Okay, so I appologize it has been so long since I blogged but a lot has happened. I probably could have blogged about allthese things individually but lucky for you I will just give you the readers digest version. So I passed my boards. We bought a new car. We decided that throwing 2 grand into a car that has 195000 miles, leaks anti-freeze, burns oil, and occasionally won't start was probably not a great idea. We got a 2009 Toyota corolla. It was actually cheaper than the 2008 and 2007 models. Weird but true. I think it helped that I was able to swing a sweet deal thanks to my friends at carbuyingtips.com. I went to Vietnam on my externship and Amy went to Abby's house in Tennessee for Easter. I will let Amy blog about Easter b/c I wasn't really there.
So Vietnam. I went with Operation Smile. They are normally only a surgical based organization that corrects cleft-lips and palates. They are running a pilot program for the last few years that is basically a dental mission. The dental mission provides emergency and preventative care to underserved people in Vietnam. It is the only dental mission that Op Smile has in the world. They are using Vietnam to see if they want to take it worldwide. Op Smile is a fantastic organization and they subsidized much of the trip. I payed $460 and they covered the rest: roundtrip air, 10 nights lodging, three meals/day, and cabs to and from the hospital. It was awesome. There were two teams that went. One went to Hue, Vietnam, and the other was in Hanoi. I stayed in Hanoi. I was bummed at first b/c Hue is much more rural but I ended up loving Hanoi.
This is John McCain's flight suit and parachute from when he was shot down and captured over Hanoi. Notice the blood on the parachute.
This is a picture from inside the "Hanoi Hilton" where the North Vietnamese imprisoned US pilots during the war. This is where McCain was.
This is a picture of a US plane that was shot down. It is on display at one of their war museums.
Team Hanoi and some of the volunteers
Check out this random volunteer's shirt. Go Ags!!!
Me on a motorbike. Everyone rides motorbikes over there. I took this little number for a spin.
Treating one of the kids. 
This restraunt cooked the meat on a super-heated slab of granite at your table. No external heat source. It was pretty cool.
We went to Ha Long bay which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. 
A picture of the bay from the entrance to a cave that we toured.
Drinking a coconut on a floating house boat.
Ha Long bay at dusk.
Sea kayaking in the bay.
Getting my karaoke on. The vietnamese love their karaoke.
I bought some oil on canvas replicas. Two Van goughs and a Monet. $40 each. Pretty good deal I think. I have the guys website if anyone is interested. He can replicate pretty much anything. 
7 comments:
That's really awesome. What a great opportunity. Looks beautiful and of course wonderful that you could help them. McCain should get some of those pictures out in the media....it would help his campaign. Very interesting and sad.
Wow. That is a great opportunity for you. Brad has gone to Peru to do medical missions for the last few years. He loves it. I can imagine that it is an amazing experience. I love the picture of you on the bay. The Mountains are breath taking! One more place I need to visit.
wow Bryce!! It looks like your trip was awesome!! Those are some really great pictures. You can direct people to my website if they want to see Easter. Let's face Amy is not going to blog it... Just teasing Amy. I love you guys!
P.S. Amy does do an great job at scrapbooking, so that's why she doesn't blog
Wow! I am impressed with your photo-journaling Bryce. Nate and I always seem to forget our camera. It looks pretty cool. Sen. McCain's stuff is pretty eerie.
That is some cool pictures.. Congrats on the new car. We will have to check it out. I loved the aggie shirt!!
When do we get to be a link???
That was really cool that you were able to go over there and help Bryce. Remember the good old days in San Carlos when we were referring kids way up in the bukid to operation smile? Good times. I love reading your blogs, they make me and my wife life, usually out loud but sometimes to myself as I shake my head. :)
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