Mid-Autumn Weekend

---

My busy weekend has turned into a busy week already. I should begin with last week, though. We have begun in earnest Vietnamese, and have at least two hours (though twice we had five hours) of Vietnamese every day. It is rather intensive, but the grammar rules make sense, the verbs don't have to be conjugated, and as long as I can remember the basic words and numbers, I should do mostly alright. We had two amazing culture classes last week as well. The prof is quite famous, and a very dynamic lecturer, despite needing a translator. (He spoke Vietnamese, Russian, and French.) He brought in local fruits for us to try, and a local band! We messed around on all their instruments, whose names I'll try to add later. Today we had the second part of our History lecture which we began last week. It was really interesting to see how upfront the Vietnamese are about having been under foreign rule of some type for about a thousand years....

So, I suppose I should spend some time on the weekend. It was jampacked and tiring, but amazing. (I think/hope that most all of my experiences in Vietnam will be amazing, or any other adjective you'd like to you that denotes amazingness 😊 ). Anyway, Saturday I did a few mundane activities such as laundry, and spent a good part of the day reading for class and for pleasure. That afternoon there was an amazing rain storm, so I sat on our balcony and watched the water pour down over the river. It was one of the most beautiful rainstorms I've seen. Then for dinner, we went to Dui's aunt's restaurant (her street vending part of the sidewalk), and had a yummy meal of grilled pork, rice, and vegetables. After that, we wandered around the city some, sampled the local beers (Saigon blue and Saigon red), and just generally enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday morning we went to a banana party! It was at Tien's house (Tien is the assistant to the director), and her mother made five different banana dishes with six different varieties of bananas! (and that wasn't even all the different varieties- there were more!) We had grilled little yellow bananas; sticky fried rice bananas; sticky rice, purple bananas and coconut; sweet potatoes, bananas, coconut, and tapioca; and bananas, coconut, and peanuts. It was a scrumptous feast of a breafast! Some bananas have to be cooked before they can be eaten, while others are eaten fresh, either green or yellow, or sometimes just yellow, or just green. I like the bananas here better than those in the US.

We also had some very interesting discussions at the banana party with Tien's mother who is an English prof here. She teaches a few classes on the difference in "American" or Western thinking, and Vietnamese. One of the biggest issues is that of face. The Vietnamese, almost at any cost, will avoid losing face themselves, or making other lose face, to the detriment of learning, especially. We also talked about other social issues, and it was really interesting.

After our banana party, we volunteered at a local orphanage, close by our hotel. This weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival/ Mooncake Festival, which is very important to children, so it was an appropriate time to visit the children. There were also Can Tho University students there, English majors, who helped translate and played games with the children and with us. Some of the games were familiar, of course, while others were new to me. One of the new games, a bit like Red Rover, was called Bird Cage, and two people held hands, making the cage, and then a child was the bird, and you set them free, and then tried to catch another. It was bit violent- I'm afraid my partner and I bonked one kid on the nose in our eagerness to get a "bird" in our "cage", but we were forgiven, in the spirit of the game. We then sang some songs, both in English and Vietnamese. We taught them "Row Row Row your Boat". One of the boys who lived there sang a song about the Moon festival, and the fairy tale behind it.

The tale goes something like this: This man found a tree that had healing leaves which the tiger used to bring her cubs back to life. He brought seeds back and planted many trees in his garden, and used them to cure many, many people. He also had a beautiful wife. This wife became jealous of the attention he gave the healing trees and began to cut them down while he was at work one day. He was coming home just as the last tree was flying up into the air (after having been cut down), and he jumped up and grabbed onto the roots. He and the tree flew to the moon, and that is now where he lives. The moon is also a beautiful lady. So, when the Vietnamese look a the moon, they see a man sitting under a tree. The branches of the tree are the eyes of our "man in the moon," while the trunk is the nose, and the man is the mouth, sleeping under the tree.

It was interesting to think about the children at the orphanage. We didn't exactly get a history of it, because of the language barrier (on our tour after the other students left). The children (ranging from probably 4-17) were all so eager to be friends with us, and practice their meager English. They all wanted to hold onto us and be as close to us as possible, even though among adults, only same sex people can touch. It was really endearing. They showed us their bunk beds (which are nice, but have no matresses), and all these items that they knitted, that are now for sale. Some of the people in our group were upset the children were making things, sort of mass produced, but the money supposedly went to the children, or for their upkeep. And I mean, I've not really been to any orphanages anywhere, but it didn't seem too bad. I feel so judgemental saying that. But I just still don't quite know what to think, or how I feel about it. I need more time to think and "inwardly digest" ...

I had a bit of a break between leaving the orphanage and being picked up to meet my homestay family. They live probably a ten to fifteen minute bike ride away from the University, so that will be nice. My "mom" is a well-known soil scientist at the University, also, so we can ride our bikes to school together in the mornings 😊 Her name is Guong, and she has two daughters, a niece, and a husband living at home. One of the daughters is 24 and studying in Japan, the other is 16 and in high school. Both know English pretty well. It makes me feel ashamed of the American education system, concerning foreign languages. Ah, well. I'll just have to try extra hard to become at least somewhat proficient in Vietnamese. The niece is studying economics at Can Tho University, and so is around my age. I think the father is also a prof, but I'm not sure. I think it'll be a great (but probably challenging) experience, living with them. They're very welcoming, though, so that will make it pleasant, I'm sure.

Their house is a bit outside the city, so it's very quiet (a nice change from the noisy, though mostly pleasant river sounds). The house is purple, narrow, and about five stories tall. I'll have my own room, which has a balcony, and a mosquito net. There are lots of mosquitos out there because there are some many trees, they told me. It's very simply, but elegantly furnished. They build it a year and a half ago, so I'm the first homestay person to stay there. Pretty exciting!

I will get a taste for the more rural living though, I think tomorrow night, when we go to Trah Vinh (sp?) Province, to an island commune there. Though in this sense, commune is more like a village, than what we might think of as a commune. The island's main transportation is motor bike or bicycle, since cars are not allowed there. I'm interested to see it. One thing about this program is they tell us the bare minimum, so I don't exactly know what we're doing. But I'm sure it will be great!

On a sidenote, I go by "Anna" here, since Ann sounds too much like Anh, which is a male pronoun for someone older than you, but not as old as your father... So it's just simpler to say "Anna."

So, more after our little excursion, and all of that! Hope everything's well!

---

Photos

Viet Nam
Whenever I see palm trees and the river, I remember I really am in Viet Nam....

Bananas!
At the Banana Party! Never have I ever had so many delicious banana dishes :)

Comments

[auntie mary]

Hello from Grandma and Mary and Rick!!
Hi, Ann. Hope all is well with you and Viet Nam! Ruth is here with Rick and me for Thanksgiving week. We are reading your journal, starting at the beginning. Each day we will read a few days of your blog! It is very interesting. Thank you for your postcard. Sounds like you are having a great experience. We found your website with some help from your pop, just the other day. Much love and hugs to you for Thanksgiving and always! Mary, Ruth and Rick