Vietnamese Communal Street Culture

A typical small street in Saigon with mom-and-pop shops

One of the amazing parts of Vietnamese culture is the "night scene." As in many societies - perhaps because of a lack of air conditioning and lighting - people typically take to the streets in the evenings and then retire early. In Vietnam this daily routine is codified as arising one or two hours before sunrise, starting to work about 6 - 7 am (sunrise), taking a siesta in the middle of the day, returning home about 5 - 6 pm, and hitting the streets. Because of the now "stable" electricity (rolling blackouts are the subject of another day), people often stay out past dark, but in general, the country goes to sleep about 9 or 10 pm.

Saigon stays out a little later than the rest, maybe due to the expatriate influence, greater electric stability, westernization - who knows. Anecdotally, the majority of people in the city still go to sleep at 9 or 10 pm like the rest of the country, but their are enough people in the city that a vibrant culture from 10 to midnight still exists.

A "hẻm" (small alley) during the day where most people live 

This street scene is enhanced by the communal nature of Vietnamese family culture and the living proximity of people in the country. Vietnamese society, like most Asian societies, live in large family structures. Typically three or four generations in a household. This creates a large network of closely related people to interact with on a nightly basis. Also, it manifests itself in gastronomical ways: family dinners are usually social affairs where many dishes are placed in the center of the table for people to share as they talk and joke.

Vietnam has a population density of 280 people per square kilometer, according to the World Health Organization. Ho Chi Minh City has an even higher population density - 9450 in 2006 - and according to Vietnamese research, the inner city (old Saigon) has approximately 30,000 people per square meter!*

The same alley alive around dusk as everyone comes home 

*In comparison, the United States of America's density of 34 people/sq. km, and the two most dense cities - Washington D.C. and Los Angeles - have densities of 3886 and 2750, respectively.

What all this close living does is create not only a "night scene" as thought of in America - clubs, bars, restaurants, etc. - but a small community "night scene" with local alleys (hẻm) alive with children running and playing, women gossiping, families and friends eating, and old men drinking coffee or beer and playing chess. These "micro-communities" are the true social structure of Saigon, and any visitor would be remiss to not experience it.

Vince and Linh

Travel blogs are nothing new, but I do enjoy perusing ones dealing with Vietnam to see other people's perspectives on my second (third?) home. In this case, the travel blog happens to include a good friend of mine, fellow white-boy-speaks-Vietnamese, adopter of Viet culture, Vince and his girlfriend Linh. So, if you want a fresh, biased-only-by-America, virgin view of Vietnam, this is for you. I'm too old and jaded now...

Check out http://vinceandlinhinvietnam.wordpress.com/ and tell them hi from me!

Lang Co Clinic

Three days of working in a rural clinic went by like a whirlwind. This is incredibly different than my previous medical experiences in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), but, it really is about what I expected. The disparity in care (and life) is amazing here. Some stats from a Vietnam News article I read yesterday:

1. HCMC accounts from 21% of the nation's GDP (this is an improvement, I think, because it used to be 75%. Now Hanoi and Da Nang have grown tremendously, siphoning this off) including 44% of tourism dollars.
2. Average income is 2.4 times higher in HCMC than the rest of the country.
3. The city has an average economic growth rate of 11% over the last 25 years - 1.5 times the national average.

What does all this mean? It means if you live outside of HCMC (and definitely outside of it plus Hanoi and Da Nang) you are markedly poorer than the rest of the country. It logically follows that your health care will also suffer, since all the major hospitals are in HCMC or Hanoi, and you will have little if any ability to travel for medical services.

Consequently, clinic saw both run-of-the-mill malnutrition and parasites (probably 80-90% of cases) mixed with really interesting cases that had little to know previous medical follow-up.

In the three days I was in Lang Co, I saw an average of 40 patients per day. One young boy, about 2 years old, came in with his mother who complained about a large lump behind his left knee. On examination, I noticed he had a rather large (7cm by 5cm), non-tender, immovable, solid mass behind the right knee. Nothing noticeable on the left. Mother stated that the mass had been there since at least 3 months of age, and had gotten bigger as he had grown. A local physician had seen the child early in the course, performed no tests, and said it was totally normal.*

*(aside: this is common in Vietnam, where medical tools are scarce and money to pay for them more so - to do almost no tests, except an ultrasound of the abdomen which is done for everyone regardless of chief complaint because ultrasounds are so prevalent - and not explain to the patient anything. Although, in America we explain everything and the patient never hears or understands what we say, so perhaps that is just universal...)

So, I ordered some xrays of the bilateral knees and femurs and told the mother to return the next day. Early the next morning, in she walks with xrays in hand, showing growths on both femurs (left markedly greater than right). Luckily, one of the other physicians on the team, Mark, is an orthopedic surgeon, so I walked next door to get a specialist consult. He had the child walk, looked at the xrays, then declared it was most likely an osteochondroma - a benign tumor of the bone. It's monitored through periodic xrays and removed if it impacts function (walking in his case) or grows rapidly (small chance of becoming malignant).

Mother went away happily knowing a diagnosis, and knowing what to look for, and I moved on to the next patient - more worms.

In all, I saw probably three or four cyanotic heart lesions, a previously undiagnosed brain mass, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, hodgkins lymphoma not receiving treatment because of no money, cleft lip, and - jewel of the diagnosis crown - Russell-Silver Syndrome (stories for another day). Sleep was welcome each night. It's amazing how much good you can do with so little.

My First Clinic

Lang Co is a small hamlet between Da Nang and Hue.

This month I have two different medical experiences designed to let me see the disparities of care between rural and urban Vietnam. For four days at the beginning of the rotation,i will work in a small rural clinic in Lang Co, Vietnam with an organization called Vets With A Mission. They are a nonprofit organization that provides medical missions to Vietnam with a Christian background.

Today was my first day in the clinic. VWAM had their in country representative contact local leaders who sent flyers ands invitations out ahead of time to residents advertising them that we would be providing free medical care over four days. Of course the prospect of American physicians and free care is incredibly popular, and we saw 153 patients between four doctors: family practice, orthopedic surgery, chiropractor, and myself ( pediatrics).

A typical house in rural Vietnam near Lang Co

A clinic like this provides unique challenges. Many parents being their children just because we are American, even though their children have already seen doctors and received medications. Usually the normal Vietnamese doctor takes the week of because we make crowded and siphon patients. We also see children incredibly sick, who have not received care because their families cannot afford it.

