April 28, 11 pm
Saigon
Today I was semi-productive. I got up at 8, had breakfast, and went to VNN. My advisor still hasn't emailed me, but Hung said she's probably busy esp. with the holiday approaching. He gave me the address of the theater and I went today with Sarah and had a Sprite in the canteen. Just hanging out actually helped; I feel more comfortable with the place. Sarah wants to do her ISP on Buddhist social organizations, and so I went with her to a place that helps street children. We heard about it at the Bodhi Tree, the vegetarian restaurant that sells the street children's art. We walked in to the facility unannounced and met a series of nice and friendly people who gave us a tour of the place. It's several stories, with rooms for counselling, for the kids to sleep, and for the kids to play. They even have a place for the kids to learn Akido. Everything's bright and cheerful.
Amazingly enough, one of the staffers is heading to Brattleboro, Vermont to get a master's degree from SIT. What a small world. I told her a little about Vermont and we exchanged email addresses. I hope she likes it. I think Vermont in the winter is just about as far removed from Saigon as any place could get.
When I got back to Dai Ket, I found that my friend Thu had left me 2 books about Vietnamese theater - in English! - along with a note saying maybe we can go to the theater together after the holiday. Thu rocks my world. That was just what I needed.
This evening, Sarah and I went out to dinner with Co Hai, who also rocks my world. Afterwards we went to this cafe that had a live band. It wasn't like a US live band. It consisted of a piano, a violin, and a saxophone. They played about half Vietnamese songs and half American songs, including Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle. The violin played the vocals part.
Random side note: The rainy season hasn't started yet, but the God of Annoying Weather has been compensating by making it ungodly hot. It was 97 degrees in the shade at 3 pm today. I checked.
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
April 27 9 pm
Saigon
Sorry, I just left the journal on my bed and now I've completely forgotten where I was going with that. Last night we all went out to celebrate Molly's birthday/ most people's last day on the program. First we went to the Thai restaurant, where I had some really spicey food and also people brought in a big birthday cake for Rustem, whose birthday is Wednesday. I presented Molly with her Guiness. I'm really excited about going to the Irish pub this weekend. I need something to look forward to, because the stress of everyone leaving and my starting ISP is kind of overwhelming. Stu did not give us a whole lot of direction, which I've heard is just kind of the way SIT handles ISPs. I emailed my advisor yesterday to try to get things started. I don't know how often she checks her email, but I'm going to give her a few days to respond because she reads English a lot better than she speaks it. I want to study how people get in/stay in the theater industry here. I've heard that she's been very helpful in the past, but I just get nervous having only one contact. Stu says maybe I should go hang out in front of some theaters and try to get a feel for things until she responds. I will, and I am so counting those hours.
I'm sure things will settle down. It's just stressful right now.
This morning, I got up early to say good-bye to people. I have a single now that Crystal's left for Cambodia. I spent the day fairly normally. I went to Ben Thanh Market looking for mosquito netting. People tell me it's there, but I can't find it. So I am still netting-less, which is bad because there have started to be mosquitos in the room. Tomorrow the plan is to get some coffee in front of the theater and just hang out.
I realize I've been doing a lousy job of keeping up the journal as of late; basically in the last few days we've been finishing up the academic part of the program. The Culture and Development final was a few days ago, and it wasn't bad at all - we just had to discuss women in Vietnam and how tourism has affected the country. Not so bad. We also each had to give a presentation on different aspects of Vietnamese culture and history. Mine was on US and Russian influences. Cliff notes version: US: A lot of American pop culture now, the south is more capitalist, during the war there was a lot of deforrestation everywhere, in recent years it's become very common to learn English. Russia: once supplied tons of aid in the early 80s, glastnost lead to doi moi, Marxist-Leninism is still taught in schools, many school subjects are still politicized.
That's about it. It's pretty quiet with everyone gone. I'm going to finish Robert McNamara's book, In Retrospect, tonight. It's an interesting thing to read in Vietnam. He's very contrite, suitably so. He really didn't know a lot about Vietnam, and things spun out of control.
