This is my final hello or sabaidee from Laos! I'm writing from the beautiful lobby of the Villa Maly hotel in Luang Prabang. This hotel is a newly renovated house from the French colonial era - in fact, it just opened a few months ago. The lobby, rooms, pool area, and breakfast patio are very European (including the guests here!) and absolutely pristine. Even the sink in the bathroom is like a piece of art, crafted from a massive painted urn with a gold hammered bowl at the top. In a few hours we leave for the airport where we fly from Luang Prabang to Ha Noi and then to Da Nang later tonight. We stay in Da Nang at a beach resort for 4 days and then transfer to HCMC and GO HOME IN LESS THAN A WEEK!! I am so excited.
Our time in Laos has been fantastic. If I were to recommend anything to someone wishing to travel to this country, I would absolutely recommend going to this city. It reminds me of Vietnam in so many ways yet at the same time it could not be more different. In a lot of ways, I think that this trip to Laos has helped me to better understand Vietnam - I am not as far removed from Vietnam as going home to the US yet, but there are so many contrasts I have been exposed to here (cultural, historical culinary, the pace of life here etc) that have helped me synthesize my experience in Vietnam and provide context to my life there this past semester.
The streets of Luang Prabang have a similar Asian and exotic feel as parts of Vietnam, but it is as if people take a deep breath before hitting the streets and move a whole lot slower, with a constant smile on their faces. Everyone (I am not exaggerating) is friendly and smiling and not NEARLY as pushy as the Vietnamese people are. Although there are tuk tuks everywhere to be ridden, the drivers don't harass you as they do in VN. Even the night market we went to is so enjoyable! It is not hot, people don't push, the streets are clean, there is space to walk or even stroll, and you don't have to haggle as much with vendors nagging at you constanty, as is the case in many, many markets in Vietnam. This city is a lot like the Asian version of Key West in terms of its tropical feel and urban pace - just replace all the rainbow flags from Key West with Buddhist monks or statues of Buddhas and it will be as if you are here with me!
In terms of the more historical aspects of this city, the centrality of Buddhism in this culture, this country, and this city specifically is really important to point out. Beginning in the very early morning (around 5:30 AM), the sacred atmosphere and spiritual life central to Luang Prabang becomes evident. Around 5:30 AM, young Buddhist novices dressed in their yellow robes with orange tied belts parade through the streets in a single line, begging bowl in hand as they follow the narrow streets. Villagers come out each morning lining the sidewalks as they offer to the long line of monks different food items, which the novices fill their bowls with. This food is the only food they eat all day and the reason that Lao Buddhists are not necessarily vegetarians as they are in VN - the novices take and eat whatever food the community offers them. This usually means sticky rice, bananas, or instant noodle. Speaking of sticky rice, it is an absolute staple in the diet here, as is curry. Two foods I will definitely miss when we leave! The sticky rice is like the bread of the meal, sticky enough to dip with and is always eaten with your hands. It is eaten from small baskets, always.
Luang Prabang has a beautiful setting in the moutnains of northern Laos on a narrow peninsula formed by the NamKhan river joining with the Mekong. There is a dramatically less amount of visible poverty here compared to Vietnam. In fact, people live in actual houses here in the countryside. Development seems more widespread too - powerlines are not jumbled together, the roads are consitently more reliable, and more people drive cars. This is probably due to the much smaller population here. The entire country has 7 million people, compared to Vietnam's 84 million people. The per capita income here is much higher compared to Vietnam.
Also Luang Prabang has a long history of being the choice location for many temples (there are 32 remaining in this VERY small town of the original 60). We have had the opportunity to visit many (maybe too many?) temples including Wat Mai, Wat Sene, Wat Xieng Thong, Wat Visoun, Wat Aham, and Wat That, all ornately decorated with massive and tiny Buddha statues, mosaics, colored glass, engravings, and lots and lots of gold. We also took a long boatride along the Mekong and visited a rice wine-making village and a few caves filled with tiny sculptures of Buddhas and climbed to the top of an incredible waterfall. We even went through a Hmong village, which was so interesting to me after reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which is one of my favorite books written about a Hmong family from Laos living in the US. This country has been so impressive and so beautiful! Definitely a good decision to come here...I don't regret it for a second!
If there is a computer at our next hotel I will post one last time from Vietnam, but if not this might be my last post from Asia! I can't believe this time is nearly over, but I feel like I have really gotten everything from it that I can and that I wished to. Happy early new year!!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sabaidee ("Hello") from the Land of A Million Elephants: Laos
Sabaidee! That is Laotian for "Hello." I am writing to you from the business center of the amazing, beautiful, and elegantly luxurious hotel we are staying in in Vientiane, Laos, the capital. In the language here, the country Laos means the Land of A Million Elephants, so I figured this would be the most appropriate title for this post! Although I have yet to see an actual elephant here other than the elephants decorating the artwork and tapestries abundant in this country, the word is that they can be found in the countryside and remain a sacred animal to many here.
We arrived in Vientiane after an intense 2 day in a row overnight train experience to and from Sapa. We arrived from Sapa to Hanoi at 4 AM two days ago and then went directly to the airport for our flight here. We arrived to this amazing hotel exhausted and dirty from trekking and not showering in two days. As soon as we got to the hotel, however, we were greeted so warmly by the staff here dressed in the traditional Laos dress and holding their hands in the prayer position, which is considered a polite gesture upon seeing someone for the first time. Their beautiful dress, which is similar to the many tapestries and silks my dad has brought back from India during his travels, is so distinct from Vietnamese fabrics - it is amazing that these countries are so close together yet so different. In addition to the obvious differences in attire of the people here, their skin is much darker than Vietnamese and their eyes lighter shades of brown. In fact, the Laotian people look much more Thai and even Indian than Vietnamese people do. My parents laugh when I continue making these comparisons to Vietnam, but after all, this has been my only point of reference for the last 4 months. When exchanging money, I unintentionally converted the currency into VN Dong rather than US Dollars to understand the exchange rate. Another example of a time when my parents got a kick out of the influence Vietnam has had on my thinking and behavior!
Upon entering the lobby of this hotel, which was decorated just beautifully with bright white cushions on the couches, which contrasted the dark wood used on the floors and other furniture, we were ushered into a seating area to enjoy freshly squeezed orange juice with orchids decorating the glasses. What luxury!! It was delicious. We settled into our rooms and took a shower. When I say take a shower, I mean take the best shower I have possibly ever experienced!!! Okay, maybe my perspective is a LITTLE off considering where I have lived this semester, but in any event, this shower was amazing. There was even a private garden for each shower inside a three walled structure, made visible from inside the shower through a huge glass window.
After showering, we headed into town with our guide for a short tour of the city and a glimpse at several structures we looked at in more depth today, such as the city's arc de triumph and many, many ancient Buddhist temples. We had lunch at an amazing restaurant, which like a few restaurants in Vietnam I love, is an NGO to train street children on food preparation and the restaurant business. We had delicious tofu curry, fresh mushroom spring rolls, sticky rice, Lao beer, and all sorts of eggplant, tomato, and mushroom dips. There is definitely a strong Thai and Indian influence on the food, but at the same time, so many similarities to Vietnamese food and culture - such as the rice, fruits, street vendor foods, and cultural mannerisms.
One huge difference: IT IS QUIET HERE!!! I never thought I would appreciate quiet so much. I used to think people were crazy for going on a vacation to a cabin in the mountains in the middle of nowhere where there are no other people, only quiet nature. Now I think that vacation idea is absolutely brilliant. Quiet is a wonderful thing! After being in Hanoi and HCMC for so long, I really have adapted to the constant and almost malicious sounds of the streets - the honking, chatter, oral advertisements etc. It wasn't until I was removed from it, however, that I realized how much the noise can affect you! There are so many less people on the streets here, so many less motorbikes, so many less cars. It is wonderful. For the first time since before Vietnam, I have "checked out." Even though I was on vacation in Vietnam once my parents got there, I was always on-call, helping with communication and making sure the trip went well. Now I can really relax...and I am!
