Sunday, September 28, 2008
Coming very soon... really!
Hello friends! So I have seriously been working on this latest blog post for a week now... but due to technical, logistical and free time difficulties, it is yet to be published... and is still not being published. And I realize that no one is expecting me to keep the updates coming at a particular pace, but lots of interesting things have been happening, and I've been getting lots of interested emails, and I just wanted to get it out there that I am doing very well, enjoying family and work and other things for the most part, and I want to tell you all about it... not that that's really possible. BUT there really is more coming soon!!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Vietnamese+biking+glimmerings=???
Today I write from the Mucus Café. That's right, like snot in your nose. Contrary to its name, it is in fact a lovely spot that's just down the ally from Kim Ma House, the MCC house. Today is Hannah and my last day staying there with Derek, Ana, Lucas and Chase before moving in with our host families, and I've been meaning to stop in since we first walked past it almost three weeks ago, and I have not been working all week because of lack of tasks for me to do there plus two days of holiday... that all goes to say that I am here and happily updating all of you on my life in Hanoi over the past two weeks!
So on Monday, August 25, Hannah, Ana and I started Vietnamese classes at Hanoi University. So far we have learned lots of useful things like hello, what is your name, where are you from, what is your job, and just this morning, "I need to go to the bathroom"...and then upon my return, "There is no toilet paper in the bathroom." Deep learning. And plenty of laughing too. It's so interesting to notice how culture is built into a language and a language built into a culture. For example, when saying "hello," the speaker must name herself with an age-relative pronoun, say hi, then name the listener with the corresponding age-relative pronoun. So when I say hello to Ana, I say "Em (naming me as a person who is talking to someone older than me but not as old as my parents) chàu (hi) chi (naming Ana as a woman of that age). You use these different pronouns to indicate age whenever you are talking to or about anyone. Age and the hierarchy is establishes is very important in Vietnamese culture and you're reminded of it every time you open you mouth. Language is such a powerful tool... and it makes me think about ways Anglo culture is built into my mother tongue... hmm. Below is a photo of the three students with our teacher, Giang (pronounced "Zaung" English style) this morning after class.
September 2 is Vietnam's Independence Day, as in when it declared independence in 1945 from colonial France, as well as from the Japanese occupation in effect at the time. This fight for independence and the following American War ("Vietnam War" is you speak American) are just the last two efforts in a long series of fights for independence since Vietnamese civilization first emerged around 2000 BCE. According to Lowell (the outgoing MCC country rep), if you condense Vietnam's history down into 100 years, it has only been an independent nation for 6 of those (I'm pretty sure I'm remembering those numbers correctly... if not, don't blame Lowell.) To me, this kind of puts the US's whole dramatic Vietnam War complex down to size... and really places a lot of historical drama in a much broader context than I'm used to thinking in. When your country is merely 2.25 centuries old, every decade counts. When you've got 40 centuries behind you... not so much. And it also makes all the buzz about "development" and the influx of Western culture around here right now seem maybe not so significant. Vietnam has absorbed foreign influences before and as of today, has still managed to maintain its own distinct culture.
Hannah and I celebrated the big day with a maiden (pardon the sexist, gendered language) bicycle adventure. See the photo in the previous post to remind yourself what Hanoi traffic looks like... then imagine two little white girls entering the fray, sporting shiny bulbous helmets and ill-fitting bikes. And check out the photos below to see me rearin' to go... and then us upon arriving back home, safe but frazzled. Actually the straight forward biking (turning is still a little iffy) was quite comfortable and a fascinating experience. As a biker in North America, even though I have bike lanes and paths and am protected by traffic laws, I am always "in the way," cars are always angry at me for being on "their" road. Here, if bike lanes are present, they are fair game for anyone and everyone, there is no such thing as a smooth path or sidewalk and traffic laws are generally optional; however, because everyone is always in everyone's way, no one bothers getting angry about anything on the road! EVERYONE has a right to be a part of traffic. Quite empowering really.
