An update from the past

Two entries in two consecutive days! You, dear reader, are so lucky. In an attempt to get you up to speed with my work and community project– with as little effort on my part as possible (hehe)– I am reprinting some of the updates that I have written to people in emails. (So I guess for some readers, you are not so lucky after all if the writing below is not new to you.)

[From 7May] “I am doing well and have been busy w/ the community project. We have an exciting event coming up– first informational meeting is tomorrow evening… i hope there will be a big student turnout. I’d like to think that I’ve exhausted all teh different ways to spread the word on campus: flyers, posters, classroom visits, posting on univ and dept’s e-News webpages, and asking staff to announce in their classrooms. I just hope we’ve reached as wide as we possibly could within the context of our limitations in time, resources, and connections. If the number of logo entries– five! — is any indication of the proportion of the student population who would show up to the meeting, then I am screwed.

Back to the meeting: it is quite exciting what we have on the agenda! I’ve invited several staff from the university to give a 5-10min speech about the meaning of the project to the community and to encourage/inspire students to commit. ADAPT staff will also be there and chi Van will also say a few words in support of the project and describe how ADAPT is contributing to the making of the bags. Then I will describe the project objectives and speak to them about specific roles, timeline, etc. Then a staff will announce the 3 top logo winners. Then participants will have a 10 minute break to vote on the best logo of the 3 winners. This logo will be printed on the reusable bags as the campaign logo. Then Mark will facilitate a fun game about transferring information, followed by a debrief of the question “what is a good way to transfer info, etc.” Then the final logo winner will be announced which ends the night.

Speaking of the bags– it is a strenuous process! There is a shortage of girls in the workshop right now and those who are there are working on other projects at the moment so I have been helping Co Dam (the instructor) cut 800 bags. What makes this worse is that we are using scissors from, like, the last century or something– they are made of heavy steel w/ huge finger slots that induce blisters and bruise my fingers. We’d spread a dozen sheets on top of each other on the cramped floor and crawl all over to trace and cut the fabric. I had a blister on the inside of my thumb that has bursted and peeled and stung like acid. We have been wrapping our hands in scraps of fabric like Thai fighters preparing for a match. I don’t know why I’m whining so much… I mean, this is Vietnam where people work in more harsh conditions and at least I get a break whenever I feel like it. Brandon has been poking fun and asking, “how’s the sweatshop?” Whenever I’d complain, co Dam would try to inspire with the line, “cho con em chung ta!” (“For the children!”) And I’d return to the floor on all fours.”

P.S. The informational meeting took place last night and it was good! As expected, the meeting was delayed for 30 minutes due to lack of student participation. But at the end, we got 50 names on the volunteer roster! The three winning logos drew applause from the crowd and the winning “campaign logo” won by just a few votes.  I would have had a nice night of sleep as a result if not for the heavily-caffeinated boba tea at post-meeting.

Glad wordpress didn’t kill my blog even with the delinquency

Once again, hello fellow reader(s). Sorry about the delinquency with this blog. Let me try to update you all with work and the community project.

Work is going well. (You can learn more about what I’m doing in the updated About page) I am learning more about the program and have become increasingly impressed by it. I’ve been on two home-visits with the team where we travel by motorbike to remote areas of the Mekong Delta to visit the homes of Scholarship recipients for follow-up interviews. Very few of these homes meet the standards for adequate housing. Most, if not all, do not have plumbing or running water and often rely on a nearby body of water for all sorts of household activities that you can think of that uses water– bathing, washing, cooking, “bathroom activities”, etc. The homes are simple and primitive and are either built from scraps of sheet metal or some natural resources like palm branches, bamboo sticks, etc. Both of these experiences have been eye-opening, not just in terms of these visual expereinces, but being able to meet, listen, and speak to these desperate young women that ADAPT assists. It brings a human face to our work which is moving and motivating to me.
 
