The Swing of Things

Its starting to feel natural here in Quang Tri!  Thousands of miles away from home, I feel very comfortable with my group and I think we have all gotten in a good rhythm.  The 4:45am wake up calls are starting to feel not so terrible, the 20 minute bike treks are becoming routine, and the 4.5 hours of construction are fun as hell!  And most importantly and, to be honest, surprisingly, teaching has become comfortable.  I was always very nervous about this portion of the trip.  I was worried if I would be able to command a class, gain their respect, create a comfortable environment, and have enough energy to teach for 2 straight hours.  After about a week, I think we all have it down. Lesson planning is becoming easier and easier.  2 hours seems like an eternity to fill when we first started, but now we have more experience of what works and what doesn't and it doesn't seem like such an insurmountable task.  Class time is becoming less and less of something to merely get through, and more and more of something that I can have fun during.

I think yesterday is a perfect example of how much fun class can be. Yesterday we spent about half an hour teaching American slang to the class.  We tough them how to have a conversation in slang and hilarity ensued.
"What's up Dude!"
"Not much dude, what's up with you?"
"Not much!"

It was absolutely "Awesome" (another word we taught them).  And I think everyone had a great time, us included.  After class we took the entire class out for ice cream which was an absolute blast.  For about 13 bucks total, we got icecream for 28 people and let our class get a lot closer to eachother.  I think I speak for Divya, Krista, and Phuc when I say that I love our class and they are gonna be a lot of fun for the next 6 weeks.

Today we are taking a tour up to the 17th parallel and going to the beach, so I'll let y'all know how all that goes.  Maybe I'll find Charlie there. 
Ta ta for now,
Nick

Public Enemy #1

Not a bad view from the train

Good news and bad news people.  I am going to start with the bad news as people usually do.  If you prefer good news first then I suggest you skip down a couple of lines and read backwards.  So I am pretty sure that my blog has been censored in Vietnam.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with censorship, Vietnam has a history of censoring media and most recently censoring bloggers.  I guess I pose a serious threat to the government because I can no longer access my blog to look at.  I could be wrong (and probably am), but don't be surprised if my next post comes from the depths of a Vietnamese jail cell.  Actually they would probably censor that too.  Damn.

The goods news is that the guest house that we are staying in had WiFi installed today!  And thanks to our boy genius Billy, we can all access it and its running smoothly.  So this means I can post more often, check and send email more often, and do facebook things too!  Now that I think of it, this may be bad news for some of you people out there, in which case you are a jerk and I am not sorry.

Surrounded by women... what else is new?

Today was our third day of working and teaching and made for quite an exciting day.  Today young Vietnamese students training for the military graced us with their presence.  About halfway through our lesson plan, nearly 100 Vietnamese students dressed in fatigues led by seasoned Vietnamese soldiers donning countless medals and stripes entered the school and stepped into our classes.  They seamlessly fit into our lessons and I think they really enjoyed it!  With about 30 minutes left all of the teachers brought the students into the auditorium for group activities which, although with varying levels of success, worked very well and everyone was laughing and cheering.  It felt good to be in charge of over 300 students!  After our activities, everyone stuck around to take pictures with us.  Not to brag but many a shy girl came up to take pictures with us good looking dudes.  At least thats what I tell myself.  All in all an awesome day.

Minds to be molded.  Muahahaha!

Today I finally felt like I knew why I was hear.  As we stood in front of 300 students eating up every word we say, cherishing every moment with us, and jumping on any opportunity to learn about us, I realized how unique and valuable of an opportunity this is for every single student we teach.  Native English speakers have so much to offer in English classes.  These kids are used to learning from Vietnamese people who have learned English from Vietnamese people who have learned from Vietnamese and so on.  And thus there accents, intonations, and general grasp of the language can be quite skewed.  But to speak with a native speaker can give insight into how the language is supposed to be spoken.  And these kids know that.  I am writing this right after finishing up our lesson plan for tomorrow, and what yesterday felt like work, today feels like fun.  I'm pumped.

