Airport Lounging

Team Earth nametag!

                The recognition that I was about to embark on a two week trip to Vietnam hadn’t quite hit me until I was in the car, headed to LAX, while going through a frantic mental checklist of what I might have forgotten to pack. When we got to the airport, I immediately spotted our huge group that was already there in Terminal B and felt a sense of excitement mixed with anxiety. I already felt behind, as I scrambled to tape the address sign onto my medical supplies box. My team leader, Alex, then gave me our team t-shirt and my name tag, which helped calm my anxiety because I was finally there, and checked in and it was official.

                I separated from the group after we all checked in our luggage because my family all wanted to grab food on the top floor. This trip would also be a little different for me because my dad, my uncle, and my cousin would also be with me. Yet, I hope to spend a lot of time with the rest of our group also. Finally, we drifted towards the gate to our flight and my dad and I said our goodbyes to my mom.

                Here, as I’m writing at the airport in Seoul, I know that this is just a transition period between our homes and Vietnam. Many of us are either napping, or trying to find something to do with our time as we wait (showering, playing on Ipads, etc.) We had our team trivia competition earlier with team Air as the winner! Afterwards, we took our team pictures and had some time to chat together with our teammates.

Team meetings

Dental team meeting

                The bloggers (Cece, Tuan, Anton and me!) are currently having a meeting as I’m writing this and so I feel a little better having something to do. This year, we’re having 3 clinic days soon after our arrival day in Vietnam so I’m a little nervous but I know that it will work out in the end because we are all taking part in something that we are all passionate about.

Collecting our luggage and medical supply boxes in Tan Son Nhat airport

- Vivien