Getting ready for the night train back to Hanoi, we went early to Lao Cai City so that we could be at the train station in plenty of time.  We went to the China border, ate a little food, took a couple of pictures of a HUGE cobra fermenting on a bar and got on the train.

Yeah, they sell the liquor from the decaying cobra as “Snake Wine” and it’s expensive.  No, there is now way in…  you know.  I didn’t even think of trying it.

Here are my pics.  You can see more of them at flickr or my photoblog.

Click on a thumbnail for a bigger picture.

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I have several posts written and will be stting them to drop over the next couple of days as we travel home.  Thanks for your constant prayers.

Lao Chai School

On Tuesday morning, our team went to Lao Chai School to install another computer lab.  This lab was paid for by a team from Northwood (I think) that was to come and install it last November, but the weather prevented them from making it.  I was confused as to how the weather could be that bad, but then I found that we had to hike with the equipment over rocky terrain with a creek running across it for about half a mile.  That was hard with good weather and, apparently, it had snowed there in November.

Lao Chai – not to be confused with Lao Cai province or city – is a tourist destination.  People hike there from SaPa through the mountains and the people that live there are the Mong.  Different than the Hmong, but pronounced similarly to the American ear.

The tourism is a double edged sword.  On the one hand it provides some boost to the local economy, which is very necessary.  On the other hand, it objectifies everyone in each other’s eyes.

To the tourists, the Mong people exist as an object of curiosity and entertainment.  They take pictures of them living their lives and to the tourist, the Mong exist for their personal fascination.

To the Mong, outsiders exist only to buy their handicrafts and to support them financially, so all outsiders exist only to support them.

The obvious problem is that all of this creates barriers to relationship and real conversation.  The children in the school are used to outsiders coming through and taking their pictures while they take class and then leaving.  As a result, they are very shy when people show up from outside and want to begin building a real relationship and help them only to help them.

People who want to bless them and ask nothing in return are completely new.  They really don’t know what to do with us.

The school there is an elementary school and they oversee the four other schools in the region.  I suppose that they are so far back in the mountains, we never saw them.

My wife, the teaching expert from America (visiting professor at the University of Hanoi – more on that later) said that she found tremendous teaching skills in the classrooms here – far better than San Sa Ho.  She said that there was one teacher teaching complex math to second graders using differentiation that was particularly impressive.  Bonnie said she would have hired her to teach in America immediately.

I suppose the undercurrent of that statement is that this teacher she found on the backside of a mountain in Vietnam in the shadow of the China border was better than some (many?) of the highly paid (in comparison to Vietnamese standards), highly educated teachers in one of Oklahoma’s premier school districts.

Here are my pics (all of them).  You can see more of them at flickr or my photoblog.

Click on a thumbnail for a bigger picture.

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Skelly Drive contributed enough money to buy a computer lab, er… two computers and a printer with a network hub for print sharing… and we went there as soon as we got in to SaPa.  This place is on the backside of a mountain.  From Hanoi, we traveled 8 hours by train overnight and then an hour by van up the mountain to SaPa.  From there, we drove another half hour further into what can only be called “rural” to a place populated by “black” Hmong people and the school the Government provides them.

The Hmong people divide themselves by color grouping and we have an affinity to the “Black” Hmong because we had a church of that tribe meeting in our building until last year when they moved to their own facility.

We met with the kids, observed classes and spent the evening building relationships with the staff of the school.  Forefront church, working through GVI (Glocal Ventures, Inc.) has made incredible ground in their work with Ta Phin school nearby.  I told of them last year.

Because of their reputation, doors to relationships are flying open for us.  We were at two schools in two days and both of them were asking us to come back to help them.

Without any further ado, here are the pics from the morning (click on a thumbnail for the larger picture):

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We are back in Hanoi after riding the night train back from Sapa.  We are showering and getting on fresh clothes.  The group is splitting into three assignments from here:

Bonnie and I are going to the University of Hanoi for her to teach a two day seminar on education principles.  As I mentioned before, education is being taken very seriously here in Vietnam and this is the highest profile thing that we are doing on this trip to open doors for future partnerships.  I’ll tell you more about the two schools we helped in SaPa in a later post, but the education aspect ties in at al times here in Vietnam.

Selena is going with Denna and Emily to meet with a governmant organization that assists the blind. Selena is President of the Oklahoma Federation OF the Blind (not FOR the blind) and they are meeting with officials to explore future partnership opportunities with them.

