The Mighty Mekong River, one of the largest rivers in the world, snakes it way through South Vietnam in the form of nine tributaries, known as the "Nine Dragons." Dena and I signed up for a 3-day tour which would bring us from Saigon by bus 3 hours to the first big, industrious city in the Delta. From there, it was all boats of one kind or another getting into smaller and smaller channels until finally we were squeezing our rowboats past children swimming. It was exactly what I wanted to see in Vietnam and had I left without seeing this, [View Full Entry]

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So good to be with my girls!! So much to catch up on! Marriages, cross-country moves, fertility, boyfriends, jobs, spirituality, Iraq...why does everything exciting happen after I leave the country?? We chit-chat, walk, ride bikes and eat. Everything is so effortless with good friends and the trip is instantly an adventure. Of course, we didn't always have the same idea of adventure and due to poor planning, we overlooked the fact that the country is almost as long as the United States. Whoops! Do we fly or bus to the next destination?(fly) What is the next destination? Do we visi [View Full Entry]

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I'm on my first vacation since coming overseas and I've decided to spend it in Vietnam. Being American, I've always been curious about this country...hell, I feel like I know exactly what it looks like - rice paddy fields flanked by overgrown palm trees, slow winding rivers and peasant with those cone-shaped hats. So you can imagine my surprise when I landed in Hanoi, a bustling city, teeming with motorbikes and people too busy to say hello to you, unless they're trying to sell you something. I spent the first 24 hours checking out the tourist sights where I learned that [View Full Entry]

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I need to follow-up on my last blog entry about the dance performance. It would be easy to say that it was a huge success. The pics look great and it even aired on local TV news. As a result, the dancers were invited to perform in Quebec and the govt. has offered to expedite the passports. Sounds great!? Yes, it is great. But blogs are funny things...you all wouldn't know any different if I left it at that. But, that wouldn't be the whole story... So, what happened? In short, Protocol. It was "protocol" that we wait 1.5hrs. for the [View Full Entry]

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Last night was such an amazing night for me that it will be a little hard to explain. Suffice to say, I played a small part in inspiring a big event. I don't have much time to write because I leave for Vietnam in 2 hours and have to pack (meeting friends Deb and Dena there for a little R&R), so I'll just write-up what I said last night to kick off the event. Sanggar Cut Nyak Dhien is a traditional Acehnese dance group that has existed for more than 30 years and has been invited and performed all over the [View Full Entry]

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“Where are you from?” “How old are you?” “Are you married” That is the exact order of questions when you meet an Acehnese person. The last question is the only one I have a slight problem with. It’s not asked in a sleezy, pickup kind of way, just part of normal conversation. They probably assume most people my age (33), would answer “Yes, I am married,” and the conversation would pleasantly carry on. But in my case, the answer is: “Not yet,” (a simple “No, I’m not married,” elicits strange and worried glance [View Full Entry]

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I've been feeling the distance lately. Not only am I twelve time zones apart from home, I am apparently living in a black hole. The phone network has become unbelievably more unreliable lately, so much so, that my work has installed CB radios in all our houses and cars for emergencies. In addition, as I discovered when trying to book a flight to Vietnam, it takes two days to get anywhere from here - one day (two flights) to get to a regional Indonesian airport, then another flight to get to an international airport where you'll be able to make connections [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I went to one of our "rebuilding livelihoods" projects to get a haircut. Before the tsunami, the hairdresser, Agus, ran a busy hairdressing salon out of her home. When she lost her home, she also lost her husband, son, parents and way of life. Now she is living in temporary shelter (barracks) and has just begun to cut hair again using a chair in a friend's salon. The organization I work for has given her money to buy some materials to get her business started again. Our staff reporter wanted to do a story on Agus and I was asked [View Full Entry]

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It has been a stellar month for inventions here in Banda Aceh. It just goes to show that necessity promotes progress...and with that, I present to you the top three most remarkable new inventions (patents pending) that will no doubt benefit thousands of people in Banda Aceh (not to mention the inventor herself): 1.) Hot Water - this amazing improvement on plain old water, will allow people to have their bucket "shower" in relative comfort, thereby solving the morning "shock and awe" routine. There are a number of other inventions that have resulted from this including instant tea and one- [View Full Entry]

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So, many have asked - "Erica, what exactly is your job?" Ah, good question. As you probably know, I work for an International NGO (Non-Government Organization). My job title is "Admin Systems Training Advisor" and it actually describes quite well what I do, but to most people it sounds complicated so I often say "Operations." You see, you can kind of break NGO work into two sectors 1.) OPERATIONS: administration, finance, and logistics (procurement & delivery of supplies) and 2.) PROGRAMS: direct services to our beneficiaries, for example, like our doctors who set up clinics and treat pati [View Full Entry]

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