Today we visited beautiful Buddhist temples (one of which had over 10,000 tiny Buddha statues nestled intricately into little lotus-shaped alcoves on all inside walls of the structure - incredible), stupas, and we climbed the arc de triumph, which is modeled after the one in France and overlooks the entire city. We were told by a Canadian woman we met in Sapa that Laos is a sleepy place compared to Vietnam. It is! This sleepiness was so visible as we stood at the top of this massive structure overlooking the city where the tallest building is only 13 stories tall. The pace of life here is literally a slow-motion version of Hanoi or HCMC that is so evident to me that I feel like I can touch it. It also has a much more European feel than Vietnam, even though it is much less developed. There is a central plaza and many more European cafes and coffee shops (the coffee here has such a unique flavor...just when I thought Vietnamese coffee was a one of a kind flavor!). It is cleaner and generally more tolerable and enjoyable.
Tonight we leave for Luang Prabang where we will stay for 3 nights and then head back to Vietnam for a final 4 day stay at a beach resort in Danang. I can't believe that in a week from now I will be leaving Asia! Time has flown by. I can't wait to be home!!!
We arrived in Vientiane after an intense 2 day in a row overnight train experience to and from Sapa. We arrived from Sapa to Hanoi at 4 AM two days ago and then went directly to the airport for our flight here. We arrived to this amazing hotel exhausted and dirty from trekking and not showering in two days. As soon as we got to the hotel, however, we were greeted so warmly by the staff here dressed in the traditional Laos dress and holding their hands in the prayer position, which is considered a polite gesture upon seeing someone for the first time. Their beautiful dress, which is similar to the many tapestries and silks my dad has brought back from India during his travels, is so distinct from Vietnamese fabrics - it is amazing that these countries are so close together yet so different. In addition to the obvious differences in attire of the people here, their skin is much darker than Vietnamese and their eyes lighter shades of brown. In fact, the Laotian people look much more Thai and even Indian than Vietnamese people do. My parents laugh when I continue making these comparisons to Vietnam, but after all, this has been my only point of reference for the last 4 months. When exchanging money, I unintentionally converted the currency into VN Dong rather than US Dollars to understand the exchange rate. Another example of a time when my parents got a kick out of the influence Vietnam has had on my thinking and behavior!
Upon entering the lobby of this hotel, which was decorated just beautifully with bright white cushions on the couches, which contrasted the dark wood used on the floors and other furniture, we were ushered into a seating area to enjoy freshly squeezed orange juice with orchids decorating the glasses. What luxury!! It was delicious. We settled into our rooms and took a shower. When I say take a shower, I mean take the best shower I have possibly ever experienced!!! Okay, maybe my perspective is a LITTLE off considering where I have lived this semester, but in any event, this shower was amazing. There was even a private garden for each shower inside a three walled structure, made visible from inside the shower through a huge glass window.
After showering, we headed into town with our guide for a short tour of the city and a glimpse at several structures we looked at in more depth today, such as the city's arc de triumph and many, many ancient Buddhist temples. We had lunch at an amazing restaurant, which like a few restaurants in Vietnam I love, is an NGO to train street children on food preparation and the restaurant business. We had delicious tofu curry, fresh mushroom spring rolls, sticky rice, Lao beer, and all sorts of eggplant, tomato, and mushroom dips. There is definitely a strong Thai and Indian influence on the food, but at the same time, so many similarities to Vietnamese food and culture - such as the rice, fruits, street vendor foods, and cultural mannerisms.
One huge difference: IT IS QUIET HERE!!! I never thought I would appreciate quiet so much. I used to think people were crazy for going on a vacation to a cabin in the mountains in the middle of nowhere where there are no other people, only quiet nature. Now I think that vacation idea is absolutely brilliant. Quiet is a wonderful thing! After being in Hanoi and HCMC for so long, I really have adapted to the constant and almost malicious sounds of the streets - the honking, chatter, oral advertisements etc. It wasn't until I was removed from it, however, that I realized how much the noise can affect you! There are so many less people on the streets here, so many less motorbikes, so many less cars. It is wonderful. For the first time since before Vietnam, I have "checked out." Even though I was on vacation in Vietnam once my parents got there, I was always on-call, helping with communication and making sure the trip went well. Now I can really relax...and I am!
Today we visited beautiful Buddhist temples (one of which had over 10,000 tiny Buddha statues nestled intricately into little lotus-shaped alcoves on all inside walls of the structure - incredible), stupas, and we climbed the arc de triumph, which is modeled after the one in France and overlooks the entire city. We were told by a Canadian woman we met in Sapa that Laos is a sleepy place compared to Vietnam. It is! This sleepiness was so visible as we stood at the top of this massive structure overlooking the city where the tallest building is only 13 stories tall. The pace of life here is literally a slow-motion version of Hanoi or HCMC that is so evident to me that I feel like I can touch it. It also has a much more European feel than Vietnam, even though it is much less developed. There is a central plaza and many more European cafes and coffee shops (the coffee here has such a unique flavor...just when I thought Vietnamese coffee was a one of a kind flavor!). It is cleaner and generally more tolerable and enjoyable.
Tonight we leave for Luang Prabang where we will stay for 3 nights and then head back to Vietnam for a final 4 day stay at a beach resort in Danang. I can't believe that in a week from now I will be leaving Asia! Time has flown by. I can't wait to be home!!!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Alive and Well!
Hello! I am sorry that it has been so so long since I have last written. I do, however, have a very legitimate excuse - my laptop broke. It is a long story that I don't even want to begin describing, so I am now on a computer in the ecotour company in Sa Pa (where it is freezing temperatures) in northern Vietnam with numb toes (3 pairs of socks later) and my entire family bundled up in our muddy clothing beside me. You would think from this description that I have been roughing it once again in Vietnam over the last week and a half since my family arrived in Vietnam. But that, in fact, is not the case, minus today being the exception. The day my program ended (December 14) was a very bittersweet day. It was very sad to say good bye to everyone in my group, especially after the intensive 4 months we have spent together, just 8 of us. I do realize that the difficulty in saying good bye is only a true indication of the close friendships I have made with them here. Even though everyone is home, I have still been in touch as best I can so far,and I think once I get back home, this communication will remain and be more possible.
After the tear-filled trip to the airport, I went out to lunch with Thuy (program assitant) and Alex, who was also staying longer in Vietnam. After lunch I checked into the beautiful Bong Sen Hotel in downtown Saigon where I stayed the night by myself before my mom and sister arrived the following morning (my dad came 3 days later because of work committments). Although I was worried the night alone would be lonely after saying good bye to everyone, I couldn't have enjoyed it more. I strolled along the Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton filled streets just outside the hotel, a foreign and "non-Vietnam" experience I had yet to have in Vietnam. As I walked around that evening alone, feeling confident in the Vietnamese environment that I remember was so intimidating to me just months ago, I realized that I really have grown up and changed since I got here months ago --- this realization has become even more clear since my family arrived. I'm not babysitting them by any means, but let's just say I have come in handy communicating and getting around this crazy place. I can't get over the fact that people can get used to anything - there are so many aspects of life here, daily events, and national quircks that have become so normal to me, that I don't even think about them or get shocked by them anymore (e.g., all the trash on the sidewalks, people spitting everywhere, the difficulty in speaking English/getting the correct order in a restaurant, cockroaches, rats...the list goes on). Having my parents here and recognizing their reactions and shock that I somehow managed to live happily here for an entire semester has really made me see how much this country has enabled me to grow and how much this experience has challenged and rewarded me simultaneously.
Although there is this strong desire inside me to just get home, which I CAN'T WAIT to do, I had a great time showing my family around the "real Vietnam" as I call it- this means the broken sidewalks around the University, the grocery store I went to, the old, tattered track (which I got to run on with my dad - half of the track was blocked off so we ran 100 meters over and over and over....typical running experience here). We have had quite an intense traveling experience after we left HCMC - we spent a few days in the central area visiting Hoi An, Hue, and Da Nang, and then Ha Noi and a luxurious cruise along Ha Long Bay. Last night we took the overnight train from the local people-filled train station in Ha Noi to Lao Cai, arriving at 5 AM and then driving an hour on the foggy roads with zero (and I mean zero) visibility to Sa Pa. Today we spent the day trekking in the incredible terraced rice paddies with local Black H'mong girls (google Sapa, Vietnam, or BlackH'mong ethnic minority people to see pictures of this incredibly beautiful place). Even though it was freezing temperatures, the hike was great. We also had a chance to visit the market this morning before the trek, where my family got to experience yet again the smells and grime of Vietnamese markets - including the slaughtered dog meat dispersed throughout the market. At some point when I have my computer alive and well again I will post a picture of the dog head from the market. It is a very traditional winter food here - the yin yang concept applies to food here too. Dog meat is considered a warm food so it perfectly complements the cold of winter. The perfect "Vietnamese hot dog," some say. Although I have eaten bird saliva (which I made my sister and dad try too), cow blood, and a whole bunch of other crazy things, I have never and will never venture to the dog department!
