Integrating My Experiences in Vietnam into My Life

When I came to Vietnam I hadn’t really though about how this trip would fit in with the rest of my life. I saw it more as a break, a chance to learn outside of the classroom, an opportunity to challenge myself, and a time to explore. Connecting Vietnam with my future wasn’t something I had in mind. Needless to say my perspective has changed completely. If you had asked me to write this blog at the beginning of the trip I probably would have just sat there and stared at you. Now this blog just wants to write itself.

Working with the Deaf Community:

Vietnam has given me something I never expected; a certainty about what I want to do with my future. While I had considered working with the deaf community before, my experiences here have convinced me that this is the right career path for me. Working with HAD has shown me the power of linguistic research to change living conditions for a deaf community. It has also opened my eyes to the many unique problems deaf communities in developing countries face and helped me understand some of the ways to solve those problems.

Working with HAD has shown me that I already have many of the skills necessary to work in this career path. I have good language and communication skills, enough to be able to learn VSL and work with a group of people that only know limited amounts of ASL and English. My background as an ASL minor means that I have a lot of knowledge about deaf activism and can share that knowledge with other communities. I also learned that I really enjoy the sort of interpersonal work and translation work required to work with the deaf community. I absolutely loved interviewing people and enjoyed the many hours I spent struggling with the translations for my documentary. I now know that if I were to conduct linguistic research, create more documentaries or conduct surveys to assess the needs of a deaf community, I would actually enjoy the work process itself, not just the end result.

Apon returning to the states I plan on continuing on this path in several ways. First I will use my video to help HAD find funding. Second I will ask ASL club if they would be willing to fundraise to buy books for Hoa’s interpreting school. Third I will apply for jobs related to ASL or lab positions in linguistic research. My goal is to gain enough experience that I can get a grant to come back and research VSL. I also plan on encouraging other ASL students to join next years program and work with HAD.

Vietnam in general:

Vietnam has given me several things that I plan on incorporating into my life. The first is a self confidence, an ability to get around by myself and learn to love things that might initially strike me as different. I have grown up in Hanoi more than I possibly could have imagined. When I first got to Hanoi the thought of getting on a bus or taking a xeom and trying food I had never eaten before all while hearing a language I didn't really understand was overwhelming. Now I know that given a map and a bit of money I can explore all I want and get home safely. Today I found myself going to a university I didn’t even know the name of and explaining to the xeom driver while driving which way to turn. If I can do stuff like that in Vietnam, there is no reason for me not to do that in the states. I’ve discovered that life is like a street in Hanoi. If you walk too cautiously you actually more likely to be hit. Instead you should walk with confidence, and keep an eye out for trouble but don’t let your fears take hold. If you hold your head high enough all the nasty things in life will just part around you and let you keep on going.

Second I want to continue to question things the way we have done in the UCHANU class. I want to take long walks the way I do in Hanoi and think about the way sidewalks are made or the reasons stores are located where they are. I want to ask people about their lives and their work. Maybe do some kind of an interview project like project kiem an. Basically take my academic knowledge to a new level by applying it to the real world rather than just being stuck in books. Perhaps I will have one of the international students I will be living with go exploring with me and see the US from an outsider’s perspective (the way the HANU students got to). I want to look at academic writing the way we do here, by seeing weather or not they match reality. I remember having my perceptions about rural life turned on their head by the readings and really agreeing with their statements while discovering that the reading about the cuchi tunnels grossly exaggerated in an attempt to make a point.

Third I will continue to ask my friend Hoa about his childhood in Saigon. Getting to hear some his stories over skype and being able to really visualize it was one of the most meaningful experiences in Vietnam. I want to do this with my other friends as well. Stay in contact with my HANU buddies and UC friends and really try to understand where they come from.

Fourth I want to continue to understand the process of development and the real ways it effects people’s lifes. I want to be more critical of my political decisions in the US and way the costs and benefits of different paths. Studying development in Vietnam has shown me that there are always two (or more) sides to a coin. Even thing like better roads come with consequences. I want to continue to think creatively about ways to solve some of the problems created by development (such as the income gap). I want to work on other projects like or Nghe An project and think about to make these sorts of programs sustainable.

Concrete ways I want to stay connected to UCHANU and Vietnam:

1.              Help HAD find funding in the US and continue to connect HAD with other resources so that they can continue their advocacy work.

2.              Possibly get ASL club to fundraise to buy books for Hoa’s interpreting school.

3.              Get experience in Linguistic research and apply for grants to come back and research Vietnamese Sign Language.

4.              Set up times to skype/ooVoo with friends I have made here. Continue to connect with people over facebook etc. Continue to share with people about my life and experiences and learn about theirs.

5.              Encourage students at UCSD to apply for EAP Vietnam and talk to next years students to help them be prepared. Maybe encourage a student from the ASL department to go work with HAD.

6.              Tell next years UC students to contact me for one heartland and help them raise money in the states.

7.              If any of the HANU students come to California I will gladly provide my couch and cook them free meals for as long as they are around. You are always welcome in my home! I know this isn't super likely to happen but… one can dream.

8.              Host a UC reunion at my parent’s house. It’s less than 10 min from UC Berkeley so we just need to find a time when a significant number of us are in the bay and we can have a potluck at my place.

