Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th

Monday 18th....
i spent the morning at SPC (the special needs school) but today i got to work with two physiotherapists and boy did they make us feel inadequate, not purposely but as we were never given any real instruction on how to deal with these kids it became glaringly obvious that the time we have spent with them was a huge waste....
The therapy needed for these kids is nothing like what we were doing (instructions from a very old manual is all we had to go by) and both Chan and i were left feeling very deflated and frustrated to say the least. It was however a great morning in that we got to have real direction and instruction from those qualified to show us.
There is so much that needs to be done on a daily basis and we are so under equipped and staffed....
we have been trying to get the 'mothers' (the ladies that take care of the children on a daily basis) to bring out the mattresses for the beds...these kids sleep on wooden slats!!!....obviously they are scared of the physio and when i bought this up with him he addressed it straight away. They told him dozen or more mattresses they keep in the storage room are not theirs and therefore they can't use them (WHAT THE!!!...who's fucken mattresses are they then and why are they storing them!!!)...i suggested that i buy all new mattress for the 7 beds and 3 cots so the children could at least have some kind of comfort...we all agreed and Mr Foop is going to arrange for them to be delivered over the weekend as we need plastic covered mattresses and that this the real reason why the cloth ones are not used....the mothers don't want to have to clean too much!!! It's a shame there are not more people here who are willing to work with disabled kids and give them the real care that is necessary without thinking of the workload they might bring on themselves....but i guess the love and care that they do bring is better than nothing at all so i'll stop bitching about them now.
good news is that with the advise of the physio's we are getting the mattresses as well as some much needed physio equipment for the kids. I have also dedicated some of the money to buying supplies needed for the Little School and Fishing Village school being milk and vitamins which they do not have unless it is donated and also some outdoor equipment like balls, skipping ropes etc... The Deaf School also needs outdoor equipment and one thing i would love to buy (if i can get it here) is a basketball hoop as currently they have a wicker basket tied to a pole with the hole cut in the bottom of it!!!! it's cute but very flimsy and i can't image it lasting much longer.
we are still discussing the use of the rest of the money but will be sure to keep everyone up to date on what i purchase and how the money is being used to benefit the larger majority not just a few.
anyway...moving past Monday morning I then taught at the Little School and as always it's lots of fun with singing, alphabet, singing, numbers, singing, colours and ending with a book, milk, vitamins and more singing.
After dinner it was teaching with the Home of Affection kids and Alana was my helper today (not that i got her to do anything much but it was nice to have someone else in the class that understands me) as she will take over my class once i have left. I have to admit how stupid i am....i decided that i would teach the kids apostrophes....when i suggested this early in the day both Chan and Eva referred to it as contractions....i told them both that contractions are what you have if you pop out a child and nothing to do with the english language....we all laughed....i had no idea that these things had names to them....nothing like being the oldest and the dumbest on board the good ship 'english teacher'......anyway, i took my class and said nothing about contractions....they can't really understand me anyway so it's no point confusing them with words they'll never use..best just stick to teaching the concept and understand the rules of that concept....that's my way of thinking anyway. So i revise the plurals and the 'ing' words and then move on to the 'contractions'....i think my kids are really starting to understand and then i stumped them....i tried getting them use the plurals and contractions in one sentence so i wrote on the blackboard I have an eye and asked them to change it to I've got eyes (there is an ongoing dispute about whether or not that is proper english but who cares....as long as they can say it, spell it and understand it right!!)....the first kid had no idea how to spell 'got'...even when i told her each letter...she didn't understand the alphabet...i think i'll have to go back to the real basics for some of these kids but all in all it was an ok class...other than the fact that i had to call out 'Im Lung' to the teacher (which means quite) as he was calling out before the kids...again....at least this time he remained at the back of the class for most of it but did move down when we started working on 'contractions' he is such an attentive student...maybe i should sponsor him!!!!
We leave Home of Affection and Alana tells me i am a natural at teaching and she enjoyed the class and how i taught....aaawwww how nice....i was touched....
We come back home drop off our stuff and we head off to the Cendeluxe for a spoil at the Spa.
I've decided to go for the VIP treatment which is a package deal and includes a steam sauna, a dry sauna, a body wash (yes they wash you with disposable undies on), a hair wash, a herbal soak in a japanese bath, a spa bath with rose petals and then my girl washed me with the rose petals and also gave me a facial with them...ahh the indulgence....that is then followed by a combination of hot rock massage and japanese massage (which feels like thai massage but with a little bit of oil involved) and to top it all off i added to my package a facial which was being done at the same time as my body massage (while i was lying on my back of course)...all this for a huge amount of 280,000 dong which is equivilent to about $14 aussie dollars.....i've decided that i'm going back every night for the VIP treatment as this is probably my only chance of pure indulgence for so cheap!!!! besides we leave a nice tip and we are keeping them in business......
we get back from our pampering and decide we are hungry so we head out for the street stalls and some snails with rice wine....wasn't too fussed but is was nice to hang out and be away from the house for a bit...besides there was a bit of action in play as there was a fire in a house down an alley right next to where we were eating so two fire trucks pulled up and i can tell you they are not fast movers or thinkers...the trucks couldn't get down the alley so passers by ended up driving their scooters to the house and they managed to put the fire out without the help of the two trucks in the end....too funny...the firemen just stood around...didn't even bother to help out!!!! we did laugh as they pulled up because the new girls are twins with red hair and we joked that they thought they were on fire....childish but funny...at the time...not like this little town has seen red heads before and two that look the same!!!...they are fascinated...
Today being Tuesday we start the day the fishing village school, these kids are really adorable...some not so smart but man are they cute....i have this one little kid that just stands out..he's a real groover and everytime i sing a song (which they are supposed to sing along with me but don't) he grooves in his chair or he does some dance type moves...he even got them all clapping their hands at one stage....i do this class by myself so there was no one to ask to film it but it think next time i'll get one of the girls to come and film for a little bit...it's not a memory easy to forget but i'd like to see it over and over again...it makes you smile from deep down!!
We finish school and decide it's time for shopping after lunch...you know the essential supplies when you've got a house full of girls....chocolate, chips and any other kind of junk food that looks tasty.....we pull up and i go to use the ATM machine....i can't find my card...that is the second (and last) travelex card that i've lost...and now i can't access that money...for some reason i can not access my savings account, my cheque account or my visa card either (and yes i have these cards)...the ATM would not allow any transactions...
i am now 10 days away from leaving and have no access to money at the moment....I've send emails to Travelex and also to my gorgeous friend Lynne who has taken over my job in the hopes that someone can call the banks and travelex and find out what the fuck i do now!!!!...looks like my plans on having my VIP spoil every night this week have come to a grinding hault.....not happy!!!! and very frustrated that i have obviuosly forgotten to take my card after the money comes out...(it is hard though as you withdrawal 2or 3 million dong and it's a lot of cash coming out of the machine....it makes me nervous.....and obviously forgetful.....AHHHHHHHH
I'm now home alone as i needed to send emails and try figure out how to get money instead of going to SPC with the others which is a shame as i really wanted to have one last session with the physio's before they take off..hopefully we can squeeze one more session in with them and the kids...fingers crossed.
anyway that's it for now..
huge love to everyone
xxxxx