I had a great time in Hanoi also showing my family my daily life there - we had dinner at some of my favorite restaurants and street food places (yes, that's right, I convinced my mother to squat in the insanely crowded old quarter of Ha Noi and eat street food...we have a picture as proof of this noteworthy experience for her). I showed them my infamous Lotus Guesthouse, where I lived for 6 dollars a night and endured the construction noises of the room below me made possible from the massive hole in the ground of my ant infested room. Of course they completely renovated the guesthouse since I lived there, so I couldn't REALLY prove to them that I survived that experience! They also met some of my Vietnamese friends and just in general got a good feeling and sense of my life here in Vietnam. It was amazing for me also how many of the street vendors I went to routinely remembered me - when they met my family they hugged and embraced both me and them. I couldn't believe it and couldn't have enjoyed it more.
Tonight we spend our second night in a row on the overnight train back to Ha Noi where we will then go directly to the airport there for our flight to Laos. We spend 5 days in Laos before heading back to Danang to spend our last 4 days at a resort on the beach (Whew! That was a mouthful in words...can you imagine in reality?) Despite the hectic traveling, it is nice to be living in much more luxurious hotels etc. This has definitely been a trip to remember so far...
When I find another computer I will update more...but until then, I hope everyone is well and having a great winter break!!
After the tear-filled trip to the airport, I went out to lunch with Thuy (program assitant) and Alex, who was also staying longer in Vietnam. After lunch I checked into the beautiful Bong Sen Hotel in downtown Saigon where I stayed the night by myself before my mom and sister arrived the following morning (my dad came 3 days later because of work committments). Although I was worried the night alone would be lonely after saying good bye to everyone, I couldn't have enjoyed it more. I strolled along the Gucci, Burberry, and Louis Vuitton filled streets just outside the hotel, a foreign and "non-Vietnam" experience I had yet to have in Vietnam. As I walked around that evening alone, feeling confident in the Vietnamese environment that I remember was so intimidating to me just months ago, I realized that I really have grown up and changed since I got here months ago --- this realization has become even more clear since my family arrived. I'm not babysitting them by any means, but let's just say I have come in handy communicating and getting around this crazy place. I can't get over the fact that people can get used to anything - there are so many aspects of life here, daily events, and national quircks that have become so normal to me, that I don't even think about them or get shocked by them anymore (e.g., all the trash on the sidewalks, people spitting everywhere, the difficulty in speaking English/getting the correct order in a restaurant, cockroaches, rats...the list goes on). Having my parents here and recognizing their reactions and shock that I somehow managed to live happily here for an entire semester has really made me see how much this country has enabled me to grow and how much this experience has challenged and rewarded me simultaneously.
Although there is this strong desire inside me to just get home, which I CAN'T WAIT to do, I had a great time showing my family around the "real Vietnam" as I call it- this means the broken sidewalks around the University, the grocery store I went to, the old, tattered track (which I got to run on with my dad - half of the track was blocked off so we ran 100 meters over and over and over....typical running experience here). We have had quite an intense traveling experience after we left HCMC - we spent a few days in the central area visiting Hoi An, Hue, and Da Nang, and then Ha Noi and a luxurious cruise along Ha Long Bay. Last night we took the overnight train from the local people-filled train station in Ha Noi to Lao Cai, arriving at 5 AM and then driving an hour on the foggy roads with zero (and I mean zero) visibility to Sa Pa. Today we spent the day trekking in the incredible terraced rice paddies with local Black H'mong girls (google Sapa, Vietnam, or BlackH'mong ethnic minority people to see pictures of this incredibly beautiful place). Even though it was freezing temperatures, the hike was great. We also had a chance to visit the market this morning before the trek, where my family got to experience yet again the smells and grime of Vietnamese markets - including the slaughtered dog meat dispersed throughout the market. At some point when I have my computer alive and well again I will post a picture of the dog head from the market. It is a very traditional winter food here - the yin yang concept applies to food here too. Dog meat is considered a warm food so it perfectly complements the cold of winter. The perfect "Vietnamese hot dog," some say. Although I have eaten bird saliva (which I made my sister and dad try too), cow blood, and a whole bunch of other crazy things, I have never and will never venture to the dog department!
I had a great time in Hanoi also showing my family my daily life there - we had dinner at some of my favorite restaurants and street food places (yes, that's right, I convinced my mother to squat in the insanely crowded old quarter of Ha Noi and eat street food...we have a picture as proof of this noteworthy experience for her). I showed them my infamous Lotus Guesthouse, where I lived for 6 dollars a night and endured the construction noises of the room below me made possible from the massive hole in the ground of my ant infested room. Of course they completely renovated the guesthouse since I lived there, so I couldn't REALLY prove to them that I survived that experience! They also met some of my Vietnamese friends and just in general got a good feeling and sense of my life here in Vietnam. It was amazing for me also how many of the street vendors I went to routinely remembered me - when they met my family they hugged and embraced both me and them. I couldn't believe it and couldn't have enjoyed it more.
Tonight we spend our second night in a row on the overnight train back to Ha Noi where we will then go directly to the airport there for our flight to Laos. We spend 5 days in Laos before heading back to Danang to spend our last 4 days at a resort on the beach (Whew! That was a mouthful in words...can you imagine in reality?) Despite the hectic traveling, it is nice to be living in much more luxurious hotels etc. This has definitely been a trip to remember so far...
When I find another computer I will update more...but until then, I hope everyone is well and having a great winter break!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Pictures from Fieldwork
Fish sauce display and me at Cho Hom open air market in Hanoi where I did my middle-class urban interviews
Trang (my translator and friend from Hanoi University) in Cho Hom during day of interviews
Fish sauce seller in Cho Hom who I interviewed
Fruit and vegetables in market
Fish sauce delivery man came while I was interviewing!
Commune Health Clinic located in Thon Dong Ba Village (where I did rural micronutrient malnutrition interviews)
Thong Dong Ba Village
Fish sauce display in the village just outside the house I conducted some interviews
Wonderful woman I interviewed in Thong Dong Ba village - she suffers from severe iron deficiency anemia. Her children eat rice porridge 3 meals a day, and she spends a total of 1 dollar a day on food for her family.Pictures from the North
Massive tirantula we came across during a hike in Cuc Phuong National Park
Beautiful Halong Bay
Girls at sunset on Halong Bay
Muong Ethnic Minority Village we stayed in during the excursion
Worst flooding in Hanoi in 20 years (from early November)Saturday, November 29, 2008
The Final Weeks
Hello! I'm sorry that I have been a little MIA the last few weeks. I am now back in HCMC happily living with Alex again in a guesthouse that has no internet, hence the lack of blog posts! I ended my time in Hanoi on Thanksgiving day. I loved everything about Hanoi, from the area I lived, the street vendors, the park and lake nearby, the general feel of the city, and especially the work and research I was doing. Other than my guesthouse being absolutely awful (I'm talking…there were ants infesting my bed, I could reach the ceiling it was so low, no windows, they were doing massive drilling in a room below my room and because I had a gigantic hole in the floor of my room, which opened into the under-construction room, it was like living IN the construction site). I've learned that these inconveniences are truly insignificant – in fact, I was living luxury compared to the way that most people in this country live. I have to say that living with Alex again in HCMC is a relief. Living alone was great for the schedule I was living during that segment of my research, but living entirely alone in Vietnam does take a toll on you even when you don't realize it. I can't describe the relief I felt when I landed back in HCMC. I love Hanoi, but something about this city is so comfortable and familiar. Alex and I returned to our pho hole-in-the-wall "restaurant" where they welcomed us realizing we had been away for some time. We returned to the track, where all the old ladies remembered us as well, smiling as we ran past. Even the sticky rice ladies near the university remembered us when we visited this morning. Things are just falling into place here, as strange as it is to think that in two weeks from now, I will be formally finished with this incredible experience. It will certainly be over technically, but what I have learned this semester and especially the last few weeks living alone here, is absolutely indispensible and irreplaceable. I couldn't be more thankful.