While it is only our third day, I can already tell that our class is awesome.  We only have two boys, but both boys are very smart and love to participate. I think it might be a trend in Vietnam for girls to learn English more often than boys.  Maybe this is a trend in other countries too.  Our 18 or so girls are also awesome and full of personality, even the shyest ones!  It is great when you see the shy ones come out of their shells, even if it is just for a split second.  Can't wait to get to know everyone a little better.

Well its 9 o'clock here which means its past my bedtime.  You guys, 4:45am is really early.  And I am reminded of this every morning at 4:45am.  So I am gonna hit the sack.

I am a... teacher?

Hey All!  Sorry for the delayed response, but my last couple of days consisted of a 29 hour overnight train ride, many Vietnamese kids, and shovels.  No, I am not in Charlie Sheen's basement, but rather in Quang Tri!  Three days ago my group boarded a 29 hour overnight train (in a sleeper car, #trainswag) and went north along the coast to Quang Tri, a small province in central Vietnam.  The 17th paralell runs through this province, so there is a lot of history, especially war history, to learn about.  Once arriving, we got the run down of the projects we would be working on for the next 7 weeks.  In the mornings (and by morning I mean 4:45 am) we split into two groups, one group building a playground for a preschool and another group (my group!) building a fence around an elementary school to keep cattle and such out and, more importantly, the children in.  Our projects have gone very well but it is definitely hard work.  But also fun an interesting!  Yesterday while digging we dug up a grenade!  Yes, yes, this sounds like the makings of a very sad Sarah McLachlin video, but it was actual very cool and nobody lost any limbs.  Mom, I'll be careful! 

After bulding from 6am-11am, we have a nice Siesta until 2pm at which our group of 13 American and 12 Vietnamese college students is holding a summer english school for over 200 Vietnamese students from 6th to 12th grade! Our classes are so legit that the government has sent locally stationed soldiers to sit in on our classes to learn as well!  While i though the hours of digging, hauling, and mixing would tire me out, it is in fact teaching that takes the pep out of my step.  Teaching is HARD!!!! To all of my past teachers out there (even though I am pretty sure my mom and my dog are the only ones who read my blog), I am grateful and I totally respect the profession.  My class of 20 10th grade students can be a hand full and hard to entertain, but I think they are great, smart, exciting, and are going to make for a great summer of teaching.  More in the future on teaching.  And thanks Bianca for the teaching tips!  they are definitely working.

On a different note I have a pretty good story that you all might find interesting/ though provoking.  Remember when I said that for the most part the Vietnamese have gotten over the war?  Well the other day I found the example that breaks the rule.  I was shopping in a bizarre like market in Quang Tri when a group of drunken middle aged (maybe slightly older men) called me over for a drink.  They offered me a beer and we talked (with the help of my translating Vietnamese roommate Phuc, he rocks) and had a great time.  Many central Vietnamese have never seen Americans or spoken to them, so it was no surprise that they called us over.  Not to build myself up, but we are kind of celebrities here.  Seriously.  The conversation was going great and we were laughing when out of the blue he says in Vietnamese "do you think my legs are real?"  He went on to show me his prosthetic lower half.  This man had no legs. None.  I complimented him on his prosthetics, but his face was stone cold.  He says calmly, "These are the Consequences of War".  This immediately changed the air in the conversation and Phuc motioned for us to leave.  I didn't feel quite so much like a celebrity anymore.  Quite an intense moment that I won't forget anytime soon.

Thats about it.  I am at an internet cafe and paying by the minute so I have to cut this one short and without pictures, so sorry to the illiterates out there. 
Still haven't found Charlie,
NB

Chao Ban!! The Saigon Life (and other stuff too..)

