Another early start! 6.30! Ugh! I am definitely not looking forward to getting a real job when I get home with early starts. I went to the little store beside the flat and got some crackers and some probiotic yogurts to munch. After breakfast We left and headed to placement. When we arrived the first thing I noticed was a tv crew. How bizarre! The owner explained to us that Hanoi news station is doing a report on us for the evening news, so they would be sharking around taking footage. My room had tables laid out with colouring books and puzzles and I quickly sat down and started to help out. The kids were loving it. Some are very mentally challenged and struggled to do basic colouring, however others were loving it. What I found odd was as soon as the tv crew left, all the tables and chairs were packed up and the puzzles were put away. The room was pretty dire and the kids were just running with no attention from the carers. At one point all four were siting in the corner on their phones. At this point I was starting to feel quite deflated about the whole thing, and still felt like I wasn't wanted. I guess when these people see such an influx of volunteers they don't really care anymore.

Our time for the day came and we headed for some food courtesy of the placement. I had a traditional dish called fou which was delicious. It's a soup based dish with noodles, beef, beansprouts, potatoes and leeks. I ate every bit of it! Afterwards I had an iced coffee, as I was exhausted. It was also my first coffee in two months so it tasted extra special. We headed to a market but it was full of tacky crap, so we swiftly left and headed back to the flat. Tonight was our night out in Hanoi for all the volunteers so we took it in turns to shower using the charming communal shower flip flops. Gross. We got ready, took a few photos and hailed a cab to the old quarter. There was a massive group. Dee, Anna, Hannah, ju-Lynn, Paulino, Francesco, Henry, luca, sideburns (don't know his name), flo and Henry. Cousin Melissa was coming back from ha long bay today so I text her and ed to meet us later . We went to Hanoi backpackers and it was crazily busy. There was a great atmosphere and the group was having a great time and everyone got on well with mel and ed. The bar crawl started which we decided to join in on, and the next place was an Irish bar called finneghans. I always think I deserve a free drink in Irish bars but it doesn't ever happen. We were mid dance to some cheesy music and all of a sudden we realised it was big American jonnys 21st. Mel and I said we would defo make it so we gathered flo, dee and ed and headed to the flow bar to find our pals. We walked in and jonny, Aiden, big anita, two randomers and Aidens friend josh was there. We tried to give jonny a great birthday and bought him shots, had dance offs and generally brought the craic! After flow bar shut we headed to my favourite bar, half man half noodle! We went in and Aiden got me a drink and we hijacked our usual corner spot. We requested songs all night and mel was talking about how nice our time was together and how we have really gotten to know eachother. I definitely agreed, we had a fab time in china and she really is a star. Apart from the occasional moan ;) haha. Next thing we know it's 4am. I have no clue how that happened. Time flys when you are having fun!

We left half man half noodle and Left mel back at her hotel as she had to be up early. Jonny, Anita, dee Aiden and I headed to jonnys hostel while flo grabbed a taxi back to the flat. We listened to some music in the lounge and jonny was cracking off his jokes. I still stand by my statement that he is one of the funniest travellers ever! He probably weighs about 18 stone so seeing him hang off the back of a little moped is quite a sight. More time flew and the next time I looked at my phone it was 8am. Placement in an hour. Oh Jesus.