wasn't too concerned about these things and came in with a pretty open mind which in turn led me to love it!! When we arrived, there were about 50 men at the gate waiting for us to get into these little rickshaw things where they physically pull you and you sit in the back. there are motorized ones as well. They pretty much attacked us, very funny. We found the coolest driver and rode around with him the whole day. i even got to drive one!( and about hit 5 people). Anyway, we went down to the beach to drive where just EVERYONE sits all day by the water, except no one swims and everyone is in long pants and long shirts. So different. Trash everywhere as well. We just took in the sites all day, pretty overwhelming. So much poverty. but the people are so friendly! We are having dinner at our rickshaw drivers house Wednesday. Haha. A lot of people went to the Taj Mahal, but i didn't really care to because its like 1000 dollars to just see a building. I would rather stay and experience the culture. Last night, we went to a reception with indian students who gave us traditional food/dance and henna tatoos! Danielle and i also wore our brand new sarees (and had them on completely wrong and had to get them redone by the indian ladies). Good times. I also had the best lunch ever for a total of 2.50 American dollars. nuts. Anyway, today I am going to an orphanage with my friend Claire so I am very excited. Hope everyone is doing well!!

MAURITIUS

hello everyone! I am writing from the most beautiful resort i have ever seen located in Mauritius which is a tiny island off of madagascar. i have never even heard of it before this trip, but it is well worth your time. however, we got really bad advice and ended up paying a whole lot more for a hotel than we should have but there was nothing i could do about it because we had no place to go, so we just sucked it up and now we are at the most amazing resort ever. its basically all honeymooners and us. haha. but we got to dance "Sega" with the locals tonight and all the pools here are infinity pools that just go out over to the ocean. the sand is white and AMAZING. so beautiful. the people are so friendly as well, mostly indians here which is kinda random. the ship was SO rocky this week, all of our stuff was falling on the floor and everything. strange feeling. and now the time change is a lot different so we're like 9 hours different from home. but im finally on the right schedule. tomorrow i think we are going snorkeling so im really excited! and we are also going for a boatride in a glass bottom boat so that should be fun. well i miss everyone lots, ill write again soon!:)