Smells

I would like for you to be able to experience a taste (or smell rather) of Vietnam from wherever you might be reading. This is just a typical walk from our apartment to the school. Please follow the instructions to experience the full effect.

Now, if you would, take out a trash can (full of trash) and start a fire in it (please be careful). Toss some dirt into the wind (preferably when you are standing down-wind). Next, grab several handfuls of incense and light 'em up. Now, please find a diesel truck that has without a doubt failed emissions testing and let it run for a while. Then take a deep breath in.

But stay with me; It gets better. Leave some fish frying on the stove. And if you have any extra burner on the stove, get some other pots going: maybe some spicy peppers, any number of meats, some okra soup, shrimp in delicious spices (I'll update when I discover what they put in the delicious things we like), maybe some eel. Mmm. And if you don't have anywhere else to cook, just slide the pot over the fire that you've made.

If you aren't satisfied with your experience thus far, light a few cigarettes (again, please use caution) (and know that these smells do not represent the views or choices of this author). Maybe cut up some fruit and leave it sitting for a few days. Do not clean it up. Then make a homemade doughnut and get it frying in some grease. Yum yum.

If you're still begging for more, find some fresh fish and just leave it out, and lots of clams, oysters, and snails. Then grind up some coffee beans. There's a new blend of smell at each turn, some terrible and some amazing. And then it rains. And rain in Vietnam smells just like rain in Georgia. It's like the refresh button; unless it sticks around for a few days, then that's another story...

There are a few other smells that will need further explanation. Tune in some time in the future for SOUNDS

Birthday Blog

I should have written this one first, if we're being all chronological here...


So my birthday was Sunday, and I entered it with mixed feelings as I have been very pleased with the age 23, hesitant to enter a new age. And, as usual, I had no idea what I wanted to do and Erica was no help because she was determined that it was MY DAY, and she would only do what I wanted to do. Stupid self-lessness.

On the morning of my birthday, Erica woke me up with balloons on my door and we went to get coffee from my favorite place with my favorite lady. We've gone there enough that as soon as we walk up, she runs in the back to make our coffee and a pot of hot tea and have it ready for us. In fact, I've determined that we can never walk down that alley unless we are getting coffee, because she would see us and we wouldn't be able to explain that we were just walking... One time when we were having coffee there, I went to pay and I had to duck to go inside and she thought it was the funniest thing and didn't stop laughing until she had thoroughly mimed it, compared heights with me over and over until she was convinced that I understood her meaning. Her husband knows a little English so he will come out and try to speak with us everyday.






Then we left for fellowship in district two. We’ve only been to this one two times, but on our first Sunday we met Janell, who took us out for lunch and showed us around with her roommate Aletta. They made us feel so welcome, and like we could ask them anything. And this Sunday, I asked Janell what her plans were and she said that she was hanging out with the birthday girl! I am confident that no one has ever said that to me that I've only met one time.





Janell knew of plenty of places to go and she took us to a mall with a foodcourt with lots of food options (perfect for indecisive Carolyn and Erica) and paid for our taxi and my meal! Then Aletta showed up with a piece of cake for me. She actually told us that the little piece of decoration on the back of the cake here was the Vietnamese 'birthday symbol,' and if she hadn't corrected it, Erica and I would have believed it forever.


















Next they took us to Ben Thanh Market, where I've been wanting to go, and they navigated us through. Erica and I have had several conversations about Janell and Aletta and we can't believe how nice they've been to us. We're so touched by how they've gone out of their way to help us in this new culture (I promise I'm not just saying this because I found out you read my blog). Later, they gave us directions to another area and we parted ways. We never found exactly what we thought they were talking about, but we got to walk a lot. Poor Erica is very easy going and doesn't mind my love for walking around the city-- map completely unfolded-- blatantly touristy looking. I just love to know where I am and to be able to associate actual places with the streets on the map.


We stumbled on a movie theater and stopped to watch, "Land of the Lost," with Will Ferrell. Wow. It was pretty funny but one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen in my life. And maybe that is why it's funny. We discussed their target demographic and were completely dumfounded. Maybe middle school boys..?

It started to rain and I was getting hungry, so we stopped at a food stand on the side of the road. I wasn't really excited about it, but it turned out to be the best soup I've had so far! Incredible. I have no clue what all was in it, but wow. And we also had some mincemeat pork something cooked in banana leaves. Excellent birthday meal. Excellent birthday. Thanks so much to everyone for their birthday wishes!

Day after my birthday

On Monday morning, I was awakened by a text message from Steph that made no sense to me, so I gave the phone to Erica. We went for coffee and then went to the school to fill out paperwork. We didn’t eat breakfast and shockingly, the little amount of paper work took longer than expected (which we expected). I was getting hungry and kept hinting that to Erica, hoping she would agree and we would stop for food soon. It started pouring outside and our plans of exploring the other side of the bridge today suddenly didn’t seem so important.

While we were still there, one woman in the office told me that one of my classes would like for me to speak slower for them and to repeat things more for them. No big deal. I don’t mind constructive feedback. But I have told this class repeatedly that if they don’t understand what I am saying, please tell me. Just raise your hand and ask me to repeat. Over and over I tell them. They just smile and nod (in hindsight, that should have tipped me off). And I KNOW that the communication is indirect here. “Talk about, not to,” is what Dawn has told us from day one. This was my favorite class and I thought they liked me too (as if asking someone to slow down is now code for "I hate you")! I knew it was no big deal, but it felt like betrayal.

The woman giving me the feedback also said that she still couldn’t give me my passport and I needed it to buy a plane ticket to Taiwan. That brought my spirits down too. So I was annoyed, a little hurt, and my hunger was making me more irritable.

