5-22-11 Trip to Danang

Mother With her little boy

This morning we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast. However, we were a bit cautious of what we were eating. I still don’t know what animal made the milk that I put on my cereal. All I know is that it didn’t taste like cows milk. The yogurt was delicious though. After breakfast it was back on the plane for us. Oh, I almost forget. Originally we flew into Ho Chi Ming City. Now we are flying into Da Nang, it will be about a 1 hour flight… compared to the 14 hour flight it will be a breeze.

Our guide showing us all the different types of rice

We arrived in Danang and, after dropping our things off, met up with the students and had a quick 15 min. lunch. Afterwards we headed out into the market where our guide showed us the ingredients we were going to use for our cooking lesson. Then we set off and took a boat to the cooking class.

Cooking Class

We were taught how to make Seafood salad with Vietnamese herbs served in half a pineapple, fresh rice paper rolls of shrimp, fresh rice paper, Hoi An Pancakes, Vietnamese Eggplant in clay pot, and food decorations. It was a wonderful and very interesting class. Before our lesson our guide took us to see the different herbs that they use, and he had us smell each of them (to me, many of the smelt the same). Each time he taught us how to make the meal we would then be able to make it… and eat it afterwards. It was very deliciousJ. Each of us had our own cooking spot with every thing that we would need to make each dish set out for us. Our chef would go around and make sure that we all were doing it right. 

After the lesson they brought us more food. I was so full I could hardly eat anything. And our desert was fruit (we were going to see that a lot). When we were all finished we headed back to the hotel. Dr. Polly Kloster (the nursing leader on this trip) talked to us alumni about the next three service days so we knew what to expect.

Plan for the Next 3 Days

She explained that the nursing students, alumni, and faculty would be broken up into three different groups. Each group would rotate between the three different sites. She let us know that each group would have a specific health assessment area, and educational topics. Group 1, the group I was in, was going to focus on eyes, ears, nose, throat, teeth and lice assessments. We are going to be educating the children, mothers, and staff on oral hygiene and nutrition.

The other groups were going to assess skin, heart, and lungs. The other groups were going to teach CPR, and choking prevention, and hand washing and other ways to prevent and treat common diseases.

Tomorrow we are going to start at the orphanage. I hope that everything goes well. However, right now it is time to sleep. I’ve been ready to sleep for the last hour. Goodnight.