Hey everyone! I am currently working at Montreat Summer Camp at the daycare for the 2nd summer in a row, and wanted to update you on the travel plans for my second trip to Asia (I just can't get enough!) In one month, I'll be on a plane to Ho Chi Minh again, and here are the details for that part of the trip:

~August 14- November 14, Ho Chi Minh City~ I will be living free of charge with a family of 5 in one of the very nice parts of Ho Chi Minh (Phu My Hung area of Quan or district 7) in exchange for English lessons. And as if it doesn't already sound like a sweet deal; it's only a 10 min. walk to Long Hoa, the boys orphanage I began working at in the last two weeks of the first trip. And I found it on Vietnam Craigs List, so hopefully it's legit :)

My only plans for HCMC are volunteering, and the organizations I will be working with are 1) The Dieu Giac Pagoda again, the origional one from the last trip 2) Long Hoa Boys Orphanage, which I will visit often living so close 3) Son Ky Street Children Shelter, an all boys home with about 55 boys living in a two story house and so far they have never had a foreign volunteer. I'll be giving many of them their first English lessons :) 4) The Friends For Street Children Project which runs 5 centers all around Ho Chi Minh- waiting for details on what their needs are to see what I'll be doing. 5) And finally the Green Bamboo Warm Shelter, yet another all boys street children center, and they are partner organizations with the Little Rose Warm Shelter for girls, so I may be frequenting that as well since it's not far from Long Hoa. Well hopefully I'm not spreading myself too thin!

~November 14- December 20, Pattaya Thailand/Cambodia~ My next stop is Thailand, where I'll be taking a one month course to become TESOL/TEFL certified. The program I'm going with actually takes us to Cambodia for a two week training course at the Phnom Penh University, but that's all the infos I have on that bit for now. I will be living in the Walking Street area of Pattaya, which is most comparable to the red light district of Amsterdam, so that should be a culture shock. While in Pattaya I'll be visiting orphanages, schools and street children drop-in centers under the Pattaya Orphanage Trust in whatever time I'm not studying.

From Thailand, I'm headed to Maui Hawaii to finally see the family after 4.5 months! We're spending the Holidays there and then flying back to North Carolina where I'll be at home for 2 weeks before classes start at Warren Wilson! After a year and a half, I think I'll be ready to go back to school. But I'm already thinking of doing some sort of SE Asian study abroad..... :)