Travels with Kelly Olynyk

Kelly Olynyk wrote:Vietnam: Day 1

Today I woke up and got breakfast at the hotel. It was a continental breakfast that featured some Vietnamese cuisine such as Pho soup for breakfast, as well as other noodles, dumplings, cheeses, meats and pastries. After breakfast, we walked around Vietnam in District 1 for a while, looked at a few different sights such as the opera house, walked through the streets and saw a local market that was packed with everything from clothes, souvenirs, fish, meat, and a special wine that was formed by putting a live snake in a bottle and filling it with wine to blend the two tastes together which in the Vietnam culture is meant to give you strength and heal yourself.

After the market and walking around the city and sight-seeing, we came back to the hotel, took a little bit of a nap and then headed off to the first NBA Cares event. At the NBA Cares event, we went to a place called DRD, which stands for Developmental Research for Disabled Peoples. At the event, we helped the DRD reorganize their work place, clear some things out and tidy some things up.

At the event we learned about what the DRD was doing to help assimilate disabled people into the work place here, whether it be through transportation, getting them jobs, networking, or just helping them assimilate and feel more comfortable into society. While there, I ended up chopping down a tree that was growing in their building and was kind of de-rooting and a little loose and they felt it was a hazard because it could come down, so I took a knife that was about 3 inches wide and 6 inches long and by hand hacked at this palm tree thing until it was cut down.

One thing I learned about Vietnam today was that it’s rainy season, not the most rainy season, but it’s definitely a high rain season and because of Vietnam’s climate, you’ll get rain for about 10 minutes that kind of resembles a monsoon the way it comes down. It pours and pours and pours for about 10 to 15 minutes and then will clear up again. After the NBA Cares event at the DRD we headed back to the hotel for a little break and then headed off to the Junior NBA Welcome Fellowship Dinner that involved all the sponsors and all the Junior NBA campers.

At the Fellowship dinner we were introduced to all the sponsors and it kind of kicked off the weekend. We had a few guest speakers and even a magician. After the Fellowship dinner we headed back to the hotel to call it a night and get ready for tomorrow’s festivities.

I would say that the highlight of my day was probably just walking around and seeing the culture and the people and the different goods and souvenirs that are sold on the streets as well as how the Vietnamese people live. Also, I think the highlight, there were many highlights to my day. I think trying some of the Vietnamese cuisine was definitely a highlight and I’m looking forward to doing more of that as well as learning and seeing these kids and the talent they have.

I was just encouraged and excited to see what the Vietnamese culture had to offer in terms of how they lived out here, what the food is like, the culture, and also, any time you have a chance to give back to a community like an NBA Cares event, it’s a great time. Being able to do that in a culture like this where they’re so appreciative, and nice, and genuine was something special.

Tomorrow we start the day bright and early with a kickoff to the camp. We have the NBA Opening Ceremonies followed by the beginning of the Encore programs. After that, we’ll have a little break for lunch and then go back for some more on-court sessions with a few of the partners and the Junior NBA.

The thing I’m most looking forward to tomorrow is seeing what these kids, seeing how these kids interact with each other, how much they love the game of basketball, where their talent lies, and hopefully just have a whole ton of fun with these kids on the court.

Back to the highlight, we were in the market and the sold a whole bunch of different stuff like souvenirs, clothes, food, as such, and I found a Boston Celtics jersey that was black and light blue, with the number 20 on it. And I was going through our team in my head and I couldn’t figure out who number 20 was so we asked the lady if she could pull it down and we flip it over and it was a Rondo jersey, a black and blue number 20 Rondo jersey. I was tempted to buy it but the price was too high and she wasn’t open for bargaining.

She wasn’t having any part of it. I told her she got the wrong number and I feel like it should be on discount, but she thought it was more like a one-of-a-kind thing and should be jacked up so I didn’t end up purchasing it, but that was also one of the highlights.