A coincidence

To anyone cosidering a trip to a developing country, be warned, you will need vaccines, and they will cost nearly as much as your plane ticket. Not to mention the process of getting your vaccines will be spread out over a two month period, so don't go traipsing into any old clinic thinking you can knock the whole thing out in two weeks like I did. "Tra-la-la la-la" I thought, "this will be easy, I'll go in, they'll stick me with a couple needles and I'm looking at 300 hundred bucks" Well the doctor practically laughed in my face. You see, there are alot of deiseases and infections in third world countrys that wimpy North Americans such as myself are apt to come down with sans medication. Polio, typhoid, encephalitis and my favourite, dengue fever also known as break-bone fever. So I would be wanting the pricey meds if I wanted to come home alive.

I was referred to a travel clinic by my snickering G.P. and I left the clinic feeling pretty disheartened when I noticed the name of the doctor on my referal. Debula. "Debula..oh holy crap" the doctor running the travel clinic was the same doctor who delivered me. Now, this would be neat little coincidence for anyone, but for me it seemed more like fate. This man saved my life the day I was born. See apparently on my way out of the womb I panicked, and, well..shit myself, while at the same time attempting my first breath. I inhaled my own crap before I was even done being born which sealed my lungs shut like glue. When the doctor noticed the lack of breathing on my part he promptly started syphoning my little lungs like he needed gas, and breathed the life back into me. So this now had me thinking, the guy saved my ass before..maybe he could do it again.

What?

When you've driven 35 kilometers into the backwoods, you don't expect to get cell service let alone an invitation to the other side of the world. But that is exactly how this all started.

 Two weeks ago I had gone with my sister and her boyfriend for a little off roading, we had gone about as far as we had wanted and were thinking about turning back when Raene said she had a text message from our dad. I should give my grandparents a call, something about going to Vietnam with Gwen. A friend of my Grandparents who traveled overseas a lot, but I had never actually met. It certainly gave me a lot to think about on the drive home.

I had the chance to go to Vietnam and help students to practice their English skills. Turns out as a young, energetic native speaker I was in demand. I knew I'd be crazy not to do it, so I put together a CV and got in touch with the right people. A few days later I was talking to some very sweet ladies at the Victory Center in Tra Vinh.

The long and short of it went something like this,

"When can you come?"
"Well, as soon as possible, when do you need me?"
"Can you leave at the end of the month?"
"Um, yes."

I'm not a wealthy kid, and airfare isn't cheap. But I have a little money, and parents that would, in their own words, "knock over a freakin liqour store if we have to". Well our situation isn't that extreme, and thanks to some sacrifice on their part, I'm going.