Greetings from Da Nang!

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Hello friends and family! 😊
Margot and I safely arrived to Da Nang after spending a 15 hr layover in Ho Chi Minh City.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City New Year's Eve and after getting our luggage/going thru customs, we were greeted by a mob of people outside the airport all hailing cabs at 11:45pm. Happy New Year!!! 😊
First impressions from our cab ride to our hotel: there's not much street lights going on, New Year's Eve is not a huge celebration night (their Tet is soon coming up), and things looked unfamiliar to anything else I've seen. The heat, humidity and smells however seemed surprisingly nostalgic of childhood summers/visits to grandma and grandpa in florida.
After getting settled in to our hotel room, Margot and I shared a celebratory New Year's Heinekin courtesy of our mini bar, checked out the vietnamese TV stations and quickly learned that facebook does not exist in Vietnam - how shocking! but really a blessing! 😊
The next morning, we grabbed a taxi into the city to explore a little bit. Now the smells seemed reminiscent of childhood - this is going to sound strange - a hint of stale second hand smoke - not sure where that somes from, maybe the michigan state fair? maybe hanging out at a childhood friend's house - so strange to find that smell nostalgicly comforting. I'm sure I'll get over it quickly.
Margot and I were already probably looking like the crazy toursists as we were so amused by the various scooter set-ups: families of five including mom holding a baby riding side-saddled, two guys with one holding on to 20' long lumber. We were warned about the "street crossing" ie: "walk deliberately, don't stop, they will ride around you". So, our first few attempts, we basically latched on to more experienced street-crossing pedestrians until we got the hang of it. For what seems could be "chaotic" in their traffic flow - there is actually an easy-going flow to it, no one stops, and some how everyone folds in with eachother in surprising ways even if scooters/cars are simultaneously coming and crossing at multiple directions. The horns are not used aggressively, but more as a mode of communication. And road rage does not seem to exist; at least we have not witnessed it, yet.
During our wandering, Margot and I came across a small, crowded side street/market. This was one of our first of many cultural adventures. We found some fruit we did not recognise and with the help of sign language, we learned that the seller's name is Mi Huaong, she's 49. The fruits were Usurla (a light green outside with a sweet, milky, pulpy inside with seeds) and yam (an orange with a green rind). Afterwards, we wandered into a huge market - talk about sensory overload! There are many streetside food carts and every establishment has their set of mini "tables" and "chairs". The tables are a plastic 3' stool, sometimes with a metal tray on it and the "chairs" are plastic 1' step-stools. More closely to Margot and my size. We stopped for a refreshment and imagined how larger americans would look trying to squat at these tables! :D
Soon after, we caught a taxi back to our hotel for our first ever first-class flight to Da Nang, whopping 1 hr-long-luxuriousness.
We were met at the airport by the hospital director, Mr. Cuc and Nga another employee who studied English at university and works in administration. They greeted us with warm smiles, a bouquet of flowers and New Year's cards each and took us to dinner for some amazing Pho (i think we walked by the fish in the aquariums that was served in the soup, it was so fresh). We were right on the water, the waves were crashing on the shore. It was already dark and I was quickly reminded how much I love and am comforted by the sea breeze as it blew off the water (flashback to Rarotonga) and into the open windows of the restaurant. During dinner conversation we learned that Mr. Cuc swims for an hour every day at 4:30 am in the sea. Nga is 26, married and has a 2 year old son. A hospital in Laos is attempting to build a similar facility there and has been in correspondance with DORC (Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center) to use it as a model. DORC was opened in 1968 and is one of 10 hospitals in Da Nang, but is the main center for rehabilitation. They have about 7 volunteers a year from HVO. And a group of American doctors are arriving in a week, for a week, to perform/teach wrist surgeries.
After dinner, we were shown to our guest rooms (we are the last to stay in them before they are demolished - they are opening up the newly built guest house in a month). Our accomodations are modest, right next to the hospital (our windows look out onto the patient rooms). There is a "red book" in the room where previous volunteers wrote in with tips, suggestions and impressions which have been very helpful as we get acclimated and prepare for our work here. The overall concensus from prior volunteers are how warm, gracious, helpful and friendly the Vietnamese people are. We have already been experiencing that as we walk on the streets as they are easy with their smiles and very kind and polite even with the language barrier.
It gets dark early here (~5:30)
I'm losing steam on my entry. So, gonna cut it short. Yesterday, was spent walking around town to arrange logistical stuff: buy linens, visit a shopping center, market, scope out Vietnamese sim card and local internet options (there is no internet at the hospital). As expected, walking around and buying items was pretty fatiguing. And getting a sim card/internet card was not fruitful, yet, due to to language barrier - so we'll give it another go when we have interpretter-help.
We did find an American owned cafe that employs and gives proceeds to Vietnamese deaf people. Altho, they were closing yesterday as we arrived for one of the employee's weddings. So we returned this morning and befriended the owner, Kathleen, originally from the midwest,USA.
I'm not sure when I will be on again as internet is limited.
I am anxious to start our work tomorrow (we/they had a 3 day weekend for new year's) and am continually so thankful that Margot is also here - there have been plenty of moments of surprises, laughter and confusion.

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