With regards to specific work assignments, I am not focused on any one program component and am instead doing more broad things. My title is: “Development Officer/ English Resource Associate” and I’ve got 1,000 business cards to prove it. At the moment, I’m working more closely with the Scholarship component to organize the database of scholarship recipients’ info. My goal for this assignment is to create some sort of a database template where the coordinator can easily and systematically collect and analyze variables to report on specific measures to be tracked over time. When this is finished, we may replicate the process for other program components. Outside of this main assignment, I am helping with anything that comes my way such as helping to write the year-end report for the public, and a quarterly progress report to our funder.

I travel to HCMC occasionally for work or to visit my aunt (father’s only sister). I had a chance to meet with a rep from a cooking school in HCMC several weeks ago to see about the possibility of a partnership to expand our vocational training program. I was in Hanoi the following week for a training with two of my colleagues where I got to meet ADAPT Scholarship’s counterpart from East Meets West in Danang. They are a fun and upbeat bunch! I wish there could be more opportunities to interact with them to bounce ideas around regarding how to enhance and expand our respective scholarship programs. The trip also offered a chance to catch up with some of my former English students from Hanoi who I continue to keep in touch with.
 
If you had asked me, three weeks ago, how the fellowship project is going, I would have replied: (deja vu, Lillian!)

“The fellowship project is making slow progress and we are behind on schedule in terms of implementation. However, good progress has been made with regards to building networks and capacity. All the staff that I’ve corresponded with are very supportive and encouraging of the project– this has kept my spirit up. The biggest holdup has been getting approval from the AGU rector who has been really busy. Finally, an ally staff somehow sped up the process and we got approval from the rector last week to start “operating” on campus. wOOt!
 
“The posters and flyers to advertise the campaign and logo contest are all ready to go (you should see it– a student did this fantastic art for it). Our first informational meeting– where we will also announce the logo winners– will be on May 4. 

“As for the bags– the fabric is arriving this week. We went w/ dark-blue nylon fabric that can be folded into a compact design. We think the design is quite trendy, compact, convenient, sturdy, and less prone to stain and odor. We are able to make about 650 bags, which is significantly less than what I had hoped. Each bag will cost 20,000vnd to make (fabric, print, sewing). The total budget for the bags is 13,000,000vnd which is abt 3/4 of the total budget. I found a tucked-away printing shop that will print the bags for 3,000 each, which is more than half of what other places have quoted. In exchange for this steep discount, I’ve agreed to practice English w/ the owner’s daughter who is studying at Can Tho Univ.” [end quotation from email to Lillian on 14 Apr]
 
Well, that is all the updates with work and the community project. Overall, life in Long Xuyen is fine. I’ve had several episodes of being sick and homesick. I’m finding that I tend to suffer from exhaustion following a long day of travel (e.g., bumpy busride to/from HCMC, all-day motorbike rides for the home-visits). Everyone thinks that I’ve lost weight and look more tanned. I wonder if my new shade is a result of UV light or really from the smog, dust and other pollutants accumulated from daily bike rides through town. (Which reminds me, I should dedicate an entry to describe my personal hygiene since being in Long Xuyen. It has amused some people…)

The VIA experience, take two

Do’h! Another overdue post! Even more to report since the last. The biggest news is that since mid-December, I’ve left IOGT-Vietnam, the non-government org (NGO) that  I was originally assigned to. The reasons were that I was not doing English resource work which I had signed up to do, and was fed up by how the program continues to deviate from real “NGO work” as I’ve come to define it in terms of being humanitarian-based, not-for-profit, and focused on the most vulnerable populations. Among the lessons I’ve learned is that NGO status in Viet Nam (and probably in other places) could be granted in the most loose context, merely that the organization is not funded or affiliated with the government. I was basically teaching English to generate income for the NGO (and the free English classes that I helped organize in Soc Son eventually were imposed a fee, which I strongly disagreed w/). While I enjoyed my relationships w/ my students,  the work became unfulfilling as I wasn’t meeting my personal goals of being abroad.