I've spent most of the past two weeks feeling pretty optimistic about life here... right on track with the culture shock curve, I suppose. Great. I continue to be thankful for reminders to live fully in each moment... but am increasingly finding it helpful to embrace even those moments when I'm not intensely experiencing my environment and personal state (which is most of the time)... and living in those moments as well... because they're still happening in the present. Or something. I was particularly inspired along this vein of thinking while recently reading The River Why by David James Duncan, which was given to me by a dear and wise friend upon my departure. In this point in the story, the main character, Gus, is hiking along a river with neither a reason nor destination he can articulate. But as he listens deep down, he feels drawn to trek onward. He says:
"...the glimmering began again; but when I'd take a stab at the thing that caused it, try to name it or even guess at its nature, then the glimmering abruptly stopped. So I called in Nameless ... still [I] caught nothing I could keep hold of. Just walked, watching as the sun made and melted prisms over the stairs of white water" (234-236).
As I stubble along here in Vietnam (or really anywhere) I feel like each step follows the last one and I continue forward and in that way am led... and when I try to articulate WHY things in my life were or are or will be, I end up confounded, frustrated and scared because in my noisy scramble, I can't hear those glimmerings. So it's nice to think about letting go of the power that articulation gives me and just relaxing a little and enjoying the scenery along the way.
Now that we're all feeling very deep and contemplative, I have one more thing to share... I have finally realized my lifelong dream of maternity and it's a boy!!
Ok that's not true. This is little angel is Chase. Sometimes we like to hang out. Especially when Ana is feeling tired of carrying him around and when I need the ego boost that walking along the sidewalk with a cute baby gives you. So many smiles from everyone you see!
So on Monday, August 25, Hannah, Ana and I started Vietnamese classes at Hanoi University. So far we have learned lots of useful things like hello, what is your name, where are you from, what is your job, and just this morning, "I need to go to the bathroom"...and then upon my return, "There is no toilet paper in the bathroom." Deep learning. And plenty of laughing too. It's so interesting to notice how culture is built into a language and a language built into a culture. For example, when saying "hello," the speaker must name herself with an age-relative pronoun, say hi, then name the listener with the corresponding age-relative pronoun. So when I say hello to Ana, I say "Em (naming me as a person who is talking to someone older than me but not as old as my parents) chàu (hi) chi (naming Ana as a woman of that age). You use these different pronouns to indicate age whenever you are talking to or about anyone. Age and the hierarchy is establishes is very important in Vietnamese culture and you're reminded of it every time you open you mouth. Language is such a powerful tool... and it makes me think about ways Anglo culture is built into my mother tongue... hmm. Below is a photo of the three students with our teacher, Giang (pronounced "Zaung" English style) this morning after class.
September 2 is Vietnam's Independence Day, as in when it declared independence in 1945 from colonial France, as well as from the Japanese occupation in effect at the time. This fight for independence and the following American War ("Vietnam War" is you speak American) are just the last two efforts in a long series of fights for independence since Vietnamese civilization first emerged around 2000 BCE. According to Lowell (the outgoing MCC country rep), if you condense Vietnam's history down into 100 years, it has only been an independent nation for 6 of those (I'm pretty sure I'm remembering those numbers correctly... if not, don't blame Lowell.) To me, this kind of puts the US's whole dramatic Vietnam War complex down to size... and really places a lot of historical drama in a much broader context than I'm used to thinking in. When your country is merely 2.25 centuries old, every decade counts. When you've got 40 centuries behind you... not so much. And it also makes all the buzz about "development" and the influx of Western culture around here right now seem maybe not so significant. Vietnam has absorbed foreign influences before and as of today, has still managed to maintain its own distinct culture.
