Lucky

So we finally made it to Vietnam. It was a really long flight, followed by a short stopover in Hong Kong, and then another much much much shorter flight(Thank God).

I was so exhausted by the end of these two flights that I wasn't even feeling like myself by the time we got to Vietnam. That all changed very quickly when we were greeted so generously by the Nuns from the Holy Cross,Alan Zweifler, and his wife Spring. It was a very warm welcoming ... one which I wasn't expecting.

The Nuns were so sweet and although they knew they wouldn't be able to take us to our hotel with Alan and Spring, they still came down to the airport.I look forward to talking with them some more over dinner on Friday.

Vietnam is breathtaking. Alan and his wife were kind enough to help us get to the hotel and then took us out to eat some real Vietnamese food. Alan takes every opportunity he can to remind us that he is so lucky to have a wife like Spring. However, it is us who are so lucky to have them both showing us the ropes in Vietnam.I was especially surprised to learn that Spring is an entrepreneur. I was also shocked to learn that much of Vietnam earns about a dollar a day. It's a lot to take in with all this jet lag, but I can already see a home for GLOBE in Vietnam.

Tomorrow we are going to meet with Nike and Cu Chi Women Union and some borrowers. I think this will be an insightful look into micro finance in Vietnam.

Till Tomorrow ......

- Alina R. =]



By The Way go to the link to get some background on Alan (he is truly amazing): http://testwww.stjohns.edu/about/news/items/pr_uni_091110.news_item@digest.stjohns.edu/about_us/pr_uni_091110.xml