Following a week-long VIA conference in mid-December where we discussed post status and recommendations, I accepted another English Resource position at a (very legitimate!) NGO called the An Giang Dong Thap Alliance for the Prevention Against Trafficking (ADAPT, http://www.adaptvietnam.org/?q=what) housed in Long Xuyen city in An Giang province. I’m in my 3rd week of work and things are going well– I’ve been given assignments that align well w/ my background in epi/biostats and that also provide opportunities to gain experience in program administration. As a result, I’ve been busy (it’s hard not to be because I live in the office w/ two others) but it’s so far fulfilling and a welcome change.

As for my new living situation, the south and the city of Long Xuyen are great!  Long Xuyen required no adjustment at all that I feel perhaps this is the Vietnam that I was meant to rediscover and reconnect with. I like its size, the people,  my living situation w/ having roommates, the fact that I can ride my bicycle around without the fear of being swallowed in traffic, the ease of budgeting b/c prices are pretty much consistent throughout town, the food (OMG, the food is delicious), and some other things that will just take too long to list. But yea, overall, i like it. And I like having two fellow VIA volunteers around.

That’s all for now. I hope you had a nice Tet week (or weekend). What did you do? Tell me and I’ll tell you mine.

I’m cold, engaged, and I don’t like plastic

Mark Twain once said, “My coldest winter was a summer in San Francisco.” Well, my coldest winter might be a winter in a tropical country. It’s getting more chilly in Hanoi and I’m beginning to wish that I hadn’t underestimated winters here. I wish that I had brought more winter clothes. Today is Teacher’s Day and two of my students in Soc Son and Hanoi gave me a scarf as gifts. That’s a good start for a winter wardrobe. It’s been a little over a month since my last update and there are many new things to share. Where do I begin?

First, I’m engaged! I feel like a new woman… a little older, wiser and with some bling. In Oct-Nov, Brandon and I realized our plan to meet “halfway” in Malaysia (where the proposal happened) and then went off to Bali. It was our first reunion since leaving the States and also our first vacation since working in our respective countries. (He’s in Brisbane, Australia, continuing his PhD research as a fellow at Univ of Queensland.) It was a great vacation and one of the most difficult farewells we had to exchange. I cant’ imagine getting used to it several more times this year. So anyway, we’re engaged after 5.5 years!!

While away, Hanoi flooded, including my old neighborhood though the water didnt’ make it into our lobby. We tried monitoring the situation from abroad but the news channels were occupied w/ the U.S. elections which had a very satisfying result. Ironically, I returned to Hanoi on a clear, warm, sunny day to find it exactly as i had left it. I had missed all the action. The damages of the flood were gone and the streets were, once again, occupied w/ vendors, motorbike taxi drivers, overcrowded buses, and of course the familiar scenes of pedestrians and wheeled-transports vying for any theoretical inch of space in the road. Here are some more updates.

Personal–
Several friends have come visit in the last month– two current VIA volunteers and my former boss’ boss’ boss– who helped me to explore more of Hanoi. Some were appalled that I haven’t been to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum (where his body is preserved and displayed). That’s like living in San Francisco and never having walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. (That’s me too.)

Another big change is that I just moved into the new IOGT office in downtown, in a quiet alley off of a main road. It is basically a 3-story house. The first floor is the sitting area and houses a small bathroom. The 2nd is the conference room where I teach English to the staff. The 3rd is my living space w/ a futon bed, a desk, wardrobe, and fan. There is also a quite large balcony from my bedroom. There is a small table and some chairs where I would eat my meals. The place is at a much more convenient location than my last home. I roll out of bed and just head downstairs to teach, or walk to various popular sights nearby. Food is just outside my doorstep, there are numerous vendors scattered along the sidewalks. In the mornings, I usually have warm, fresh soy milk or a small, warm bowl of boiled tofu in vanilla-flavored simple syrup (in the South, the syrup would be ginger-flavored which I think I like better). So far, I’m liking this new living environment, though I kinda miss having five TVs.