9.              Cook some awesome Vietnamese food for my family and my UCSD family!

10.           Continue to study about Vietnam, but always take academic papers with a grain of salt and try to understand how they do or don’t match the reality I experienced.

11.           Learn more about the Vietnamese American community. Maybe connect with some of the student orgs at UCSD that focus on Vietnamese Americans.

12.           Ask my friend Hao more about his childhood and experiences. Having him open up about his past has been one of the best gifts Vietnam has given me.

That’s all for now. I’m sure I will think of other ways in the future but if I can manage to achieve even half of these I will be a very happy person. I am truly grateful for everything, (and I do mean everything) I have experienced in Vietnam. Vietnam has changed me for the better and I hope I can continue to put the lessons I have learned here to use in my life.

Working in Groups: A Reflection

Probably the biggest thing I learned from working in groups this year was delegating. For our first two interviews we all went together to interview and then all tried to meet at the same time to edit. Scheduling was a headache and little issues like deciding which questions to ask became much more difficult with four voices involved. Furthermore there was lots of time where we didn’t need four people. Like in the actual interviews, three people kind of just sat there listening while the other interviewed. Editing was also much more difficult because we often had multiple people editing the same sentence at the same time in different ways. However I’m glad we actually did get to do the first few interviews together because we all got to bond on the ride to Thai Ling’s hometown and eat lunch with her family. It was nice to have those experiences together even if we weren't being the most efficient with our time.

For the later interviews we basically split the group in two, one UC student and one HANU student. I got to work with An twice and Thai Ling twice. Both people went to do the interviews and then the HANU student translated and the UC student edited. It worked out pretty well because scheduling was easier and it was a manageable amount of work for each person. It was also easier to formulate questions and make editing decisions because there were less opinions involved. However I’m glad that we didn't do the interviews individually because having two people from different backgrounds made the edited version more accessible to all audiences. I learned a ton from the editing mistakes I made like calling ling’s hometown a “village” and trying to figure out the proper name for youth organization the farmer was in.

The other thing I learned about working in groups was my style of leadership. In general I like to be in charge of things. With the interviewing I couldn’t really do this because I don’t speak Vietnamese, and tried my best to step back and then just shine when it came to the editing portion. However with the Nghe An fundraising this was a lot harder. Andrew and I basically ran the coffee shop. We made all the coffee, bought supplies calculated profits, figured out how to streamline things, taught other people how to make coffee tea etc. I liked the role of teaching people how to make coffee and organizing people to clean up. Delegating tasks in an efficient manner without being too bossy is something I like to do. However the part where I had a really hard time was when people who hadn’t been involved in the process came in, changed things and then wanted my help. In order to not bite people’s heads off I just had to trust that other people could handle things and take a break. One day I made the mistake of doing this at the end of the day and not leaving clear instructions for cleanup and then discovered that many of the things did not make it home. The next day I got a bit smarter and worked in the morning and then returned for cleanup so that I could make sure that all of our stuff made it home. I think it would have worked smother if we had defined tasks and knew what activities were happening what days in advance. Then I would have either felt in charge of something or not. However seeing as we had so little time to throw things together I think it turned out pretty well.

Sign Language Motorbike Ride

I was driving home on a motorbike without a helmet, something I promised I’d never do. The wind was whipping through my hair, when the silence of the ride was broken by Thai Ang signing “you cold?” “A little, but I’m fine” I replied holding my hands out front so he could see. I should have left it at that. I should have sat tight and let him drive. Not distracting him, not increasing the risk that my unprotected head would wind up smashed into the pavement. But the desire to communicate was to strong. “It’s 16C in California right now, this is fine” He laughed.

At the next stoplight the seconds counted down in digital red print 26, 25… “were going to pass a bunch of deaf people drinking up there.” Sure enough I looked and I could see the hands flying, 10, 20, 30 pairs of hands, all talking quickly at a little cha da stand on Ton Duc Thang street. If I had blinked I would have missed it. “They there every night?” I asked. “Yes.” The family on the motorbike next to us stared. I guess it isn’t every day that you see a deaf person signing to a foreigner on the back of the motorbike in Vietnam. Even the deaf people in here stare at me sometimes. Asking “you deaf? you American? why are you here? why don’t you want to be an interpreter?” I always laugh, watch people ask the same questions to Thai Anh to reconfirm, and then we laugh some more. That night Thai Anh just waved and smiled at the family staring at us, that shut them up fast.

As we drove further on I was hit by just how easily we could communicate. Here was a deaf man, my teacher, who knew Vietnamese Sign Language, Vietnamese and a touch of ASL and international signs. On the other hand there was me, a hearing American who knew only English, American Sign Language and a few weeks worth of Vietnamese Sign Language lessons. Yet just that evening he had explained to me his family story at a little café where we were hanging out with a few other deaf people. How his younger sister was disabled and he had to work to support her. How only his mom knew how to sign. How he tried to attend school in Hanoi but couldn’t understand the teachers. And how he only learned how to communicate with his father after returning from a deaf school in Saigon where he finally learned to read and write. I had understood all of that, and now I was on the back of a motorbike where I couldn’t see his face, couldn’t catch the facial grammar so important to signed languages, and yet I could still understand him.

