Vietnam week 7 - A Vietnamese Massage

Well hello everybody,
Despite another wonderful week of fun filled laughter and tears, there is only one place I begin this week's email, and that is with the massage 'expereince' i endured this week, with Nicole (Australian Occupational Therapist working with me). We decided that after a few tough weeks of supervising the students we would treat ourselves to a relaxing massage, nearby where we work. It looked a reputable place, and after some concerns that the massage would take place in the open reception area, we were happy to be led upstairs to a very nicely decorated room, with tranquil music, four massage beds/tables and a wall sized mirror at one end. The two staff that accompanied us, instructed us o begin undressing, and as i was quickly removing my pants (trousers) off, the girl shouted, "no, not you" pointing at me, but ordered nicole to strip down to her underwear! I didi the gentlemanly thing of closing my eyes as Nicole stripped, (she has instructed me not to tell you all what clour/type of underwear she had on! sorry!). The staff hurried back in to the room, giving me a pair of boxer shorts to wear, though i quickly protested explaining that i had claen underwear on already! "no, put these on" was the order as she scurried out of the room giggling along the way! I therfore had to strip naked, in front of nicole (well she was turned to face the wall with the full sized mirror), as i did as i was told...on comiing back into the room me and nicole were told to lie on our front, face looking down through a hole in the table... not before nicole was instructed to remove her bra! Please understand, that me and nicole did not really know each other so well, before we were exposed (excuse the punn), to this situation!So the massage began well enough with with some serious leg rubbing, getting a little high up the leg,for my liking, but after the legs were finished the fun really started! The table creaked a little when i moved around on it, and i now could hear it creaking, but i knew i was not moving, i suddenly felt a knee, next to my hip, and then another knee next to my other hip... i was being straddled by the masseur, and i didn't know if nicole was having the same experience as i could only see the floor... whilst expecting a back massges, the next thing i know, my bottom is being rubbed in all sorts of ways i did not know was possible, and i'm thinking i ordered the wrong massage!!! where would it end??? i could just about hear nicole trying not to laugh, and figured well, having my bum rubbed does not constitute sexual assault in this situation, does it????the massgae progressed without too much more incident for me, but whilst being turned over for a chest rub, poor nicole had further discomfort, for obvious reasons!!!! She also told me afterwards that she had her hair pulled during the final part of the massage!!! I say thank goodness for short hair!!!upshot of it all... i'd go back!!!! As for more work related matters, well i continue to go from being enthused to being frustrated with many of the childrens cases we see, i saw yet another older child this week (who looked several years younger due to poor nutrition and growth), who had such poor posture and severe contractures, which had been left untreated for quite a few years, that we could not really offer a service for the family or child. Another case was discussed where the child can not walk and needs carrying to the toliet, despite being unable to walk and having to move around using only his arms, he was going to school, but he stopped going to school after the family sold the motorbike to pay off debts... yet it turns out the debts are gambling debts of the father, and now we face an ethical issue as to whether we pay for any changes to be made to the family home to help the child, because we cant be seen to be giving care to the poorest fmilies (if they are gambling!!!) We had another game of beach football, this week after work, where i managed to score the winning goal (it hit the post - a shoe, but i thought it would have bounced in the net if it were a real post! honest!!!) which at least made up for the fact that after ten minutes running in sand, and sweating so much, i look like the sand man from the film spiderman 3!!! a quick evening swim in the sea sorted that out at least, and we even got some of the vietnaese staff to come in the water with us this time! The Australian OT students finish this week too, which i will be very sad to see leave. They have been a great help, and source of amusement too, especially during friday night pool playing sessions & karaoke sessions -despite picking some wierd 'Aussie' songs!!! Ok enough for this week...
Regards from Vietnam!
Dan