Hey again!  I am writing this with my head spinning after just finishing my 3rd day of Vietnamese lessons! For the past 3 days my group has taken intensive "survival Vietnamese" classes for four hours each day, hence not updating my blog for a while.  Our first lesson of each day goes from 8am-10am with another lesson from 1pm-3pm.  Four hours a day of Vietnamese seems like nothing to anyone who has ever sat through Modern World History at PHS, but Vietnamese is a whole different story.  And I mean it.  Coming from someone who has taken 6 years of Chinese, I can confidently say that Vietnamese has got to be one of the hardest languages out there.  Luckily enough Vietnamese uses the Roman Alphabet, making it at least intelligible to beginners, but pronouncing the words is is beyond me.  A language in which "Nguyen" is pronounces "wing"?  I would take 中文 any day over that.  But nonetheless, twelve total class hours of Vietnamese as well as living in Saigon has made me a little more confident when walking around in the city.  Maybe with a few more weeks I could perhaps have a very elementary conversation with a Vietnamese person, but since we only have two more class sessions left before we head off to Quang Tri, my depth in conversation probably won't go much deeper than "what is your favorite color?" (Ban thich mau gi?.... I think....).

my bubbly Vietnamese instructor.

Outside of our Vietnamese class time, I feel that nearly a week in Vietnam has given me a very quick yet surprisingly comprehensive view of Vietnamese culture and where my group of foreigners, and more importantly American, fit in.  And part of this cultural immersion is thanks to Alyce and the organizers of CET and Duke Engage who have put together great lessons, programs, and experiences where we are exposed to a multitude of perspectives.  Just one example is the 2 hour cultural, political, and economic lessons/discussions that Alyce leads every afternoon.  These lessons have ranged from basic Vietnamese history to stuff as important and heavy as discussion our ethical position, especially as Americans, in Vietnam.  What sort of stigma to Americans have in Vietnam considering our unfortunate shared history?  And how can we, as ethnic and cultural foreigners, justify spending tens of thousands of dollars to "help" people from our Western perspective?  These sorts of things we discuss to become aware of and at the forefront of our minds and attitudes as we actually do these projects.

One aspect of the Vietnamese that I have found very interesting and totally surprising is that there is no lasting hatred of the United States left over from our full scale military invasion of their country.  Seriously, none.  Zip. In fact, they love Americans here.  Despite annihilating many Vietnamese and leaving the biologically devastating legacy of Agent Orange, most of the Vietnamese have simply gotten over it for two main reasons.  One, 60% of the Vietnamese population were born after the war and therefore its just a part of history.  Secondly, America is at the center of Vietnam's economic growth.  As I walk around Saigon, it is rare that I see a billboard advertising a brand that is NOT American, and I see that American companies dominate the skyline of Saigon.  And thus American pop culture is just as pop as anywhere else!  At a live music bar we all went to the other night (don't tell my parents!), the bands strictly played American songs: The Beatles, Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, ZZ Top, and even Greenday!

more awesome

awesome

That being said, as an American I cannot simply write off the atrocities of our past simply because "they" aren't mad about it anymore.  We still did some messed up stuff.  And that HAS to be recognized.  Nothing showed this better than our trip two days ago to the War Remnants Museum (previously known as the "The House of Displaying the War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam").  This museum displayed relics of old tanks, Howitzers, helicopters, bombs, and war planes from the war which I found to be really really cool despite their less than cool history.  What was more troubling was the exhibits displaying the lasting affects of Agent Orange as well as the US internment camps for political prisoners.  It's hard to believe the things that our nation did during this regretful time.

Getting my hair did

Infamous Tiger Cages used to torture
North Vietnamese political prisoners.
Truly awful stuff.