As we passed a university off of Nguyen Trai, he signed “ I teach here tomorrow at 9:00”. “Another sign language class?” I asked. “Yes, I teach 4 different places, all at night.” Wow, I was floored. I knew he was dedicated to his work, but I hadn’t realized that he had managed to generate enough interest to open up four sign language classes. After all there are only 6 interpreters in Hanoi currently and because there is no government funding pay is low enough that all of them have other jobs as well. His four VSL classes would a huge potential to change life for the deaf in Hanoi.

As he dropped me off at my dormitory the language barrier slowly started to set in again. “Can I go to your language class tomorrow to film stuff?” I asked. I was planning on making a short film to help the deaf community get grants from abroad, and needed to get more footage. “Let me see” he replied, “I’ll text you”. My heart sunk, I knew that even if he did text me it would be in Vietnamese, a language I can barley understand. “I’ll try to find a friend to translate it” I said, knowing that that might not happen.

Before he drove away I thanked him profusely. He said it was nothing, his house was near. But it wasn’t really the extra kilometers I was thanking him for. It was the experience of a life time, a window into deaf life in Vietnam, something I never Imagined I would have done. And to think I would have missed if I had just said I wanted to wear a helmet. 

Southern Vietnam: Thoughts on the Mekong Delta

This past week we had the opportunity to got to southern Vietnam and experience some of the differences between Northern and Southern Vietnam. We went to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), the Cu Chi Tunnels, various parts of the Mekong Dealt and Phu Quoc. To me the most interesting part of the trip was the time we spent in the Mekong Delta.

The first thing that struck me about the delta was just how much of the area was actually covered by water. We went over dozens of bridges and passed literally hundreds of kilometers of flood plains. I guess I should have been expecting lots of water from the word “delta” but the only other river delta I’ve seen is Sacramento river delta, and while that does have some flood plains there is an elaborate system of dikes in place that has artificially turned most of the area into land (at great expense to the natural ecosystem).

The second thing that struck me was just how much of the population lived on the water. Of the roughly 21million people living in the delta region 1million live one boats year round working as merchants and traders. We got a chance to experience this first hand by going to two of the floating markets. One floating market was a small retail market. While there were some bigger boats that families appeared to live on, there were also many small boats where individual farmers would bring some of their crops to sell. The place was absolutely beautiful; piles of pumpkins and pineapples, sticks with the goods for sale displayed and dozens of eyes painted on the front of boats.

Another interesting thing was the huge amount of diversity in the delta we visited a Muslim Cham village (who had been converted by Malay’s), a Cao Dai temple and a Theravada Buddhist temple. While I just saw a mosque in Hanoi today (off of the 31 bus line) I can’t imagine that many religions flourishing in Hanoi. I guess as the delta region was only recently added to Vietnam it still has many influences from other cultures.

Yet for a beautiful and diverse as the delta was it is under huge environmental threats. The first threat is from the huge push for more agricultural productivity. This has driven people to establish dykes and use considerable amounts of fertilizer/pesticides to produce three rice crops a year. The result is a huge decrease in sea food growing in the rice paddies as well as depletion of the soil because the yearly floods are no longer allowed to deposit a fresh layer of silt. The second threat comes from dams on the Mekong river. To date China has built seven large dams on the river, and it plans to build thirteen. Anh Khoi was telling us how during the flood season he used to be able to paddle just a few kilometers upstream from his village to reach fresh water, but now has to paddle a significant ways due to the reduced flow of the Mekong river. The last threat that I learned about was global warming. Many of the houses were built less then 1 foot from the flood waters. Thus even a small rise in ocean levels could drastically impact the lives of millions of people. I really hope that something can be done to help counteract some of these problems because the delta was one of my favorite places in Vietnam and I would be very sad to see it destroyed.

Factories: A Few Thoughts

This blog will be short seeing as I'm exhausted and have a ton to do this week. Hopefully if I have time later I will come back to it.

This week we went to two factories, a Yamaha motorbike factory and a textile factory. As I was watching the workers at the textile factories i was sitting there thinking "I wonder what kind of people they are?" I mean the whole environment is very devoid of personality. There were easily 300 workers in the room sitting in rows of sewing machines. Other then the fact that each of these workers sewed a particular seam they could have been mixed up and nobody would notice. I know each of these workers has a story, but with the short amount of time we had I couldn’t really get to know anybody.

Much to my surprise I got to have long conversations with several factory workers the next day. At HAD’s 10 year anniversary I asked about 25 different deaf people what their jobs were. The tally: 1 tra da seller, 1 haircutter, 1 nail salon worker and 22 garment factory workers. I guess it’s an easy job for deaf people to get; it doesn’t require being fluent in Vietnamese and the factory managers all admitted they needed more workers. What was interesting though is that for the deaf it also seemed to be linked to a sense of community. There was a group of 8 deaf people around 50 years old who all worked in the same garment factory and seemed to be really close friends. There was another group of factory workers from outside of Hanoi. All of them were in their mid twenties and worked in the same factory and were part of the same deaf club. At least two of them were married to another factory worker. I guess working in the factories is one of the few places where you can work side by side a number of friends all day. Even if your hands are busy so you can’t talk, being surrounded by other deaf people is probably a comforting feeling.