Hannah and I celebrated the big day with a maiden (pardon the sexist, gendered language) bicycle adventure. See the photo in the previous post to remind yourself what Hanoi traffic looks like... then imagine two little white girls entering the fray, sporting shiny bulbous helmets and ill-fitting bikes. And check out the photos below to see me rearin' to go... and then us upon arriving back home, safe but frazzled. Actually the straight forward biking (turning is still a little iffy) was quite comfortable and a fascinating experience. As a biker in North America, even though I have bike lanes and paths and am protected by traffic laws, I am always "in the way," cars are always angry at me for being on "their" road. Here, if bike lanes are present, they are fair game for anyone and everyone, there is no such thing as a smooth path or sidewalk and traffic laws are generally optional; however, because everyone is always in everyone's way, no one bothers getting angry about anything on the road! EVERYONE has a right to be a part of traffic. Quite empowering really.
I've spent most of the past two weeks feeling pretty optimistic about life here... right on track with the culture shock curve, I suppose. Great. I continue to be thankful for reminders to live fully in each moment... but am increasingly finding it helpful to embrace even those moments when I'm not intensely experiencing my environment and personal state (which is most of the time)... and living in those moments as well... because they're still happening in the present. Or something. I was particularly inspired along this vein of thinking while recently reading The River Why by David James Duncan, which was given to me by a dear and wise friend upon my departure. In this point in the story, the main character, Gus, is hiking along a river with neither a reason nor destination he can articulate. But as he listens deep down, he feels drawn to trek onward. He says:
"...the glimmering began again; but when I'd take a stab at the thing that caused it, try to name it or even guess at its nature, then the glimmering abruptly stopped. So I called in Nameless ... still [I] caught nothing I could keep hold of. Just walked, watching as the sun made and melted prisms over the stairs of white water" (234-236).
As I stubble along here in Vietnam (or really anywhere) I feel like each step follows the last one and I continue forward and in that way am led... and when I try to articulate WHY things in my life were or are or will be, I end up confounded, frustrated and scared because in my noisy scramble, I can't hear those glimmerings. So it's nice to think about letting go of the power that articulation gives me and just relaxing a little and enjoying the scenery along the way.
Now that we're all feeling very deep and contemplative, I have one more thing to share... I have finally realized my lifelong dream of maternity and it's a boy!!
Ok that's not true. This is little angel is Chase. Sometimes we like to hang out. Especially when Ana is feeling tired of carrying him around and when I need the ego boost that walking along the sidewalk with a cute baby gives you. So many smiles from everyone you see!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Oriention... Vietnam... Go!
Greetings from Hanoi! As I near the end of my first week here, I figure it is about time I make my first blog post. Entering the blogosphere will be yet another cultural adjustment, so please bare with me as I learn. Here it goes...
Between August 9 and 16, I along with about 100 other SALTers, IVEPers and YAMENers enjoyed MCC orientation in lovely Akron, PA. (quick acronym translation: SALT = Serving and Learning Together, IVEP = International Volunteer Exchange Program, YAMEN = Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Program, MCC = Mennonite Central Committee). IVEP and SALT are opposites, meaning IVEP brings young people from around the world for a year of service in North America, while SALT sends from North America to a variety of global locations. YAMEN is a newer program that does South-to-South exchange, e.g., Africa to Asia. It was wonderful to share knowledge about our home countries with each other, as well our common excitement and anxiety. Here is an excerpt from my journal from August 10 that I think embodies the richness of insight I found could come with honest cross-cultural conversations:
I had a really interesting conversation with Maria (name changed) who is from Jordan about how she is really nervous about interacting with American men/scared about being around them at all. Apparently where she is from, people think that men in the US regularly grab women, stuff them in cars, drive them away and rape them. Unfortunately this very truly does happen... but not to the extent that Maria fears. So with very simple English, though hers is really quite good and she learning SO fast, I tried to explain that she does not need to feel severely scared for her safety while traveling to work or being there during the day. And then I was thinking about the frightening perceptions of the Middle East I have, and I tried to explain this and ask her if she feels scared being there all the time. She said no, and so I tried to make the connection that it's the same here - like I don't feel scared being out by myself and it's more about stereotypes and misperceptions. I don't really feel like I did a great job of explaining all this, but in the end she said thank you a lot and said she felt much calmer.
