Thursday I went to the women's shelter in the morning and helped make flowers for them to sell, practiced English with them, and took care of the babies. After lunch I went to a clinic nearby to chat with a doctor to see if the clinic would be a good fit. Well it turns out it won't be...not knowing the language and not having a translator who knows medical terms is SO limiting. It made me regret coming to a country that doesn't speak a language I know (like spanish) as it would've been easier but this is a crazy life adventure!
Sister Theresa then called the doctor who takes care of the babies in the shelter to ask if I could shadow him at the children's hospital. He said yes absolutely! People are so kind and welcoming here.
Last night I just needed something other than Vietnamese food...so I got a $5 pizza at the restaurant "Good Morning Vietnam" (still need to see that movie!) 
It actually was quite good relatively speaking!
This morning I woke up on the earlier side to head to the hospital with Vu, a guy who is part of my program that helps with translating. We met "Dr. G" and followed him on his rounds. He is a gastroenterologist for children. He is a teacher at the hospital so I stood with the other medical students while he examined patients. The examinations were done outside, no equipment, no sanitatation, people walking in and out...nothing like the US. That was especially interesting. After rounds he have a lecture to the students and it was all in Vietnamese so I just sat there for an hour...needless to say I won't go to that again! 
Vu and I continued on to the shelter and I met 2 other volunteers, Fiona and Jeremy, who will be here for the next week. They're a young couple from Switzerland so it was a breath of fresh air to talk English! They were interesting to talk to as they've been traveling for awhile and have had a different journey of schooling than in the US. They also told me of a cinema that plays recent movies in English so I can't wait to see a movie by myself! Hahaha. They are staying nearby me so I hope to be able to hang out with them outside of volunteering but I will see them next week nonetheless.
Tomorrow (after hopefully a restful sleep but who knows with all the clubbing music), I will be able to relax in the morning and then I'm meeting Fiona, Jeremy, and Sister Theresa at the shelter to go on a market excursion! I'm excited to see how the locals shop and to get some supplies for my room! I'm still working on getting a somewhat western breakfast.
So I have been in Vietnam for a week and I have 5 more weeks to go! Next week I'll be switching off from shadowing the doctor and working at the shelter. I will start an English class for the women that is 3x a week so pray for me that I have the skills to be able to teach!
Love and miss you lots,
Whit
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