Anyways I will write more later but for now I need to sleep. Goodnight.

Joma: A Slice of America

To satisfy a recent craving for American breakfast food Emily and I made our way to Joma, a lovely café that Gerard introduced me to. Ironically it's just around the corner from Lenin park off the 2 bus line. The instant you step inside you begin to question weather or not you are in Vietnam any more. Everything from the style of the menu (blackboards with hand drawn chalk images), to the merchandise for sale, to the comfy chairs and lighting says café from somewhere in California. The menu has classic items: American style coffee (yummmmmmmm mochas), breakfast burritos, carrot cake, pumpkin pie, salads… you name it. Truly different from the practice of Vietnamese restaurants serving only one or two dishes. Probably requires a god deal more storage space and refrigeration capabilities to keep up such a diverse menu; and probably more wasteful because of it.

Menu

Pies! Carrot Cake! Pumpkin Pie! OMG!

The café was populated by a good number of foreigners reading newspapers or typing furiously on their computers. Even the waiters spoke beautiful English, giving the illusion that you weren't in Vietnam. The only hint that we were in Vietnam was that the prices were lower. 64.000đ/$3.20 for my oat covered French-toast with mangoes, 32.000đ/$1.70 for my half of the eggs and bacon breakfast I split with Emily and 40.000đ/$2.00 for my large mocha (136.000đ/ $6.80) is a far cry from the $20+ I would have to pay for the same breakfast in the states. And of course no tip or tax. Of course this one break from American reality was cheerfully accepted by all of the customers.

American Style Cafe Merchandise

On one hand it was nice. I needed a little slice of home after being in Vietnam for 2 months. And I actually managed to get a bunch of reading done while we were there because the atmosphere was so quiet and relaxing. On the other hand it was a little weird. It felt like a fantasy version of America transplanted into Vietnam complete with lower prices. There was nothing -- and I mean nothing -- to remind me that we were in Vietnam. IT really made me think about just how much culture can be created and manipulated. Enough so that with a careful eye to detail you can create a little plot of America in Vietnam. I do think though that I will offer to take some of my HANU buddies there if they are interested. I think it would be cool for them to see a little slice of the world I come from.

One last note: on the way back from Joma we hoped on one of the new 02 busses. The bus was clearly manufactured by an American company as the warning labels were written in English and were exactly the same as the ones on the busses in San Diego. (I kind of wonder what good they do seeing as most people here can’t read English). Course the bus trip was still distinctly Vietnamese. The bus driver almost hit someone on a motorbike and spent the rest of the drive honking louder then usual and stopping for even less time to allow people to leap onto the moving bus. Nice to know I was back in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Healthcare System

I apologize for my blog being posted late this week… perhaps the content of the blog will explain.

After having a lingering cold for a week I was hit by some kind of infection this Tuesday. The lymph node in my throat started to swell painfully and within a few hours I had spiked a 102 fever. Fun times. Luckily the wonderful Chi Moc took me to the doctors where I got medicine and an interesting window into the differences between the Vietnamese and American Healthcare systems. I’ve mainly recovered although I still have fairly limited energy. Good thing I’m not going to Sepa this weekend.

One of the most striking differences was the way medical privacy was handled. Chi Moc was allowed to come with me into all of the various places we went (much to my relief) with no questions asked. She was allowed to read my paperwork and know what prescriptions I was receiving. In the US I have to sign paperwork allowing my own parents to view my medical record because I’m over 18… even though they are the ones paying. It was a relief to not have to worry about such ridiculously strict rules, although I suppose if I was there for an STD or something I would have felt differently. I was also often in the same room as other patients. The waiting room in the private clinic we went to was also used for medical procedures like clearing people’s sinuses with pressurized air (which I got to see). In the US all of the procedures are done in separate rooms so that nobody knows what your at the doctors for.

Another interesting difference was that we went directly to a doctor that specialized in ear nose and throat medicine. In fact the entire hospital specialized in those three things. In the US you always go to see a primary care physician who then sends you to a specialist if something needs further testing. It was kind of nice to skip the primary care physician and go straight to where I needed to be. However I can imagine cases where you could think one thing was wrong and go to the wrong doctor who would give an improper diagnosis because they only specialize in one thing. It also leaves a lot more guesswork to the patient. Chi Moc spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out what was wrong with me so that she could take me to the right doctor.

However the most striking difference was the cost of the healthcare and the way it was paid for. Everything was paid for in cash up front. Pictures of the inside of my ear nose and throat, a cell culture from my throat and three prescription drugs came to… 850,000 vnd or $42.50. While Chi Moc was busy being shocked at how expensive the price was, I was floored by how cheep it was. Chi Moc said she had rarely paid more then 200,000 for a doctors visit ($10). For me I’ve never gotten into a doctor’s office for that little money. Furthermore that was probably some of the most through healthcare I could have received. In the states they probably would have shined a flashlight down my throat, prescribed me antibiotics and been done with it. And it would have cost me WAY more. The medications alone probably would have cost that much. And I would have had to deal with a total insurance headache afterwards. Of course to really understand what the cost of medical care is here I would need to know how that compares to an average person’s income. Certainly something I want to learn more about.

