RMIT Hat Tournament and Friday Fun

RMIT Hat Tournament
Today, the RMIT University (where we play) ultimate club organized a hat tournament, and it was undoubtedly one of my favorite days in Viet Nam thus far. In a hat tournament, everyone registers individually and then everyone is divided into equal teams based on skill level. I woke up at 5:30am, headed to the bus stop at about 6am, met Khuong in District 1 when I arrived at the bus station at about 7am, then rode on the back of his motorbike to the fields. Although I was tired, I was super excited to play all day long.

My team had a first round bye followed by two 50-minute games before lunch and two games after lunch. Since we had a few no-shows, our team played savage (no substitutes) the first game. Throughout the day, different people came and went from our team for different reasons, but we were always outnumbered by our opponents. With the sun out, it was probably close to 90 degrees (F), so it was rough playing without subs. Each game we played was close, and everyone worked super hard. Even though we failed to win a single game, I had a ton of fun with my teammates.

It was just like any other tournament in the US with dew on the fields to welcome us, music, water, and fruit. Instead of apples or oranges, though, we had man to accompany the bananas. It's kind of like a lighter tasting apple. It's really good with a chili salt that usually comes with it when you buy a kilo at the market. For lunch, they brought in a couple different noodle and vegetable combos from a local restaurant.

The fields were pretty wet from the rain yesterday, and just when they were almost dry, today's rain came pouring down during the third round. It subsided just as the red and white teams were finishing their finals game and held off through the awards ceremony. The captains had deliberated and decided on a few different awards like "Best Defender," "Best Lay-outs," and "Most Spirited Team" (which my team was given for playing with so few people and losing every game). I was humbled when they presented me with an RMIT disc as the "Female MVP." Overall, I had such a blast with everyone, and it got me even more exited for Manila Spirits next week and the Vietnam Hat next month.

Friday Fun
Last Friday, which I forgot to talk about last time, I went to a Buddhist pagoda university. There are pagodas all over the city because, according to Wikipedia, "about 85% of Vietnamese identify with Buddhism, though not all practice on a regular basis." Tina, a Vietnamese woman who comes to the orphanage every so often to play with the kids, just started her own volunteer organization in HCMC. One of her volunteers, a girl from California, had been teaching the nuns and monks at this particular pagoda university for the past six months. She was leaving the following Monday, so her class threw her a party including lunch, some good bye and good luck speeches, and karaoke, of course. I was just tagging along with Tina, but somehow they suckered me into singing one of the most popular Vietnamese kids' song. Although I had learned it before, I had a couple of the monks sing it with me for reinforcement. The lunch was wonderful, and it was all vegetarian because many Buddhists don't eat meat either! Everyone there was extremely kind and welcoming; they even gave me some of the food to bring home. I'm going to rearrange my schedule so that I can start teaching there on Tuesday afternoons. It'll be more conversing than teaching because their English is pretty advanced, so they just want to practice speaking.

I started going with Nyun, the actual physical therapist at the orphanage, and Bastien, the French guy that's volunteering there, too, to take the kids to the American Chiropractic Clinic every Friday. The kids get hooked up to electrode pulsing machines, get massages, and get adjusted by either the American or French chiropractor. It's fun to be in a different environment with the kids, and I think they really like getting out of the orphanage for a bit, too. Plus, they love posing for pictures and can't get enough of my camera, so we have plenty of time for photo shoots while we wait. The staff there are sweet to the kids as well, and one guy who was there yesterday pulled out his wallet and gave Nyun $40 as a donation to the orphanage.

In other news this week...
-Traci and her mom left, so I'm living on my own now, which is kind of exciting in a way.
-I went to Ellen's new apartment for dinner on Wednesday, and she cooked a delicious vegetable curry with sweet sticky rice and mango for an authentic Vietnamese dessert.
-There was another big birthday party at the hospital for all the November birthdays, which the kids loved.
-Lauren and Sandy (the Australian women who come to the orphanage every Wednesday) set up a room with a bunch of mats and balls and let the kids go wild, which was entertaining to say the least.