Fellowship–
I’ve had one meeting w/ staff from the Hanoi School of Public Health in Sept to learn about their work and talk about whether my fellowship assignment could fit somewhere in there. They have alot going on! However, they are longer term projects. I offered to assist in any way I could while here and when time permits. But I think won’t be making it my VIA public health project. I’d like to do something that is more at the grassroots level or more “service”-oriented. Recently, I’ve been inspired to start an awareness campaign against plastic bags and toward more eco-friendly and natural alternative carriers such as weave baskets and reusable cloth bags. This occurred to me as I was reading about China implementing its country-wide ban of all “thin plastic bags” from being handed out in markets and street vendors. While there are holes in this ban, it is a commendable step for China and one that has the potential to reduce 3 million plastic bags from being used PER DAY. Other places with similar bans on plastic bags are Uganda, South Africa, and Bangladesh. San Francisco recently became the first U.S. city to have ban on plastic checkout bags. Perhaps Hanoi should consider one too. I envision using my fellowship money to purchase eco-friendly cloth bags printed w/ a catchy, concise phrase along w/ a logo on one side, and several facts on the back of why this bag is awesome and screams “hip”, all in Vietnamese. I would need to recruit people (local and expats) to help disperse this message, conduct Q&A sessions w/ locals, and hand out the bags. Which means… I need to go make friends.

That’s all for now. Love and miss you dearly.

Brrrrrr…

I’m Busy. But Welcome to Soc Son!

I’m finding it difficult to keep my vow of being diligent w/ the blog! Between teaching eight 1.5-hour classes each week, keeping up w/ the news (particularly the u.s. elections drama), I hardly have time to make friends outside of work or take fun classes as I had planned to. Living in a major city like Hanoi (and anywhere similar) definitely is a blessing and a curse– while there are tons of things to keep you entertained, it’s easy to live an anonymous life here. Equipped w/ a monthly bus pass, I explore places by myself and while I’m comfortable with that, there are times when I wish I could share the experience w/ somebody. It’s lonely sometimes so I’m glad that there’s work and its rewards to keep me going.

A huge chunk of my time is spent on lesson planning, something I’m learning to be more efficient at. On average I spend about 3 hrs to prepare for a 1.5 hr class… is that normal?? I read somewhere that the rule of thumb for radio shows is that you spend 1 hr of prep for each hour on live. If that were true for teaching, I have alot to work on. Hopefully then I will devote more time to finding a genuine social circle to be a part of.

Anyway, I’m finding teaching to be one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, even though it has drained me of a social life in Hanoi. This is especially true when teaching the young kids in Soc Soc, a very poor rural town whose livelihood rises and falls with the prices of rice, wheat, and cattle. I’ve organized and am currently teaching two free English classes on Sundays for the kids living there– one for 2nd-6th graders, and another for 7th and above. Since settling in Hanoi, I’ve retired my camera so on this particular day, the camera was low on batteries and died by the time my younger class was over. 

 

The landscape of Soc Son: lots and lots of rice fields and greens. People work from sunrise to sunset. The majority of field workers are women.The Vietnamese live by the land which is passed from generation to generation. The tombstones situated in the middle of these fields honor that tradition. 
 

On my way to a coworker’s birthday party (he lives in Soc Son) w/ another coworker, we came up close to these two young kids taking their buffaloes out to feed. This is not an uncommon sight– children as young as six are seen herding buffalos, chickens, and cows. A child living in areas like Soc Son is either in the classroom or, more often than not, out in the fields assisting their parents.

 

My younger classroom that comprises of 20-25 students who are eager to learn English! In Vietnam, English is taught starting in the 3rd grade. (Private international schools in the city offer English classes to children as young as five. This is very expensive, of course.) My adult students often tell me that because English classes in public schools are taught by Vietnamese natives who have never been abroad, many students are taught incorrect pronunciations, which is why they have problems understanding me. You might wonder why “good” English speakers don’t teach instead. That’s because most of them prefer to work in the tourism industry where just 2-days’ worth of work earns a little more than a public school teacher’s 1 month salary. Talk about disparity!

