We are home! All 24 ducklings safely returned to their families! :) I'm now at ease knowing that they are all safe and most likely sleeping at this hour of the night.

However, I feel as though there's something missing tonight - no 11:30 or 12am rounds to say 'good night' or 'lights out.' I will miss my ducklings....

This trip has been an absolutely amazing experience for me as the Team Leader. I'm extremely proud of the effort put forth by this group of amazing students!

Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication to this project! The Habitat staff were all very impressed by the amount of work we completed within the 4 days!

I’ve compiled some last notes and sweet memories of each and every one of you….

Thank you to...

Finlay and Frida for sharpening my waitressing and nursing skills.

Teghan for working on the doors with me and doing such a fantastic job!

Gaurav for being so very thoughtful and appreciative.

Philip for his late night entertainment at Green Club Resort and the great shots of me!

Tait for keeping me suspecting…you know what I mean.

Alex for reminding me of the HB pizza party and being willing to help arrange it…and keeping me suspecting…

Karl for all his efforts and losing at our shovelling match.

YeWon for painting over all the ants on the windows.

Karoline for her fine work on sanding the window panels and doors. Thank you for your dedication to the HFH-OFS building initiatives for 2 consecutive years!

Jack, Meng and Stepan for basking in the sun and shovelling heaps of sand for the foundation of the house.

Stepan for reminding me of the time every 2 minutes.

Jack for his iPhone (or lack of).

Julian for his hard work and being so easy going with everything.

Mayu for being so cheerful and keeping me young!

Chiuliu for her eagerness to help with painting the doors despite having other difficulties.

Jing Chao and Chiuliu for their excellent singing during the Cultural Exchange with the Dong Nai community.

Amund for his quiet and calm help with everything from shovelling sand to cleaning up.

Priscilla for reminding me of how it used to be as an adolescent.

Daniel for his excellent speeches and amazing work on-site.

Loraine and my bargain shopping at the Saigon Market on the last day.

Sonam for reminding me that we need to smell 'fresh' :) and keeping me posted!

Emilie, Teghan and Lydia for the ‘girl talk’ and then leaking it to all the boys!

Mr. Glover and Mr. Ussher for your assistance during this trip!

I hope that each and every one of you enjoyed this trip and that you will continue to make a difference in the lives of others in need.

Wishing you all a very safe and relaxing summer - you definitely deserve it!

I'll miss you all...

Ms. 2

(NOTE: This was written on the 4th June, and edited recently)

Home at last...

Well we made it. What an unbelievable experience it has been for us all and so many fantastic memories and experiences shared. Thank you all for being such wonderful guys... I won't forget this trip in a hurry... Oh yes and if I do need to refresh my memory, this blog will still be on the net to remind me of all the wonderful things we have shared together... Sleep well *) Mr. Glover

3th of june, one to the last dayyy

Yesss shopping day,

In the evening we went to the shopping mall, the thing I like most, next to building houses of course !!
First we went to the tunnels which was quite fascinating and a different experience. After that we went shopping in our clothes which were all dirty, but nobody really care. There were so many nice traditional Vietnamese souvenirs, that I bought almost all. Since I didn’t know that you can’t just switch from store once you almost bought something, the woman who I didn’t buy the souvenir at got really angry and started to yell at me when I tried to leave the store. I was really surprised that she did that because it was really obvious and awkward. Eventually I thought it was really funny because I imagine if she would do it in for instance Singapore she wouldn't have got away with it. After that we went out eating with miss Tu which was also really funny. Don’t really like it that Miss Tu is leaving haha.
Loraine

Some movie memories...

Egg shells and heroism...

We have spent the last day exploring the egg shell painting workshops of the Disabled Workers Commune and crawling around in the dark confines of the Cu Chi Tunnels. After the demanding physicality of the last few days, today was a day to unwind and explore some of Vietnam's amazing history...

One house a couple of walls and some amazing students...

As our trip winds down to the final day I am quietly happy with all we have achieved in a few very meaningful, indelible days of sweaty energy. As you have no doubt noticed in all of the reflections posted on this site over the last few days, everyone has enjoyed this experience and everyone will be taking more than trinkets and tan-lines with them as they board the plane tomorrow. As a teacher this has been a fantastic experience and one that has left its mark on me as well. After all the bricks have been carried and after all the floors have been pounded and after we were obliged to leave Dong Nai under frustrating circumstances, everyone was smiling and our team was still cracking jokes and enjoying themselves. They have gelled as a group of friends and without exception have rallied to whatever challenge they have faced, positivley and without complaint. I would like to thank you all for doing such a fantastic job over the last few days... This trip would have been nothing without you all :)

