Day 11: Reconnecting
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Spotlight: Brian, RC
“Therefore, we are saved by faith” – Hung
As the country celebrate National Day, the PV09 team felt that it was also time to enjoy a break from work. We realized the importance of sustainability yesterday. Today, we take some time to let everything settle down before we take a final step. We only have a couple days before our time in Vietnam was over, but we were not willing to go away quietly. Our three components are environment awareness, leadership, and sustainability. We touch the first two, now it was time to address the last. We have evaluated our stake, impact, and outcome. What’s left is to collaborate, execute, and follow through. It was time to reconnect with why we are here and our relationships with each other. Today we determine whether we want to just finish or finish strong.
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For the first time since our arrival to Vietnam, most of the team got the amazing chance to sleep in. We woke up around 9AM. It was clear that an extra three hours of sleep was doing us good. Even though this day was just a relaxing preparation day, we still had work to do. Most of us used this time to buy materials for E.A. Day and our panels. I had breakfast at the hotel (simple Vietnamese style fried rice) with Alice in the morning and visited our next door neighbors in room 234 for conversation. They were working on the materials for their games and activities booth, but seemed a bit hungry. So I went with them for breakfast again – this time getting traditional Vietnamese congee (or porridge, cháo). I came back to the hotel for some rest only to go for lunch with the team an hour later. We had a nice talk about our goals and objectives of this project and of course shared more about our life story.
Lunch was pretty amazing. Originally we had thought that we were going to Hard Rock Café, Vietnam for some wonderful Western cuisine. Well, the Western part was right, but it turned out that the place was Hot Rock Café – poor Christina who showed off her Hard Rock Café, Hong Kong t-shirt. It seems as if today we rest well and we eat well too. There were pizzas with a Vietnamese twist, barbequed beef and lamb, fish, and salad. It was parallel to most American restaurant. The restaurant was decorated well with pictures of famous landmarks, a open bar, and computerized registers. It was like eating at home.
After the nice lunch, it was time to do some shopping. I went to Old Quarters for the third time in the past week. Instead of shopping for souvenirs and pretty things, some of the girls and I decided that we wanted to try the KFC in Vietnam. We split a combo meal that consisted of all the usual: Pepsi, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, and obviously fried chiecken wings. It tasted pretty much the same but as expected, it was relatively cheaper and the portion size was noticeably smaller. The view from the third floor was spectacular. We saw the same turtle lake that we visited the very first day, the busy street filled with an unending stream of motorbikes, and tourists looking for a good deal. You could still hear the nonstop honking and engine roaring from several feet up above.
We were just tired to walking around the strange shopping area. The stores were set up in line formation; one street would specialize in shoes, the other handbags, the next souvenirs, and so on. We met up at a restaurant for a fancy dinner. We needed to celebrate this turning point in our project where we have labeled our objectives and are ready to fulfill them. The restaurant was gorgeous enough for a wedding reception with a live stage, cool lighting, and most importantly, fully air conditioned. We were not willing to go back to the small hotel restaurant anymore. This was the ultimate upgrade.
We had a nice dinner. The food was quite unique and exotic: a tomoto/pinapple/clam sour soup, seafood mayonnaise wrap, shrimp rolls, and rice. Everyone was talkative and cheerful. We shared our new purchases and experiences with bargaining. Our teamwork was best demonstrated by our joint effort to tease Ricky about everything. We returned to the hotel for our debriefing meeting where we saw Brian open up for the first time to the whole group and Hung’s compassion. We were all very inspired and move by both of their presence
We retired to our separate rooms to welcome the next day.
KFC Combo Meal: 57,000
Clutch purse: 80,000
