On being a foreigner, standing out, and being stared at…

The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity, but I am still enjoying myself and already feeling the rewards of this experience. Yesterday we did the famous School for International Training (SIT) "drop-off" exercise, which entails being paired up with one other person in the group and being given a name of a location and a few hours to navigate ourselves there and back and make observations about the location. We waited for the daily afternoon thunderstorm to pass as Abby and I scoped out the Binh Thanh Market on our large, colorful HCMC map. Unable to find it at first, I resorted to one of the Vietnam guidebooks that I brought with me. After literally 30 minutes of trying to decode and remember different Vietnamese street names, we thought we could get ourselves to this market. We ended up having to ask five different people on the street for more directions, but eventually we arrived at this lively, energetic, and equally chaotic outdoor market. To be honest, the walk getting there was just as important to me as the experience observing and experiencing the market. Abby and I walked along streets and darted across lanes and lanes of moped traffic (a completely normal occurrence here in HCMC) but were literally THE ONLY white people for blocks and blocks. It's hard to describe this feeling. It is one thing to stand out and be different in physical appearance from others around you, but it is another for you to be stared at by curious and perplexed Vietnamese natives! Kids playing soccer on the sidewalk literally stopped playing and just stared at us walking by. Abby and I tried to embrace this feeling and our unavoidable conspicuousness, but I imagine that this will get tiring to do at some point.

The actual market was so lively and wonderful! It really demonstrates HCMC's "street culture," which I've been told is a distinguishing characteristic of this urban center as compared to Singapore or other highly developed places in the world. Everything on the street is in miniature: tiny tables and chairs (literally the plastic tables and chairs you see in a child's play set in America) line the streets as people sit crouched over eating and drinking. We saw women sifting through piles and piles of clams, oysters, and other seafood on the sidewalk. One woman even kneeled over a massive ice block, shaving ice chips into plastic bags for customers (forget Western concepts of sanitation…they simply don't exist in this country). Two old men kneeled over a chessboard engaged in an intense game on the corner of a main intersection near the market. It really epitomized street culture and was truly an ultimate contrast to any American city street, especially because the sidewalk and the great deal of activity on it left no room for pedestrians. Instead it was geared toward hosting the cultural practices such as ice shaving, shellfish sorting, chess playing, and eating. Abby and I realized that it is the pedestrian's job in this city to navigate oneself through this street activity, commotion, and culture. As we entered the market, there were booths and booths of beautiful fabrics, jewelry, belts, purses, meats, spices, and herbs. I even ran into someone from the Chabad in HCMC! I spotted his Kippah, long beard, and Tzizit from across the aisle and heard his distinct Yiddish-English accent. I went over to him and introduced myself and he welcomed me to join them for Shabbat. The combination of this traditional Vietnamese market and an ultra-religious Jew was just so bizarre. Back to the market, it was interesting to note that all the seafood is sold live, which plays into the "freshness" factor of Vietnam. Because food preservation/refrigeration is not widespread, foods like shellfish, meats, and other fish are kept alive until they are sold. In general this exercise definitely showed me the connectivity between the Vietnamese people and their social life.

Later last night we went out to dinner and ice cream at this massive six story ice cream shop. It was Independence Day here yesterday so the streets were even more crowded than usual. Literally I would estimate a three inch space between each moped. Apparently it is common on Independence Day to just go out on the mopeds to ride around and be a part of all the activity…and boy did everyone do just this! It was literally impossible to cross the street without just stepping out into the intersection and crossing your fingers for dear life that people will ride around you, rather than over you. The craziest part of this traffic last night and in general here is that the chaos does have a rhythm. I haven't seen any road rage – there is sort of a peace to the craziness. We did learn today at the Family Medical Practice Clinic we visited that 38 people die every day in Vietnam from road accidents. That figure is just astounding to me, but to be honest, I am surprised it is not more than that given the insane traffic patterns and mere number of mopeds and cars on the roads here. I'm still not sure if I have enough guts to get on a moped here, even with the Honda helmet SIT provides us with. When I met my host family today, they couldn't believe I have trepidations about mopeds. The way of thinking here is sometimes just crazy to me!

This clinic we visited was another reality-checking experience. The director there (an Israeli doctor) gave us the low-down on the state of health, disease, and sickness in Vietnam today, flooding us with terrifying statistics and the reality of diseases like malaria, Dengue Fever, Avian flu, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, HIV/AIDS. He explained that Vietnam has no neuro-surgery facilities, which in context to the road safety issues is extremely problematic. Any brain injury that occurs in Vietnam demanding surgery requires being airlifted to either Singapore or Bangkok. Another noteworthy health statistic he provided is that the average per capita health expenditure in the U.S. is $5,000 per person, while in Vietnam it is just a mere $4.20! He explained the need for government prioritization of these critical health issues in Vietnam. While the rates of mortality and morbidity have improved since the 1980's, there seem to be serious problems and threats that remain, especially when it comes to road safety.

On a much happier note, I got to go for a run this morning! My academic director loves to work out and run, so she showed some of us interested in working out (there were three of us this morning) a running track a few blocks away. The track is small and made of what seemed to be ancient concrete, but it is slightly shaded (I still sweated as much as I do during any heat yoga class from a short 30 minute run) and even has a basketball court in the center of it, which is perfect for my friend Alex who plays basketball for Hamilton College. So just picture this: three American girls enter onto this track this morning, one brown curly haired and brown eyed, one blond, and one a college basketball player. Then imagine the Vietnamese people there working out wearing clothing you would associate with aerobics videos from the 1980's (think spandex, tall socks, sweat bands). Then picture us again on this track lapping nearly every Vietnamese jogger and zoned out with our I-pods. I felt like a celebrity yet again, as people just stared at us with such confused stares as if we were foreign aliens or something! It was great to run, though, and I'm planning to go again tomorrow morning.

This is getting so long and I need to get to sleep, but I have so much left to write about and reflect upon! To remind myself for next time, make sure to write about meeting the home stay family and more about the food and coffee here! Much love to you all and good night! Tomorrow we start Vietnamese language classes, so hopefully I can scatter some phrases throughout my next post.