It's amazing to me that he didn't consider how people here would react to a foreign army, even what he would have considered to be a well-intentioned one. It's very deep in the culture here to dislike foreign soldiers. The Vietnamese have been kicking people out of their country since before Columbus discovered America. Most of the national heroes are people who fought against foreign invasions, and there have been a lot of them - the Chinese, the Mongols, the French, to some extent the US. You can't go more than a few blocks without seeing a statue dedicated to, say, the guy who drove out the Mongols in the 12th century. I've never been to a Vietnamese city that didn't have a street named after the Trung sisters. They lead an army that drove Chinese invaders out of Vietnam in 40 CE. The Chinese came back 3 years later, and the sisters drowned themselves to avoid capture. You don't have need to be a long-term success to be revered for your foreigner-quashing abilities.
This April 30 is Liberation Day in Vietnam. It commemorates the day in 1975 when Saigon either fell or was liberated, depending on your perspective. It's a big holiday. Everyone has off from work on that day and May 1. We're advised to keep a low profile as Americans, but it's not really considered a big deal. I just won't go out and wave the stars and stripes or anything.
The TV's been showing a lot of documentaries on Lenin and Stalin. I imagine they'd be quite interesting if I spoke Vietnamese better. Even so, it's interesting to see them portrayed in a positive light, particularly as someone who grew up on the opposite side of the cold war. I was only 8 when the Soviet Union collapsed so I it's perhaps less intense for me than it would be for other Americans. I never viewed the Russians as my enemies, but I also never associated their leaders and symbols with postive qualities. So much depends on one's perspective.
Also, if you're interested, I know where you can buy a giant plastic hammer and sickle on Ha Ba Trung.
Saigon
Sorry, I just left the journal on my bed and now I've completely forgotten where I was going with that. Last night we all went out to celebrate Molly's birthday/ most people's last day on the program. First we went to the Thai restaurant, where I had some really spicey food and also people brought in a big birthday cake for Rustem, whose birthday is Wednesday. I presented Molly with her Guiness. I'm really excited about going to the Irish pub this weekend. I need something to look forward to, because the stress of everyone leaving and my starting ISP is kind of overwhelming. Stu did not give us a whole lot of direction, which I've heard is just kind of the way SIT handles ISPs. I emailed my advisor yesterday to try to get things started. I don't know how often she checks her email, but I'm going to give her a few days to respond because she reads English a lot better than she speaks it. I want to study how people get in/stay in the theater industry here. I've heard that she's been very helpful in the past, but I just get nervous having only one contact. Stu says maybe I should go hang out in front of some theaters and try to get a feel for things until she responds. I will, and I am so counting those hours.
I'm sure things will settle down. It's just stressful right now.
This morning, I got up early to say good-bye to people. I have a single now that Crystal's left for Cambodia. I spent the day fairly normally. I went to Ben Thanh Market looking for mosquito netting. People tell me it's there, but I can't find it. So I am still netting-less, which is bad because there have started to be mosquitos in the room. Tomorrow the plan is to get some coffee in front of the theater and just hang out.
I realize I've been doing a lousy job of keeping up the journal as of late; basically in the last few days we've been finishing up the academic part of the program. The Culture and Development final was a few days ago, and it wasn't bad at all - we just had to discuss women in Vietnam and how tourism has affected the country. Not so bad. We also each had to give a presentation on different aspects of Vietnamese culture and history. Mine was on US and Russian influences. Cliff notes version: US: A lot of American pop culture now, the south is more capitalist, during the war there was a lot of deforrestation everywhere, in recent years it's become very common to learn English. Russia: once supplied tons of aid in the early 80s, glastnost lead to doi moi, Marxist-Leninism is still taught in schools, many school subjects are still politicized.
That's about it. It's pretty quiet with everyone gone. I'm going to finish Robert McNamara's book, In Retrospect, tonight. It's an interesting thing to read in Vietnam. He's very contrite, suitably so. He really didn't know a lot about Vietnam, and things spun out of control.
