In Vietnam I had a few personal interactions with some children, more than just asking them for a picture while they posed with a huge smile.
In the Mai Chau region of Vietnam I went on a guided 3-day walk. At the end of the journey, my guide and I needed to wait for our ride to my next destination. As we sat, two children, a girl and a boy, randomly and curiously came up to me. They smiled, sat down next to me, and seemed quite interested in my journal, as I had been writing to pass the time. While I could not speak Vietnamese, and they did not speak English, I motioned for them to write something in my journal, offering them the journal and a pen.
At first they didn’t seem to understand what I was trying to ask them, so I wrote my name on a piece of paper to demonstrate, said my name and pointed to myself. Then each of them then wrote their names, to which I read them out loud as best as I could. We smiled at each other, as if the formal introductions had taken place.
Then the boy took my pen again and copied my name in his own writing. I did my best to copy their names. The exchange continued. We began to draw pictures. I’m not the most artistic person, so I actually let them do most of the drawing. Smiley faces and happy people.
After the drawing session, they showed me how to blow bubbles from some plant that happened to be right where we were sitting. No kidding. It was quite fascinating. If you split the stem in a certain way, you can actually blow bubbles, like a child’s toy of a bottle of bubbles and a wand.
Then they went off to go climb a tree.
After a while, our ride showed up, and I needed to say goodbye to the children. What a fun time I had with them!
Sweet Travels!