Vietnam and KOTO in Audio Visual

First off check out the film made by Sebastien Ranger for the KOTO graduation.

I hope you enjoy it.  Sebastien, all round good guy that he is, completed the work free of charge, and as you can see it must have taken a hell of a lot of work.  If you want something similar then contact me and I'll put you in touch with Seb.

Secondly, the graduation pictures are now finally all uploaded in their technicolour largeness.  Check out the smiles and tears here.

The pic above is of a very red faced me (from the heat, not the beer) being chucked up in the air by the kids.  Almost ruining my new locally made $30 suit, shirt and tie ensemble. First and possibly only time I will wear such an outfit in Vietnam. The pic is by Matt from Le Pub.

I also just wanted to say thanks to a couple of people who wrote recently to boost me from the bad mood and stress that has been sticking with me.  The good news is that I now feel totally rehabilitated.  I'm whistling to work again and annoying people with my cheerfulness.

This is despite work being very pressured. Work right now is tough.  Really tough.  We have hard choices to make and some real decisions to decide upon regarding the future of KOTO.  I feel strong enough now to be a part of those choices and to face the challenges.  I believe so much in the team here and what we are doing.

This weekend is a very welcome four-dayer thanks to national holidays.  I'm heading up to Tra Co on the Chinese border.  It's a bit of a journey into the unknown.  If any one has been there and has any travels or accommodation tips then I'd love to hear from you.  I've been told that it's dead this time of year (suits me) and there is no need to book a hotel, even though it's a national holiday.  Is that really true?

To all the Vietnamese and Vietnam-based tays out there - hope you enjoy your weekend.

Comments

[Fyse]

Wow, that video's amazing. Gave me a tingly feeling watching it, and I don't even have anything to do with KOTO. I can only imagine what it does to you. KOTO does amazing work, and it must be fantastic to be a part of. (I've been reading for a long time now by the way, but haven't commented in ages.)

[OMIH]

Thanks Fyse. Yes it is fantastic to be part of it. Overall the most stressful, most exasperaing, most wonderful job I've ever had.

There's a few KOTO films knocking about. But most are news reports or some such and we've been warned about uploading them to websites. But there might be a couple more in the pipeline. Especially now I have discovered www.youtube.com

Thanks for reading and stopping by.

[Miss Kitty]

Great postings, especially about your adventures [ahem] in Tra Co. Hang in there, OMIH--the tough times will eventually pass. You'll get it all sorted out. The work you're doing is of the best kind--you're changing young people's lives for the better.