The rural clinic where we practiced

Today was a "get the hang of it day," so I only saw 29 patients. Most children came for two reasons: inadequate weight gain and horribly rotten teeth. The chief complaint was " my child is a lazy eater." I am very good now at explaining that milk is not healthy in Vietnam when they mix sugar with it. This causes cavities, which cause pain, which leads to decreased eating and poor weight gain.

The communist government provides free care "in theory," but in practice those doctors are not respected, wait times are so long, that people don't see them. They go instead to private physicians, but often do not have the money to buy the medicines prescribed. So, in practice the Vietnamese have a very capitalistic health care system with two tiers, similar to the USA system, and very low access for the poor.

The waiting area on the morning of day 1

The flight over

Korean airlines is the best airline in the world. I hear that Singapore Airlines is wonderful also, but Korean Air is top dog. My wife says I love them because the stewardesses are hot. She is correct ( they employ incredibly good looking people), but that is not all. What sets them apart from the rest is their customer service.

Flying over this time was as enjoyable an experience as 37 hours of travel can be. I had an aisle seat near the rear of the plane and received prompt service for all my needs. More to the point, a few rows ahead sat two families with small children about the ages of my two. One family was just a mother and the kids, and I couldn't help remember my wife's ordeal with bringing our two to Vietnam just two sort months earlier, and how it was made light by the helpful staff.

Many times I saw a steward or stewardess sit with the children while mother stretched her legs or use the restroom. Nobody complained when the toddler got tired and cried. Instead, they immediately brought games, things to help the child sleep, and offered in any way possible to help the young mother in her defensive efforts.

Consequently, thirteen hours later, an entire plane unloaded happily, and with sanity and hearing intact.

Years ago, when taking my son as a baby, Korean Airlines helped us with formula after an idiotic Vietnamese official read a poorly translated copy of international flight requirements. Then, when his bad parents let him fall out of the bassinet, they helped us get to see a physician in the airport to make sure he was OK and not have to worry about flight arrangements.

So yes, Korean Airlines is the best airline in the world ... and it doesn't hurt that they're pretty too.

In-N-Out Burger and LAX

There are few things in life as amazing as a hamburger from In-N-Out. Anyone who has lived in California understands what I'm talking about. I think they secretly put drugs in the burgers because how else could they be so addictive? Seriously, part of the draw is the fresh - almost HEALTHY - taste of their burgers, and another part is the secret menu. It's so secret that even the menu posted online doesn't have everything that they actually offer. Each time I go, i invariably learn something new on the menu.

Well, when I booked my ticket to Vietnam, i realized that I would have about five hours at LAX before boarding my flight for Korea. This had me wonder on Facebook if it was possible to grab some delicious grub while waiting. Thanks to my friend Daniel, who pointed me to a forum about this exact subject, i realized I'm not the first ( and surely not the last) to think these same thoughts.

It looks like there's actually a pretty established way to get there. Following these tips, i walked about 25 minutes with my carry-on, to reach In-N-Out. On arrival, i found the line out the door, and the line of cars out the parking lot. Seems everybody loves In-N-Out. A little ahead of me in line was a middle aged Hispanic woman with a suitcase - i want even the only airport denizen there! LOL.

Of course the food was delicious, and I couldn't have asked for a better finals meal in America. I hear In-N-Out has finally reached Texas. Perhaps I'll be so lucky as to one day see it in Louisiana. We can only hope...

Tam biet,

Osama Bin Laden Dead!

The death of Osama Bin Laden was announced hours ago by President Obama, and of course Americans have been rejoicing since.

The story developing about a small assault team of Navy SEALs storming a mansion in the suburbs of Islamabad, Pakistan would make a great Hollywood movie. And the remembering of 9/11 and its victims is well deserved.

However, the president said some truly amazing things in his short speech tonight. First, this tip came to his desk in August 2010 - 9 months ago. Over the last year (basically) that intelligence has been checked, rechecked, and corroborated. Plans have been developed, scrapped, redrawn and practiced repeatedly. Most importantly, people didn't know about it. In a city notorious for leaks, this information didn't.

In the day of 24hr news, Twitter, and Facebook, we want real-time status updates from all our politicians, including our president, about the fate and direction of our country. When things don't happen perfectly, or we take small set backs on the road to large gains, the people (incited by CNN or not) rise up inflamed. This is what happened in the Vietnam war, before the modern US political machine had a decent idea how to deal with 24hr news. President Nixon swore we were winning the war. The North Vietnamese launch the Tet Offensive and lose almost 80% of their effective army. Our military victory is a huge political loss because all people see is massive fighting and casualties in a country halfway around the world that their president just told them was won and on the road to resolution.

This reality cost Nixon the white house, plagued President Bush during his terms in office, and forces our leaders to always caution every success story with words like "it's gonna be a long fight" or "this is one small step in a larger effort." As the election cycle heats up, and people start asking "what have you done for me lately?" we need to remember this - that sometimes (maybe most times) the president has done a lot for us lately. We just aren't allowed to know it.

Secondly, President Obama mentioned he called the president of Pakistan and apprised him of the situation. This means Pakistan had no knowledge of the assault beforehand. Reports of Pakistani presence during the assault are currently elaborated as one intelligence official. This very easily is a euphemism for "CIA contact who is Pakistani."

This confirms how inept the Pakistani government is at investigating, and how strained our relationship is with the lynch pin of South Asia. We need a Pakistan that effectively helps us find and kill terrorists, and puts pressure on China. Without that, United States presence is woefully weak in the Middle East.

The rub going forward will be to see how President Obama works and strengthens the US relationship with Pakistan, and how much leeway voters give him for military and security issues he cannot discuss.

Now, let me join in with all the cheering and revelry:

Vietnam's Succession, Part 2

The comment on my previous post ended with,

Everybody sighs, the price is higher and higher. I hope that in the future i won't take a bag of money to buy a loaf of bread.

Quite telling, because we've seen this happen within the last hundred years in Europe and Africa ... and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam.

The price of Vietnam's mishandled and stymied growth is inflation joined with the VND weaking against the USD concurrently, all within a culture conditioned over the last 35 years to distrust banks and investment in their own economy.

"How does this hit me?" you ask.