Speaking of thankful, happy late Thanksgiving! One would think that being in Vietnam for Thanksgiving would mean no turkey, gravy, pumpkin pie, or mashed potatoes. But think again! Alex and I splurged on a Thanksgiving dinner at the New World Hotel, which is the hotel Bill Clinton stayed at during his famous visit, and the hotel that I longingly looked into each day on the walk to school from my home stay, hoping that one day I would be able to set foot inside. That day finally happened. The food and wine were great, but greater than that was the fact that out of the six or so Americans also eating dinner there, two of them were from GREENSBORO. Yes, that's right! We all sort of raised our wine glasses together as we sat down wishing one another a Happy Thanksgiving and asking one another about where we were all from. After a minute or so, it became clear that two of the men (both in the furniture business, one of them lives here doing quality control at a factory nearby) were from Greensboro, one graduated from Grimsley and one from Smith. What a small world. It was definitely the most memorable Thanksgiving I've ever had. I couldn't have missed my mom's pumpkin chiffon pie more, but nonetheless, I made due with what I have here. On the walk home at around 10:30, Alex and I passed a woman digging through the trash, clearly in the squatting position she would be for the remainder of the night…out on the street. We felt full, happy, and content that we had just allowed ourselves to spend money on a real dinner, but seeing this woman made us squirm inside. We gave her the rest of the money we had in our money belts and walked home. You just can't get away from these situations here – we felt like we were in a bubble of luxury in the hotel, but once you step foot back onto the street, this bubble explodes right in your face and leaves you with a sense of guilt, or rather just plain reality. I enjoyed and loved every moment of my Thanksgiving indulgence, but not without recognizing how lucky I truly am for what I have and how the majority of people here cannot say the same.
I wanted to write about my research and field work the last few weeks. As you may now, I am studying the cultural influences on iron fortification of fish sauce and how national efforts toward widespread fortification can alleviate micronutrient malnutrition, specifically iron-deficiency anemia. I know that sounds like a mouthful, which it is, but I couldn't be more interested in my research topic. In essence, I am studying the nutritional impacts of iron-deficiency anemia in Vietnam and how the role of fish sauce in the Vietnamese diet affects will affect the success of the national project. In terms of fieldwork, I think it's most important to start off explaining the incredible advisor that I have been lucky enough to work with. She is a PhD candidate from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, but is from Vietnam and conducting her research at the National Institute of Nutrition about social marketing of iron-fortified fish sauce. Her American experiences, however, have helped significantly with the language barrier that tends to get in the way of successful verbal interactions here in Vietnam! I spent a few days at the National Institute of Nutrition using their library and primary sources available there, but the majority of my research came from the work I did in the field. With the help of Van and her contacts through the NIN, I was able to set up a day of rural interviews in Thon Dong Ba village with severely micronutrient malnourished women. Van was kind enough to accompany me on the hour trip to the village and be my translator. I conducted pretty in depth interviews with four women over the course of the day. I also had the opportunity to visit the commune health center and see the facilities (or rather lack of them). For a few thousand people in the neighboring communes, there is only one medical doctor. The entire courtyard was filled with plants, which were all the herbal remedies used in the facility. The interviews with the women, however were the most memorable. They were so open to sharing information about their lives, their food intake for their families, the percentage of their budget that goes toward buying meat, fish sauce consumption patterns, and experiences with IDA. One woman, for example, had arms about half the size as mine and was at least five inches shorter than me. She was tiny and clearly malnourished. She had a family of six (which she was embarrassed initially to tell me since there are family planning regulations about having two children – but she and her husband wanted to have a son, so they had children until she gave birth to her fourth child). She and her husband are rice farmers and get by in the off-season by reselling vegetables in a nearby market. Each day, she spends less than one dollar on food for her family. I just couldn't fathom it…it means that her children literally eat no meat, just rice porridge for three meals a day. After the interviews, I gave each woman about six dollars as a token of my appreciation, and realized that I was providing a week's worth of food for most of the women. I also used my grant money to donate six month's worth of iron tablets for each of the women I interviewed. I just couldn't sleep at night knowing that these women and their families were not eating enough each day to survive, let alone the micronutrients to keep them healthy.
The next segment of my fieldwork took place in Hanoi proper. I interviewed four more women through Van's contacts at NIN. Basically we contacted another health center near Van's home and recruited three more women who had recently visited the clinic for IDA. I also did about 10 interviews of fish sauce sellers in four different markets (two supermarkets and two traditional open-air Vietnamese markets, which were totally isolated from any tourists…I was definitely the only white person for miles!). One of the students I befriended from Hanoi University was my translator for the market interviews. Finally, I did a short questionnaire for the Hanoi University students. All in all, I did 17 interviews and 15 surveys. The results were fascinating – I will share them in my next post! For now, I have to go! I hope all is well with everyone there. Can't wait to be home!!!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Northern Excursion & Being a Non-Tourist
(This post was supposed to be posted almost 2 weeks ago…I'm sorry!!!)
This excursion is our last one in the program before ISP begins. It has been different from other excursions we have had because we are constantly moving and changing locations. Since the last time I posted, we have spent a night in the forest, slept in a stilt Muong house, and rowed boats through a bay of caves and rock cliffs. The general theme of the trip has been more ecological/environmental based. Before we left to the forest, we spent two days in Hanoi doing as much sightseeing as we could given the flooding circumstances. We ended up having to cancel many of our scheduled trips because the flooding completely devastated most areas of the city. People were without electricity and clean water. Upwards of 50 people have died so far in and around Hanoi proper. We even had to reserve a larger bus so that we could drive through the floody streets. On our way to our lecture at the Institute for Social Development, for example, there were parts of the road that were so flooded that men were literally fishing in the street and catching upwards of five fish at a time. The cost of food has nearly quadrupled since the flooding started, which is even evident in the very minimal selection of fruits on the side of the road driving in the villages. One village we drove through had boats delivering instant noodles to the people because they were unable to even leave their homes, let alone travel to a market. In Hanoi we also ate lunch at a restaurant that is an NGO for street children and runs a program to get them off the street. We also visited the Temple of Literature, which considered to be the first university in Vietnam. It had a completely Chinese feeling to it – the rich red colors interspersed throughout, the architectural design similar to a pagoda, and the intricately designed gardens that were expansive throughout. On our last day in Hanoi before leaving for Cuc Phuong National Park, we were supposed to have an all-day seminar at the National University in Hanoi. Because of the flood, however, the entire university was shut down and many areas of it destroyed. We ended up having the same lectures in the guesthouse. Although the lectures were all quite interesting and we also had the chance to spend more time with the Hanoi University students (one of which agreed to be my translator for my ISP!), I had a hard time being stuck in a dark room all day without any sunshine.
Luckily the rains slowed by the evening and we were able to take a long walk around the lake and attend the water puppet show, which is a traditional and trademark element of Hanoi. It is a puppet show, which incorporates Chinese and French influence but has a uniquely Vietnamese twist to it, which is particularly evident in the content of the puppet show stories. The marionette puppets are all intricately designed, ranging from dragons, snakes, to people, and are controlled by a group of about four or five people standing behind the bamboo wall. The most distinct feature of this puppet show is that it is done in two or so feet of water. Vietnamese singers provide the background songs to this production, which left us in our wonderful second row seats a bit wet by the show's end after getting splashed quite a few times throughout the program.
