Goodnight Saigon

My final night in Saigon - where did the time go?  I feel like I just got here and am not ready to leave yet!  5 weeks went by too quickly.  I’m just over a third of the way done with my time in SE Asia – next stop, Cambodia!

Ryan and I had this last week off and spent it traveling a bit around the south of Vietnam on Phu Quoc island and driving/boating through the Mekong Delta.  Phu Quoc was beautiful, as you can see!  We rented a motorbike and scootered all over the island on dirt roads to white sand beaches.  Surprisingly, driving a motorbike is not one of my special talents but nobody died so it worked out for everyone.  One of my finest accomplishments on this trip, however, was spotting 5 people all riding on one motorbike together.  (and not all babies - though I am always shocked at the number of babies I see on scooters)  The most people I've seen on a motorbike up to this point is 4 on one bike - I knew you could do it Vietnam!

I must say, that even though this island was beautiful, there was one notably undesirable situation that did occur.  Now, I've been preparing for this situation for awhile....I wasn't totally ready for it to happen to me for the first time in my cozy beach bungalow....but, it was unavoidable.  Just as I was going to bed, I look over at the curtains, and there it was - a giant cockroach.  Sadly, it was bigger than the cockroaches of my nightmares.  I wanted to cry but remained calm and considered my options - either run screaming outside and hurl myself into the ocean, or be brave and "handle" the situation.  So I gave myself a pep talk and discussed my plan of action with myself as I watched it sit there and fly its 2-inch antennaes around its head.  I calmly played out the different scenarios in my head and decided that I was only going to have one shot at the sucker- so I had to get it right.  So I used my soothing voice to tell the cockroach what was about to happen, as I grabbed a glass and snuck up behind it.  I caught it in the glass, it started freaking out inside the glass, I re-contemplated the hurling-myself-into-the-ocean plan, but then I walked outside and placed it in the front yard and ran back inside, shaking.  And then I yelled out the door- "Yeah!  Tell your friends!"  I think they got the message loud and clear.

*disclaimer: horrible deadly cockroaches
 in magnified glass are MUCH larger
than they appear.  seriously.

So let's hope that my bravery continues on into Cambodia as we stay in more cockroach-friendly conditions in the orphanage where we'll be holding camp.  I'd hate to be the one that the kids ask their camp counselors - "counselor, why does that white girl scream out in the night?"

One thing that we're learning more and more as we travel is that, as a white westerner, people seem to think that we're exceedingly rich.  They charge us more for just about everything and tour guides/drivers force us to stop in tourist traps to buy things anywhere we go.  I was prepared for this, but I didn't expect it to be so blatant.  We went hiking to a waterfall, but not before we paid an "entrance fee" to the park.  I had done my research and knew how much we were supposed to pay (these guys love haggling) but we were told we had to pay more.  I kept saying "No, I am only paying 1000 dong!  Not 3000 dong!"  And the response to us was "You pay white people ticket."  (Yes, I recognize this is a difference of only like 20 cents - but still - it's the principle!!)  So unfortunately, we have found that we are generally at the mercy of the non-english speaking guides/locals- you just never know if they're being honest and giving you what you are supposed to get or if they're secretly about to sell you into vietnamese slavery.  I'm learning the art of saying NO pretty quickly.


That being said, we have met some amazingly wonderful people who have taken care of us along the way.  When we left the island, our hotel guy arranged the ferry for us to the mainland, then had his mom pick us up at the ferry port and take us to the bus station, and then had his sister get our bus tickets and make sure we got on the right bus.  It was amazing - they specifically told us that they were always so excited to meet foreigners and wanted to help them in their travels.  The sister was starting a business to do this because she wanted to let the world know that Vietnamese people are friendly and excited to welcome tourists.  I'm so happy that I always tend to find such great people in all of my travels!


Speaking of the ferry, I must mention the good fortune we had to encounter this dream boat on our way from the island to the mainland.  There are no words.  I can't help but think that this truly was a gift, sent just for me.  And the good news is there is a whole fleet of these guys - and we saw them all.  I've never been so happy.