On the first day of class, I announced that I couldn’t accept students under 5th grade. During break, this 2nd grade student, Hieu, approached me timidly and teary-eyed, and pleaded: “Co oi, em muon hoc.” (Teacher, I want to learn). I responded that the reason wasn’t becuase I didnt’ want to teach him, but that I was afraid he was too young to learn. He then replied, in the most heartbreaking tone you can imagine a 6-7 year old in his most desperate moment, “Em se co rang ma.” (I will try very hard.) That’s how I ended up teaching two classes instead of one.

 
          

One of my favorite sights is watching the students copy writings from the board into their notebooks. I wish my adult students have this level of motivation in class. In this particular assignment, students were asked to draw their family and present their drawings using the vocab just learned: father, mother, sister, brother.
 
That’s all folks. I’ll try to post more pictures of my upper class soon.

… Now, it’s your turn to tell me what you’ve been up to.

Miss you all!

I Will Be More Diligent with Updating My Blog

* Note new page under Travel, “Hanoi Oi”.

You’d think that now with regular internet access, I’d contribute more to my blog. But I would argue that it’s had an opposite effect, for when I am online I’m either responding to emails, reading the news, or somebody would IM me and there goes 1-2 hours of the afternoon, or I’m on one of my skype-dates with you-know-who-you-are Brandon D Markway. I realize that I should be using that time to update the world (and not a selective few) with my whereabouts. It’s no wonder that the number of subscriptions to my blog is zero.

Another reason why I’m behind on my blogging is that I’ve started work. There isn’t much office work at the moment, but I did start teaching English to the staff and even took up two “extracurricular teaching” gigs as favors to others (with approval, even recommendation, from my supervisor at work). As an English Resource volunteer, I’m doing more teaching than I expected and what’s expected of me. What I discovered shortly after arriving here is that English is a valued skill, especially in a major metropolitan city like Hanoi and especially in the upper social strata that I am currently affiliated with through my host family. I’ve received so many requests to “tutor my kid/nephew/neice/neighbor” or “teach the staff at my company” or “converse with me in English over coffee” or “translate some materials.” It’s hard to avoid these requests when you’ve been discovered as being fluent in both VNese and English (a VERY marketable skill here) and work as a “volunteer”. I’ve learned to say no to all but the two gigs mentioned above. But still, they’d hand me their business card and hope to hear from me in case my schedule clears. For every parent that request my help, there’s a corresponding child who is eager to study in America. But only to study. The VNese in this social strata are aware of VN’s proliferating international presence in the global market and they want to be a part of it. English is the key first step to entering this playing field.

By the end of the month, two more classes will be added to my schedule including one for the staff at a public agency and a free one for kids in rural Soc Son that I’m helping to start up and manage while here. I’m especially looking forward to the Soc Son class because, unlike my other English teaching gigs, this one caters to a population that would otherwise not be able to afford after-school English lessons.

So what does this all mean to the future of my blog? You can expect more juicy entries.

My Hanoi residences

I’ve been in Hanoi for 4 days and have been exposed to two strikingly different living arrangements– one, a rural accomodation and the other, a modern high-rise.

Soc Son

 

On most weekends I’ll be staying in Soc Son, a rural town located 20km outside of Hanoi where the IOGT training center is situated. The road to this farming town takes you through acres of rice fields, fruit orchards, aging homes with rusty tin roofs, farmers in conical hats, and children on bicycles. Water buffalos, cows, chickens and their barefooted herders will move to the side as you pass. The landscape is flat and green and in the distance, layers of lush hills encase this fertile land.