For example, let's say you and a friend graduate college and start teaching English on this exact date last year (February 9, 2010). At that time, you and your friend are given the option to be paid in USD or VND.

(Now, you might say I'm stupid, and everyone would get paid in USD, but that partially highlights the lack of confidence the Vietnamese have for their currency which feeds into this problem.)

Your salary would be $8 USD/hr and your friend's 147,759.884 VND/hr at the exchange rate of 18469.9855 VND per USD on Feb. 9, 2010.

Now fast forward one year later. The exchange rate today (Feb 9, 2011) is 19500.0366 VND per USD. Inflated 5.6% over a 1 year period. Or, in other words, you would still be making $8 USD/hr, but your friend would now be making $7.58 USD/hr.

That slight difference ends up costing your friend about $6 million VND per 40 hour work week which is no laughing matter. Your choice 1 year ago nets you $24 million VND MORE than your friend per month.

I hope you treat your friend to a nice lunch every month ...

The real crunch comes because,
1. Businesses understand this phenomenon so they write their contracts in VND in order to take advantage of the VND weakening against the dollar, and
2. when coupled with the general inflation the country experiences as, on a whole, it gets richer, the common worker has less liquid cash than previous, and
3. 70% of GDP is in Ho Chi Minh City, so although you might survive the numbers crunch in the city, few people unlucky enough to be born/live outside TPHCM will have the money necessary to move to the city for education or a better job.

(All data from www.mataf.net)

Vietnam's succession

Recently the Wall Street Journal published a small story about the change in power taking place in Vietnam.

HANOI—Vietnam's Communist Party reappointed Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to its elite Politburo at a secretive congress Wednesday ... indicat[ing] Vietnam will likely continue its pro-growth policies. In recent years, that has meant plowing billions of dollars into subsidizing lending programs and other state-driven spending plans to maintain rapid expansion despite bouts of inflation.

The inflation is truly incredible. While in Vietnam in April 2010, I saw a dollar strengthen against the Đồng to heights unimaginable when I first traveled to the country 6 years earlier. Currently the inflation is double digits, and a dollar that used to get you 15,000 VND now gets you almost 20,000 VND.

Worse, it's pinching the populace. A plate of rice for lunch at a street vendor was only 5000 VND in 2004. Now, with the government trying to kowtow to foreign investment and "clean up" its image, the combination of inflation and cracking down on street vendors has caused that rice dish to shoot up towards 15000 VND in many parts of Ho Chi Minh City.

So, for a 33% increase in inflation, a lunch is almost 300% more expensive.

I clearly remember driving down CMT8 towards chợ Bến Thành when a police truck pulled out from a corner alley and two police men slowly moved to meet it dragging a street vendor's cart. On the other side of the cart, pulling with all her might, was a middle aged woman in threadbare clothes, her black hair tied back, shouting curses and crying. Eventually the cops put that woman's lifeline on the back of their truck and sped away, leaving her in a heap on the side of the road.

That is an "open" economy, mismanaged due to lack of competition stemming from nepotism and a flawed philosophy by Mr. Nguyễn who

"encouraged state-owned enterprises to expand into large conglomerates to keep large parts of the economy in Vietnamese hands while the country opened up more to foreign investment. But state-directed lending bred inefficiency and reckless expansion at many state-owned companies ..."

Let's hope this round of government moves Vietnam one step closer to a more competitive government in addition to its more competitive marketplace.

Follow the Leader

Over the last month I have been incognito -- stuck inside a hospital learning how to cut people and stitch them up (and perhaps save a life or two). However, this has not been an unimportant month.

Last October, for the first time in history, Vietnam was elected to the United Nation's Security Council. This council has 15 members -- 5 permanent members (USA, China, Britain, France, Russia) and 10 rotating members.

The 15-member Security Council is action central at the United Nations, with the power to adopt binding resolutions, impose sanctions and send peacekeeping missions around the world.

The presidency of this council rotates monthly, and Vietnam has served as president for this month. With less than a week remaining in July, what has happened? Has Vietnam been a good president?

Over the Course of July, violence has increased in Afghanistan, including the most deadly attack in three years. Unlike Iraq, Afghanistan does have UN involvement. Where is it?

Hostages were freed in Columbia ... oh wait, the UN didn't have anything to do with that, and it looks like Columbia and the USA may have bent a few international laws along the way.







I will update this as I find information. Feel free to chime in with thoughts.

The Chinese are out to get me...

How many children have to die ... before enough is enough?

New readers of my blog are going to think I hate Chinese people. This is not true -- it could not be further from the truth. However, lately, the stars have aligned against me, and they're using China to do it.

Today, CNN reported more Chinese-made goods recalled. This time it's cribs.

"Cribs! I just bought a crib!" I think as I read the article. "Could our crib be one of the recalled?"

Quickly I shoot an email off to my wife, because -- as all men know -- when there's a house/baby question, you ask the boss.

It looks like the cribs being recalled are made by Simplicity. For the last ten years -- TEN YEARS -- a support strut has been installed upside down, causing some mattresses to fall and creating a space for babies to be trapped. How in the world does it take a company ten years to fix a problem like this?

We looked at the Simplicity brand at Babies 'R Us, specifically the Ellis model. Luckily, the Ellis model is not one of the models recalled. Unfortunately, it's not that lucky. According to Simplicity's own website,

"CPSC is aware of three deaths in different models of Simplicity brand cribs. Additionally, CPSC is aware of seven infant entrapments and 55 incidents in these cribs."

My wife and I decided to go with a Jardine-made crib, because we felt the Simplicity crib (one of those turn-into-a-bed-later cribs) was too high and hard for my wife bend over. The Jardine isn't a "lifetime" bed, but it allows the side to drop more, so my wife can pick up our soon-to-be boy.

the stars have aligned against me, and they're using China to do it

Even with the Jardine, we had our own scare. By now, my wife and my decision to not buy Chinese is apparent. Jardine is a Taiwan-based company (which I don't equate as Chinese) and my crib was made in Vietnam (which gave us a good laugh, and made us wonder how much it would have cost if we had just bought it when we were in Vietnam). As I was setting up the crib, a screw from the slide (the same part that is forcing the recalls on the Simplicity cribs) kept falling out, making that side very unstable. Luckily, I was being the conscientious consumer and dad, and tested it out two or three times. With the help of my father, we figured out that each side of the support was supposed to have one small and one large screw, but they had put two large on one side, and two small on the other. Once we changed the screws, the supports held like intended.

