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