It's amazing to me that he didn't consider how people here would react to a foreign army, even what he would have considered to be a well-intentioned one. It's very deep in the culture here to dislike foreign soldiers. The Vietnamese have been kicking people out of their country since before Columbus discovered America. Most of the national heroes are people who fought against foreign invasions, and there have been a lot of them - the Chinese, the Mongols, the French, to some extent the US. You can't go more than a few blocks without seeing a statue dedicated to, say, the guy who drove out the Mongols in the 12th century. I've never been to a Vietnamese city that didn't have a street named after the Trung sisters. They lead an army that drove Chinese invaders out of Vietnam in 40 CE. The Chinese came back 3 years later, and the sisters drowned themselves to avoid capture. You don't have need to be a long-term success to be revered for your foreigner-quashing abilities.
This April 30 is Liberation Day in Vietnam. It commemorates the day in 1975 when Saigon either fell or was liberated, depending on your perspective. It's a big holiday. Everyone has off from work on that day and May 1. We're advised to keep a low profile as Americans, but it's not really considered a big deal. I just won't go out and wave the stars and stripes or anything.
The TV's been showing a lot of documentaries on Lenin and Stalin. I imagine they'd be quite interesting if I spoke Vietnamese better. Even so, it's interesting to see them portrayed in a positive light, particularly as someone who grew up on the opposite side of the cold war. I was only 8 when the Soviet Union collapsed so I it's perhaps less intense for me than it would be for other Americans. I never viewed the Russians as my enemies, but I also never associated their leaders and symbols with postive qualities. So much depends on one's perspective.
Also, if you're interested, I know where you can buy a giant plastic hammer and sickle on Ha Ba Trung.
April 26 4 pm
Saigon
Stressful couple days and now today! Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date. I just went to District 1 with Sarah to check snail mail at the univerisity (the mailroom was locked) and to get Molly some Guiness for her 21st birthday (accomplished). There is one Irish pub in Saigon. It's called Sheridan's and being there was a great experience. The bartender had 2 different kinds of Guiness, and I asked for the kind with that ping pong ball in it. I HAVE HAD THAT KIND OF BEER BEFORE AND SO I KNEW WHAT WAS IN IT. THAT'S RIGHT IT WAS FAMILIAR. Sorry about that. It's just that l relish the rare moments when I'm completely familiar with what's going on. Anyway, the place also had a genial Irish bartender/owner, who told me that they play traditional Irish music every Saturday. They have a band called Whiskey in the Jar. So....
Saigon
Stressful couple days and now today! Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date. I just went to District 1 with Sarah to check snail mail at the univerisity (the mailroom was locked) and to get Molly some Guiness for her 21st birthday (accomplished). There is one Irish pub in Saigon. It's called Sheridan's and being there was a great experience. The bartender had 2 different kinds of Guiness, and I asked for the kind with that ping pong ball in it. I HAVE HAD THAT KIND OF BEER BEFORE AND SO I KNEW WHAT WAS IN IT. THAT'S RIGHT IT WAS FAMILIAR. Sorry about that. It's just that l relish the rare moments when I'm completely familiar with what's going on. Anyway, the place also had a genial Irish bartender/owner, who told me that they play traditional Irish music every Saturday. They have a band called Whiskey in the Jar. So....
April 23
Back in Saigon
So yesterday we came back from Mui Ne. I ate a banana pancake that morning because the pancakes there are incredible. They're more like crepes with banana in the middle. Wonderful. We stopped at a nouc mam ( Vietnamese fish sauce) factory and I bought a bottle for my parents. Won't they be thrilled.
Ho Chi Minh City is the same as ever. I spent the day running random errands, going to the bank, and doing homework. I also went to the backpacker district and bought a Ben Folds Five CD because I've recently been gripped by the strange desire to listen to their music.
The restaurant where I are dinner today sells street children's art to help raise money for them. I think that might be a good gift for some people.
So twas a good but uneventful day.
Back in Saigon
So yesterday we came back from Mui Ne. I ate a banana pancake that morning because the pancakes there are incredible. They're more like crepes with banana in the middle. Wonderful. We stopped at a nouc mam ( Vietnamese fish sauce) factory and I bought a bottle for my parents. Won't they be thrilled.
Ho Chi Minh City is the same as ever. I spent the day running random errands, going to the bank, and doing homework. I also went to the backpacker district and bought a Ben Folds Five CD because I've recently been gripped by the strange desire to listen to their music.