Here are a few more pictures to tie things off at Dong Nai construction site 2 (The one without the roof) Mr. Glover

sonam

Today was the last day for us to build the houses. We were very proud of how hard we had work and how much effort we put into building the houses. After working with the veitnam locals for almost a week, I got attached to them and wanted to work as hard as possible on the last day to make their house look better. After working at the site, the family cooked lunch for us and talk about their impression toward us. I was glad to hear that they appreciate our work and they thanked us very emotionally for our effort. That really touched me. This experience in veitnam is very enriching. We learned so much about veitnam culture, their habits, their food and most of all the we learned the meaning of giving and receiving. We build their house, we earned their respect and hospitality in return. I would never ever forget this experience. It kinda change me. I’m saying it for real. I have never then hard work in my life. I don’t even clean my room or and do dishes. Now, I can say that I help build the house, I did shoveling, digging, work till my back was sore and stiff. I’m really proud of myself and proud of all my friends who work till their limit to make the house a success.
Sonam

Last day at building site+grape fruit farm

Today I woke up because of a loud cough from my room mate Frida who unfortunately is ill with a flu, but hopefully she will soon get better. Also today was our last day at the building site, so we didn’t really do much just finishing laying some tiles and then saying bye and thanks to the family and the people from habitat for humanity. It felt very satisfying to be done with the working even though the house is not fully finished, but I must say that we did get a fair amount of work done in the 4 days we have been working. Despite my aching body and the fact that my hands are so sore that I can barely hold on to a water bottle any more , the whole experience was still worth it and to see the smiles on the families faces when we finished off , was priceless. Im so happy I joined this trip because it has taught me a lot about myself, my fellow students, the community of Dong Nai and just about the world we live in.

After we had said bye to the family we had to go to a grape fruit farm. Everyone thought it was kind of pointless and did not really see what we were doing there. However Lydia decided to entertain us all in our boredom. She wanted to show us the good side of being short by not having to bend down in order to go under the grape fruit trees. This resulted in her walking into a big branch and falling down in a deep hole. Definitely the highlight of the day. Later we had to leave Dong Nai because our work pẻmit with the local communist partyẽpired. We had to leave despite the fact that we had build houses for them?? .... So now we are back in Ho Chi Min looking forward to a good nights sleep after a long day.



-The kids at our building site







-The amount of work we did on our last day

Group photo1
Group photo2 - the "Funny photo"


-Emilie

Wrapping things up...

I woke up to the glorious sight of Stephan in underpants. I lay there for about another ten minutes before deciding to get up for breakfast, and after a small bout of morning moaning, I settled down for Frosties. Om nom nom. We only had to do a half-day of work today, and the teachers made some of the people working on the other site help us to do some of the work. This meant that we had less work to do, and more time to ^ahem^ ‘rest’ and eat watermelon, after managing to teach the village children the first line of ‘in the jungle’. After work finished and we went through the leaving ceremony, we headed off to worksite number two, to say goodbye to them too. One of the habitat staff came up to our table and poured what looked like orange juice into a shot glass, then goes “Dong nai whiskey ah!” And he allowed us all to have a bit which was pretty nice of him while the teachers pretended to ‘look the other way’. When saying goodbye to all the families I can’t help but think about just how friendly they’ve been, and how nicely they’ve all treated us, especially the village kids, they helped with a load of work. Sure the work was difficult, and you seriously sweat like a pig, but it’s satisfying just standing back and looking at an empty space where there used to be a couple of thousand bricks or a huge pile of dirt and thinking, “We just did that”. It may sound stupid, but I am going to miss the work. And my mum is probably going to hold that statement against me for the next couple of months, “Jack, do the dishes because I know how much you like work”. But for the humungo amount of money we paid for this trip, it was all worth every penny. Especially the KFC stop on the way back to Ho Chi Minh. Hehe. (Jack)

Our Crib Was Done

Two thousand and eight hundred dollars, which here would come to around twenty eight million dong, would treat you well when booking your luxury holiday to one of the many exotic locations off our home of Singapore. This thought would probably have run through the minds of many of my fellow students, as well as my self, when asking our parents if we could burn an already increasing hole in their pockets in order to go on an intense labor filled holiday. In fact I think my mum asked me if I was feeling ok. But the difference between this trip and ones that involve the luxurious and exotic island is the cause that we are doing it for as well as the unforgettable experience. Now that the house my group and I have been working on has been roofed and provided with a functional foundation and tiled floor I have found I feeling of satisfaction and pride knowing that a family that just manages to save two thousand dong a day can sleep at night without worrying about getting wet or having there furniture blown away. The hospitality of the family and habitat for humanity could not have been any better. I have learned so much about the Vietnamese people and culture as well as enjoying the hard work that we have done, especially for some one like me who struggles to sit still for more than five minuets. So compared to the luxury holiday to one of the many exotic locations off our home of Singapore I will not be forgetting this trip any time soon and I am be extremely grateful for the experience and opportunity that I have taken home with me.

Daniel Rodgers