We spent a few days driving through the Mekong Delta - naturally I was listening to my Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack as I passed the time on the bus staring out the window.  I don't get anything done on the buses here, I literally just stare out the window the whole time because everything is so fascinating to me and I don't want to miss any of it.  The Mekong is this huge river that flows all the way down the border of Vietnam and deposits into the South China Sea.  The entire Mekong Delta is intensely farmed for rice, sugarcane, frult, and coconuts.  I saw my first rice paddies- they are everywhere!  We decided to take a boat ride on the Mekong River to explore some canals and floating markets, and it was....interesting.....to say the least.  After 7 hours on this boat (which I nearly turned around and went back to bed instead of getting on when I saw it), I was ready for dry land.  The floating markets were so interesting to see - people just throwing fruit/meat/fish from boat to boat, selling their goods to everyone.  I was slightly caught off guard to watch the raw meat guy just take his slabs of meat (which were sitting out in the sun) and rinse them off in the river before he sold them.  This was the same river where everyone who lives along it does their laundry, washes their dishes, brushes their teeth, bathes, throws their garbage, and (ahem) uses the bathroom.  Suffice it to say that on our lunch stop I ordered tofu.


We also noticed an unusually high number of fish jumping out of the water during our boat tour....normally I would say that they were just being playful, but under the circumstances, I couldn't help but wonder if they were "looking for a way out," so to speak.  I'm not necessarily stereotyping all Vietnamese fish as suicidal, per se, but I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility that they may have been looking to get caught in an attempt to leave their river life behind.  Just sayin'.

Not sure why I'm smiling -
this place was creepy.

We missed Saigon and came back a day early to do some sightseeing around the city.  We went to the Cu Chi tunnels (Sounds as it's spelled.  And for the record, I refuse to comment on the amount of dong it took to enter "the Cu Chi" as the driver kept referring to it.)  These tunnels were built by the Viet Cong underground to fight in the war.  They were tiny and scary (we went into one) and soldiers lived underground for months in them during the war, and ultimately these tunnels were what helped them keep the US at bay in the South.  So again, there were some strong one-sided propagandist opinions being thrown around at this place....starting with a video of the "peaceful cu chi people" and the "crazy devil Americans" who came to blow up the peaceful people for no reason, and all Viet Cong war heroes received "American Killer Medals" (this is all literally what the narrator said).  So....more internal conflict for me to just walk away at certain points.  Again, though, even after having heard/seen this...the Vietnamese people I've known (and even those giving the tour) have said over and over that the war is in the past and they have moved forward unbegrudingly - what's done is done in their eyes.


A few more interesting things I've learned:


The Vietnamese love KFC and all kinds of fried chicken.  McDonald's has not yet made it to Vietnam.....yet.

Hiking - many people here hike in dress shoes and long pants and swim in jeans, especially men.  I think we may have different definitions of "hiking" and "outdoorsy-ness."


I've encountered many public toilets over the past 5 weeks, and I've learned that you are not always going to get a guarantee of toilet paper, soap, or paper towels at these toilets.  You are, however, guaranteed 9 times out of 10 that there will be plenty of combs at your disposal to fix your hair.


In certain places in Vietnam, they eat cat.  But don't be fooled by the menu - it is translated in English as "little tiger" when ordering.  Duly noted.

Fried spring rolls served on a "phoenix" made
of fruit!  I debated its likeness to a chicken,  but I
was laughed at and assured that it's definitely a "phoenix"

bowling night with Ryan and Tuyet - it turns out I'm very good until I put my dong, er, money where my mouth is and bet on it.

Ryan, Hung, Quyen and I - HITW consultants and our Vietnamese counterparts -
obviously we are all in sync since we were so well coordinated at our final camp meeting!

Well, this wraps up my time in Vietnam....for now.  I'll be back in September to travel for about 10 days after finishing 7 weeks in Cambodia.  But as far as our camp in Vietnam, we have finished an amazingly successful summer program!  I left the staff today and cried all the way to the airport because I had such an incredible experience and will miss them so much.  It's hard to put into words.  Every morning I wake up feeling so lucky to get to do this.  I've learned so much, and I can't wait to come back and visit my new friends here!


And so, on to Cambodia tonight to get started on the next camp!  I can't imagine how different it will be there, but I'm looking forward to another chapter in this adventure.  I have a week to get some work done and travel a little before we start up training with the team there next week.


