VACB and PUPPIES!! cont.

Why did we cross the river? To get to the other side of the village, duh!

This is Ricky! I asked if I could keep him. I even promised to feed it, and walk it and take care of it. But unlike my mom when I got my puppy at home, SIT totally called my bluff.

Snake Farm! Fun Fact: Snakes take legit poos.

Sorry about the confusion. I can't actually see my blog most of the
time, so I send in updates via email. I didn't realize that it only
posted part. But here is the other part that was supposed to be there.
We had lecture at a local farmer's house, where we learned about the
VACB system. VACB is a Vietnamese accronym that stands for Garden,
Livestock, Fish pond and Biogas. Basically, in this system, they use
diversification to make sure that they are bringing in the dough. So,
they grow fruit and vegetables that can be sold year round, fish that
can be harvested every few weeks and livestock that can be sold every
6 to 8 months. It is a really neat system to see. The livestock can
also vary on each farm, so we saw two pig farms and one SNAKE farm.
The biogas system is a very handy development. Basically, you collect
the human and livestock poo in a huge plastic bag. The methane and
carbon dioxide then raise out of the system and are collected in
another huge plastic bag. These gases are then used for cooking, and
hopefully soon, generators. But don't worry, the food doesn't taste
like poo, even though it is made with gases made from poo.
The coolest part of the day though...PUPPIES!!! We got to play with
puppies. They were so adorable. I just wanted to bring all of them
home with me, but that wasn't possible. But they were soooooo cute. I
named one Bandit and I carried him around for 15-20 minutes during nap
time. I played with the dogs instead of napping, since I have turned
into an ol' granny and go to bed at, like, 9:30 or 10pm. But today, I
named the other puppy Ricky. Ricky and Bandit told me that they wanted
to come home with me, but my coordinator wouldn't let me bring the
little munschkins home. OMG, so cute!!! Also, on the way to school
today, I saw puppies for sale (along with some birds, but who cares
about birds). I just wanted to tell the person I would pay him to let
me play with the puppies. But I realized since I can't even say "My
name is Alissa" correctly in Vietnamese that I shouldn't even bother
to try and tell the guy I would pay to play with the puppies.