Rice Harvesting

This weekend was one of my favorite weekends in Vietnam so far. On sunday we went to a village about a 45minute drive outside of Hanoi to harvest rice. While I was sad about missing the HAD meeting and nervous for how much work harvesting rice would be I was super excited. It turned out to be an even more amazing experience then I had imagined. The field was supposed to be dry but recent rains had made it semi flooded. While many people complained about the mud and I was intially freaked out by the thought of all the creatures living in there, I quickly grew to love the way you could sort of glide through the mud with little effort. Soon we were all 6 inches deep in mud attempting to cut rice plants with little blades. At first i was a little unclear on the concept and spent alot of time and energy sawing at the rice stalks. It didn't help that the first patch I tried to cut was blown over by the wind so I couldn't distinguish individual rice plants.

I eventually figured things out and and got into a rhythem: thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thunk. I would grab the rice plants upside down about a foot up from the base and give one quick thwack with the sickle. After four thwacks my hand would be full of rice and i would set the stocks on a pile either on the side of the paddy or on top of some of the already cut area. I managed to clear a whole corner of the field by myself -- a truly satisfying experience. After we finished cutting the rice we had to haul it to the side of the paddy and then cary it on shoulder hoists to the mechanical thresher. Then we spent a considerable amount of time collecting the rice that was left in the field. It was amazing to see how inefficient we had been--there was leftover rice everywhere and a considerable amount had been destroyed by being stamped into the mud. I also started to understand those old parables from the bible where poor people would gleen grain from the fields. I don't think there is a similar occupation in vietnam because if you do it right the method of rice harvesting is actually incredibly efficient.

After harvesting we had an amazing meal (the nem which I helped make tasted particularly delicious :P ). Then we went out and interviewed people in the village. It was amazing how much of what was said about job diversification in the article was true. One store keeper we talked to said that she and her husband worked in the fields as well as owning a shop. One of her sons worked as a driver and the other son worked in a factory. Very much representative of a household trying to spread out risk through job diversification. One interesting thing I saw while in the village was several women at the temple who had black teeth and bright red lips. Irene was telling me that this is an older fashioned beauty practice.

Overall I had a great time rice harvesting. However I'm sure I would feel differently if it was my main occupation. I am still waiting to see just how little money my labour would have earned me... I'm suspecting not enough to compensate for the damage it does to your back and your skin. Probably not enough to really cover much other then food.

Central Vietnam: Reflections on the Highlands

This trip to Central Vietnam was a truly amazing experience, but for very different reasons then I expected. Perhaps one of the best examples of the way the trip surprised me was my visit to the minority village:

Walk to the village

 The walk into Ko Tu Village was one of the most beautiful experiences ever. After two hours of hiking through farmland over a dam, and past beautiful stilt-houses I could barley contain my sense of excitement. This was heightened by the enthusiastic cheers of the school children when they saw our group walking in. As we approached the beautiful communal house where were going to stay a huge feeling of relief washed across me. I felt like unlike Mai Chau this time I would really experience village life... not a canned tourist version but real village life.

Communal Hose

Yet when I left Ko Tu Village I felt a strange sense of disappointment. I felt like I hadn’t learned much about the actual way people lived in the village. The normal language barrier was intensified because not all of the villagers knew Vietnamese, while feelings of shyness, and intrusion seemed to cause many of my UC friends to freeze up and not ask questions. I felt so frustrated and wished once again that I knew some Vietnamese so that I could bypass the other UC students and just ask questions, regardless of weather or not it felt like intruding. But when I did meet the English speaking guide I was too nervous to ask questions, and felt like I didn’t even have enough knowledge to know how to begin asking questions. I feel like much of this dynamic was left over from our class discussion about the impacts of tourism on minority villages, and I have to question whether that discussion was really productive or simply served to prevent us from truly learning and experiencing things for ourselves. Due to these various issues I left the village not knowing what an average woman did during her day, not knowing anything about village power dynamics, not feeling like I could picture living there.

This perception of not learning colored my view of the experience until I sat down to brainstorm about the trip and suddenly rediscovered the vast wealth of knowledge and questions I gained from those two days we spent in the central highlands. Suddenly it hit me what a truly amazing experience this was. While I still can’t understand what village life is really like, I got a brief snapshot of the political social and economic issues effecting the central highlands that really entice me to learn more about this unique area. Once again Vietnam has shown me that when I go in trying to learn one thing, I invariably come out learning something else. It’s important to truly appreciate the things I wind up learning rather then lamenting the things I thought I’d learn but didn’t.

 I’ll use the rest of this blog post to muse over some of the specific things I learned and the many questions I have.

Logging:

"King" style house

One of the truly interesting experiences in the Highlands was witnessing first hand the effects of illegal logging. I experienced logging in five snapshots which, taken together, help explain the many complicated aspects of the logging industry in Central Vietnam; 1) Clear cut hillsides. 2) Logging trucks rolling past government offices and military outposts in broad daylight. 3)New minority houses being built out of bricks because it’s illegal for them to cut down old growth trees. 4) The minority guide explaining that when villagers wanted to build a new stilt house all they had to do was sell the hardwood beams and they would have more then enough money to build a new house (of course with lesser quality materials).5)Tanks rolling into the minority villages at 7:30 in the morning (no way to hide new stilt houses from the government).