My weekend accommodation is a simple room with walls that look unfinished and give the impression that it hasn’t been inhabited for quite some time. I have a fan, a desk and dresser made of bamboo, and a full size bed. My private bathroom has a toilet and shower– and while not aesthetically pleasing, both are coveted amenities in Viet Nam. Even the live-in workers next door do not have their own flushing toilet and shower. There are chickens on the premise as well as trees bearing papaya, pompelos, soursop, and other fruits and vegetables that ultimately reach our dinner table. From the main building’s courtyard, I could see the beautiful rolling hills below and they remind me of the fertile hills of Napa. All around me is nature.  

High Life in a High-Rise 

 

 

 

On the weekdays, I stay in Hanoi to work at the IOGT office. I live with a family that lives in a modern, high-rise condo that reminds me of the sleek condos in the Pearl District of Portland. We’re on the 8th floor (of 24 stories) and my bedroom window looks out to other high-risers and rows of parked scooters below. On my first morning here, I forgot that i was in Viet Nam because it felt so different. I never expected to live like this in VN!

This is definitely an affluent household. It is more spacious and modern looking than my parents’ house in the U.S.! The couple works in TV/media and lead busy, professional lives. They have two kids — 17 and 5 years old– who attend great schools, have afterschool dance, music and English classes, and have maids that come in twice a week to clean up after them. There are 5 TVs in the house (I counted!) that include one in the kitchen, formal dining area, living room, and two of the bedrooms. Not too far from this luxurious bubble is extreme poverty typical of the other 90% of the population.

Hello again

I am in the middle of a 34 hr bus ride from Nha Trang to Ha Noi and am sitting in one of many internet cafes in the Imperial City of Hue surrounded by dozens of 7-12 year olds playing internet video games. This is not unique to Hue, but to most cities, towns, and basically anywhere with electricity. I’ve seen internet cafes sprinkled in between rice fields, dilapidated homes, and open air markets during my bus ride here. It’s as though modernity is trying hard to impose itself onto the old landscapes.

It would be another 4 hours until my bus in Hue leaves for Ha Noi where I’ll arrive at 6.30a tomorrow (Saturday). Somebody from IOGT will come get me. I’m excited to finally settle down and make someplace my home for a year. It’s not fun living out of your luggage for a month, not to mention having to handwash your clothes every few days so that they don’t ferment in a bag. Haven’t seen what my new place in Ha Noi will look like yet, but I’ve heard that it’s “adequate.” Regardless, I look forward to establishing a base from where I could hang my hat and call home.

Hello world! Finally.

Caught in HCMC’s typical monsoon rain holding a bag of Vietnamese desserts (che`).

Xin chao the gioi! Greetings from Ho Chi Minh City! This blog is long overdue, but having been quite transient since leaving the States (mixed with some procrastination), it’s been difficult to find that “impulse” to write. So much has happened since departure… where to begin? Okay, how about: why am I in Viet Nam and why have I become a blogger?

For more answers to some of your questions, please visit the About page.

**Caveat: I’m new to this and can’t yet figure out how to enlarge the font. Sorry about the squinting. I’m working on it! And I’m working on being faster at posting pictures and writings.

Why am I in Viet Nam?

It was with great sadness that I left my work in California to pursue a year abroad as a volunteer with a non-profit organization called Volunteers in Asia (www.viaprograms.org) I’ll be working as an English Resource at a non-government organization (NGO) in Hanoi called IOGT-VN that works toward instilling leadership in young adults from underprivileged backgrounds. In addition to leading some of these trainings, I also teach English to the staff, assist in the administrative functions of the organization, and will complete a public health project in occupational and environmental health. The project is part of a generous Community Fellowship grant that VIA offered that is funded by the Ford Foundation.

Why am I blogging?

For obvious personal reasons including to document this unique experience, stay in touch with friends and family, and to take a seat at the “tech-savvy” table. On a professional level, VIA requires that all fellows maintain a blog from where the public, from both the U.S. and VN, could provide feedback, consultation, and comments about our public health project. Having a portal for public comments is important to ensure that this budding epidemiologist is realizing her fullest potential, and that her work meets the needs of the community she serves. I welcome your input and thank you in advance!