We are now coming up to our last couple of days in Da Lat. It's been a great week. Wednesday we went back out to the village. We took with us all the stuffed animals, books, pens, crayons, etc that we'd had donated from Australia, plus some extra stuff we'd bought. We went to the little school room and gave it to the kids and teacher there. At first they weren't too sure what to do, as I don't think they realized it was all for them. Once they caught on though, it was big smiles all around! They sat and started playing with them all and testing it all out.

I then had a group of ladies the priest asked me to teach dancing to. The plan was that they would learn, then go and show the other people in the village so that at the party on Friday night, everyone would be able to do it. Well, I have never had a more enthusiastic group of students! We did the combination dance we did at the last show, and every time if finished, they would all start saying "again, again, more, more". After the tenth time I tried to convince them my legs were sore - by this point I was also covered in sweat - but they just insisted on doing it again. They were having a ball!

After that I taught some jazz, then we taught the art of the Hokey Pokey and all the corny kids games the kids in South Africa have taught me over the last few years. I don't know about the ladies, but I certainly slept well at the end of the day!!

We stayed and had lunch with the priest, then headed back to the city. Naomi and I then set off on our mission - to buy gifts and food for the 250 kids who will be attending our party in the village tomorrow night. Well, we had a ball! We bought everything from tricycles to dominoes to crayons to cross stitch sets. We also made the day of 3 different little shop keepers - we've been trying to buy from the local stalls as they are cheaper and need the money much more. One lady's son was in the shop as we were buying, and he was so excited he was jumping up and down. What we spent in 20 minutes was probably two months wages. It's so nice to help out the community when buying like that.

Today Naomi, Peggy and I did a tour of the city and countryside, which was great - went to a couple of waterfalls, some nice lookouts, the Crazy House (see the pics) and the "Valley of Love".

I think my thighs will be appreciating Da Lat, as it is all hills and stairs, and Nay and I have done so many laps of this city in the past week we've lost count! Tomorrow is our party in K'ren, then early Saturday morning we head back to the rat race (Saigon!). Sunday we will go into Cambodia for a few days.