Weathering crib-gate, I opened my email today to find a lovely message from Ebay telling me my account was frozen. Someone had hijacked my account and was sending messages to other ebay customers, trying to get them to buy things (and hence steal important info). The message said,

"Dear Sir/Madam:
Please allow us to disturb your precious time!We are the Chinese biggest foreign trade wholesaler. If you want to do business, we can offer you our most reasonable discount, making you get more profit . If you have time, please visit our website,Please relate with us, we will give you a satisfying answer."

I won't give out the website, but it was obviously Chinese. I spent one hour online trying to resolve this issue with Ebay (still not totally fixed...I'm probably going to delete my account when possible) and praying that they did not get anything really important (Ebay assured me that all financial info was not available to them).

Join with me in consciously NOT buying things made in China when possible. You'll send a message to American manufacturers and their Chinese partners that we will not settle for dangerous and substandard goods. How many children have to die in faulty cribs, or eat lead paint chips, before enough is enough?

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My hurting ear

Insurance companies are the "whore of all the earth"

My last post was two weeks ago. It's been a crazy and painful two weeks. Ironically, this blog is called The Bleeding Ear, because of this, and although my ear did not bleed, it did hurt mightily.

You see, somehow, I got an ear infection -- Otitis externa and Otitis media. For those of you who did not grow up speaking Latin, I had both outer and middle ear infections.

I was never one to get ear infections as a child. Sure, I had one or two, but most everybody does. Typically came after swimming, i.e. "swimmer's ear," that horrible, painful condition you get by not getting all the water out after swimming. Pseudomonas aeruginosa loves that environment, and can't help making you feel miserable while it grows.

On that note, I looked up "home remedies" for ear aches and found people attributing swimmer's ear to fungus and all sorts of things. One lady even said "use vinegar because it works well against fungi, but don't use it against bacteria because it makes their infections worse." Sorry, lady, but I got news for you: you're advocating vinegar for a bacterial infection, not a fungal one--directly contradicting yourself.

Back to the main topic: My story starts about 18 months ago in the wet and hot streets of Saigon ... actually, it was there that I got my first "adult" ear infection. It was painful, annoying, but bearable. I saw a doctor -- a pediatrician -- because it was better to go to a private physician, trained by Americans, who worked out of his home, and new my in-laws for many years, than to go to a government-ran hospital. If I had done that, I probably would have left Vietnam with only one ear (and no paintings of haystacks).

In Vietnam, pharmacists are unlicensed doctors. You can go to them and buy whatever drugs you want, without a prescription. Two years ago, I went to a pharmacist in Hue complaining of flu-like symptoms. She promptly gave me a plastic bag with a bunch of nondescript, generic pills, told me to take so many at such and such times, and I slept through the bus ride to Hoi An. But I got better, so she probably knew what she was doing, and gave me real medicine.

Because the Chinese will often grab a real looking bottle, with real looking gel caps, but fill it with chalk instead of acetaminophen, and then you get sicker instead of better ... but I digress.

The pediatrician wrote me a prescription, since I saw him first, and I went right next door to his neighbor that ran a pharmacy out of his home. I picked up the drugs, which purported to be sulfamexazole-trimethoprim ("Bactrim") and took it for a week or two. I got better, but my ear has never felt perfect since.

Then, a couple Thursdays ago, my ear hurt. I mean, it hurt bad. I didn't sleep well Thursday night -- only a couple hours -- and on Friday I went into the student health center. Got prescribed amoxicillin 500mg po tid and ciprofloxacin/hydrocortisone drops to put in my ear. Cost me an arm and a leg.

Back in Vietnam, I could have gone to the pharmacist, spent $5-7 USD, and got all that medication. Or, like I did, spend $2 USD to see the doctor, have him prescribe me correct meds, and then spend $5 to $7 USD on them. Everything out of pocket. I was able to go whatever doctor and pharmacy I wanted. No forms to fill out.

I probably would have left Vietnam with only one ear (and no paintings of haystacks)

Similar sickness, different setting. I had to go to my student health center, because my insurance won't pay for any doctor outside of it (without me paying a fortune), and then had to drop over $130 USD for the drugs (the amoxicillin was $10 USD copay, at the center, but the drops were $120 USD out of pocket at Walgreens). If I want to get reimbursed for the drops (minus copay) I have to fill out forms, attach the prescription, and mail it to Dallas. Some paper-pusher who knows nothing about my medical case or history (or medicine, probably) will then decide if the doctor was correct in prescribing those drops, and if I filled out all the forms, so i can get my $100 USD back.

Insurance companies are the "whore of all the earth" ... but that's another story.

Friday night I tried to rip my ear out of my head --with all cochlea and small bones attached. I called a "nurse hotline" (because evidently, the doctors I could call when I was growing up have now given all their expertise to nurses) who told me to take a decongestant and put heat on it. Great. I did those things, and tossed and turned throughout the night.

Eventually, after finishing my 10 day course of antibiotics, my ear is bearable. Not better, but bearable. It doesn't feel "normal." A lot of times I feel like that ear needs to be "popped," like when you ride in an airplane. Other times, it feels discomforting, not quite painful, but definitely not fine. Maybe I need to see and ENT...but I don't want to fill out any more forms...


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Boycott China 1

Yesterday in my post on Chinese Toys, I broached the idea of boycotting Chinese-made goods. Today, I go to CNN.com and immediately see this:

NEW YORK (AP) - Less than two weeks after Mattel Inc. (NYSE:MAT) recalled 1.5 million Chinese-made toys because of lead paint, the toy industry is bracing for another blow that could give parents more reason to rethink their purchases just before the critical holiday shopping season.

Mattel is set to announce the recall of another toy involving a different Chinese supplier as early as Tuesday, according to three people close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Later in the day the news was confirmed:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mattel Inc. Tuesday recalled more than 9 million toys made in China, including "Polly Pocket" and "Batman" dolls and other popular figures, because of loose magnets and lead paint - its second major recall in less than a month.

because...(drum roll please)...

The move, announced by the company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), comes after a host of other Chinese products, from seafood and pet food to tires and toothpaste, have been recalled for safety reasons in recent months.

