Temp up to 122!!

We had a wonderful night in the hotel lat night!! Although we had the air on full blast, it was still 83 degrees in the room when we went to bed! We enjoyed nice, clean showers; however, the room we were in didn't have a bathtub like the other one did last weekend. We made it back to Peace House without issues. We rode our bikes to Friendship village again...I think we are getting used to it...but we really do need to be careful. Actually it felt good to ride and create a breeze even though I had on a face mask.

O.k. temperature update. It was 100 in our room before we left for Friendship village. It was up to 101.6 in our room at noon. Outside it was 122.6 on my LLbean clock...I assume it was accurate. There is no way one could stand in the sun. Somehow I think I am getting used to it. It was 105 when we got home at 4:30....2 more nights here then a hotel again on Friday.

I had a better day at Friendship village. The teacher is learning English, so I helped her with her homework, which was identifying correct English grammar about USA. She helped me with colors since two of the 17 year old kids in this group are very interested in doing 48 piece puzzle with me. We also practiced face parts. They laughed at me. When a word has different accent above the letter, and there are 6 different them, it means something different. When I mis pronounced nose it meant salt. The teachers really do not have any lesson plans for the kids. They sit at a desk and watch them entertain themselves with basic puzzles or dirty legos. I am not sure if this is year round or just summer time. The teachers actually seemed kind and were entertained with my speech. I actually was trying to review colors and numbers with the kids too. They seemed happy, clothes were dusty, water was in the room, and they did wash hands with a cake of soap before going to lunch. One girl took her umbrella to protect her from the sun and walked several younger kids to their houses. She seemed like their mother, but she has been funneled into this "lowest level class". There are several children with Down's Syndrome.

Allison had a better day in the clinic, but she is still frustrated because they do not have anything in writing, Vietnamese or English, to guide their therapies. She's feeling more comfortable with using trial and error to determine the extent of each student's deficits. At least that room has air conditioning, though it is rarely turned on high. Most of the kids seem to have balance deficits. Favorite activities in the clinic include dominoes, memory, balance board, grasp and release activities, LE/core strengthening exercises, and variations of the basic ball toss.

Another volunteer at another privately owned site, saw a 4 year old child with Cerebral Palsey, accidently push his lunch on the floor. The teacher tied his hands and one foot. She left 20 min later and the tie was off when she returned from lunch, but the mark was on his wrist. She will talk to someone here about this bothersome observation.

I hope it gets better...it is o.k. but harder than we expected. other volunteers are doing computer work for Non gov't agencies. Each day gets easier as we build better bonds with the kdis...