Traditional style house

Logging Truck

While the government enforcement of logging is clearly corrupt and possibly motivated by ethnic tensions it does make sense from an economic standpoint. By allowing illegal logging but preventing the minority groups from harvesting logs for traditional ways of life the government is able to maximize it’s revenue. It can get bribes and kickbacks from the loggers for ignoring the many logging trucks rumbling by while simultaneously extracting fines from any villagers who decided to build hew houses with hard wood. Truly a lucrative situation for the government.

Cash 

Crops/Water Usage:

With the encroachment of King people into the central highlands has come the practice of raising cash crops to make a living. All along the bus ride there were fields of sugarcane, rice, rubber etc. The problem with this type of agriculture is that it is extremely water intensive, something that the central highland doesn’t have much of. Thus the water table has been dropping steadily. While it’s easy to write this off as a “King” problem my experience walking to the village showed that ethnic minority groups were contributing to the problem as well. Along the road to the village there were many traditional small crops but there were also large fields of cash crops owned by minority farmers. One minority house even had a tractor to harvest the cash crops faster. Meanwhile the well in the village was nearly empty… enough so that they had to wait several hours before they could gather enough water to flush the toilets for us tourists (which also calls into question why they built the toilets in the first place). In essence what I’m saying is that the ethnic minority villages faced the same economic pressures to modernize as the king people, despite seeing the very direct consequences of modernization. 

Status Symbols:

            Our guide talked about some of the ways things like rice wine and water buffalos served as status symbols in traditional village life. Fermented jugs of rice wine showed that you could afford to turn the rice into alcohol for a party rather then eating it. This got me thinking about modern status symbols in the minority villages. Have the jugs of rice wine been replaced by the tvs and satellite dishes that were in almost every house. Is the motorbike seen as a status symbol or a necessity? How quickly do things switch from being a status symbol to a necessity?

Farming Techniques:

            In all of the villages we went to there were chickens everywhere. I got to wondering what the ownership system for chickens was. Did each family keep a flock? If so how did they prevent neighbors from stealing some of their chickens? Did the chickens tend to wander freely or would they always return to the same house for food/shelter? Were eggs collected? How closely was breeding monitored/was it monitored at all? Must say I’ve never thought so much about chickens in my life. I have similar questions about rice farming, winter-melons etc. but I’ll not list them all because I don’t have many answers.

Hanoi: 1000 Years

Probably the most interesting thing I did this week was go to the kick off celebration of Hanoi’s 1000 year anniversary. The event was put on by a large number of youth groups including many local youth unions. The tow themes appeared to be the environment and anything to do with the number 1000. I woke up at 6:15 in the morning and arrived at the festivities in time to see 1000 people perform a martial arts drill. I then met up with the group of volunteers to pick up trash and watched more of the festivities. My favorite were the inline skaters performing tricks (one of which was wearing a tee shirt with the American flag at the 100 year anniversary of Hanoi—go figure). While waiting the head of the youth union I was waiting with taught me a song about a crow.

            After nearly two hours of waiting we all donned gloves and trash bags and headed to the park to collect garbage. I was super excited because the entire time I’ve been in Hanoi I’ve wanted to pick up some of the numerous piles of trash that litter the streets. My excitement was added to by the Vietnamese girls asking me “do you ever do volunteer work in the states?” and telling me about some of the volunteer projects they do. Soon all 25 of us were happily picking up trash---for 15 minutes. I couldn’t believe it at first when they said we were done, but when people started asking me if I was tired from all our hard work it started to sink in that we really were done… so much for my dreams of cleaning up Hanoi. I went back to the larger festivities and looked around. All of the booths were run by students and most were selling things to fundraise, however it wasn’t clear what they were fundraising for. There were only one or two booths that actually had boards explaining what they did. There was also a big gigantic blood donation tent and dancing in the streets. However my favorite part was the 1000 pinwheels for the environment. They were attached to a big board by stickers… and everyone threw the sticker paper on the ground. Fun way to honor the environment. Overall it was a very interesting experience…

Linh’s village

I apologize in advance but I will eventually be posting three blog entries this week because I did so many different things this holiday weekend and I really want to remember all of them.

The first place I went this weekend was Linh’s Village. It was probably the favorite part of my weekend. It was a little odd having tons of people point and stare at me Linh told me that in the whole time she lived there she had never seen a foreigner there so I guess it makes sense. The village was beautiful. The open air market made the market near campus look like a tiny hole in the wall. People carried live chickens home for dinner and fish swam in tanks waiting for somebody to pick them. There were tons of vegetables… including one that Linh said she hadn’t seen before (her mom does the shopping, not her). The temple was also beautiful; by far the largest I have seen in Vietnam so far. I guess there is more room for temples outside of the city. I was fascinated by how many things took place at the temple. Linh pointed out several painted lines in one of the temple courtyards where children practiced sports and held competitions in the summer.