There are two reason FOR boycotting Chinese goods, and I'm sure many reasons NOT to boycott them. The two "pros" that come to mind immediately are:

1. reducing American dependence on Chinese manufacturing and its economy


2. taking a stand on the numerous and egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the communist government

I believe that Americans would also rather ... "be safe than sorry"

Now, Chinese human rights violations are nothing new, ranging from Tibet to beijing factory workers to Tiennamen Square. I will elaborate on this point later. American economic independence was, admittedly, not my first thought, but it was brought up eloquently by my wife. Here is the email exchange (edited a little for grammar and length because, lets face it, nobody writes with proper grammar when emailing):

From: The Bleeding Ear
Sent: Today
To: The Wife
Subject: Boycott China?

The more I hear, the more I think that the only way to get China to shape up (and America to not be so dependent on one country) is to boycott Chinese-made goods. Teach these American companies to police themselves, or they're going to close shop.

Here's the NEW news about chinese toys.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-18873781.htm?cnn=yes

love you,

Anh

From: The Wife
To: The Bleeding Ear
Date: today
Subject: RE: Boycott China?

Americans need to boycott Chinese goods. ... We need ... [to] come home and support local businesses. If American companies opened their factories here, they would be able to find laborers. Perhaps, the labor here is not quite as cheap as it is in China, but I believe that Americans would also rather pay a little more and "be safe than sorry".

I think it's rather "funny" that in Vietnam, [the] Vietnamese [will] not buy goods that are "Made in China", [but] they [will] hunt for anything that has ... American tags on it. Perhaps the Vietnamese know their neighbor too well!

On the contrary, we Americans have to use everything with the tags "Product of China" because we do not have a choice. Everything in America is made in China. As China strives to overcome the U.S, to be the strongest economy in the world, their economy relies [mostly] on our [wealth], but in reverse, our economy also relies a lot on them. It's simply a 2 way street.

So, there are three main solutions to this problem: 1). Americans need to support domestic goods; 2). American companies need to pull out of China (because it does not matter how hard they try to enforce their product standards, Chinese will always find a way to cheat the system. ... 3). Like ever, the U.S. government must do a better job inspecting imported goods (you can find more facts about this on CNN.com).

...
Love,

The Wife

I would add that the "2 way street" mentioned in the email is "2" lopsided. Americans depend heavily on Chinese goods, but China depends largely on American money. If there were a "falling out" between the two countries (or--heaven forbid--a war), this situation might hurt China in the world markets in the short term, but I postulate China would be relatively self-sufficient in staple goods while America would be crippled.

Chinese products ... have been recalled for safety reasons in recent months

Also, it interests me greatly that Vietnam, China's southern neighbor, doesn't rely as heavily on Chinese goods as America does. I think we can definitely learn something from that. Vietnam has thousands of years more experience dealing with the Chinese than we do.

Ultimatly, though, how could we affect such a boycott? What must we do to achieve more economic independence and better quality goods?

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Oh, the humanity! v2.0

Fourteen months ago, I suffered a terrible loss. I've never been a fascionista, down with the latest trends, super GQ guy. I wear what my wife tells me looks good, and since she's almost always right, I do ok. I just won't wear pink ties.

One constant to my wardrobe (not a malfunction...) was my hat. One day, fourteen months ago, at the Go Vap VATC, I put my hat down and never saw it again.

I died a little inside that day.

This is my new hat! My problem was that I could not find it when I shopped around. My wife thought (thinks?) that I was crazy. You see, I could find the University of Texas hat with the longhorn on the front, in the new "z-fit" (zephyr's version of the mild elastic band that allows for semi-fitted hats) or in fitted styles, but I could only find the "T" logo on front in the "z-fit" style.

So, at academy, I broke down and bought the "T" with the elastic fit. I brought it home. I tried it on. It was ok ... perhaps, if I had never had my beloved hat v1.0, I wouldn't have cared, but to be honest, the elastic fit that every hat maker is selling now is not as comfortable as a true fitted hat. I wanted my 7 1/4. So, I jumped online, found headhound.com, and found my hat--exactly the "T" and the fit.

And now, every day is a little brighter, because I am me again. That funny guy with the orange "T" hat.

A Tale of Two Peoples 2: The "Việt Kiều" word

"Emigrant, my friends! Do you not see me here, in France, of my own will?"

"You are a cursed emigrant," cried a farrier, making at him in a furious manner through the press, hammer in hand; "and you are a cursed aristocrat!"

... Darnay said, as soon as he could make his voice heard:

"Friends, you deceive yourselves, or you are deceived. I am not a traitor."

"He lies!" cried the smith. "He is a traitor since the decree. His life is forfeit to the people. His cursed life is not his own!"

...

"What is this decree that the smith spoke of?" Darnay asked the postmaster, when he had thanked him, and stood beside him in the yard. "Truly, a decree for selling the property of emigrants."

"When passed?"

"On the fourteenth."

"The day I left England!"

"Everybody says it is but one of several, and that there will be others- if there are not already- banishing all emigrants, and condemning all to death who return. That is what he meant when he said your life was not your own."

"But there are no such decrees yet?"

"What do I know!" said the postmaster, shrugging his shoulders; "there may be, or there will be. It is all the same. What would you have?"
(Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, Book 3 chapter 1)

In "A Tale of Two Peoples," I set forth the view that the Vietnamese in Vietnam and the Vietnamese living oversees are quite totally two different peoples. Many people made good, cogent comments. Possibly stemming from our unconscious ethno-centricism, most points focused on the status of the Việt kiều.

However, at least equally responsible for the gulf between the two peoples are the Vietnamese mới. To prove that two peoples exist, I must both show a feeling of community that defines a people, and show feelings of disconnection between the two groups.

I alluded to this when I said,

"I cannot count anymore the number of times I've heard "việt kiều" come out of someone's mouth as a derogatory comment."

and this term's connotation shows the gulf of which I write.

Of course, these are two peoples currently moving apart, and as such there will be exceptions to my theory, but I do feel they are the minority, not majority.

The term "việt kiều" is used by the communists to include people of Vietnamese descent living oversees as Vietnamese--to establish jurisdiction over them in the government's mind. This concept is foreign to someone from the United States. We do not wake up each morning, grab the paper, and read on the front page about the awards or escapades of someone of American descent living in a foreign country--France for instance--especially if that person was born and raised in France.