After the show, we walked along the streets by the lake on our way to a late dinner. Co Thanh just radiates energy when she is walking along the streets of Hanoi, which helps fuel my own intrigue with the city. On this walk, we saw so many exciting things, from clothing stores, street vendors, pharmacies, and hotels. All the streets here are compartmentalized – there are streets entirely devoted to shoes, to cups of fresh fruit with yogurt, to scarves, to pharmacies etc. Unlike in HCMC, the sidewalk in Hanoi is an actual sidewalk where people walk. There are even spray-painted lines structuring the rows of parked motorbikes in some parts of the city. In the middle of our walk, Co Thanh quickly crossed the street and told us she would be right back. We saw her talking with a street-vendor woman selling sticky rice. Co Thanh came back to our side of the street with two bags full of sticky rice, each ball of which was wrapped individually in newspaper and felt hot to the touch. Because the walk to our restaurant for dinner was far, she wanted us to have a chance to experience this sticky rice. This is the vendor where she enjoyed sticky rice as a child growing up in Hanoi. Looking back at this small food vendor, nestled away onto the sidewalk of this street, I realized how appreciative I am of Co Thanh and her desire for us to see Vietnam not as tourists. I'm not exactly sure what I am here, but I know that no tourist stops on the side of the road and picks THIS woman to buy rice from. As I bit into this foreign food, I realized that this country is becoming less and less foreign to me after all. I'm learning to enjoy this increasing degree of comfort and confidence in both myself and life in this country with each passing day.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
On My Own in Vietnam!
Hello everyone! I am sorry for not posting in a long time but things here have been (great) but so busy! I have a lot to catch up on in my writing, including our most recent and last excursion to Cuc Phuong National Forest as part of our Northern Excursion, but first I want to update you all on where I am right now. It is now about 3 PM on Thursday and I am sitting outside my guesthouse room in Hanoi on a crammed little patio of bamboo chairs and potted plants overlooking other apartment buildings nearby. I can hear some honking and the sweeping of the woman beneath our patio, but in general, this area is refreshingly quiet. Most important to point out, I am wearing long paints and a sweatshirt, the sun is shining, it is not raining, and there is zero humidity. The weather in Hanoi is absolutely perfect (minus the flood ordeal which was devastating to the city about a week ago). The weather reminds me of early October days in North Carolina when the humidity starts to become less intense as fall puts its first foot in the door. That crisp, fall air is exactly what it is like here. Our guesthouse is about a five minute walk from a huge lake in Hanoi, which is called the Green Lake because the water is greener than evergreen trees. People walk and run around the lake at all hours of the day and there is a beautiful pagoda in the center of the lake. Last night, I went for a longer run around the lake at around 6 PM once it got dark. With a full moon overhead, a breeze, and cool temperatures outside, it couldn't have been more perfect. I have to say escaping the oppressive heat of HCMC is the biggest relief I have sensed in a long time!
Yesterday our independent study period began. I feel a strange combination of both being overwhelmed and simultaneously relieved. The few days prior to yesterday and after our Cuc Phuong Forest excursion, we had our final paper and various other academic obligations to complete before starting ISP that got a bit stressful, so in many ways being "set free" yesterday was a relief. I now have an entire month of time that I get to budget entirely by myself, without the structure of any academic program whatsoever. Granted I have a massive research project that would terrify me to complete in the United States let alone in Vietnam, but I am really excited. I have set up all my contacts at the National Nutrition Institute, will be conducting interviews with micronutrient malnourished women in the countryside, and will even be accompanying my advisor on nutrition field research in a nearby village on Saturday. I promise to explain more about my project as time goes on. Despite this sense of liberation I feel, it is a bit scary to be on my own away from the eight other SIT students I have spent intensive time with the last two and a half months. The only real contact I have with my program director is updating phone calls here and there plus my $19 a day stipend for housing and food. Although there are a few other SIT students in Hanoi while I am here, I am living on the other side of town by myself, other than these few days with Danielle. I feel more vulnerable to the hardships of living in this country, but at the same time very excited and honestly feel ready for this experience. I think about what my life would be like now in the US if I hadn't gone abroad. I would be in the library studying some concept or book or writing a paper. Instead, I am in Vietnam studying nutrition, which I've come to realize is something I am really passionate about, with firsthand contact with people here and life here. I can't even imagine how I will look back on this experience one day in the next few years when I am stuck in a cubicle in some office building. This is so energizing, real, exciting, and unique. I am not letting myself forget that, even when things get challenging!
This morning I spent at the World Bank Library, which is the most pristine academic building I have yet to see in Vietnam. The resources were fantastic for me. It was actually reenergizing to use actual books for research rather than internet articles. The library windows overlook the Opera House of Hanoi, which is a beautiful building reminiscent of Versailles in France (it was built during French occupation). I think I may be going back there to do more research because it is both a comprehensive library and an enjoyable place to work. Last night, Danielle and I (my roommate for the next few days before she leaves to Danang for her research, at which point I will move into a single at this guesthouse) went out for a nicer dinner near the American Club and ended up walking around the lake and meeting up with a few other SIT'ers in Hanoi for some $.30 beer in the old quarter. There is such an interesting mix of Westerners and Vietnamese in that neighborhood, which I far prefer over HCMC's backpacking district. As you can tell, I am just loving Hanoi and can't wait to spend the next few weeks here before I return to HCMC for the last segment of my research. This is a city that still has many of the same infrastructure problems that HCMC experiences, but the cooler temperatures and different type of people here (which is almost visibly apparent) make the day to day experience of living here much more enjoyable. In Hanoi you can use an umbrella (in HCMC there are too many people to even think about opening an umbrella). You can walk on the sidewalk and not touch anyone else if you wish not to. You can even walk around and not be harassed constantly by motorbike drivers, cyclo drivers, and fruit-selling ladies. Although I'm not sure if it's my growing confidence in the Vietnamese ways that make some of these observations true or not, but in general I am much more at ease here. I have even used more of my Vietnamese skills here and people are so entertained. For lunch today, for example, Danielle and I ate the most amazing bun bo, which is beef vermicelli soup, sitting on little red plastic stools on the side of the road. We ordered completely in Vietnamese and even had a mini conversation with the women working about how old we are, how long we have been here so far, and how delicious the food is. Obviously the content of our conversation was nothing complex, but I'm beginning to realize how necessary basic Vietnamese language skills are in order to experience the most authentic elements of Vietnamese culture, such as street food eaten off of little plastic stools. A small interesting side note – all the street vendors like the one we ate at for lunch are nomadic. By that I mean that this amazing bowl of soup we had for lunch today may not be there tomorrow or even in a few hours. Unless it is an official restaurant, the vendors just move around the streets for the most part. It's like the Vietnamese culinary disappearing act!
Even though I knew this entry would be extremely long, I did not think it would take me this long to reach the point to talk about the latest excursion. I think for the sake of your eyes and sanity, I will stop here for now and use my next post to write about the forest, tarantula experiences, Obama victory in Vietnam, and Halong Bay experiences. Miss you all! Sending love from Vietnam.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The Halfway Point
The time has come – I am halfway through my study abroad experience in Vietnam. It is hard to believe that in only 12 days from now, I will be on my own in this country doing my independent research project. I remember at the very beginning of the program, I told myself that when the time came for the Hanoi excursion, (which we left for at 5:30 AM this morning), I would really be "over the hill" of my time here. This past week has been strange in a lot of ways because it has really been like an ending. We finished our Vietnamese language classes, had our final exam, had a cultural exchange program with university students here, and on Friday night we had our final dinner with professors and home stay families at a fancy buffet restaurant. Despite the difficulty of the language classes, we were all pretty sad to be finished. We have grown to really love our cute, little professor and all of his quirks – such as consistently calling me "Berrecka" instead of Rebecca (everyone in my program now calls me Berrecka), being a grandpa figure and taking care of us on excursions, or asking us to join him for a smoke during our 15 minute break during each three our lecture (don't worry, no one has taken him up on this offer). After our test yesterday we gave him a framed picture of all of us and made a cute card as well. An interesting fact about gift giving in VN culture: it is not appropriate to open a gift in front of the people who give it to you. Professor Nghia was blown away that we asked him to open the gift once we gave it to him. During the oral part of the exam which was done one by one, I realized that I was actually able to speak Vietnamese! Although the questions were not complex questions by any means and he spoke slower than anyone actually speaks here, I could respond in Vietnamese with little difficulty.