There is a lot to be learned in Vietnam, but on a lighter note, I will give a very brief recap of some cool things I have done in the past couple of days because I am currently sitting outside and mosquitoes are eating me alive.  The other day we went to the US Consulate and talked about the US-Vietnam relationship which is quite interesting and I will definitely try to touch on in a later post.  Last night my group had the great idea of going to a very popular club called Lush!  And since it was recommended by our Vietnamese teacher, we knew it was good.  Tuesday was ladies night so it was pretty packed and everyone had a great time.  For any Dukies out there, we almost felt like we were back in Durham for a good ol' night of Shooters dancing, without the bull of course and with many, many more Vietnamese people.  But our exhausting hours of Vietnamese lessons have not stopped us from going out almost every night.  The other night we went to an area called the "backpacker district" which is full of smelly vagabond Europeans looking for a good time, popular bars and clubs, and stealthy prostitutes.  All of the makings of a very interesting night on the town, but only photos could probably do this place justice.  And today I very proudly got my haircut!  My locks were getting pretty long so I got myself a three dollar cut, shave, and gel.  Some liken me to a Vietnamese Ryan Gosling.  The barbers were quite amused, and rightfully so, with my bumbling Vietnamese and intent interest on their favorite colors.    And I was glad to have my friends Divya and Krista with me to help me butcher my way through various phrases.  

Backpacking District

Don't think I've ever had this
legendary SF ice cream...

Nothing like a night at a seedy dive bar in Saigon

I am having an absolutely great time over here in Saigon, definitely one of the most stimulating places I've ever been to.  The strange feeling of being totally out of my comfort zone and what I am used to while feeling totally at home and comfortable with my great Duke Engage group.  But as for y'all back in the States, would love to hear from ya.  This post took me all of 16 minutes so I'd like to see some reciprocation people.  But for now I'll be willing Derek Fisher to his 26th championship ring and hoping his 3 balls fall like my life expectancy when I wear 100% deet.

The group at lunch with the internationally famous "Lunch Lady"!

Gap Lai,

Nick George

The Eagle has Landed: Pho, Clinton, and the Opera!

My nearly 24 hours of travel time finally ended last night as my Japan Airlines flight landed in Ho Chi Minh City.  I have now decided that Al Nippon Air is officially my favorite airline.  Despite being crammed into tiny economy seats, the beautiful Japanese flight attendants served us an amazing teriyaki beef dish with hot tea, miso soup, and noodles.  Never before in my life had a finished my plate of airplane food wanting seconds.  Well done ANA.  Well done.

Next level dining.

The wait at baggage claim was an excruciating experience.  I had very little faith that my bag had travelled the distance from SFO to HCMC. Staring at that loading belt to the baggage carousel was like opening gift after gift at Christmas hoping for a Nintendo 64 only to find books and clothes beneath the wrapping paper.  Except Nintendo 64s usually aren't full of life saving malaria medication.  Luckily I got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas and my green rolly suitcase did indeed make it to Vietnam, but two of my trip mates were not so lucky.  They got socks for Christmas.  Their luggage which was apparently stuck in Chicago will hopefully be arriving tonight.  Good luck to them both.

Finally, after leaving the airport and making it to our guesthouse in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, we were all ready to pass out in a comatose-like sleep, but, of course, not before getting to meet our program director Alyce Van.  Alyce has been living in Vietnam for five years, but is originally from Orange County, CA.  After  studying at Yale, she spent 5 years running the CET Academic Programs in Vietnam, so we are definitely in good hands. We were also introduced to her assistant, Kai.  Kai is a second year Vietnamese college student attending one of the most prestigious international business schools in the country.  His English is very good and he has been super helpful at helping us all settle in.  Although it was great meeting Alyce and Kai, I was miles past absolute exhaustion so it was certainly bed time.  Too exhausted to throw a fit when Alyce told us breakfast was at 7:00am.  I can get cranky when I'm tired.

I was assigned to the luxurious room 124, complete with two beds, A/C, and a fully functioning bathroom!  Hold on, let me quickly clarify "fully functioning".  We have a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and an shower open spout that pours directly onto the bathroom floor.  At least its hot water.  Nonetheless, the rooms are comfortable and one really can't complain.  Have yet to spot any spiders in this country, so my arachnophobic self is as happy as a clam.  A spider free country?  That's something I could get used to.

