We returned to Ha Tinh Orphanage for a 10 minute goodbye before heading to the airport. Alisia and I both wrote Hoang a note about our wonderful time together and how impressed we were with his sweetness. When we arrived, he had also written us a note.
I was holding it together until he took us to Hong (The Vietnamese employee of Brittany's Hope) for her to translate. I will write the entire message when I can, but the line that really hit me was when he said he wished he could freeze time and we could stay there forever. His note was so thoughtful and heartfelt that I was moved to tears. (This picture was before I had the card translated! No tears yet!)
His sister, pictured above, (I need to figure out her name!) also left us with a beautiful gift of these handmade stars in a box that she lined with origami swans.
She seems to take good care of Hoang and we felt a special connection with her at the end of our time there.
We gave one last tearful hug as Hoang sobbed and Alisia and I climbed on the bus. The hardest part about leaving is that I have no idea if we will ever see him again. Maybe he can study here in high school?? Or college?? Or just spend the summer with us?? However we do it, Alisia and I decided that we will have to see Hoang again somehow.
Through spending time at the Ha Tinh Orphanage we have really connected with Hoang and his sister, and our sponsorship will be even more meaningful than it already is. This was an amazing experience for both Alisia and I, as well as Hoang. I truly hope that he will be able to come to America and spend some time with us if that is allowed by his orphanage and the government of Vietnam!
With leaving Ha Tinh orphanage, the service portion of our trip is over. We are destined for Hanoi to do some shopping and go on an overnight tour of Halong Bay.
Once we arrived in Hanoi, we spent the afternoon buying souvenirs on the streets around our hotel. Alisia's favorite store was the one where the lady asked her how old she was. When Alisia said "11", she said "Wow! You are very tall!" That made Alisia's day!!
Here's a cool picture of a tree that was growing on the sidewalk:
We discovered a Catholic Church two blocks from our hotel. (Yes, they allow Catholicism here because it has been around for so long. But no other Protestant religions exist in Vietnam.) we set off to attend 6pm mass, arriving around 5:30. When we got there, there was a ceremony of some sort. From what we could make out, they were honoring Mary. They put flowers at her statue and did multiple dances including a traditional Vietnamese fan dance. Ironically, we had googled "fan dance" to try and find a performance but couldn't find anything around. We were so excited and lucky to stumble upon this dance! (Notice the Mary statue in the back)
While standing there, Alisia got hot and agitated and the sweet nun standing behind us began fanning us, and she continued to fan us the whole way through the celebration! At the end of the dancing, the choir began singing and the priest and other members of the church lined up for the processional.
This was the longest processional I have ever seen! They looped the entire way around the front of the church before filing into St. Joseph's Cathedral. We followed inside and kneeled down to say a prayer. After about 5 minutes decided to sneak back out because we had no idea what was going on. The priest hadn't even made it up to the altar yet!
Of course we ate ice cream (Kem) afterwards! This time we were at a Baskin Robbins. When we walked in it was completely air conditioned and cool with all the flavored tou would see in America. For a minute it seemed like we were back home in America!
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