Last night was one of the best nights I've had since I've been here. In the afternoon we had our cultural exchange with university students. We had been told that they were practicing hours on end for this two hour show, so we decided to put some effort in as well. We ended up singing and dancing to a few classic American songs like "Amazing Grace", "Ain't No Mountain High," and "Lean On Me." We sounded pretty pathetic but we had a great time nonetheless. The Vietnamese performances were absolutely, positively HILLARIOUS. It's guaranteed to be funny when Vietnamese try to cater to American pop-culture tastes. When we sat down at our seats, there was a paper printed with the lyrics to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands." Luckily we never got to that part of the program, but one game they performed/played that we did get to was called the "I Love You Game." The two VN hosts would clap and then suddenly stop. Whoever continued to clap would be "punished," as they called it, and come up to the stage. In order to sit down, those on stage had to go up to someone else in the audience and say I Love You. It was so silly, but because the VN students were so enthusiastic, dressed in their wigs and glasses for Halloween, it was so funny. It was the kind of humor worse than any cheesy, American game show, if that makes any sense. I was also "pet" for the first time yesterday. The girl sitting next to me was taken by the length of my eyelashes and asked if she could "touch" them. I'm going to assume this was a complement, not her attempt to make me feel like a puppy in a pet store!
After the cultural exchange, we went back to the guesthouse and got ready for our dinner event. For the first time in a long time, maybe weeks, I broke away from the simplicity that has been central to my daily routine here. This simplicity means that the only consistent thing I wear or apply to my body every day is deodorant. No makeup, jewelry, etc. But last night, we all broke away from this simplicity and looked nice for a change! We walked to the restaurant along the streets of the downtown area, which is completely different from "real" Saigon. That is, the area with all the fancy hotels for foreigners is a world apart from the real life in HCMC. Gucci, Armani, and Prada stores line the blocks in this area, which in my opinion is the biggest irony to exist in this country. Here are stores where the average item sold costs more than most Vietnamese families' annual income. Beggars and all forms of street culture are missing for blocks on end. Everything is written in English. It was bizarre to experience, especially since the majority of my time Vietnam has been spent in such ordinary places where ordinary people spend their time. In many ways, it bothers me that this is what an average foreigner considers Saigon to be when they visit. It's too bad that this average foreigner doesn't always go down the random alleyways or eat at ordinary restaurants to see what Vietnam is really like for most people. After the delicious dinner which lasted nearly three hours, my entire group went back to our guesthouse and dressed up in some Halloween attire and went dancing at a club downtown. We all had a great time together, as usual!
It is now Sunday evening and I have been up since 4:30 AM and am exhausted! We are in Hanoi now, which I have grown to absolutely LOVE over the course of the last 8 hours that we have been here. Many describe this city as the Paris of Asia. Although I have not been to Paris, I truly believe this expression to be the case. Over the last two days, there has been massive flooding and rains here, which is worse than Hanoi has experienced in two decades. Just yesterday, the streets were flooded up to two meters, but today there has been significant improvement. We were on the verge of cancelling or postponing this trip, but because the rains have slowed down, we decided to continue on. The situation has become so serious, however, that food is running out for many families in the surrounding districts of the downtown area. Prices of food have nearly quadrupled because all the farmland is completely inundated by the water.
Landing in Hanoi was a world different from landing in HCMC just two months ago. Instead of the colorful arrangement of crammed houses in HCMC that were so evident during the landing, the scene landing in Hanoi was the stark opposite. Farmlands were extremely flooded and many homes were completely submerged in water. Despite the natural disaster that has taken place here, there was a charm to the place that I couldn't help but notice right from the start. The roof tops are all terra cotta and the homes are modeled like French villas with dark yellow stucco. The land is much hillier and the buildings are spaced much further apart than in HCMC. Flower fields, horse drawn carriages, and motorbikes all line the countryside on the way into the city from the airport. In general, there seems to be a fascinating combination of modernity and ancient times. Once we drove into Hanoi proper, my initial impressions became even truer. Tree lined boulevards, yellow stucco villas, sculpture parks, multiple large lakes lined by trees, less traffic, slower pace, elegant stores, cyclos, space between all forms of vehicles – these are all things I noticed. The opera house in the center of town is gorgeous, as is the high school my academic director went to, which is the same yellow stucco with a terra cotta roof and massive wooden shutters (she is from Hanoi and her parents still live here). Hanoi seems completely livable and enjoyable, unlike HCMC, which as much as I have learned to love is only tolerable. People dress differently here as well. There is a real sense of fashion and elegance to the way people present themselves. I remember my home stay mom in HCMC telling me about Hanoi because she is from here as well. Although she complained that life here has become too materialistic, she swears that the men are more handsome and the women more beautiful. I have to say she is right – people look strikingly different here, with rounder eyes, smaller noses, and they seem to have a more sophisticated, European demeanor (if the people weren't Asian here, I would think I am in Europe).
After lunch at a wonderful bistro called Paris Café, where we enjoyed delicious salads, French baguette sandwiches, chocolate mousse cake, and strong cappuccinos, we had our second drop-off exercise. It started to TORRENTIALLY raining again as soon as Alex and I began our trek to the ancient quarter. When I say torrential, I mean the strongest rain I have EVER experienced or even seen on TV. I have never used every feature of my Marmot rain coat and still gotten soaked. Even with the wrists Velcro-ed tight and my hood fastened around my head, I came home from a five hour shopping experience/exploration of the ancient quarter soaked to my underwear (keep in mind also that it is much cooler here, so the rain is cold rain)! It was interesting to note the difference in infrastructure here, though. If it rained this much in HCMC, I would feel like I was bathing in gasoline, motorbike grease, and dirt. Here, the sidewalks are open, consistently paved, and walk-able, so walking through flooding streets is a bit less miserable. Alex and I had a great time, though. The shops in the ancient quarter have some of the most beautiful artwork, bowls, plates, chopsticks, jewelry, and other household items that I have seen in Vietnam so far. I wish I could just ship entire stores home with me to outfit my apartment in Atlanta! Soaked in our wet clothing about halfway through the drop-off exercise, Alex and I stopped for another cup of bittersweet Vietnamese coffee. After my third boost of caffeine for the day, we were ready to continue. We ended up walking around the flooding streets for nearly five hours. Now that I've had my hot shower and am curled up in my bed, I couldn't be happier. Our (very, very modest) guesthouse is having many problems with the rainwater, as are other restaurants and hotels in Hanoi. The room just reeks of mold and none of the sheets are dry. Despite these small inconveniences, I couldn't be happier here. I really love the city and can't wait to spend more time here over the next month. Sending love to you all from the Paris of Asia!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Agent Orange, Disability, and HIV/AIDS in Vietnam
Before arriving in Vietnam, the Vietnam War in my mind was a very impersonal piece of history and only implied basic dates, events, battles, and concepts. As I have been living here and truly immersed in the culture, however, I've realized how personal this war and all the history that goes along with it truly is. This realization came about initially during my trip to Can Tho during a Vietnamese lecture. Our cute little professor, who is about 5'2" and all smiles with a very adorable Vietnamese-English accent, mentioned his family. By this point in the experience, we were pretty comfortable with asking him questions since we had already spent about 30 of the 90 total hours of VN language classes we will have with him by the end of this week (and the end of my VN language studies!). We ended up spending an hour speaking (in English) about his story during the war and how his family was ripped apart because they were from Da Nang in central Vietnam. Through his incredible stories about surviving during this war as an aspiring student, dealing with the death of his siblings, and his moving throughout the country to stay safe, he made me realize something about Vietnam: everyone has a story from the war. Even the most ordinary people, the poorest people, the richest people…if they were alive during the war, they are guaranteed to have an unbelievable story. I think about this a lot when I walk along the streets and observe people. It is rare to have someone actually talk about their experiences from the war because Vietnamese tend to keep fragments of the past like these to themselves in the attempt to move on and progress. At the same time, however, I have come to realize that these stories are there, even if they are untold.
When we were in Da Nang, we visited an orphanage where nearly 90% of the children are severely disabled primarily from Agent Orange effects. It was a really difficult experience for me. Children were not only disabled in ways I have never seen children disabled before, but the facility lacked the technology or equipment to support the disabilities. Most children could not walk without a person holding them up. Children's legs were permanently bent backwards and many had misshaped spines. I had my first interaction with a Vietnamese child who had down syndrome at this orphanage. Keep in mind that any kind of disability that physically manifests itself in a child here results in the child's isolation from society. When I first saw this small child, he was coloring a picture with intense concentration. When he looked up and saw our group, his eyes just became locked with mine. I ended up coloring with him and a few other boys that came over for about half an hour. They were all about five to seven years old, I would guess. I couldn't even get myself to go into the more severe disability room of the orphanage, which had children younger than these kids. This young boy was not able to speak, but he showed me what color and where to draw with hand gestures. Even though the entire visit really upset me (I get upset when just visiting regular orphanages in this country, let alone ones with Agent Orange disabled children), I loved getting a chance to do a little arts and crafts with this boy. It was definitely uplifting to interact with the kids, rather than just observe them and their very serious disabilities.