The restaurant where I are dinner today sells street children's art to help raise money for them. I think that might be a good gift for some people.
So twas a good but uneventful day.
April 21 10 am
On the beach in Mui Ne
We arrive in Mui Ne a few hours after I finished my last entry. It's beautiful - really unspoiled at not too touristy. It's basically a fishing village on the coast with some beach resorts. All the resorts have been built in the past few years, when the government opened the area up to tourism. I've heard that there are plans to open up more resorts. I think eventually this area will be as touristy as Nha Trang. But not yet.
On our first night here, a bunch of us xe om-ed (a xe om is a motorcyle taxi) to the huge red sand dunes that are just out of town. This area is dryer than other places we've been to, and there are places in the landscape where there is no greenery, just patches of red sand. The dunes are entirely red sand, and if you stand and face them they just seem to continue on forever. They might as well be the Sahara.
Also on the dunes are a group of small children who have makeshift sleds that you can rent to slide down the dunes, very much like sledding in the snow. The sleds are basically pieces of flexible plastic. The kids crowded around us as soon as we got there, grabbing our hands and pulling us up the hill. We talked to them for awhile in our limited Vietnamese, which is actually decent for basic introductions. They were very persistant about our buying sled rides, so eventually I bought 2.
Sliding down sand dunes is one of the coolest activities one can engage in. You start out at the top of the hill, and then the kids give you a push and you're off. You zoom down the hill until you fall of your sled. I got about halfway and then rolled down the remainder of the hill, which of course did not hurt because I was in a giant sandbox.
I ended up with sand in every corner of my clothing. Also I think red sand dune has a tendency to stain. But no matter.
Later, Barrett and I were assigned to go into a hotel and interview some there about the hotel industry. We met a guy who spoke pretty good English; he told us that there are plans for more hotels in the future. He said that people often learn English and go into tourism if they fail their university enterance exams. There's a lot of money in it. After that, I was forced to take a nap and be a beach bum for the rest of the day. But hey, you do what you have to do.
Sunrise is Mui Ne is supposed to be beautiful. I'm sure it is, but I was so bleary-eyed at 6 am this morning that I just staggered out of my room, took a few pictures, and staggered back in. So we'll have to wait and see how the pictures come out.
I also had lunch with Stu, Hung, and Tang, and they told me I should try to get a job at the Saigon Times if I come back here. It's in English, so maybe I could check over the articles to make sure everything makes sense. How fabulous would that be?
On the beach in Mui Ne
We arrive in Mui Ne a few hours after I finished my last entry. It's beautiful - really unspoiled at not too touristy. It's basically a fishing village on the coast with some beach resorts. All the resorts have been built in the past few years, when the government opened the area up to tourism. I've heard that there are plans to open up more resorts. I think eventually this area will be as touristy as Nha Trang. But not yet.
On our first night here, a bunch of us xe om-ed (a xe om is a motorcyle taxi) to the huge red sand dunes that are just out of town. This area is dryer than other places we've been to, and there are places in the landscape where there is no greenery, just patches of red sand. The dunes are entirely red sand, and if you stand and face them they just seem to continue on forever. They might as well be the Sahara.
Also on the dunes are a group of small children who have makeshift sleds that you can rent to slide down the dunes, very much like sledding in the snow. The sleds are basically pieces of flexible plastic. The kids crowded around us as soon as we got there, grabbing our hands and pulling us up the hill. We talked to them for awhile in our limited Vietnamese, which is actually decent for basic introductions. They were very persistant about our buying sled rides, so eventually I bought 2.
Sliding down sand dunes is one of the coolest activities one can engage in. You start out at the top of the hill, and then the kids give you a push and you're off. You zoom down the hill until you fall of your sled. I got about halfway and then rolled down the remainder of the hill, which of course did not hurt because I was in a giant sandbox.
I ended up with sand in every corner of my clothing. Also I think red sand dune has a tendency to stain. But no matter.
