Uncle Ho, Water Puppets, and Dog

I think this will be my last entry about my experiences in Vietnam. If you have any more questions or would like me to write more, please post a comment asking a question, or shoot me an email. I'd be happy to write more.

I wanted to enclose a picture of me and a bust of Ho Chi Minh. One thing that was definitely evident in Vietnam was the country's and people's respect for this man. I saw his picture or busts of him many places, especially at the college. The people of Vietnam affectionately refer to him as "Uncle Ho". As I understood it, he is viewed as the most important figure in creating the country, held in the same respects as most Americans would view George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.



This picture was taken in the main hall of the college where I helped with the English conference. You can see the bust of Uncle Ho and then in the back the red banner with the communist symbol (the hammer and sickle) and the star. There was another set up exactly like this in the college's main theater/performance stage. They had a talent show the night after the conference. It was in celebration of the upcoming Tet Festival, and many students sang songs and danced. They even had us Americans go up there and sing a couple of songs.

A lot of the music incorporated keyboards and synthesizers. Before the show started, I looked up at the stage at the red banner with the communist symbols, as I listened to the synethized music. I felt like I was in Rocky IV, hearing "Hearts on Fire" as they showed Ivan Drago training. It was really interesting.

I also wanted to share a little bit about a puppet show I went to. Vietnam is famous for it's water puppets, which originated in the country. The show involves puppets that rise above the water, but are connected to long poles that remain under water. These poles are controlled by puppeteers who are behind a backdrop. Meanwhile there is a band that is playing music and narrators tell a story. The whole thing was in Vietnamese, but was really enjoyable nonetheless. It was neat to watch how the puppets moved along the water and the different ways that they interacted with the water and the other characters.


Here's a scene from the water puppet show.


Finally, in Vietnam I had the chance to try some new food. That's right, for the first time I ate dog. I remember before coming to Taiwan, asking people if they would eat dog if given the chance. Well, I haven't ever seen it in Taiwan, but in Vietnam it is pretty common. Now, I wasn't looking to eat at a dog buffett or anything like that, but James did buy some for some of us to try.

To me it tasted a bit like sausage but it was pretty grissely (sp?...fatty). Part of that might have been how it was prepared. It was cut into small cubes, and I only wanted to eat one piece. It was mostly a mental thing, because if I didn't know it was dog, I might have eaten more. So it didn't taste bad, but it was more the fact that I was actually eating a dog.


Dog for carry-out



Here I am ready to eat a piece of dog.


Well I hope you have enjoyed Vietnam stories. I'll try to move the focus back to Taiwan now.

Health, Trash, and Propaganda

Hey everyone. First I want to share a joy with you all. I am finally feeling fully recovered. I had a pretty nasty bout with the flu or something like it for over a week. However this past week I felt fully recovered. Praise God! I was reflecting about how much I take my health for granted, and that it isn't until I am sick that I truly appreciate the health and abilities that God has given me. So I am really thankful for my health.

For the rest of this blog I want to spend a bit more time explaining some things from Vietnam. I'll start with trash. I am curious to learn about different daily routines for the people living in the countries I visit. I know it's not necessarily the most exciting thing to write about, but I do find it interesting to learn about how people live in different parts of the world. So I am going to explain a little about the trash collection in Vietnam.

I guess in America, it doesn't seem like anything special. We put our trash in bags, roll-out the dumpster and man driving a big truck comes around and takes it far away from us. Well in Vietnam, it's not too different, except they just throw the trash on the curb. I saw it bagged, but also just lying spread out along the street. I was told people leave their trash on the streets at night and then someone comes around collects it early in the morning. Again this doesn't seem too fascinating. However it was just interesting walking around Hanoi seeing trash lying in the streets, and then being informed that this was the system put in place.



Trash collection in Vietnam

Of course both systems are a contrast to Taiwan. In Taiwan the big garbage truck comes around in the evening, playing a very loud, repetive tune. Upon hearing the sound, people run out of their homes and toss their bags into the truck as it slowly rolls by. It often reminds me of an ice cream truck for adults. The tune is very similar sounding to one that an ice cream truck might play, and wherever it is heard, people run to try and catch it.


Not the ice cream truck...it's the trash man!

Finally I did want to share a little bit more about proganda. I had written earlier about propaganda posters. Another common site in Hanoi was posters commemorating events in Vietnam's history. One of particular note was the poster celebrating the shooting down of American jets in the 1970's.


Remembering the jet that was shot down.

Several posters similar to this hung around a scenic lake in Hanoi. The area is kind of set up like a park where you can stroll and enjoy being by the lake. These and other posters hang up, remembering that jets had crashed into that very lake.

I don't want anyone to be confused about the treatment of Americans in Vietnam. I had no problems at all, and I felt safe and accepted by the people their. Many places took American currency, and the people were friendly to me. So it's nothing personal, but it is the government celebrating their past victories.

As I understood it, the war with America was just a small portion of many conflicts that Vietnam has had over its history. In fact, for some the war became a source of profit. Near my hotel there were a couple of stores that were propaganda stores. They sold old propaganda posters that were from the war. They had authentic prints, re-prints, and even t-shirts, mugs, and shot glasses. I bought a couple of smaller prints of posters from the war. One is a picture of an American plane shooting at a school child, and the Vietnamese message talks about the atraucities fo the American enemy. The second poster I bought was promoting the greatness of the communist party. I thought both were fascinating, and I hope someday to be able to use them in a history classroom of mine.