A note about HIV/AIDS in Vietnam- Vietnam is facing increasingly serious problems with HIV/AIDS transmission, which is mostly through injected drug use (IDU) and sex workers. The problems are concentrated in the cities (Hanoi and HCMC) due to IDU and in the southern Mekong Delta in particular with sex workers. I know this may all seem general to you, but I have had more exposure and experience with some of these issues than I thought I would. A few weeks ago I was running in the park a block away from my home stay. The park is completely exposed to the main street and even has security guards, who just sit at the entrance in their army green uniforms on little plastic stools while they smoke and drink glasses of iced coffee. Although they didn't seem to be patrolling or enforcing any laws at all, they were there nonetheless. As I was running along the path during this early AM run and minding my own business as I listened to my IPOD tunes, I was completely flustered and to be honest, frightened, with what I saw on the curb to the left me. There squatted four or five young men, probably around my age, with their sleeves rolled up, shooting one another up with heroin. They were giggling and so conspicuously injecting drugs into one another's forearms that it was not as if they were even trying to conceal their illegal actions. I literally jumped to the side after I did a double-take look at these men. I did not initially realize that what I thought I saw could actually be happening in such an exposed part of the park, let alone at all in a public location. The security guards obviously don't do anything to prevent this from happening, nor do the large billboards hanging around the park with HIV/AIDS warnings. There is so clearly a problem in city with IDU, but there is limited prevention, if any at all. We did have a lecturer who is the vice chairman of the HIV/AIDS committee of HCMC who spoke to us last week. He explained that he had just returned from the PEPFAR conference in Uganda and was very adamant about making the distinction between HIV/AIDS problems in Africa and in Vietnam. Vietnam, a country receiving the third largest amount of money from PEPFAR in the world, does not have the same governmental structure and system to fight HIV/AIDS as other countries in Africa with similar levels of HIV/AIDS prevalence. There are no NGO's that work to fight the spread, rather the government here has complete control of the situation. They provide the funds and set up the support system. I was impressed to hear that the government does provide free treatment for those who seek it out. ARV treatment is free as long as the individual seeks it out and complies with the treatment, with requires daily visits, consistency, and discipline. The government also provides identification cards for those who visit these clinics, but they are working on preventing the growing stigma associated with the disease by not putting the person's name or picture on the card, but rather only an identification number. The laws surrounding IDU, which is one of the two main modes of transmission here, usually go unenforced, which prevents recognition that HIV has been contracted, and thus results in the disease spreading (in particular to women).
This past Sunday we went to a nearby park and played with HIV/AIDS children and spoke with their mothers. It was a group of about six mothers and six children. Actually, the women were not all mothers because many of the children's mothers have already passed away, but instead they were aunts or even grandmothers who have taken over the care of these children. Although they were reluctant to talk about these issues at first, the women opened up to us and we got to hear about their experiences with HIV/AIDS, the ways they contracted it, the ways they deal with it, and the challenges of living in Vietnamese society while facing treatment. All of the women contracted HIV from their husbands, who contracted it from sex workers. In Vietnamese society, when a husband is disloyal, it is very, very, very rare for the woman to leave him. She is considered to lack the means to survive herself with her children and the terrible image of her in society if she were to leave him would not be any better than just staying with her husband. I honestly can't even imagine having a husband cheat on me with a sex worker, let alone cause me to contract HIV. Even more than that, I can't imagine having a husband cheat on me with a sex worker, cause me to contract HIV, and then not leave him! If it were America, I would take my children and leave any man who did this before even being able to blink an eye. It blows my mind that this never happens here. Instead, there is a passivity about women's responses, it seemed like from speaking with these women. They just deal with it – they deal with losing their jobs once their boss finds out they have HIV, they deal with their children's friends' parents who don't allow their children to play with one another, they deal with the stigma that creeps up on them in so many other ways. Although Vietnam is a developing country, it is so far at the beginning of development. This, coupled with the fact that Vietnamese society is quite traditional, results in women like these to really face significant stigma. These women not only have to deal with the challenges, pain, and sickness of their own treatment, but they have to do it alone (in most cases the husband was no longer living either) and without a job (they will literally lose their job instantly once the boss finds out). To make extra money, the women made little key chains out of small beads that they sell. We all bought at least one. Mine is a little Santa Claus made out of red, green, white, and blue beads. I bought it for less than a dollar. Somehow this money is enough to really impact these women's lives.
I'm sorry for such a depressing post! I just felt like I needed to write about these issues since they have gone unmentioned as of yet. Things here continue to be great. It is getting more stressful as we finish up our VN language this week and have our exam on Friday. We also have a cultural exchange with the English club of the university on Friday night, so we have been practicing for this too. And, our ISP's are coming up too! We have all been working on our proposals. I have changed my topic too, so it's requiring much more preparation than I expected. My project will now be about the cultural importance of fish sauce in Vietnam and how it can be utilized to improve micronutrient deficiencies. My research will aim to answer: How can fish sauce, a staple of Vietnamese cuisine and culture, be used to alleviate national micronutrient deficiencies? In what ways has Vietnamese culture and history impacted the prevalence and significance of fish sauce in the Vietnamese diet? How might fish sauce be used as a unique food vehicle for fortification? I'm really looking forward to the research, which will start on November 12. It is really crazy that I am almost at this stage of my study abroad experience (and that our group will be separate from one another for a whole month!). It is quite an incredible learning experience though. I have never done this kind of intense research before at all, let alone in Vietnam, so there can only be room to grow.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Settling Down, Reflecting, and Looking Forward
And life in HCMC continues on. As you can see from the pictures I was able to post, life in Vietnam is constantly stimulating my mind and placing me in situations that are always challenging, rewarding, and extremely unique. I did want to clarify two things before I head into writing. First, I wanted to clarify a small detail about the name of my home stay family in HCMC. Their last name is spelled in Vietnamese as Dung (with lots of squiggels and accents on top). It is pronounced, however, in the Hanoi accent, "Zoom." This is the reason that in some posts I call my host mom Mrs. Zoom and others Mrs. Dung. I'm sorry for that confusion! Also, I wanted to explain the use of surgical masks while riding motorbikes. Like helmets, they have become a fashion statement. Men and women both wear intricately embroidered masks, some with cartoon figures and others with solid colors or patterns. They are used for protection against the sun (as are the long gloves many women wear on hot days…I know, crazy). More importantly, the masks are used against the pollution. It's hard to describe the feeling of breathing in HCMC because it is something you are actually conscious of, unlike in the U.S. I have become accustomed to the thicker, darker air, but you definitely feel like you are breathing (or perhaps I should say "trying" to breath) when you are. The masks are useful on the bikes when this pollution is even more tangible in the air. I am actually thinking about getting one! I know – I ride on the back of motorbikes and wear surgical masks, but hey, I'm in Vietnam. They are actually useful! I promise I won't continue wearing it at home, nor will I continue using my money belt (although it is quite a useful little accessory…I can't even imagine going back to wearing a purse or even not locking up everything I own on a routine basis. I'm not promising I won't be a paranoid person in some ways when I return…)
For the first time all semester, we have some routine! We arrived back to the city on this past Saturday night and will be staying at our main guesthouse here until November 2nd when we fly to Hanoi. During this time, we have regular classes each day (VN language in the morning and different seminars and lectures in the afternoon). As a result, there is more free time than we've yet experienced. And by that, I mean we have afternoons and a lunch break. It's really wonderful and needed after the last 2 months and leading up to the trip to Hanoi and our ISP's (independent study projects). On Sunday night, Abby, Michelle, and I were going to go to our regular pho restaurant for dinner. Instead we decided to head to the backpacking district, which I have grown to love and know since living there during my home stay. We weren't particularly hungry so we were up for a little exploring before choosing a restaurant to eat at. We took a taxi from our guesthouse to Bui Vien Street, which is right in the heart of the energy of the district. Walking around at 7:30PM on a Sunday night in a city has never in my life been so entertaining and stimulating. In fact, this city always epitomizes these two words: entertaining and stimulating. Granted a whole bunch of other words like chaotic, hot, and polluted can also be thrown into any description of this city, but for the sake of describing this evening in HCMC, keep in mind these two words. We walked along the street rather than the sidewalk because of all the motorbikes cramming the side walk and finally came across a hole in the wall Bun Bo Hue restaurant to eat at (this is traditional beef vermicelli soup from Hue, which is the city considered to be the "kitchen of VN"). I still haven't finished writing about the central excursion…so much left to say and recall! But I will do that in a later post. Anyway, we sat down and with the help of Michelle and her VN language skills, decoded the menu written in dry erase markers on the wall. The menu at these type of places is pretty simple since they usually only serve one dish (rice, broken rice, spring rolls, pho, or bun bo hue etc) per each restaurant, which varies based on the type of meat you choose. The kitchen is in the front of the restaurant, which usually implies a woman, maybe two, ladling soups into bowls, throwing in some mystery meats, vegetables, and maybe some chili if you have your mind set on something spicy. In this case we thought we were ordering beef, but the small differences in tone in the way we ordered our food resulted in our evening meal of noodle soup with chili paste piled on and some crab balls floating on top. I've come to realize that what sounds disgusting and looks disgusting in Vietnamese food usually means that it tastes good (although there some blatantly consistent and disgusting exceptions to this generalization...such as the bird saliva I tasted). By the end of the meal we were all literally drenched in sweat and walked outside to find that the 90 degree heat actually felt cool (the temperature today was 90 degrees with a heat index of 100 degrees...it's hard to describe exactly what this type of heat feels like).