At one point a monk showed us into the communal living quarters for the monks in the temple. There was a beautiful garden filled with grapefruits and other fruits. Eventually we reached the temple wall where we could see the surrounding countryside. It was amazing how much change the village had seen in such a short period. There were several large factories nearby that Linh said had been built in the last 5 years. There was a brand new road that cut through sever farmer’s plots of land… I wonder how much they were (or weren’t) compensated for that land.

I was also interested to see how close the graves were to the fields. There were literally morning glories (the food not the flower) growing right on top of some of the graves. Guess they make good fertilizer. Oh… another random thought about food. I had never realized just how much stuff lives in flooded fields. The morning glory field looked like it was shivering because so many frogs kept on breaking the surface of the water.

Another really interesting thing we did at Linh’s Village was interview Linh’s father and her neighbor about their jobs. Linh’s father works as a mechanical repairman fixing things like rice cookers fans and TV’s. While the jod sounds simple it was clear he was incredibly skilled. He had to study at a University in Ho Chi Minh city to learn his craft. I watched him pull out tons of complicated parts tangled together in boxes and explain from memory what each one did. Even though I couldn’t understand Vietnamese it was clear that he was incredibly proud of his job. He kept on putting his hand over his heart while he was talking and there was a certain gleam in his eyes that made it clear that he truly loved his profession. I’ll be interested to learn exactly why he loved his job so much once the interview is translated.

New Development Space: KĐTM Đền Lừ

Last friday my project group mapped out the new development area around KĐTM Đền Lừ. Quite frankly the experience was depressing and made me think about development in a new way. While I've read alot about the negative consequences of development before, walking through this "neighborhood" allowed me to experience it first hand, and I was actually fairly surprised by what I saw. 

• empty streets (but not cleaner)
• luxury cars
• lack of goods
• spread out
• abundance of parks in the non apartment residential area

It wasn't the sort of carbon copy suburbia that you would see in the US where every house is the same. Rather this area consisted of run down high rise apartments, empty streets, a lake with no benches, a giant sports center and a gradual transition into single family houses and finally more traditional space. The area immediately around the apartments was the most depressing to me. I would love to know the stories of how people wound up in those apartments... but they felt like totally dehumanizing places. They were incredibly tall with no elevators and steep ramps to bring your motorbikes up to your room.

While some goods were available near the such as trà đá and bia hoi, they lacked the vibrant social aspect of the city. At three in the afternoon they were completely empty... I think most residents were out to work.


The area near the lake and sports center was interesting to me. On one hand the lake was beautiful and was the one of the only place where we saw lots of people hanging out. On the other hand it was not designed to encourage relaxation. There were no benches (one entrepreneurial food vendor had brought out plastic chairs but you had to buy something to sit), no places to put boats into the lake and no wide open areas to play on. There was a gigantic sports center on one side of the lake, but it was completely empty while boys played soccer in the roundabout right outside its gate.

The non apartment residential area was probably the place I liked most of the places we went. In many ways it reminded me of where I live back home. It was a housing district where each of the houses was individual, much like my neighborhood. There were plenty of trees, and several really nice parks. There was an elementary school and vocational school hidden among the maze of streets. The streets were fairly large and inhabited by a fair number of cars. By reminding me of home it  forced me to reconsider what I value in a living space. I've always liked the peace and quiet of purely residential areas, but compared to the life of Teng Sung this area felt dead. It annoyed me that I had to walk  20 minutes to get to a street where I could buy necessities, while at home I think nothing of having to drive to the store. It made me realize that even the sides of development I cherish come with real trade offs. The peace and quiet of a residential neighborhood with parks are only obtained with the loss of street life and a reliance on cars.

Finally after nearly 2 hours of walking we arrived at a real Hanoi street complete with goats being slaughtered, shoe shining and yummy xôi xéo. Yet even on this street we couldn't find all of the things on the list that we had found so easily in the traditional neighborhood. I really don't think I would like living in this area very much. I think It would be quite depressing, especially knowing that so many wonderful places exist in Hanoi.

Han Thuyen/Hang Chuoi: The Neighborhood

On saturday we mapped the neighborhood around Han Thuyen and Hang Chuoi streets. Within the four blocks we mapped we were able to find everything on the list Gerard gave us as well as many other things. A few words that came to mind when walking through the neighborhood were:

• Beautiful
• Relatively green
• Calm(er), but still lively

There were many things I liked about this neighborhood. First there was the fact that you could conduct most things you needed to do on a daily basis in such a small area. There were two fruit and vegetable markets, many pho places, places to fix your motorbike, a school, a doctors office, shops selling all sorts of things, two temples and a park. If there wasn't an actual shop for something it was still provided. There was a place where keys were cut on the sidewalk and every other week someone came by to sharpen knives.  Back home I have to drive to get good quality fresh produce, drive to get my knifes sharpened, walk 15-20 minutes to get to a park, etc. etc. Here most everything could be done by walking less then 5 minutes.

Kid Climbing in the Elementary School Gate

Another thing I really liked about the neighborhood was how much character it had. A full block of Trang Bat was completely devoted to the sale of birds, bird cages etc. In the neighborhood there was a cat cafe (see photo below) and a cool dried flower shop. Each of the houses were different and had cool plants covering them. The neighborhood was close to the big theater in Hanoi and the independent movie theater where we watched Mai's America.