So for now....xin chao!  (That actually means "hello", but the word for "goodbye" doesn't rhyme with "now")

another day, another dong.

Another successful session of camp complete!  The kids left Friday and it was such an awesome week.  The picture below is the staff running after the campers' bus as they were leaving.  And seriously, what’s up with the cuteness of these Vietnamese children?  It’s getting ridiculous.

So, they were not kidding about the rainy season – just about everyday there are semi-insane thunderstorms, some might even call them monsoon-ish.  To be sure, I will have to wikipedia "monsoon" to see if these meet the definition, but I'm pretty sure they qualify.  It was kind of amazing to be outdoors in the middle of them all the time - I like it (especially b/c my tent stayed pretty dry so I knew I was safe inside).  The one problem with the thunderstorms, though, is the amount of monster snails that come out after the rain.  I smashed my first one this week in the dark (accidentally, of course, I don't hold snail grudges).....I think it's a right of passage here or something, b/c everyone seems to have done it at some point.  I'm not proud of it, in fact, there was some screaming (but luckily for me the children don't understand English so they interpreted the swearing and jumping around as some funny American game).  I've been assured that it was indeed the snail's time and that he has been reincarnated to a better life of understanding.  Maybe as a foot.

I am proud to say that we introduced Vietnam to kickball this week.  We played a game with just the college staff and it was by far one of the funniest things I've experienced so far in my time here.  I think we got the general jist across – though occasionally there were 3 people on a base at the same time or, to avoid being tagged out, some of them just skipped a base or took off running into the outfield whenever they felt like it…..but I think we can go ahead and call it a successful lesson in cross-cultural immersion.

This week went very fast – and amazingly my time in Vietnam is just about coming to an end – I leave for Cambodia next Sunday and am on “vacation” this week!  My friend Ryan and I will be traveling through the Mekong Delta this week to visit some floating markets and rice paddies, and I am actually typing this from my own private beach bungalow right on the ocean on an island called Phu Quoc off the coast between Vietnam and Cambodia.  I decided to splurge and upgrade to the full bungalow rather than just a regular garden view room…$26 a night.  I know, I know- quit blowing all your dong in one place, Ann.

A few more Vietnamese situations to shed some light on:

It gets dark here every night at 6pm – I forgot that we’re so close to the equator so the sunlight situation is pretty much the same all year round.  I think being so close to the equator has also thrown off my gravitational pull – I’ve never fallen down and injured myself so much within such a short span of time!  I’ve gained a reputation for being the super-clumsy American and have required more medical attention than the children the last few weeks.  Luckily I’ve tended to find jobs where there are plenty of doctors around to fix me.  And laugh at me.

Speaking of laughing at me, I forget that maybe it is not that common in the areas I’ve been in to see Westerners – so sometimes being the only white person walking around makes me a spectacle.  I was stopped this week by a group of teenagers who were giggling and pointing and yelling out “hello!” over and over along with other random English words they knew.  I waved and made the peace sign (they love that) and then they giggled and pointed more – and then they all came running over to take group pictures with me.  It was funny, and bizarre, I sort of felt like a circus act.  I’m imagining the caption under their facebook posts of my picture now – “white person!  get her!”

The tooth fairy doesn’t exist in Vietnam.  Some of the kids lost a couple of teeth this week, and rather than putting their teeth under their pillow, they throw them over the roof.  I’ve been told that by throwing their teeth up to the sky, it will help their new adult teeth grow in from below.  I think throwing anything over the roof is a tradition that I can get on board with.

There are many different kinds of lizards here.  Little squirmy geckos and biggish velociraptor-looking ones that show no fear.  I came out of my tent one morning and there was one waiting for me on the platform and we had a face-off.  They are crazy looking- they run through the grass on their back two feet and you can see their heads and tails up above the grass!  I’m reminded of the Jurassic Park scene where that English raptor-hunter guy sees the one velociraptor and yells “SHOOT…HER!”  I yell the same thing every time I see one, but no one seems to do anything about them.