Later, Barrett and I were assigned to go into a hotel and interview some there about the hotel industry. We met a guy who spoke pretty good English; he told us that there are plans for more hotels in the future. He said that people often learn English and go into tourism if they fail their university enterance exams. There's a lot of money in it. After that, I was forced to take a nap and be a beach bum for the rest of the day. But hey, you do what you have to do.
Sunrise is Mui Ne is supposed to be beautiful. I'm sure it is, but I was so bleary-eyed at 6 am this morning that I just staggered out of my room, took a few pictures, and staggered back in. So we'll have to wait and see how the pictures come out.
I also had lunch with Stu, Hung, and Tang, and they told me I should try to get a job at the Saigon Times if I come back here. It's in English, so maybe I could check over the articles to make sure everything makes sense. How fabulous would that be?
Monday, April 28, 2003
April 19, 2 pm
In a bus outside a Cham village somewhere
I'm not sure where we are exactly, it's about 3 hours away from Nha Trang. We've stopped in a village that makes clay pots and clay mini-oven things. They said the women make the pottery while the men go into the jungle and get firewood to fire the pots. They share the work. Cham society is matriarachal, like Co Ho, and girls get married at 17 or 18 or at the latest 20. So I am already an old maid at 21. One of the girls who was showing us some pottery was exactly my age. She'd been married for 5 years already and had 2 kids, and that was pretty typical. My life could have been so different if I'd grown up in a different society.
Barrett was filming some kids with a digital video camera, the kind with a viewing screen, and he turned the screen around so the kids could see themselves on TV. They went wild, jumping up and down and screaming. Clearly they've never seen their image captured and shown on a TV display at Sears.
We left Nha Trang early this morning. Molly and I went shopping for snacks before the bus left and we had to take 1 person cyclo back to the hotel. I was sitting half on her lap and half on a metal bar. It was good times.
Yesterday, we had most of the day off, and Sarah and I got to spend the better part of the afternoon swimming in the ocean and sitting on the beach looking out at the ocean. As I've mentioned, Nha Trang is heaven. As I was sitting there, I realized it was one of the high points of my life. I didn't want anything, everything around me was beautiful, and I was just really happy.
Yesterday also Sarah decided to make a full deck of cards by picking up the cards in the street. For some reason, the cities in Vietnam, especially Nha Trang, have a lot of random playing cards lying around. You just walk down the street and there is a 9 of hearts. So anyway, we were picking up some cards need a restaurant, and this random guy came running out and said "Here! Here! Have a deck of cards!" Crazy foreigners. So now I have a new deck of cards.
In a bus outside a Cham village somewhere
I'm not sure where we are exactly, it's about 3 hours away from Nha Trang. We've stopped in a village that makes clay pots and clay mini-oven things. They said the women make the pottery while the men go into the jungle and get firewood to fire the pots. They share the work. Cham society is matriarachal, like Co Ho, and girls get married at 17 or 18 or at the latest 20. So I am already an old maid at 21. One of the girls who was showing us some pottery was exactly my age. She'd been married for 5 years already and had 2 kids, and that was pretty typical. My life could have been so different if I'd grown up in a different society.
Barrett was filming some kids with a digital video camera, the kind with a viewing screen, and he turned the screen around so the kids could see themselves on TV. They went wild, jumping up and down and screaming. Clearly they've never seen their image captured and shown on a TV display at Sears.
We left Nha Trang early this morning. Molly and I went shopping for snacks before the bus left and we had to take 1 person cyclo back to the hotel. I was sitting half on her lap and half on a metal bar. It was good times.
Yesterday, we had most of the day off, and Sarah and I got to spend the better part of the afternoon swimming in the ocean and sitting on the beach looking out at the ocean. As I've mentioned, Nha Trang is heaven. As I was sitting there, I realized it was one of the high points of my life. I didn't want anything, everything around me was beautiful, and I was just really happy.
Yesterday also Sarah decided to make a full deck of cards by picking up the cards in the street. For some reason, the cities in Vietnam, especially Nha Trang, have a lot of random playing cards lying around. You just walk down the street and there is a 9 of hearts. So anyway, we were picking up some cards need a restaurant, and this random guy came running out and said "Here! Here! Have a deck of cards!" Crazy foreigners. So now I have a new deck of cards.
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