Finally, I also had the chance to visit the Hanoi Hilton, which is the POW prison that held American soldiers during the Vietnam war. Much of the museum is dedicated to the time when the French controlled the prison. At this time, they used it to keep Vietnamese prisoner. The prison showed models of how the prisoners would be chained up, starved, and it even had a guillotine that was used for executions. All of this was to show the horrible conditions for the Vietnamese when the French were in control.


Conditions during French control



Michael, beware of the guillotine!

Of course the other part of the museum showed highlights from when it was used in the Vietnam War. This was the POW prison where John McCain was held. They had an air force pilot's suit, that was supposedly his. They also had a couple of pictures of him, one of which spelled his name "Mc. John Cain". We got a kick out of that.


John McCain's Suit


In addition to McCain's stuff, the Vietnamese showed the luxurious life that American prisoners enjoyed during their stay. There were no pictures of starving soldiers, interrogations, or rough conditions. Instead, all of the men were healthy and smiling. They showed pictures of the soldiers playing basketball, worshipping at a church, even cooking a Christmas dinner. These were the only types of pictures they had to describe the prison when the Vietnamese controlled it.

I was about ready to go out and rob an old lady, so I could leave my hotel for the resort that is Vietnamese prison. :)

McWhat?

One main goal of my trip to Vietnam was to help lead a workshop for prospective English teachers at a local university about 3 hours north of Hanoi. James, my old roommate from my first 2 years in Taiwan, is currently serving at this university and helped set everything up to make the trip and the English workshop a reality.

My part of the workshop was to co-lead a session on teachers observing other teachers. As part of the workshop I designed an opening ice breaker activity that would get the group comfortable and segway into our discussion about observation. For the ice breaker, I showed a picture on a powerpoint, but only left it up for about 1 second. Obviously it was not enough time to see everything in the picture, so I would then tell the partipants to discuss with each other what they saw. After we shared ideas, I would show the same picture, this time for a couple of seconds. After that discusion I would put the picture up for good and we would look at what it really was.

For the ice breaker I chose 3 different pictures that we could talk about. One a picture of Ha Long Bay, which is a very scenic and famous place in Vietnam. It would be something the students would immediately relate to.




Pictures from Ha Long Bay when I went later that week.



Another (and the last picture for the ice breaker) was a man looking through a magnifying glass, as if intently studying something. This picture was used as a segway to our session, as we discussed what it is like to be overanylzed or how one feels if someone is watching their every move. One goal of the workshop was to make students understand that this was not the goal of teacher observations, rather they can help us grow as professionals.

Those were my last two pictures for the ice breaker, and everything went fine. My first picture, however did not have the result I intended.

I wanted to pick something that would be eye catching, and yet easy to recognize for people from any culture. So I decided that I should think of something I have found in common in all of the places I have traveled, and I settled on McDonald's. That's right I have seen those Golden Arches (under whose employment I slaved many hours of my life away, ha!) in many different countries, all with similar menus, but each restaurant with something distict or unique for that country or area. Regardless of where, you can always see Ronald McDonald and his bright outfit smiling for the customers.

All of this was true, until I went to Vietnam. You see, as I found out, there is no McDonald's in Vietnam. The government would not let the business set up shop in their country. So the picture I selected of Ronald and his friends was completely foreign to all of the students in my workshop. The photo featured Ronald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, and another McDonald's character. When I asked the students to describe what they saw I got responses like:

"4 people"
"A man with stripes"
"Bright colors"
"A clown"

But not a single person could identify the anyone from the McDonald's picture. A Malaysian teacher who helped in one of my workshops pointed out that, "We have a cultural misunderstanding here."

I could not have agreed more, and was completely surprised that none of the students had heard of McDonald's in Vietnam. It was the first country I have found that does not have a McDonald's.

I thought that was an interesting story from the trip.

Back from Vietnam

Well earlier this week I returned from my trip to Vietnam. I went with some of the other foreign teachers here at CMS. We helped out with an English Teaching Conference, and also had sometime to relax and go sight seeing. Over the next week or two, I would like to use my blog to reflect and share some aspects of my trip, mainly cultural things I noticed.


Vietnam's Flag

Honestly, throughout the time I was continually looking for signs that made it a socialist country. I was not sure what to look for, and I only have a foreigner/tourist perspective. A couple of things I did find.

First, we were asked to register every place that we stayed. Most of my time was spent in the capital, Hanoi. When we got to the hotel we had to give passport information for the government. Our workshop was actually in Phu Tao, which is about 3 hours from Hanoi. Our hotel in Phu Tao also required us to register ourselves, including passport information.

Another thing I noticed was propaganda poster in Hanoi. Here's an example of one. It is telling the city that 2 children is the perfect size for a family.


There were many other posters and signs up in the city. I need to get a couple of pictures from other teachers that went, and then I can post another picture or two.

Alright that's it for now. I'll save more for a later time.