But that is what the Vietnamese do every morning. Example: Open up your Tuổi Trẻ newspaper in the morning and you'll likely find an article (conveniently located online in the "Người Việt xa quê" [Viets away from home] section) about someone of Vietnamese descent doing something in another country, often barely related to Vietnam at all.

Yet all the newspaper articles cannot stop the divide between people. I spoke with an old student of mine the other night, and this is part of the conversation we had:

Student (4/19/2007 9:55:43 PM): o viet nam
Student (4/19/2007 9:55:50 PM): co nhiu nguoi tu nhan la viet kieu
Student (4/19/2007 9:55:54 PM): nhung ho hok het di lam
Student (4/19/2007 9:56:02 PM): ma chi la di wa my rui ve
Student (4/19/2007 9:56:14 PM): chu hok he lam viec
Student (4/19/2007 9:56:26 PM): va ho chi mang mac viet kieu ma thoi
...
Student (4/19/2007 10:04:46 PM): theo thi co 2 loai viet kieu thay ah
Student (4/19/2007 10:04:51 PM): mot la nhu em da noi
Student (4/19/2007 10:04:58 PM): ho lam viec cuc kho de kiem tien
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:12 PM): rui gui ve cho gia dinh dang kho khan o viet nam hay ba con
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:20 PM): nhung con mot loai viet kieu nua la
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:25 PM): ho chi co danh thoi
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:32 PM): chu ho hok he di lam de kiem tien
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:41 PM): nen ho chi bit huong thu thoi
Student (4/19/2007 10:05:59 PM): doi khi con co nhung nguoi mang danh viet kieu de di lua dao nua
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:01 PM): v.v
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:04 PM): nhiu lam thay oi
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:29 PM): nen o viet nam neu viet kieu ma ve thuong xuyen la nguoi ta biet viet kieu gia
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:45 PM): boi vi ve thuong xuyen thi co dau co di lam udoc
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:56 PM): ma hok di lam thi sao lam ra tien phai hok thay
Student (4/19/2007 10:06:59 PM): :-)

Another viewpoint stemmed from this conversation I had with my wife.

Me: Dear, when you hear the word "việt kiều" how do you feel?
Wife: I don't like it. I don't want to be one.
Me: But in Vietnam, does it have a negative or positive connotation?
Wife: Negative.
Me: Why?
Wife: Because we don't like them, the việt kiều, coming into our country and acting like they're all good. Last time we were in Vietnam, I went with my mom to Parkson, and she pointed them out. They walk around and flash all their money like they're better thank us.
Me: How could you tell them from other rich Viets?
Wife: Oh you can tell. They're so nhà quê. They look like they've never been in a department store before, wandering around, not knowing where to go, but then they pull out all the money and flaunt it around saying 'Hey, we're rich.' They go to America and work for nothing, living a poor life, and then they fly back to Vietnam and throw it around acting all rich and better.
Me: Your family's been blessed lately, and are pretty well off. Is it just a case of envy, or do others feel this way?
Wife: All my friends felt that way, and many of them have no money. I felt this way growing up--before my parents got money. I think it's pretty common.
Me: What about my student, who said "việt kiều" was used for those who went to work in America and came back?
Wife: I don't know how the young generation uses it, but it can have many meanings--
Me: Didn't it start from the government in newspapers trying to take credit for things done by ex patriot Vietnamese?
Wife: Yes, and if you read the newspaper and see it, then that's what it means--the dictionary definition. But it has more than that. Most people use it derogatorily.
Me: About the newspapers...did you ever feel kinship with the việt kiều written about in the Tuổi Trẻ?
Wife: No. I thought it was stupid. They're not Vietnamese. The government is just trying to take credit for things that they do. If I did something here in America, and they wrote about it in Vietnam, that doesn't make it Vietnamese. It was a product of me, here in America, with these opportunities, and skills, and will always be an American thing.
Me: What about a Vietnamese person who -- well, let's say you have a Vietnamese person in America--a high school student--who wins an award in math, and then a white kid wins the same award, and both are reported in the newspapers in Vietnam. Would you feel more closely with one or the other?
Wife: Well obviously the Viet ... I'd think 'that's our Vietnamese brain! Good at math!' But as far as taking credit for him, no, because he grew up in America. He's not Vietnamese.

Both viewpoints highlight the heterogeneous feelings that the Vietnamese mới have for the Việt kiều, and mirror what I felt I saw while there. In Vietnam, like always, there is great respect for hard work. The Vietnamese are some of the hardest working people I have ever seen. Therefore, those Vietnamese who live in America are respected for their hard work by those who understand that not all streets in America are paved with gold.

However, the very visceral feelings of hurt, anger, pride, jealousy, etc. are also evident when those same people return to Vietnam. The ties between Việt mới and Việt kiều are minimal--possibly hair color and height only--because of the radically different circumstances in which they grew up and lived. Look at my wife's answers to my last two questions. She feels more connected to the Viet math star than the white math star, yet truly doesn't feel close to any person of Vietnamese descent living in America ("They're not Vietnamese").

A middle class Vietnamese person makes between 3 million and 10 million đồng a month in Saigon. Actually, that's almost upper middle class. It's a lot less outside Saigon and Hanoi. The income disparity is massive. The new educated youth that speak English are taking foreign money and living well, but that is not nearly the norm for most of the country.

link to photo on Flickr

So, a 24 year old mechanic sees a 24 year old Việt kiều walk out of Parkson with a shirt that cost 800,000 đồng and a tie that cost 300,000đ and he doesn't say, "hey bro." He says, "you just spent my monthly wage on a shirt and tie, and you say you're one of me? You don't know me. You haven't lived through what I do. You aren't anything like me. You're not me."

This is not a hatred, but a dissociation. The Việt mới stick around those who share their experiences, can empathize, and identify as being true Vietnamese.

A Tale of Two Peoples

"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ..." Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, pg.1

Two weeks ago a Thai court overturned an extradition ruling for Ly Tong and made him a free man. For many people, they may say, "So what?" and they'd be right. Ly Tong is whom??

I would bet that most people in Vietnam don't know who he is. I would also bet that most older Vietnamese in America do know who he is. You see, Lý Tống has made a life trying to get the Vietnamese to rise up and throw off communism.

This message reverberates through Vietnamese-American communities. Most of the adults -- the older generation -- came to America as refugees after 1975. When they talk about Vietnam today, there is still sadness, a tinge of bitterness and invective, when refering to the current government. Over ten states and numerous communities in America have recognized the "Vietnamese Freedom and Heritage Flag" as the official flag of Vietnamese-Americans.

