- compiled from postcards, emails, facebook messages, and journal entries, with some new text added.
3/13
"Right now I'm 'teaching' English at a university in Hanoi, Vietnam. I am so impressed with the students here - so curious and fun!" Many of them also speak English extremely well for first year students. They ask us questions about culture and life in the U.S. that no one in a first-year language class at home would be able to ask visitors from another country. I know I would have a hard time asking those sorts of questions to a Spaniard in Spanish.
The first two days we visited English classes (3/11 and 3/12), I taught with Ajaan Bob, mostly because I had very little to no voice to work with. Talking with others from our group this was probably lucky for me, because then even if the Vietnamese students were shy and not asking questions, Bob usually was able to come up with some topic of discussion to keep the class moving and busy for the whole 2 hours. There was one folktale about a woman named Gio that was particularly helpful in this regard. Over the course of a few days I was able to piece together some basics of the story: Gio decides to leave her true love and marry a "bad man" in order to save her family from some kind of financial trouble. Once with the bad man, many other bad things happen to Gio. Later when her husband dies and Gio returns home to her family, she allows her true love to remain married to her sister, and also forbids someone from killing all of her enemies, deciding it is better instead to let them live, even if it risks them being evil to her again. Basically, Gio represents the ideal woman of feudal Vietnamese society.
Using these plot points as a basis, Bob would ask the students at what age they wanted to get married, if they would be like Gio and marry the bad man to save their family, if they would let their BF marry their sister, if they would allow their enemies to live. It was interesting to see what answers they gave. Many of the students wanted to marry younger than I think most U.S. students would answer. Almost all of them said 26 or younger and 28 was definitely too old to be unmarried.
3/14 - 3/15: Weekend in Ha Long Bay on a Junk Boat
The bay was gorgeous. The rock formations were so majestic. We tried to go swimming at one point, but the water was so cold! We didn't last very long - only 20-30 minutes probably. I also went searching for seashells, and almost missed the boat afterwards.
All 12 of us watched the sunset together on the top deck of our boat. It got very cold before the sun even set. I had not brought anything at all warm enough. One of the boat crew members came around to give the ladies manicures for five dollars. I'm still chipping the peppermint pink polish off a little more each day.
That evening, Emily and I had a long and interesting conversation about life, school, religion, being abroad - the life, universe and everything, essentially. It was really nice and a lot better than getting trashed, which had been the original plan. I spent a lot of time trying to explain my understanding of free will and humanity's relationship with God... And I realized just how much Star Trek had influenced my life. Initially this gave me pause, but then I got over it. I was not at first successful in conveying my beliefs, but the next day I wrote them out. Emily seemed to think it made more sense then, even if she still didn't agree. If there is interest, I'll post them here.
"Been in Vietnam for just over a week now. Living with 2 people in relationships... Listening to a lot of one-sided skype conversations these days. 'Teaching' English at VNU's College of Foreign Languages has been stellar, though, and now that I'm more used to the crazy intense traffic, Hanoi is a lot more fun. I've never seen so many people in one place before."
"I have never seen a city so full of people, traffic and activity before. I'm really enjoying the field trips we take for class and chatting with the English students here."
3/20: On the train from Hanoi to Sapa
"Vietnam is still a mixed bag. I'm having a blast and learning a lot, but I'm about the only one, so I also listen to a lot of bitching, which is difficult. We've also had some drama - A-- and B-- got into a huge fight about something and are no longer rooming together. C-- is secretly fighting with D-- who is being a bitch to E--. F-- got very mad at G-- about a week ago, and put us all on eggshells for a bit. They seem to be getting along better now though, which is helpful. F-- is no fun when angry and grudgy. And my Momma Bear is kicking in so I'm getting very ready to kick some ass over all of the hurt feelings. Oy.
Today two people also skipped everything on our schedule. While everyone was so pissed, it may have also been good-ish; I feel like some pressure has been let out. There is a lot of laugher occurring on the train right now, and it would take a bit more for Momma Bear to lash out this evening, compared to yesterday."
3/22: On the train from Sapa to Hanoi
"Due to HBO, Cinemax and AXN I have watched more TV while in Vietnam than I ever think I have before. It's weird. I've started to miss it every time it's unavailable. Gonna have to kick that habit."
3/24
"...Universal frustration towards H-- is the one thing holding us together at this point. Looking forward to reuniting with I-- in Cambodia on Friday." Went to see the Temple of Literature, which was the first University in Vietnam on Monday (3/23). It was a gorgeous place to visit, but not many things were translated into English; I would have gotten more out of the experience if I read Vietnamese I think. I did learn that there are 4 holy animals - Tortoise, Phoenix, Dragon, Unicorn - in Vietnam. Interesting that only one is real.
"Vietnam has been a bit of a whirlwind, since we're only here for three weeks. It's busy, and like another world," separate from the one I normally live in. It's a world where people are not critical of authority, personal space is only mildly observed, motorbikes rule the world, and Tradition is prized over, or at least equally with, Progress.
"I'm excited to head for Cambodia later this week; time to escape Vietnamese humidity," even if all I trade it for is Cambodian heat.
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