Photo of the Day – English Class in Vietnam

As we travel the world taking in the sights and sounds, it’s often easy to forget that the people whom we romanticize are just people living their own lives and trying to fulfill their own dreams. Those workers tending rice paddies, artisans weaving tapestries and farmers herding livestock may make for some fanastic stories when we return home, but they all remain where we saw them, taking on each day as it comes. Just like these students in an English class in Mu Cang Chai, Vietnam.

This photo by flickr user pirano shows a classroom filled with students seeking to improve their lives by learning to speak English. Each one of them has their own goals, desires and hopes. Perhaps one of them will make it to New York one day, snap a picture of me commuting and show it off to their friends back home as an example of how we live day-to-day.

Taken any inspiring travel photos? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

Ultimate recyling project: Building a soda bottle classroom

What happens when Peace Corps volunteers, the non-profit organization, Hug it Forward and a bevvy of school children and teachers in Guatemala recycle plastic bottles and trash? A school classroom.

The collected bottles were stuffed with trash and used to form the walls for a classroom addition at a school in Granados, a small mountain town in the Baja Verapaz region of the country. Amazing.

This video shows how the project was done. The music is a fitting addition to a project that brought the widest smiles to dozens of faces.

Imagine what might happen if similar projects happened on a massive scale world wide. There are a lot of plastic bottles on the planet.

For another version of a building project that fits into travel and activism, check out this gallery on house building with teens, college students and adults in Mexico through Amor Ministries, another non-profit that welcomes volunteers.

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