Noticing how her fears about America seemed so ridiculous to me but so real to her made me wonder how ridiculous my perceptions of other places around the world must be compared to the lived reality. The week was full of countless such learnings from other new MCCers and MCC staff. Along with the education, I felt it was a really valuable transitional space - not home but not my SALT location. There was also time for yoga on the lawn, a Latino dance party, and tons of photos snapped with new friends, including Edder from Colombia who is going to Goshen!
Then on Saturday the 16th, I was off for 33 hours of travel! We stared with a group of about a dozen travelers and at each stop along the way, it was time to say good bye to a few. As cliche as it sounds, it really seemed like we'd all known each other for much more than just one week! My dear fellow Hanoi SALTer, Hannah Forsyth, and I made the trip together all the way, and it was great to have a travel buddy the whole time.
We arrived nicely exhausted but in good spirits and with all our luggage. We were very fortunate to have a very uneventful and smooth journey. Hannah and I even got in a little bit of yoga with some new friends from Japan and the US during our layover in LA!
Since arriving in Hanoi, Hannah and I have been staying at the MCC House, a.k.a, Kim Ma House after the major street it is off of. This is where the country rep, Derek Hosteter, and his family, partner Ana and sons Lucas (4.5 years) and Chase (8 months), live. Paul Strietelmeier is a new three-year MCC who will be teaching university English classes is here for week too. Lowell Jantzi, the outgoing CR, is also here for about two weeks to orient us all. So far, we have all spent a lot of time at the MCC Hanoi office meeting the local staff and learning about MCC's experience in Vietnam over the past 50 years (all very interesting and inspirational stuff), spent a day riding around Hanoi on motor bike (see photo of Hanoi traffic below!) and visiting some important historical spots (the city will celebrate its 1000th birthday in 2010!!), and eating lots and lots of delicious food (with three to five different dishes every lunch and dinner, I have seriously not eaten the same thing twice!).
Altogether, the week has been very full, very disorienting, very orienting, tiring, exciting, meloncoly, happy, scary, and delicious. Sometimes I feel each emotion in turn and sometimes all together. Often I can't really tell how I feel... and then I simply exist and that's ok too. In any case, I am very glad that I am here and I feel sure I will continue to live bathed in a richness of emotions and experiences as long as I am here. As usual, the universe is very good to me.
Wow, I didn't really mean to write this much right off the bat! To conclude, here are some photos from Bat Trang, a village where families have been making ceramics for the past 800 years! We visited it this morning and toured the workshop where 10,000 Villages purchases all its Vietnamese ceramic ware. It was such a crazy feeling to see the finely painted blue and white tea pots and cups I recognize from the store at home... in their original home. The man who runs the workshop is the 18th generation to do so... what a feeling of rootedness to a physical place and to a craft. I can't even imagine. It was a beautiful experience to feel invited into that in a very small way with tea (or course), a personal tour, a free item for each of us, and a warm invitation to visit anytime we are in Bat Trang. I certainly plan on enjoying that invitation before too long.