Also,organizations use it in their logos.

So you can see, that the war, democracy, and the hurt from years of fighting and exile from your homeland is still very much ingrained in the lives of Vietnamese-Americans today. I remember visiting a house of a man who had a big picture of Lý Tống on his wall and the words "FREEDOM FIGHTER" printed above it -- and I didn't think anything of it.



But this is a "Tale of Two Cities" so to speak. Before my first trip to Vietnam, I'd never been out of America except to the border towns across the Rio Grande in Mexico, and they don't really count. My only Vietnamese experience was with Vietnamese-Americans, so I naturally based my expectations on that prior experience. In other words, I half expected Vietnam to be a poor country where everyone lived in fear of the government, rushing to and fro quickly, speaking in hushed tones, and hiding as the police rode by.

In Ho Chi Minh City, I saw a different Vietnam--a Vietnam where people really came and went as they pleased. It was markedly more open than in the North, and NOTHING like what my naive brain had envisioned before I left America. The Vietnamese in Vietnam don't know or care about Lý Tống because they are satiated with what they have. Those in the North fought for the communists. They will not go against it. Those in the South are too happy not worrying about bombs, or standing in long lines for handouts, being in "reeducation camps," or buying things on the black market.

Economic prosperity has quieted the masses. People are happy because of the foreign investment, the jobs, the opportunity, and the paychecks. Ultimately, the human mind has a very short attention span, and in a world of "what have you done for me lately," the communist government has done quite a lot.



My wife still bristles at seeing that yellow and red flag flying. It isn't her flag. Her flag is the red field with the single yellow star. To her, that is not communism, that is Vietnam--her country, the country she loves. Her feelings mirror most of the other young adults and youth in Vietnam today. They are happy for the progress Vietnam's made, excited about the future. Some are level headed and wish for better, but the majority are quieted by the relative opulence that Vietnam now enjoys.

And so it is truly a tale of two cities--two peoples. The Vietnamese look at the Việt kiều as another nationality, because in a sense they are. Although they call themselves "Vietnamese" in America, they are at most Vietnamese-American. Their culture has become wholly different. Their history is different (after 1975). Even their language is different (speaking half Vietnamese, half English or "Viet-glish" and using Vietnamese vocabulary circa 1975).

And in Vietnam you have a new young population that doesn't remember war and food shortages, and who's youthful optimism is buttressed by economic progress and growth of a new middle class. They are learning English as a second language, working for foreign companies, and worried more about the new CD by Mỹ Tâm than the latest actions of Lý Tống. In many of their minds, it truly is "the best of times ..."

The First Yahoo 360 Blog Highlight: Susan

While in Vietnam I met many people who touched my life forever. Many of my students taught me almost as much (or more) as I taught them. For good reason, this girl's blog is my first blog to highlight. She is one of the students I grew closest to, possibly because we have such similar dreams.

And, she's only 15. Man, I wish I was so forward thinking when I was 15.

Her post on February 25 highlights the direction I desire Vietnamese blogging to go. It's title: "Top 10. Good or Bad." In it she points out some very salient things. The blog is in Vietnamese, and I won't attempt to translate it, but I will paraphrase some things. She says

Viet Nam dung thu nhi the gioi ve san xuat lua gao. Dieu nay di nhien la tot, no chung to rang nuoc ta co nen nong nghiep vung chac.

...Viet Nam dung trong 10 nuoc tren the gioi ve viec an hoi lo nhieu nhat. Good or bad?"

She, like many of the youth in Vietnam, goes on to express displeasure in the bribery and corruption rampant in Vietnam because they have such pride and patriotism. Her blog is well written, and in her short time blogging, has covered a variety of topics personal to her.

My hope is that people -- especially China -- will stand up and take notice. These youth like Susan are proving that you don't have to keep your people in the dark. Vietnam has taken the lead in Southeast Asia by being open about corruption within and without the government, and trying to clean it up. It's also let people discuss it. The result is the realization that Vietnam has succeeded where China has failed. The Vietnamese youth can be incredibly patriotic and loyal to Vietnam, while expressing displeasure about something specific in the system. They are not mutually exclusive.

Her most recent post is called "Cay Tao." It's a Vietnamese translation of the parable of the child and the apple tree. I don't remember who first wrote it. You know the one--child eats apples, young man sells apples, adult cuts down tree, elderly man sits on stump--to teach us about serving. It's interesting to see her Vietnamese take on it's meaning.

Cay tao ay chinh la hien than cua cha me chung ta. ...

So, check out Susan's blog.

The New Generation of Viet Bloggers: Yahoo 360

Since the inception of the Bleeding Ear, we have joined with others in looking for Vietnamese blogs. Previously, I listed a couple blogs I found off of Noodlepie, and some reasons why I wished blogging among the Vietnamese would blossom.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know

My first foray into the "Vietblogosphere" found a wide variety of expat blogs but only a few blogs written by Viets.

Yet over the last year, things have started to change. I'm not sure how noticeable this is from America, but I have seen it personally. You see, Yahoo and Google get a lot of flak for bowing to communists and censoring search results--as well they should. But Vietnam is showing China that things can be done differently. The internet is slowly opening--not closing--in Vietnam, and the presence of Yahoo and Google, if neutered, has had profound blessings.

What blessings?? Well, Vietnamese youth waste hours a day chatting on Yahoo messenger. My first day as an English teacher in Vietnam was a lesson in the power of Yahoo. It was in Go Vap district, in Ho Chi Minh City, with VATC--Vietnamese American Training College. I arrived to the skinny, three-story concrete building as the sun was setting, and walked inside the front doors, found the manager, and received my lesson materials. After a quick planning session, I was escorted to my first class--PET3. PET classes are pre-teenage classes. My class was full of 25 boys and girls all about 12-14 years old, with moderate English skill.

These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger

My teaching was nothing memorable that first day, with most of it spent answering personal questions from the students. But every class has a ten minute break, and when the bell rang, my class emptied so fast, I almost believed the previous 45 minutes had been a dream.

Eager to find out where my students were running to, I walked downstairs. I passed one or two talking on the staircase. Then I reached the first floor and found the computer room. Every VATC has a room for students' use that contains about 10 computers. This room was packed--standing room only--with about three students per computer. Every student was doing two things--playing flash games and chatting on Yahoo.

