As a VIA alum, I’d have to say that it was one of the best experiences of my life. Like all “one of the best experiences of my life” stories, I met new friends whom I still keep in touch with, saw things that I never thought I’d ever see or even knew existed, ate some of the world’s best foods, struggled with new cultures, struggled with myself, fell in love, got lost on a new adventure, shared in laughs and tears…

It was amazing.

Now is the recruiting season for VIA. If you are looking to do something abroad- whether you know what you want to do or not- take the time to look at the below links and see if it sparks your interest. There’s so much of the world to see. There’s so many wonderful people to meet and get to know. Take that chance and live out a new story in your life. I’ll do my best to share some of the ones I’ve had in a new category called “Volunteer in Asia with VIA”.

Brief VIA Information Page

VIA Website

If you have questions, feel free to leave it in the comments section or contact VIA directly. I had tons- and they answered them all.

Not to say that it’s not impressive, but I thought that- it being a temple meant that- you could go inside it. Nope.

The stone carvings- from lava rocks- were impressively detailed. It was sad to see that some of the Buddhas had either been completely stolen or had their heads taken off. Most likely to be sold to a collector.

I think that’s how we all feel about technology. We’re so use to it in our lives and on most days, it seems to work seemlessly. But on the days that it’s a tad slow or worse, not available, it just plain sucks.

One of the great movements of technology into our daily lives is the sharing of information. Rather, allowing for the greater access of digital files. In the past, and sometimes today, it was something of a mystery to get or share files. One way around it was to attach a file to an email, and email yourself. (I still do that from time to time.) Another way could be to use Google Docs. Even when you have your file “up there”, you may want to share it with someone else. This usually happens, per file. Yeah, you could arrange to share a folder, but that’s a few more steps than the average person wants to take. Next thing you know you have dozens of different web services accounts to do a little bit of everything. Think about it…

Gmail, Yahoo!, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, Flicker, Kodak, Picasa, DropBox, etc…………….

Multiple accounts because not everyone you know uses the same thing, and not every service provides what you want.

I know that not every service is supposed to be used for everything, and that we don’t want to share everything with all of our “friends” on Facebook, but you probably have 5 close people you want to share things with. Let’s narrow that down some more. Say you have 5 family members that you want to share things with, or a group of 5 close friends. You’re spread out all over the globe- heck, you could even be a small company- and want to share files, but also music, pictures, and recipes.

Technically speaking, the simplest solution would be to implement a file server that gives access to multiple users. Linux would be the cheapest solution, using Samba and SWAT. Yes, but not as pretty or as aesthetically pleasing as what the average user is accustomed to when it comes to installation, setup, and management.

Enter the HP solution.

HP EX485 MediaSmart Home Server (2.0 GHz Intel Celeron 64-Bit Processor, 750 GB Hard Drive, Windows Home Server)

And it’s cheap, too.

Links:
- http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI2ZG4
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

I’ll be setting up one of these bad boys next week at an NGO, and I am excited! I think every household, small business, or NGO should have one of these.

However, I do say this without having ever used Windows Home Server and can say that I am influenced by the hype and reviews online. But the potential in what I’ve read sounds exciting. I’ll have a post-op published at the start of May to validate or smash down my high hopes.

Action stations.

The streets were crowded; motorbikes everywhere. The closer we got to the lake, the more dense the crowd got. There’s 10 minutes to midnight and I’m exchanging text messages with friends to meet up before the countdown starts. There are so many people at the lake and I’m expecting, at least, a very big fireworks show. Along with the New Year’s Eve, there’s also a flower festival going on at the lake, and this is it’s first day. Many displays are set up like artwork along the street and people are posing for pictures. I try to meet up with my friends but it’s impossible to catch anyone in the crowd.

By now it’s 11:57 so my girlfriend and I move toward the lake to get a better view. Everyone seems to have the same idea. As we wait, we watch lanterns being lit and flying higher into the sky.

11:59. We’re all waiting and looking around for a sign of some announcer, countdown, or sign of fireworks.

I look at my phone. 12:00. Then I look at my girlfriend and everyone around, but they look as confused as me. Then I thought, “Well, this is Vietnam. Things do start a little late, here.”

12:07. Hmm… I’m really confused at this point. The couple next to us basically says, “Well… nothing’s happening. Time to go home.” And they left. Soon after, everyone had the same idea and the crowd started to disperse. My girlfriend in her infinite wisdom says, “Because of the inflation, Vietnam is too cheap to spend money on fireworks. You have to wait until Tet (Vietnamese New Year’s). Poor you.”

