Missing Home

Recently for Viet Class our assignment was to write a letter home to our parents.  While I have having the time of my life and learning so many things along the way, everywhere and everything that I do, I wonder how it would be like if my parents were here. I wonder how their lives would have been here if they had been able to stay in Vietnam. While there is about 2 months left of the program there are days that I wish I was home already.  Being here for only such a short amount of time, I have already learned so much about my parents.

I remember an experience I had at Ha Long Bay. I was sitting at the dock of the boat reflecting about my time in Vietnam so far and I could help but think how was it that I be able to witness the beauty of Vietnam while my parents have not seen all that there is to Vietnam.  Is this really fair? While I continue on with the next two months, I'll keep my parents in mind with hope that we'll be able to return to Vietnam one day to experience this together.

Sa Pa

After an uncomfortable 12 hour ride to Sa Pa, we got off the train met with heavy rains.  Of course this happens every single time we have a big trip I always leave the most important things back.  WHY DIDN'T I CHECK THE FREAKING WEATHER?  I packed two pair of shorts a pair of sweats and no sweater.  It was a constant 50ish F degree. By the end of the trip, those sweats were pretty disgusting.

Arriving to Sa Pa I could see that it was an area that had been developed to accommodate to tourist.  Lined were gift shops and restaurants that catered to all kinds of tastes.  Hmong women followed tourist (not excluding us) telling them "Buy from me" while showing them different bracelets, earrings, bags, and other items.  One moment that stood out to me was when Lena and I were at the market.  As Lena was buying a scarf, a Hmong woman approached me and asked to buy some earrings.  I told her no and started to look at the stand Lena was at when she says, "How can you buy those things that the Kinh took from us?" That right there took me by surprise and in many ways she was right.  I ended up buying a pair of earrings from her but also troubled by her statement.

As the Hmong and other ethnic minorities are pushed further and further into the mountains (or forced to assimilate) how do they survive?  In the case of Sa Pa, is it fair that their livelihood becomes dependent on this tourist economy?

1000 Year Anniversary

I remember in September the group wanted to plan our trip to Sa Pa.

"Which dates should we choose?"
"Lets go during the 1000th year anniversary, I heard school was cancelled"
"No thats a bad idea, that week is going to be amazing!"

The excitement that we had for this week was met with a lukewarm reception.  The streets of Old Quarter was extremely packed.  People to people, motorbike to motobike, it was suffocating.  Walking around Ho Hoan Kiem for one night was enough.  It was just too much for me. However that one night I did walk around, I saw people of all ages, families, the elderly, teens, all walking around smiling taking pictures wearing "I Love Ha Noi" T shirts. While I know that the city has invested a ridiculous amount of money into this week and there has been many criticism on the money spent, how can money be placed on the pride Hanoians had that week of celebration?

Rice Harvesting

Waking up at 6 am on a Sunday Monday, to be honest I was not looking forward to rice harvesting.  As we pulled up to the village and walked over to the rice fields and then learned that we had to deal with the rain that had come a couple days before, my feelings stayed pretty much the same.  Grabbing our sickle and placing our feet into the mud all I could think about was returning to my bed. But as I started cutting and once I started to get the hang of cutting the rice stalks, I became more comfortable and in some ways quite relaxed.  After 3 hours, we finished and was rewarded by an awesome lunch cooked by our friends :).  The work was hard but in the end I felt quite proud of what our group accomplished.

Thinking about the work we did, I learned that normally four women do it instead of the 24 and how much they each earned per 720 sq feet. While I cannot say that I understand the life of those who harvest life, I have gain a deeper understanding and appreciation about where my rice comes from. Now I get the reasons why my parents tell me to eat every grain of rice in the bowl.