Between August 9 and 16, I along with about 100 other SALTers, IVEPers and YAMENers enjoyed MCC orientation in lovely Akron, PA. (quick acronym translation: SALT = Serving and Learning Together, IVEP = International Volunteer Exchange Program, YAMEN = Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Program, MCC = Mennonite Central Committee). IVEP and SALT are opposites, meaning IVEP brings young people from around the world for a year of service in North America, while SALT sends from North America to a variety of global locations. YAMEN is a newer program that does South-to-South exchange, e.g., Africa to Asia. It was wonderful to share knowledge about our home countries with each other, as well our common excitement and anxiety. Here is an excerpt from my journal from August 10 that I think embodies the richness of insight I found could come with honest cross-cultural conversations:
I had a really interesting conversation with Maria (name changed) who is from Jordan about how she is really nervous about interacting with American men/scared about being around them at all. Apparently where she is from, people think that men in the US regularly grab women, stuff them in cars, drive them away and rape them. Unfortunately this very truly does happen... but not to the extent that Maria fears. So with very simple English, though hers is really quite good and she learning SO fast, I tried to explain that she does not need to feel severely scared for her safety while traveling to work or being there during the day. And then I was thinking about the frightening perceptions of the Middle East I have, and I tried to explain this and ask her if she feels scared being there all the time. She said no, and so I tried to make the connection that it's the same here - like I don't feel scared being out by myself and it's more about stereotypes and misperceptions. I don't really feel like I did a great job of explaining all this, but in the end she said thank you a lot and said she felt much calmer.
Noticing how her fears about America seemed so ridiculous to me but so real to her made me wonder how ridiculous my perceptions of other places around the world must be compared to the lived reality. The week was full of countless such learnings from other new MCCers and MCC staff. Along with the education, I felt it was a really valuable transitional space - not home but not my SALT location. There was also time for yoga on the lawn, a Latino dance party, and tons of photos snapped with new friends, including Edder from Colombia who is going to Goshen!
Then on Saturday the 16th, I was off for 33 hours of travel! We stared with a group of about a dozen travelers and at each stop along the way, it was time to say good bye to a few. As cliche as it sounds, it really seemed like we'd all known each other for much more than just one week! My dear fellow Hanoi SALTer, Hannah Forsyth, and I made the trip together all the way, and it was great to have a travel buddy the whole time.
We arrived nicely exhausted but in good spirits and with all our luggage. We were very fortunate to have a very uneventful and smooth journey. Hannah and I even got in a little bit of yoga with some new friends from Japan and the US during our layover in LA!
Since arriving in Hanoi, Hannah and I have been staying at the MCC House, a.k.a, Kim Ma House after the major street it is off of. This is where the country rep, Derek Hosteter, and his family, partner Ana and sons Lucas (4.5 years) and Chase (8 months), live. Paul Strietelmeier is a new three-year MCC who will be teaching university English classes is here for week too. Lowell Jantzi, the outgoing CR, is also here for about two weeks to orient us all. So far, we have all spent a lot of time at the MCC Hanoi office meeting the local staff and learning about MCC's experience in Vietnam over the past 50 years (all very interesting and inspirational stuff), spent a day riding around Hanoi on motor bike (see photo of Hanoi traffic below!) and visiting some important historical spots (the city will celebrate its 1000th birthday in 2010!!), and eating lots and lots of delicious food (with three to five different dishes every lunch and dinner, I have seriously not eaten the same thing twice!).
Altogether, the week has been very full, very disorienting, very orienting, tiring, exciting, meloncoly, happy, scary, and delicious. Sometimes I feel each emotion in turn and sometimes all together. Often I can't really tell how I feel... and then I simply exist and that's ok too. In any case, I am very glad that I am here and I feel sure I will continue to live bathed in a richness of emotions and experiences as long as I am here. As usual, the universe is very good to me.
Wow, I didn't really mean to write this much right off the bat! To conclude, here are some photos from Bat Trang, a village where families have been making ceramics for the past 800 years! We visited it this morning and toured the workshop where 10,000 Villages purchases all its Vietnamese ceramic ware. It was such a crazy feeling to see the finely painted blue and white tea pots and cups I recognize from the store at home... in their original home. The man who runs the workshop is the 18th generation to do so... what a feeling of rootedness to a physical place and to a craft. I can't even imagine. It was a beautiful experience to feel invited into that in a very small way with tea (or course), a personal tour, a free item for each of us, and a warm invitation to visit anytime we are in Bat Trang. I certainly plan on enjoying that invitation before too long.
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