Cats at the Cat Cafe

However what struck me most was how green the area was. Unlike the part of Thang Xuan near the university, the streets in this neighborhood were lined with trees. Many houses had trees as well and there was a park and tenis courts within walking distance. I'm not generally a big fan of cities because there isn't enough greenery, so seeing so many plants really made me happy.

One of the houses with lots of greenery.

Overall I think if I were to live in Hanoi this neighborhood would be high on my list. It certainly seems like someplace I would be happy.  Of course, I would want to look at more neighborhoods first seeing as I have only been here for a few weeks and don't have a ton to compare it with.

The theater. 5 minute walk or less

Amazing bakery also very close to the neighborhood

Kem (ice cream) near the neighborhood!

Gig reading:

Adhesive Company Sales Representative

After flipping to a random page in Gig and reading a few interviews I was surprised how much I like this interview. To me being an adhesive sales representative sounded like one of the most boring jobs on the planet, but this interview really made me rethink that. Traci seemed so happy with her job… something I think not enough people are. I never realized how much time sales representatives have to spend building good relations with their customers. Playing underwater hockey doesn’t sound like anything I’d ever expect a sales rep to do. The other thing that really surprised me was just how many different things contain adhesive. When I read the title I was thinking that she sold adhesive squares or something, but it turned out that she supplied glues to tons of different companies.

I was also interested by the fact that she was one of the few women in her line of work. I guess it kind of makes sense that it is a male dominated job seeing as talking your clients drinking is part of the job, and its not as socially acceptable for women to drink. However the part about her boss giving her an incredibly hard time when she first started and making her get up extra early kind of disgusted me. It know that sort of discrimination happens in the work place, but it still really bothered me that she had to put up with it… and became friends with the guy afterwards. 

About me/goals:

Autobiography:

Hey everybody, here’s a little bit about myself. I was born in Berkeley California in 1990. My parents are from Wisconsin so all of my family lives back there and I visit them every year. I went to Harding Elementary school, Portola Middle school and El Cerrito High School. I played cello and Violin for several years and really loved it but had to quit in 7^th grade when my school lost funding for orchestra. In 8^th grade I joined the Piedmont Choirs which competes internationally. I went to international festivals in Vancouver Canada, China, Malaysia and Singapore. The things I saw on these tours and the people I met really made me fall in love with different cultures, particularly Asian cultures.

After high school I knew I wanted to study international issues so I chose Eleanor Roosevelt College in UC San Diego which focuses on international scholarship and history. I also decided to major in comparative political science so I could really go in depth into that aspect of other countries. Once at UCSD I had to pick a language to study and I chose American Sign Language because my elementary school had a number of students who spoke ASL and I always loved to watch it. After a few weeks I fell completely in love with ASL, deaf culture and Deaf rights… the language was so rich and beautiful that I knew I wanted to make it a bigger part of my life. I’m now head of the ASL club on campus, minoring in ASL and looking for jobs where I can put my skills to use. I’m really happy at UCSD and know that while I will be sad to leave Vietnam I will be happy to go back to all the wonderful people there that have made my last two years amazing.

Few other miscellaneous things about me: I have one younger brother named Brian who is going into his third year of high school. He’s a real sweetheart… despite being a 16 year old boy. I’m gonna miss him while I’m here. As far as hobbies go I like to unicycle, hike make pottery, write poetry and cook. My favorite color is green and I’m totally in love with turtles frogs and succulents. That’s about it. I look forward to getting to know all of you soon!

Goals for Vietnam:

1. Get to know the amazing HANU students and UC students. I really feel like I have a ton to learn from all of you and will be disappointed with myself if I don’t go home having had at least one good conversation with everyone.

2. Learn about Vietnamese culture history. I’m really interested and there is so much to learn.

3. Learn Vietnamese Sign Language and volunteer at an orphanage! This seemed like a total long shot before I came but it might actually be reality. Soooooooo cool!

4. Learn as much Vietnamese as possible. I’ve never really learned a spoken language before, so I’m afraid this could be quite the challenge. I took Spanish in high school, but all I can really do is say “Yo no hablo espanol.”

5. Travel! See an opera in Vietnam, explore the French district, visit a village where they make pottery, maybe visit a national park…

6. Learn how to cook some Vietnamese food!

7. Learn about the minority groups in northern Vietnam.

8. Challenge myself… learn to do things I normally wouldn’t do, think about things from different perspectives and hopefully come away from Vietnam a better person.

9. Have an amazing time :)

Pre Departure

Hey everybody! I'm super excited for my trip. Here's some basic information for those of you who don't know what I'm doing. I will be studying abroad with the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) at Hanoi university. The group includes 18 students from throughout the UC system. I will live in the international student dorms, take classes at the university and go on trips with the other UC and Hanoi University students.

I will be leaving Sunday August 8th at 2 in the morning. After 17 hours of travel time I should arrive in Hanoi! Before then I have to pack, get one more vaccine, and say goodbye to people. Should be one busy week. Can't wait!!!!