After a few more minutes of standing around, we start walking up the street to look at the flowers and finally meet up with my friends. The night ends with some food and drinks. No countdown, but good enough for me.

The below prices are from my favorite pho place to eat at in Ha Noi. It can be found at Pho Am Thuc, facing Tran Phu street.

Yikes.

• Sent 872 kids back to school and training
• Provided accommodation to 71 girls and boys
• Served 50,898 meals
• Built or repaired 14 homes for families
• Distributed 2,168 litres of milk
• Handed out 10,570 kgs of rice
• Reunited 47 runaway children with their families
• Taken 173 kids to a doctor or hospital
• Put 4 teens through drug rehab
• Obtained legal registration papers for 110 children
• Rescued 33 trafficked children
• Placed 33 teens in jobs
• Played 514 games of soccer!

Prior to coming to Viet Nam, I did some research on what I wanted to do. One was teaching. The other was working with Blue Dragon. This past year, I got to do both.

Blue Dragon is a non-profit organization that works with disadvantaged children and their families. They provide services such as education, scholarships, food, accommodation, but most importantly, they provide a caring relationship for the children.

It’s somewhat ironic, actually. I first attempted to contact Blue Dragon before coming to Viet Nam in an attempt to seek a volunteer position. I never heard back from them. That’s fine. I figured they had more pressing issues to deal with.

When I contacted VIA to find out more about the program and different posts, Christine mentioned that one of the previous volunteers was working in Ha Noi and volunteering with Blue Dragon- now she works for Blue Dragon, full time. I eventually got to meet this person on arrival to Ha Noi, and we have been friends since. Now I volunteer at Blue Dragon once a week helping to translate documents. This summer, I will help to teach the kids how to swim.

The kids are amazing and the staff is wonderful. I wish I could give more to the organization, but I can’t. I am, however, thankful that I can give what little I am doing now. I hope to be in touch with this organization for a long time.

To find out more about the organization, please click on the website link below.

Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation

Dang.

On a good note, I’m liking the new Firefox 3 and WordPress 2.5.1. Good coding. I always appreciate good code. Kudos to the developers.

Summer… What is that? It’s no longer synonymous with “vacation” once you leave school. Ahh, I’ll still squeeze in some travel time.

It rained for 7 hours straight starting at 5PM, and I believe it is still raining- although, not as heavy as it was earlier.

I’ve seen other people tread through water here but I thought I would never allow myself to get caught out in that much rain. ‘Should have knocked on wood.

Tonight, while coming home after a birthday dinner and, afterwards, a cup of iced coffee with my girlfriend where we had an interesting conversation (saved for a future post), was a “whoa, that’s a lot of rain” moment.

Firstly, driving to the bus stop on the back of a motorbike was cold and wet. Even as I did my best to hide from the rain under a rain jacket, I still got soaked from the waist down. Then, my girlfriend- cute as ever- dropped me off a block away from the bus stop. It was hard to see with the downpour. Yeah, I got soaked walking my way back to the designated pickup point.

On the way home, some parts of the road had rain up to eighteen inches. Cars, motorbikes, and people were still trudging their way through.

The driving here is somewhat dangerous and risky, but even in the rain, the drivers still took chances with each other. In this case, it was a bad move for one motorbike who was hit by our bus. In an attempt to merge in front of the bus, the bike got hit, but I don’t think it was that bad because after the collision, the bus driver and ticket person got out to investigate but returned and drove off after one minute. However, this is usually what happens when an accident that isn’t “serious” occurs. I hate to think of it, but maybe death is the only case when the driver will actually stop and wait for police. As the bus continued on its route, I could see that the motorbike and passenger were trying to collect themselves and continue on their way as well. Sadly, this happens a lot in Viet Nam.

On the rest of the trip home, the water level reached two feet in some places and the bus kept going- albeit, slowly. As my stop approached, I did what the other passengers did- took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my pants, and got ready to hit the water.

At first, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Then, I remembered about the sewage system. That gave me the jitters. All I could do was just keep going. How else was I going to get home?

On the university grounds, especially near my dormitory, the water came up to my knee-caps. Ugggghhhh… I finally made it home, and jumped in the shower for a long cleansing.

Wow. The International Relations staff wasn’t joking when they said that sometimes the locals refer to Ha Noi as “Ha Loi”. “Loi”, meaning “to wade through water”. Eh, what can you do but laugh it off? It makes for good stories at the office.

27 MAY 2008 UPDATE: Link to an earlier downpour to give you an example of the flooded streets.