Blessings for the New Clinic!

This is a busy week for the Pasteur Clinic as they are moving over the weekend to a new building so that major renovations to the current building can be completed over the next 4 months. They are expanding and adding a second floor and will have lots more space for each clinic function. They are also adding more exam rooms and will be able to perform women's health exams. So on Wednesday, the clinic hosted all the big wigs at the neighboring Pasteur Institute research building and did a ground-breaking ceremony complete with a blessing altar set up with incense, fruits and fake money (including dollar bills!). These blessing altars are set up for all big life events and holidays and I've seen many around town. We then shared mangos, pastries and a weird drink from a can (Vi couldn't translate what it was). The main Director speaks English and was very nice to introduce me to all the other directors and even said they'll need a nurse upon completion and I'm welcome to come back. I thanked him profusely for hid kindness but don't think I'll be sending in an application. But it was fun to be part of the ceremony! At the end, all the items in the blessing altar were burned. And yes, I am at least 6-8 inches taller than all the Vietnamese women here so I look like a giant in the group picture!