Once I hit my bed I almost immediately passed out, falling into a beautiful Jet Lag induced sleep.  But Jet Lag giveth, and Jet Lag taketh away.  Around 4:30am I woke up, fully alert, and not in the least bit tired.  All I could do was will myself back to sleep for the remaining 2.5 hours before breakfast.  But on the bright side, I have never been so awake at 7am in my life!  Maybe that has something to do with why I am nearly falling asleeeeeep as I wrtie tihs.........

For breakfast we went on a short walk around the corner to an alley market where I was finally introduced to the wonderful world of Pho.  I wasn't sure what the Vietnamese eat for breakfast, so I asked Kai, to which he responded "Vietnamese food!"  Of course I asked him what they eat for lunch and dinner, to which he again responded "Vietnamese food!"  Looks like I will be eating a lot of Pho.  This was also where I realized how dirt cheap everything in this country is!  A big bowl of Pho with a bottle of water? 35,000 Dong!!  Sounds a lot cheaper when you covert that to about $1.50!  All in all a great breakfast and a great way to start the day.

After a quick orientation with Alyce in which we were given 800,000 dong (about 40 bucks) in spending money, we went for a 2 hour walking tour through downtown Ho Chi Minh City.  ***A quick note on the difference between Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon.  Saigon was the name of this city up until 1975 when the North Vietnamese captured South Vietnam and as the US dipped out of the war, creating the unified nation we know today as Vietnam.  To rub the victory in the world's face, Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the north, renamed the city in his honor.  Despite the city being officially known as HCMC, Vietnamese Americans who fled South Vietnam during the war like to honor the history of the city by calling it by its "true" name.   Most Vietnamese tend to prefer Saigon merely because its a complete pain in the ass to keep saying Ho Chi Minh City all the time.***  Now back to the story.  So our walking tour was amazing!  Within the first five minutes me and few other guys broke down and bought a Vietnamese sandwich for no more than 50 cents.  Pure deliciousness.  Of course I quickly calculated that my weekly stipend can buy me about 80 of these.  Don't temp me street venders...

On this tour we all got a cash course in crossing the street in Vietnam.  The streets here are ridiculous!  absolutely full of motorbikes, cars, busses, and the occasional rickshaw.  To the inexperienced traveler (me about an hour ago), crossing the street would seem just as easy as crossing a lava flow assuming you don't want to end up like Anakin Skywalker (first Star Wars reference!).  Alyce told us the key is to walk steadily and consisently across the street, letting everyone else avoid you, but "you have to dodge the busses and cars, they will just hit you".  With that sobering advice, we took to traffic like Patches O'houlihan.

Along our walking tour we walked by the American Embassy which was guarded by soldiers donning AK-47s while the Spanish Embassy guard dudes were chilling drinking ice tea or something.  Why so serious US?  Along the way we found that a very nice Vietnamese policeman was following us, making good use of his whistle as he kept us safe by direction traffic around us an keeping an eye out for possible pick pocketers.  He was nice.  I like to call him Tom.  After about 5 minutes he left though.  And now I'm sad.

One of the highlights of the day was eating at a very famous restaurant called Pho 2000: Pho For the President.  According to photographic evidence, President Bill Clinton actually ate here in 2000!  The food was pretty good so I see why.  I decided to go all out and try the allegedly very good Avacado Smoothie.  I was surprised to find that it was actually delicious and amazingly refreshing in the humidity.