At camp the children have tried to teach me vietnamese every day.  When I say something correctly the whole place starts cheering- I feel so proud.  Sometimes the kids speak to me in Vietnamese and I respond to them in English and we stare at each other and laugh because - what did you say?  I guess we’ll never know.  And it doesn’t really matter anyway, because friendship transcends language barriers.  Also I just usually start counting to 10 in Vietnamese and it distracts them and makes them think I’m interesting.  So I think it’s a safe bet from here on out that when people speak to me in Vietnamese, I will just respond by counting to 10 and walk away leaving them feeling very impressed by the mysterious white girl.

Hammocks – everyone loves their hammocks!  You can string these babies up anywhere you want and just hang out all day long, everyday.  I mean, anywhere – on busy street corners between sign posts, between your motorbike and a random food cart on the sidewalk, even under the back of your semi-truck parked on the side of the highway.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the theory of just whipping out your hammock and taking a break to relax for a bit anytime you like, but also- don’t you have somewhere to be?

A couple new words:

“Thank you” – cam on

“You’re welcome” – come qua chi

“Good” (as in “delicious”) – nong

“Good” (as in “good job”) – zoi qua

“I don’t understand” – give confused look and say “ehhhhh……” then count to 10 in Vietnamese and walk away

This weekend we had some time to explore Ho Chi Minh City a little more – it was nice to get a little time to tour the city.  Our friend Tuyet took us to the markets to bargain for everything….those Vietnamese sure drive a hard bargain!  I love the bargaining and the storming off when they don’t give me the price I want, then them yelling after me with a lower price, and then my immediate walking back and “giving in” to their prices acting like it’s still too much to pay.  (i.e. buying a purse for $3 instead of $2 – sometimes you just have to take a stand)  We got some really nice suits and silk dresses made too, and then Tuyet took us to the local bar/restaurant scene so we got to experience the non-touristy places of the city.  We hit up an awesome jazz bar and flamenco music club – so great!

While we’re here I definitely want to take in as much history as I can – so we went to the War Remnants Museum which is a museum created/run by the Vietnamese government and has lots of old war memorabilia and pictures/articles/artifacts from the war.  I went in knowing that the museum itself would be a bit propagandist in terms of the perspective on the war, but I think I wasn’t prepared for how upsetting it would be.  Everything was geared to the “war against America” and how America destroyed Vietnam and its people and how the rest of the whole world supported Vietnam.  Obviously, being run by the Vietnamese government I know they have their story to tell…..but I found myself very conflicted being in there, seeing as how my dad flew helicopters (Huey helicopters- the pic below) in the war, and I am very proud of that.  I am glad I went, but I don’t want to go back.

(and on a side note- the Vietnamese people I know have assured me that they don’t hate Americans!  I hope I’m being a good representative of America in case I ever encounter someone who doesn’t share that opinion.)

Okay, well I have a long day of relaxing on the beach and hiking to a waterfall and riding a motorbike and eating seafood and drinking wine to attend to now. Oh happy day!

Mot, hai, ba, YO!!

Ahh......air conditioning......I'm back in the hotel after two solid weeks living in a tent at camp in the 95 degree/90% humidity.  I tried to be as productive as possible today with my one day off in the last 3 weeks since I've arrived, and it started with 12 hours of sleep.  I guess that was my body's way of telling me that 4-5 hours a night hasn't been working for it.  And though I'm only here for two nights and leaving tomorrow, I just can't say enough about how much I appreciate beds, hot showers, dry clothes, and not having to decide which animal I want to shower with every night (lizards vs. frogs vs. beetles).  I never fully appreciated animal-free showers until now.

After two weeks of training the staff, we had a very amazing first session of camp (picure of our camp banner - "Camp Colors of Love" and the main pavilion above).  It is sort of indescribable how completely awesome it was.  And the kids....wow.....why didn't I know how adorable Vietnamese children are?  Does everyone know about this?  I've been tossing out some things in my bag to make room to bring a couple of them home.  Though I technically don't have a "home" to bring them back to just yet, ET and/or BK- please set aside an air mattress/extra bedroom - they are very small so it shouldn't be a problem.