How Yahoo became the exclusive purveyor of chatting in Vietnam, I don't know. But unlike America, where everyone is broken into AIM, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, and MSN circles, there is only one large circle in Vietnam--Yahoo. Children and teenagers squeeze every minute they can chatting with friends--10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, an hour before school here, an hour at night before bed there. Internet cafes are chalk full of them at almost all hours of the day, and it has become a nearly unregulated way of mass communication and relationship building.

At that moment, seeing all those students chatting, I wondered if they would ever jump to blogging. They were so close--talking to friends about school, what to do the next day, the game they're playing--all over the internet. I shouldn't have wondered.

Thanks again to Yahoo comes the next generation of Vietnamese youth. Yahoo 360 has finally taken off. I have seen most of my chatting students set up personal Yahoo 360 pages within the last year. These pages mix the allure of Myspace with the chatting of Yahoo Messenger. You have a home page where you see new blog posts or messages from friends in your network, a blog page, and picture albums like Myspace.

My Yahoo 360 page

All of this thinking about Vietnamese blogging and Yahoo 360 happened when I read a student's post that came nearest to an American blog post that I have ever seen. Over the next couple weeks I hope to highlight her and some of my other students' pages because they are the next generation--no, the first true generation--of Vietnamese bloggers. As they get used to writing their feelings online, I think it will be wonderful to follow their maturity, and see how their discussions of weather and music turn to school and love and even politics.

It's an exciting time to be growing up in Vietnam. Yahoo 360 just adds another dimension to that statement.

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School-Girl Fight

Another article on CNN describes girls fighting at school, and some idiot stabbed and KILLED another student in Boston the other day. All that got me thinking about how Youtube.com always gets fingered for having fight videos.

How many? Lots. Tons. That kinda surprised me, but i guess it shouldn't. However, in comparison with these fights we've just heard about, hear's a video of a girl fight in Vietnam--similar to one's I've seen, and much better, in my opinion.

(Plus I get to try out Youtube's blog posting stuff and see if it's worth it).

Ponderances on Vietnam

As the wife and I return to life in the United States, I thought I would give some remembrances of Vietnam.

1. A Vietnamese friend is a friend for life.

I've believe that the native Vietnamese--those who grow up and live in Vietnam--are incredibly friendly people. But being friendly is different than being a friend. The Vietnamese do not make friends easily. They will be courteous and kind and helpful, but a friend is someone who shares your personal life, and they keep that sacred.

Over the last 6 months that I was in Vietnam, I think I made maybe one true friend that was not a student. Interestingly, I have made friends with a couple students, but all told, the total is probably around 4.

That does not mean I didn't have lots of fun--people were friendly, I knew lots of acquaintances, but only 4 that I could (and would) sit down with and talk about life.

That said, once you have a Viet as a friend, that bond is incredibly strong, and almost never fades. It is a great thing.

2. Can you not like Vietnamese food?

I love food. Period. I love to cook. I love to eat. I think cooking is truly an art. The Vietnamese are masters, from the big restaurants down to the street stalls and home-cooked meals. I am already missing the pho, bun thit nuong, rau muong, etc. that is so hard to find in America. Take that back...so hard to find done well in America. There are some great Vietnamese cooks in the States, but pho there misses something you find in a small bowl in the corner stall.

3. Social society

I miss talking to people every day. I miss the wonderful Vietnamese way of sitting outside in your hem after work or school and talking with each other, or heading downtown to play during the evening. The karaoke places are always packed, the live outdoor concerts rock, and you can't beat sitting atop the Hoa Duong cafe on Quang Trung street, chatting, eating ice cream, and watching the planes fly overhead and land at Tan Son Nhat airport.

4. Motorbikes

I love driving--absolutely love it. Leaving my motorbike was a hard thing. Driving a car is great, I love the speed, but there's something about feeling the wind in your hair, and having your wife hug you tight while sitting behind you that makes riding a motorbike intoxicating...

It's amazing, now driving a car again, how 40km/hr can feel so fast. I keep telling my wife that we should look into getting me a bullet bike in the States for going to medical school, but she won't buy it. She cuts out the "bullet" and says I can ride my "bike." Bummer. I mean, bikes are great and all, but they aren't motorbikes.

In addition to riding, I miss seeing a million people stuffed on one motorbike or bicycle. The Vietnamese are so industrious and ingenious--they use ever part of the animal for food, and every part of the motorbike for work. What's the most people you've ever seen on a motorbike?? I've seen 5 (counting children), but my brother swears he's seen 7 in the Philippines.

4. Pollution

My second week back in America I went mountain biking. Man, who wants clean air and mountains?? Why would I want to get away from people, and noise, and actually hear myself think?? Actually, I loved it. No matter how far out in the boonies you go in Vietnam, you still can't be by yourself. My wife and I went to see the tomb of Gia Long in Hue--the farthest tomb out, away from everything--and we were never out of eyesite of a house. Crazy. And in the city, the sleep in my eye was always black and oily and stained my clothes if I wiped it on my shirt. I know I lost years off my life riding behind busses that have never met any sort of EPA standards. Like smoking 400 cigarettes an hour, is riding behind those things...

But I do miss seeing my students enthusiasm at how much they loved Vietnam's environment and wanted to protect it. One day in class, they went off for 30 minutes on various ways to clean up Ho Chi Minh City, including planting trees and starting enviornmental clubs in schools. I hope that someday one of them does it, because a great HCMC would be even more amazing if it was clean.

5. Orphans

Finally, although I'm sure I could go on, I miss my orphans at the Phu My Orphanage. They are so innocent, so pure, so fun and loving. I grew more volunteering there than doing anything else in Vietnam. I know they served me far more than I served them. The men and women who work at the orphanage make pennies on the dollar, really, for the work they do, but they continue to come to work every day, and serve these children. Most are poor themselves--the salaries don't allow for much. They pool it with their husbands' or wives' salary and rent an apartment from which to raise their two children, always hoping that their kids will do well in school and have a better life. At moments they share their fears, that they do not make enough money to send their children to extra school, and so their children will not do well enough to enter college and will lead a life no different from theirs. Still, they give it all for those children. They are my heroes.

The beautiful thing about Vietnam, is that even when you leave it, it never truly leaves you.

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