Jimmy and the rest of the boys are headed to SS4 this morning.  You might remember that this is one of the orphanages that we visited last year.  They will be taking sports equipment, playing games, building relationships and, I believe, doing some painting.  Tomorrow they will visit two other orphanages – SS3 from last year, but also Burla which is new for us to work with – and doing similar things there.

While Bonnie is teaching I will be writing and processing pictures (and taking some) so that I can post them when back in Wi-Fi range.  I’ll set them to drop periodically over the night here and daytime back in the US, so keep checking back for updates.

So I found a wireless hotspot at lunch today and thought I would update you while I can.

I have TONS of great pictures that I will upload tomorrow (our tomorrow – it will be tonight or tomorrow night for you, depending on the time of day I am able to post).

We are having a great experience.  We’ve set up two computer labs and begun to build several relationships as a result.  We were invited to coffee last night by several teachers, the assistant principal and principal from yesterday’s school.  They actually invited us to go drinking, but we convinced them that coffee (or caffiene) is the evangelical drug of choice and they capitualated.

We talked about our lives and their lives for quite some time.  It was great.

More later and lots of pictures coming.  Thanks for your prayers – they are working.

We’ve made it to the hotel in Hanoi for changing clothes, showering and then to eat, walk and shopping prior to the train ride.

In truth, we are not yet done traveling.  We get on the train to SaPa tonight and ride 9 hours to Lao Cai Province and then another hour to SaPa where we will head straight out to San Sa Ho School to install the Computer Lab and build our first relationships there.

We will be focusing on that school for many years in hopes of building long term relationships through which we can share deep things of life.  I am unsure of our internet connectivity in SaPa – well, I’m sure there are sporadic connections to internet cafe’s, but that is about it.

All of that is to say that I will update ASAP.

I have to say, jet lag is worse coming over this time.  Last time, I didn’t have significant jet lag until I went home.  We’re all struggling here this time.  Just keep moving and pray for a good night’s sleep on the train.  That’s what I keep telling folks, anyway.

We are on layover in Taipei, Taiwan.  All are safe and the longest leg of our journey – 14 hours over the Pacific – is done.

Don’t have time for much and no pictures right now, but hopefully I’ll have time for some this evening.

Suffice it to say, all are well and are in good spirits before we go to Hanoi.

Hey, we’re waiting at LAX and our plane just pulled up.  It’s huge.  The engine on this thing is at least 20 feet tall.  Probably more.

Anyway, I just wanted to update you as to how we are.  If you’re in Tulsa or the rest of the midwest, you’ll probably wake up to find this and we’ll be over Alaska.  Yeah.  We fly over Alaska.  I think it has something to do with avoiding the jet stream.  But honestly I have no idea.

So, we’re tired and thirsty and looking forward to sleeping on the next flight, which is 14 hours long.

Emily is punchy.  She’s running on adrenaline, which is fun.  The boys had never flown before today and are freaking out at how big the plane is.  It’s fun.

So, here are a few pics I snapped on the way.  I hope you enjoy.

I’ll update you when I am able.

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You can see these and other pictures on my photoblog or flickr.

You can see related posts on the Vietnam page.

Leaving today for Vietnam.  We do have some retired church members who are also neighbors who will keep an eye on our house, for all those who are worried that I am announcing our absence to the world.

We fly to DFW, LA, TaiPei and Hanoi.  Aftter a shower, change of clothes, meal and a stretch of the legs, we board a sleeper car train to SaPa.  When we get off the train, we start the work at San Sa Ho school.  It takes about 36 hours to get to Hanoi and we’ll be in Sapa about 18 hours after that.

Last year I blogged regularly our trip, but the internet connectivity has changed.  As I am able to update, upload pictures, etc. I will.  Keep checking back.

You can surf through a list of articles on the Vietnam page.

In the rural mountains of Lao Cai Province, near the China border, there are schools serving ethnic minorities that live on neighboring farms.  The pictures above are from last year’s trip where we saw Forefront Church out of Virginia installing a computer lab, a water filtration system which will be used by the region and building relationships with the kids through sports at Ta Phin School.

This year we will be installing a computer lab and building relationships at San Sa Ho.  I hope that next year we can install a water filtration system. Though the cost for that is much greater, it will affect so many more people.  We will be adopting this particular school in hopes of building long term relationships and making a cumulative impact in their lives over many years.

The computer lab (consisting of two computers and a printer) will be the first computers these kids will ever see, most likely.  As the government brings connectivity out to the school, they will go from being exposed to the mountains of rural north Vietnam to being exposed to the whole world.  It is a giant leap that we are able to help provide and a privilige to do so.

Please remember to pray for the children and families of San Sa Ho.