On the way back, in a typical South-East Asia fashion, it starting pooring rain so we took shelter in the famous opera house downtown.  We then realized that for 9 dollars we could see an opera tonight at 5pm, apparently a very good opera called "The Spirit of Vietnam".  So tonight, in Saigon, I am going to the opera!  I knew I should have packed my furs....  Per my dads request, after the Opera we plan to get a drink General Westmoreland style at the famous Saigon Saigon lounge atop the historical Caravelle Hotel.  This will definitely make for a sweet first night in Vietnam.  Until then, I gotta freshen up for my big night on the town.
Still looking for Charlie (whoever that is),
Nicky B

Island Hoppin'

Hello Kitty as far as the eye could see

Touched down in Japan's Narita Airport about an hour ago and I'm feeling great!  Local time here is 3:30pm on June 14th, which is merely 11:30pm on June 13th back in Cali, so I'm not too tired yet.  Luckily United Airlines chose to play Disney's horrible new movie "John Carter", allowing me to fall into a deep and uninterrupted snooze for the two hour long movie.  As for meals, I was glad to see that United offered an "American" meal option in addition to the more popular Japanese noodle dish for dinner.  Unfortunately, United apparently believes this stereotypical "American" meal to be a dry Turkey sandwich, so I filled myself with soggy airplane noodles instead.  After stepping off the plane and walking through a duty free store full of everything hello kitty, I found a convenient Wi Fi station that allowed me to check Facebook and update my blog.

Despite Japan's strange fixation with adorable stuffed kittens, I was blown away by their unmatched bathroom technology.  Seriously.  Bidets in a public airport bathroom? The US definitely needs to hop on this bandwagon ASAP.  But there is only so much one can see in an airport, and I just realized my connecting flight to Ho Chi Minh City boards in 20 minutes and I still have no idea how to navigate this airport, so I should probably be on my merry way.  So long for now.

Never knew a toilet could have so many options.

Wake Up Call

My dog jumped on my bed this morning which could only mean one thing - I need to go to San Francisco airport to get on my 17 hour plane flight to Vietnam today. The rest of my group already has or within the next few hours will be departing from their homes across the country and the world for our final destination in Ho Chi Minh City.  Nearly two days from now we will all be walking through Ho Chi Minh City like a Chinese tour group in New York (with hopefully fewer fanny pacs).  My suitcase looks like a mini pharmacy that only a hypochondriac Bear Grylls would cary, packed with anti-itch creams, mounds of Claritin, and high strength bug spray that doesn't seem too far removed from bear mace.  Hopefully the rest of my various aerosol cans and assorted tubs my mom gave me don't pick up too much attention going through international security.  Not too worried about my pounds of Cocaine.  So after I down a bowl of honey bunches of oats and 2% (yeah, that's right) milk, my ma and pa will shepherd me off to SFO International Airport at which point I'm hoping some combination of 4 books, 3 movies, and Advil PM take me the rest of the way.

More importantly than all of this, last night I realized I will miss the entire OKC-Miami NBA Finals, so Dodds, I request scores be posted to my blog as they happen with relevant stats for Derek Fisher, my boy Kevin, and more evidence that Chris Bosh is indeed a velociraptor (reasons for being/resembling a salamander also accepted).  For the rest of ya, hold down the fort while I take care of 'Nam.
Dreaming of Pho-ly,
Nick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pho

7 more days...

7 more days until my adventure begins.Only an 11 hour plane to Tokyo Narita  Airport and another 6 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City stand between me and my 8 week stay in Vietnam.  This summer I am lucky enough to be participating in Duke University's DukeEngage program.  DukeEngage sends Duke students on all expense paid community service trips around the world to places like London, Scotland, Cairo, Cape Town, or in my case, Vietnam.  Fully funded by the Gates Foundation, I will spend 2 weeks in the famous Ho Chi Minh City and 6 weeks living in Quang Tri province, located in the rural central region of Vietnam.  While in Quang Tri, my group of 11 Duke students and I will be teaching English to Vietnamese students as well as leading community building projects, but until we actually get to the site, we will not know the details of the project.  Until then, "I don't give a damn, I'm going to Vietnam!"