Today we traveled to the orphanage to see the kids for the last time. It was wonderful but very sad. The kids had written things out in English like "We miss you!" and "I dreamed of you last night!" It was so sweet. I got to hold this little boy named Foung, who is 3 years old. ADORABLE. We said our goodbyes and headed out for lunch and a debrief with the GVI staff.
We've made some great relationships here and we will definitely be coming back. The kids welcomed us as family and we feel a strong connection there. A10 will be back next summer.
We are having a dinner at a Canadian run restaurant tonight which means ribs, pizza and hamburgers (yay!) Then we are heading to the airport to begin the 28 hours of traveling to come home.
It's always bittersweet. We are so sad to leave our new friends here, but we're also very excited to see our loved ones back home.
Thanks for following our adventures here. We have a few fantastic photographers on this team so we'll post some great stuff over the next few days when we return home. Look for us all on facebook.
Peace and hen gop lai! (see you later!)
Chris Barras
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Saying goodbye to Do Son Beach and the kids
Yesterday, we parted ways with our new friends, the kids from the ss3 orphanage. There were tears. It was tough to part company. We will see many of them again on Wednesday morning for our final goodbye, but some of them we won't. It was an emotional goodbye.
We have a fun day happening now. We took a 4 hour car/ferry trip to Cat Ba Island and arrived at our hotel just after sunset. I'm not a good enough writer to explain how gorgeous it was. We put some Hillsongs on in the van ride and all sang as we watched the sun go down, from the rocky cliffs. See the photos later. Awesome stuff.
This morning we took a guided tour to monkey island. The boat ride there was outstanding. The island itself was a tropical beauty. We went for a little hike until we found the monkeys. Let's just say the wild monkeys and our experience with them was somewhere between absolutely hilarious and terrifying. They are aggressive little suckers. You had to hold tight to your bag!
We have a photo of Marci that really tells it all. She has been such a trooper on this trip.
We are heading back to the hotel and swinging by Halong Bay. Honestly this is some of the most amazing land Dad ever put on earth! Everyone has been pretty blown away.
The health of the team is good. Emily seems better each day. Gwenyth has a bit of a cough, but nothing health wise has hit the team that we wouldn't see if we were at home.
We will go to the orphanage tomorrow one last time to say our goodbyes. That will be hard. We want to build long term relationships with these kids. Several people have already said how much they want to come back and see these kids grow up.
Thank you so much for all of you that have supported us on this trip. We feel very loved.
I hope to post once more tomorrow before we get back on the plane to fly home. We miss you all!
LBR,
Chris Barras
We have a fun day happening now. We took a 4 hour car/ferry trip to Cat Ba Island and arrived at our hotel just after sunset. I'm not a good enough writer to explain how gorgeous it was. We put some Hillsongs on in the van ride and all sang as we watched the sun go down, from the rocky cliffs. See the photos later. Awesome stuff.
This morning we took a guided tour to monkey island. The boat ride there was outstanding. The island itself was a tropical beauty. We went for a little hike until we found the monkeys. Let's just say the wild monkeys and our experience with them was somewhere between absolutely hilarious and terrifying. They are aggressive little suckers. You had to hold tight to your bag!
We have a photo of Marci that really tells it all. She has been such a trooper on this trip.
We are heading back to the hotel and swinging by Halong Bay. Honestly this is some of the most amazing land Dad ever put on earth! Everyone has been pretty blown away.
The health of the team is good. Emily seems better each day. Gwenyth has a bit of a cough, but nothing health wise has hit the team that we wouldn't see if we were at home.
We will go to the orphanage tomorrow one last time to say our goodbyes. That will be hard. We want to build long term relationships with these kids. Several people have already said how much they want to come back and see these kids grow up.
Thank you so much for all of you that have supported us on this trip. We feel very loved.
I hope to post once more tomorrow before we get back on the plane to fly home. We miss you all!
LBR,
Chris Barras
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