So yes, the kids had a wonderful time and it's good to know that camp is camp, even in Vietnam.  There are, of course, small differences (i.e. rice at every meal, no one speaks english, children are awake at 5am - oh wait, that's the same).  Well, actually there is one big difference.  In Vietnam there is a HUGE stigma against HIV.  It is not necessarily like this in all countries in this region, but it is really disappointing how uneducated so many of the people here are.  The campers come from orphanages or are being raised by their relatives/family friends in the communities.  Many of them do not know they are HIV positive because their families won't tell them because they are ashamed to talk about it.  If the community finds out that a person living there has HIV, their family will be kicked out of the community.  If a parent of a healthy child finds out that there is a child with HIV in their child's school, they will pull their child out of school to keep them away from the HIV positive children.  It is so sad to see how backwards things are here.


Having said that, the best thing we can do for them is give them as much love and fun as they can handle in a week with their friends in a place where they feel "normal."  That is the wonderful part about this job.  That, and the fact that wigs, dancing around for no reason, and profuse sweating are acceptable and encouraged.  Here is a picture of everyone getting "hosed off" during the water games!

Some more Vietnamese tidbits of infomation to pass along:


Vietnamese children love to take showers.  On the first night of camp there was a lightning storm and we had to change the schedule to cancel pre-dinner rest/shower time.  Well, apparently, this created a disaster situation.  Everyone kept saying:
"But wait- when will the children shower?"
"Can we move dinner back so they can shower?"
"The children! Their showers!"
This was the staff, the doctors, AND the kids (who are 8-10 years old) saying this!
I was like - "They are children.  They don't need showers.  I didn't shower today and I'm just fine"  (That last part didn't exactly help my case.)  So the moral of the story is, Asian children are clean.  And now they think American children are dirty.  (I proudly stand by the dirty children.)


The kids call me "Co Ann" as a sign of respect because I am older.  I call them "em + their name" as a sign of respect and to show that we have a close relationship.  Actually some of kids yell out "Co mer!" whenever I come around ("mer" means American).  The staff also call me "Co Ann."  I later found out, though, that if someone is within about 5 years older or less, then you call them "Chi + name."  Therefore, apparently I am too old to the staff for them to call me "Chi Ann" and so basically they are walking around calling me "old lady Ann."  They tried to convince me that it was a sign of respect and not age discrimination, and then to make me feel better they decided to call me "Chi Ann."  But we can all agree, the damage was done.


Speaking of ages, I found out today that Vietnamese people count their ages from the time they are conceived, not the day they are born.  Therefore, I am disappointed to learn that I've now lost a precious year of my thirties when I was still so proudly balancing near the border of my twenties.  Goodbye youthful innocence.  Thank you Vietnam.


To say cheers before you drink your beer, you have to say "Mot, hai, ba, YO!"


If you want to get a massage, it is very important to set clear expectations with your masseuse.  I thought we'd safeguarded ourselves against potentially "inopportune" situations by asking for directions from our hotel to a good massage place.  But sadly, this was a tough lesson Ryan (who I am working with) and I learned today.  Fortunately for me, I did not have to learn this lesson firsthand.  Unfortunately for Ryan, he did.  We immediately booked it out of the hotel where the massage place was, and went back to our hotel to shower off the shame of having entered a place with such practices.

    

the 4 Americans - Haley, Ryan, me & Aly

driving into Ho Chi Minh City

Tuyet (our camp training coordinator) and I on our night off on the town!

Okay, off to sleep now.  I fear writing this blog post has started me off on the no-sleep regimen for another session of camp.  It's okay, I'll sleep again next weekend.  Or in September when I get home.
N'on Gown!  (Goodnight!)

4th of July cocktail hour

As I sit here on the 4th of July under a thatched roof pavillion sipping my lime margarita listening to the tropical thunderstorms about to roll in, it occurs to me that this is water with fake lime margarita powder mix.  And I don't have my raincoat.  And apparently no one is interested in celebrating America's independence here.  Strange.  I've been overseas for US holidays before, and though it's always a little sad to be away from home, it's always pretty great when anyone acknowledges a US holiday abroad.  I remember being very sad on Thanksgiving in Australia when Colleen and I couldn't find turkey anywhere, so we had to settle on duck and 4 bottles of wine (and a "Happy Thanksgiving!" from a random Aussie on the street).  In France our study abroad group had to specially pre-order turkey from a restaurant there and even then it just didn't quite do the trick...but it was a very nice gesture.

