On Saturday Janurary 1st we left our hotel in Hanoi to drive 4 hours to Mai Chau. As we were leaving the hotel, Arielle managed to fall backwards and sit on the offerings to the Gods that had been placed in the hotel lobby.
We Trekked all afternoon and stayed in a mountain village overnight. The trek was hard as we were going uphill. On Sunday after trekiing all day, we reached the Phai village where we would be staying for the next week.
Monday was our first day at our community project. We were welcommed by the pre school and many smiling children. Our jobs for the day included mixing cement and carrying bricks from one end of the yard to the other.
Tuesday morning we finished work early to distribute the donations to each family in the village. Each family had been sponsered by a member of the Brigidine community for the month. They gathered at our homestay and were very grateful for the donations. Everone was very excited so some speakers were set up and they played us some of their rave music, which showed us some of her out of control dance moves.
The next two days was spent making cement and digging a 1.2 metre hole at the project. The digging proved to be much more difficult than first made out to be, Ashley and Soph showing how well they could hoe out a hole. The cemement crew (Maddie,Camie, Bec, Sally and watergirl Georgia) continulessly ruined Christmas, eventually working their way to ruining New Years (personal joke) We gave the donations of scarves, gloves, beanies and toys to the kindergaten and stationary to those in the Primary school.
Friday was our last day at the community. We woke up early and finished our work at the project. A plaque was placed on the outside wall of the toilet block, stating the project was sponsered by Brigidine College. Afterwards we said our goodbyes to all the children who we had become very close to. There were a few tears shed by Nat and Maddie but we knew it was time to leave. We trekked from the Pahi village to the next village where we stayed the night in another homestay. Several games of 500 (a card game) were played with Anneka showing her skills.
We woke up saturday morning ready for another day of trekking, we only walked for two hours though before reutnring to Mai Chau. We had a final look around and said goodbye to our fabulous cooks Duc and Quong.
We're now back in Hanoi and departing for Halong Bay tomorrow. We are all ready for a relaxing time and excited for times ahead. We are all doing well and send our love
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