We walked around the streets for a while and ended up walking for an hour or so home instead of taking another $1 cab fare taxi. This was the best idea we have had in a while. There were so many people on the streets. It's one thing for there to be a lot of people on the streets…this happens in Washington DC, New York, or Boston all the time. The difference here is the openness of the street. All the storefronts are completely open to the street. Street vendors keep selling at all hours of the night. Women pushing carts of junk (literally) walk up and down the streets shouting out in a loud, nasal voice what they are selling to attract attention and buyers. People sit on their motorbikes and talk (actually when we walked through the park we realized that when darkness falls, it becomes the place to be for lovebirds. We saw all sorts of public displays of affection that you would NEVER see in daylight in this country! We stopped for some bubble tea and continued scoping out restaurants near the university and our guesthouse and headed home. Despite its simplicity, it was definitely one of the best evenings I've had here! As we were walking we all agreed how this city has really, really grown on us. We actually love living here and love where we are right now in the program. I couldn't have picked another place I would have rather have been for that evening and now in general.
I wanted to briefly talk about the lecture we had this afternoon, because it was really unique and completely fascinating. We had a seminar on the rise of consumer culture in HCMC by Dr. Rylan Higgins, who runs a CET study abroad program in Vietnam. He is about to defend his Anthropology dissertation work in the next few weeks, which he has spent the last few years working on here. The topic of his research is "Negotiating the Middle in HCMC, Vietnam." The two hour lecture literally flew by because it was so interesting – he was able to describe his research, which relates to four major overarching frameworks: economic reform, socialist or capitalist Vietnam, trade imbalance and consumerism, and globalization. On the surface, these are all topics we have studied in depth over the last two months, however, he provided a look at these topics within the context of his American upbringing and through use of pictures, his field notes, and anecdotes. This I've realized is the most important part of any lecture we have here – it is often very hard to understand certain issues when taught by Vietnamese professors, as good as their English skills may be. Rylan understood where WE were coming from and lectured with this as his context, unlike Vietnamese professors who do not know our own upbringings and do not notice the same things we do about VN culture, history, or ways of life.
In general, Rylan argues that the culture of the middle class in Vietnam is regionally, culturally, and economically specific to Vietnam, rather than a fragment of globalization. Although his research has indicated that there is significant change being witnessed and experienced in Vietnam, which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, this change is not Westernization. Instead, the combination of money, people, and ideas are bringing about regional specific forms of globalization (he basically discarded Thomas Friedman's theories of cultural global individualism). I want to write a bit about his observations from his research because they are totally fascinating and help me to understand life in this city so much better. As any anthropologist would, he has studied the middle class as any other culture in the world, which he describes as a socio-cultural project here in which people in this city are constantly working toward identity formation or a sense of "middle-ness" between the rich and poor. He has summarized his findings into a diagram. On one extreme on the left side are the phrases: too local, too traditional, and too poor. On the other side are the phrases, too global, too modern, and too rich. In the middle is an oval shape where middle-ness falls. In Vietnam, he has classified the middle class as this middle area between the extremes.
I found the most fascinating part of the lecture to be the part when he talked about middle class spaces. For example, he showed us various pictures from his fieldwork of food spaces that are designed for certain classes. A common example is "Com Binh Dan," which is a restaurant specifically serving and advertising "food for ordinary people." We were introduced to this type of food from the first week of the program – it usually means eating on little blue stools on the side of the road or in an open to the street structure and is usually not clean or particularly nice. There are also "office lunch restaurants", where strictly middle class people eat. The stools are usually silver, the bowls may match the chopsticks, and the food is still at reasonable prices for middle class people. His point was that even though HCMC may not be geographically separated by class (for example, apartments for middle class Vietnamese often overlook the canal that transports fecal material out of the city), the notion of performance of middle class culture is very important here. This concept of performances is something I have definitely noticed. I was never able to describe it in words, but he did such a perfect job. He explained certain aspects of Vietnamese culture that exemplify this concept of performance of middle class culture that is so important. For example, squatting. You may have noticed in my writing or seen in my pictures that squatting pervades the streets here. Rylan explained that based on his research, middle class people never squat in public. If you were to go downtown in the office district, no office people are squatting. The taxi drivers or motorbike drivers may be squatting and eating or drinking a cup of coffee, but NEVER middle class people. Another example is motorbike posture. Based on pictures he showed us (something I have noticed in real life as well), middle class people have a certain posture on the motorbike. They sit upright with their wrists bent, arms tucked in, knees as close together as possible. In contrast, women of working class may sit with their knees more apart, slouching a bit, and arms more separated. Although I noticed this before, I have a whole new set of eyes when observing people and street culture. I don't want to bore you all with every detail of the lecture, but I did want to give you all a taste. It was so eye opening and also so interesting because we have had the home stay experiences here and life in general over the last two months as the context to analyzing middle class life and culture through Rylan's research results.
I still have so much more to catch up on. I want to write an entire post about Agent Orange and other health related issues here that I have learned more about and witnessed, but I will save it for the next post! Today we have two lectures, one about HIV/AIDS, which I'm especially looking forward to. Some of the girls in my program and I found a yoga place in one of our guidebooks that is run by American and Singaporeans and has an entire week of unlimited classes for $25, so we are going to try a core pilates class tonight and spend the $25, which seems like an absolute fortune here, especially compared to our less-than-a-dollar dinners that we have been enjoying each night in the city. Miss you all!
P.S. I mailed my absentee ballot about a week and a half ago! It was quite the experience – I received it in the mail, filled it out, walked the 20 minutes to the main post office where they applied about 15 large stamps. It was so rewarding to send in that vote for Obama halfway around the globe!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Pictures from HCMC homestay...all taken on my 35 minute walk to school
The famous alleyway
sculpture garden I walked through to avoid traffic
No you are not imagining this, it's really what it looks like here
Our university here!
Man in hammock in back of his truck
My street! My alley is just down on the left side of the road, a few signs down..
Motorbike traffic I crossed on the way to school
A typical side of the road scene. Best food I've eaten has been while I'm sitting on small plastic stools Pictures from Central Highlands (Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An)
Hue citadel
Imperial tomb in Hue, view from top
Monk in village pagoda near Hue at female Buddha dedication
Streets of Hoi An
Marble Mountain view
My ancient Champa statue and me
Typhoon flooding on day 1 of 7 in Hoi An
Hue citadel
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