So yesterday I was chatting with the other 3 Americans I'm working with here (Aly, Haley & Ryan) about how nice it would be to grill out and have hot dogs and hamburgers and some Sam Adams Summer Ale....and then explaining to our Vietnamese friends here what those things are.  And then today, at lunch, wouldn't you know- they got us special "hot dogs" (vietnamese style) wrapped in pastries just for the occasion.  And then as a surprise they sang Happy Birthday to America, to us.  And then we took a "train ride" around the camp which we deemed our own personal 4th of July parade.  This is one of the nicest 4th of July's ever!

So what else happened this week....  Well, I survived my first crazy tropical thunderstorm this week - trees blowing everywhere, lightning every 3 seconds, torrential downpour - and me and all my worldly possessions inside a tent.  I feel like I was justified in running around in a frenzy putting everything into waterproof bags and ordering people to prepare for the apocalypse.  Amazingly, my tent stayed dry through the whole night.  And I am confident that I did not overreact.

I am getting used to living in a tent with lizards and mosquitos and avoiding stepping on giant snails on my way to the bathroom.  I've become pretty speedy in terms of getting ready and making the most efficient use of my time (e.g. showering & washing my clothes at the same time, going to sleep in my clothes for the next day to bed so I can wake up ready to go at 6am).  It's kind of nice that the way I wake up is as good as it's going to get for me for the rest of the day- due to subsequent sweating and bug spray/sunscreen coatings- I think maybe I haven't seen a mirror in at least a week.  I'm trusting that these guys would tell me if I was walking around looking like a jerk though, so I think it's working out.

A few other things about Vietnam worth noting:

The French influence is still pretty evident here.  We have the option to eat fried eggs and a baguette for breakfast at camp.  I take them up on that option everyday, guilt free!  It is nice to have one meal a day that isn't all veggies/fish/unidentified meat and rice.  They tell me that we're weird for eating eggs and cheese and bacon as a typical American breakfast.  I tell them that we're rubber and they're glue.

The other day in Ho Chi Minh City I kept hearing the tune to Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  Naturally, I immediately went to find out where the glorious music was coming from.  It was a truck reversing down a street!  I sat down and just enjoyed the melody.  When I have a car one day, I definitely plan on installing that feature.

We get fruit with every meal here, and it's served with salt and pepper.  I guess it enhances the taste of the fruit.  This picture of our Camp Director Khanh shows an example of said fruit (this particular fruit looks like a koosh ball!).  I can appreciate the creativity of seasoning the fruit, but I can't say that I'm on board.

There are these amazing things called "crackets" that look like tennis rackets but have a button so you can fry mosquitos as you hit them.  I've become a bit "cracket-manic" and spend a good 15 minutes mosquito-hunting every night in my tent before bed (though it's kind of scary to see how many there are that I didn't know were there until I fry them).   But, overall, it IS kind of amazing to walk around smacking the air and seeing lots of crackles and sparks as you nail the mosquitos at night.  I think that tonight that will have to be our substitute for a "traditional" July 4th fireworks display.

Some new words I've learned, among many:

bless you = hut-see

hello = sin-chow

one, two, three = moh, hai, bow 

goodnight = no'n-gown

I have some more, but I don't know how to write/say them officially yet because it's hard for my new vietnamese friends to correct me when they are laughing at me for mispronouncing everything.  I should say, though, that the laughing situation here is pretty great - I feel like we spend most of our time laughing at each other, in the best possible way.  We have translators and sometimes there is a slight, hilarious disconnect in the translations.  For example, we were all sitting in a circle on the ground and all of a sudden this guy named Duc jumped up and started exclaiming something and looking around....I was like "what happened?!" and our lovely translator Nguyen turned to me and said very seriously, "A bird sent a message to Duc."  I am not sure the last time I laughed so hard, and I plan to use that exact wording for this situation moving forward.

Here is a picture of the Vietnamese camp staff I’m working with.  We finished our training today that we’ve been doing for the last 2 weeks straight....it's been so much work and I've been passing out from exhaustion every night, but it's the best kind of exhaustion.  And the kids will finally arrive tomorrow!  I am so happy to be in Vietnam at camp with such wonderful people.  I still can’t believe I’m actually here.

Happy 4th of July  - we just finished our staff dinner where I was in charge of the music – Frank Sinatra all night - I can’t express how lovely it was.  Please eat a hamburger and drink a Sam Summer for me!!