Pics - finally!

So I'm hoping to post some pictures today to break up the long blocks of text. I wish I could package up a bit to Vietnam and transmit it via Internet to all of you. I'd throw in the scent of nuoc mam (fish sauce) and sweat and nuoc mia and bia hoi that pervades the streets. Then I'd add some dust, making it cling to your sweaty skin, and pouring it in your sandals. After that, I'd bottle up some sun, hot and intense. A trickle of sweat should snake down your back, right between your shoulderblades, pooling in the small of your back. Sweat should also bead up on your forehead, but it's not too bad, because you've swept up your hair on top of your head to mitigate the problem. There should be a chorus of horns blaring and motorbikes zooming by while the bicycles navigate their way on the edges of the streets. Horns, nuoc mam, sweat, and dust are unavoidable. Trash collects along the edges of the sidewalks and old women wash dishes in shallow plastic tubs on the sidewalks while streams of gray water find their way to the streets.


I wish you could see it: the beauty and the poverty of it.
I am not one of those people who longs for the majestic views of Europe - been there, done that. This, however, this hard life and the grace in every moment, that I can soak up. It is amazing. Breathtaking. I guess not everyone agrees with me, but I wish you could see it the way I do. With a mix of curiosity and wonder and weariness... I don't know if that makes sense...
So yeah, enough text, yes? Maybe some pictures?

Team Vietnam at training: Steven, Eleisa, Marsha, Aimee, Anna, Rick, and Heath. Front row: Me, Thanh, Mary, and Andrea.

There are more pics here, I think, but the computer is making me crazy. It's not showing the pics the way I'd like it to, so I'm giving up for now, but I'll definitely try to figure this thing out later... Blech technology!