Day Three or so of my internship and I must say, the women and I bonded fairly quickly since the day I arrived. They have a new volleyball area and through playing these various sports (the other is badminton), I've managed to easily break the ice with them. I must add, Cha Hung is quite good at Badminton. Who would have thought?

At the shelter, the women here all refer to me as "Anh Vinh" (Big Brother Vinh), even though majority of them are older than me. In return, I address them all by "Chi" (Older Sister). So it's quite wierd how we address each other - but there's nothing anyone can do about this!

For those that don't know, as a VietACT Intern, one is require to teach various classes for the women here. I am currently in charge of doing computer classes, English classes, Arts and Crafts classes, and then a mixture of various activities inbetween. Today I was supposed to teach computer classes, but since the projector cannot be located, we did various activities along with some paper folding.

To start the class off, we went around the room to introduce each other. This will allow me to know the names of everyone here better and will allow them to know the names of each other as well (we recently have five new people here). The rule was that they have to introduce themself in English by saying...

"My Name is ... Vinh", etc.

Then and I asked if anyone can recite the names of all the women here. One person did and I gave her some American snack! Everyone clapped!!!

After the introduction, we headed downstairs to do some outdoor activities. The activities included some stuff I taught my officers when I was President for our VSA (SDSU - Vietnamese Student Association). It encourages the women to work together, communicate with each other, and realize that things are possible if they all help and support one another. Following the activities, I taught the women how to fold a flower box. Then I taught them how to fold little stars to put in their newly made flower box. I presume the women here all have hardship, wishes, and hopes - so with each star, I told them to write down there wishes and hopefully it will come true. We joked around a lot, laughed throughout the session - they all said today's lesson was very fun and very engaging. I'd like to note that throughout the class session, I would do my best to teach them English whenever appropriate, such as: stars, thank you, one, two, etc. The women here are quick learner and are very eager to learn new things! I'm sure we'll have more fun classes in the future.

After class, I now have a new name, Thay Vinh (Teacher Vinh). It really is too much right?

Right now (around 1PM) we just ate lunch and the women are resting/relaxing. At 3pm they will attend another class (conducted by another staff), follow by dinner (at 6pm), and then our traditional game of volleyball at night.

The days are slipping by very quickly so I'm doing my best to cherish the moments I have here at that shelter. I've adjusted to the sleeping cycle here (no more jet lag) but occasionally wake up at 3am for no apparent reason.

Life is good here in Taipei! I look forward to tomorrow!

P.S. It's hot and thundering everywhere!

P.S.S. And Vi (Vanessa) - the staff and women here at the shelter said "Hi"! They told me your Vietnamese was very soft and cute! Haha! Come back and visit them! ;-)