As we walked back in the rain, Erica said that we could go back to our apartment for our helmets. I didn’t understand why she still wanted to go downtown in the rain, but I agreed. “I’m just really hungry. Aren’t you?” She shook her head. I thought, dang how could she not be hungry? It's almost lunchtime now! I told her how I was feeling after being told to speak more slowly and said that maybe I was irritable because I was so hungry. “Can we just stop and eat on our way back?” To which Erica replied, “Can you wait?”

That was extremely out of character for Erica. A scowl crossed my face and I said, loudly because of the traffic and rain, “WHY??!” Something was going on.

She simply stared ahead. She was wearing her poncho and I knew she had no peripheral vision like that, so she was clearly ignoring me. “Erica!” I said, trying to get her attention, “What is going on?” This was not like Erica at all. I explained to her again that I was getting very grumpy from the hunger and rain and being frustrated in the office and I could just pick up something quick to eat and bring it back.

I realized at that moment that I don't think that I like surprises because I don’t like not knowing what is going on. She was being secretive and it made me feel left out. Erica already does a lot of stuff that I’m not allowed to know about because she is the Central Administrator for our team, and that doesn’t bother me so much, but this was about me! I want to be talked to, not about! And now, i just wanted to eat, dry off, and watch a movie or something on this, our day off.

She kept being vague and I was getting more and more annoyed. We were literally walking past dozens of places that sell all kinds of food, everything for less than a dollar; I could see it and smell it cooking. I told her that I felt like a brat, but whatever was going on, I wanted no part in it, just let me eat! She said we could go back to the apartment and have some dragon fruit. She still wasn’t looking at me, but I was giving her the stink face that said, “Are you kidding me right now?” She refused to tell me anything else, but said that if I guessed it on my own, then that wasn’t her fault. I didn’t want to guess. We made it back to the apartment and she took off her poncho. Wait, why would you take off your poncho?? I thought. Surely we’re leaving right now to go eat..?

I cut up a dragon fruit (picture stolen from Lance Baker) and pouted while Erica busied herself in her room. Then our doorbell rang. It was Steph and Brittany! They had just made half off the 5 hour journey from Bien Hoa in one afternoon. They brought with them presents (Madagascar I and II!) and a moon-cake shaped like a mama pig and four piglets. The rain stopped, the sun came out and I forgot to be such a brat. We got to go downtown to the market and we explored and hung out.

I got measured for some clothes and I didn’t understand a word the tailor said, so it will be interesting to see what I end up with. I bought 15 roses for about $2 and declared the 7th of every month, ‘Buy myself flowers Day.” We had a good time and the girls missed their bus and were forced to spend the night with us. It made me feel really special that they came so far for my birthday just to hang out. They definitely sacrificed their day off to have us drag them all over district 6 of HCM City. It feels pretty rotten to have people sacrifice for you when you are having a bad attitude. But it was a wonderful day-after-birthday surprise.

WE HAVE POWER! Sept. 4, 2009

After several days of writing haikus, playing MASH (it turns out, my first born son will be called Angkor Wat and that the family vehicle will be a cyclo), and eating oreos by candlelight, our electricity was turned on sometime this afternoon. The only casualties in this ordeal were some leftovers and fruit in the fridge that we just didn't have a chance to get around to. We have also learned the Vietnamese word for power bill, though we can't actually pronounce it yet.

This video is from last week:

Every day I would see these little white puffy things in what looked like a glass case. It looked like a crunchy meringue to me and I had a sweet tooth and was excited about digging into it. I paid the woman for it and when she opened the door, I realized that it was in some kind of steam oven, not just sitting on a shelf. And as I carried it away, I noticed that it wasn't light and airy, but it heavy like a brick; that was intriguing. Next time Erica will get to try one with video.

American Visitors

Brittany and Steph (teaching in Bien Hoa) came to visit for the weekend and go to fellowship with us. We had a good time and we got to show them a couple of our favorite places around town.
















One day we came out of a bookstore, where we finally bought a Vietnamese to English dictionary, and it was raining. No, not raining. Pouring. No, not pouring. The sky had opened up and was dumping on us. We thought we had experienced rain in Vietnam, but we were wrong. If we had, we would have known that we must carry our ponchos with us wherever we go. We also would have known that we would need to bring a change of clothes with us to school. below are picture from the taxi that we hailed after running the 15 yards from the door to the bus stop.

Later, Brittany and I were already completely soaked, so we left to get dinner. The ponchos kept

the food dry at least. Erica and I can't help but be loyal to the little stands where we go eat. The women are so nice to us and want to help us the best they can. The lady we buy omlettes from

packed everything up in plastic bags and this time she slipped some candies in the bag too. I didn't notice them until I got back to the house. They were disgusting, but we appreciated it anyway.

Finally got to write Haikus

Two days ago our power was out (and it still is). No big deal. It has happened before. We assumed that everyone’s power was out too. That night when we came back to our apartment, the power was still out and everyone around us had power. Suddenly in realization, we remembered that piece of paper that had been pushed under our door that morning. It was in Vietnamese so we didn’t know what it said. Please enjoy this little snippet of our night:

Getting light by flame
And a headlamp on my head
We write this for you

Erica translates
That power is not on
We already knew

The name on the bill
We do not know who they are
But they didn’t pay

Our landlord is nice
She doesn’t speak English, so
We don’t really know

It is fortunate
There is no meat in our fridge
It would stink by now

What perfect timing
Day before a holiday
No one to help us

Independence Day
Is a holiday for us
And for our power

Entertain ourselves
Shadow puppets on the wall
The milk is lukewarm

Look for my glasses
I hear a soft crunching sound
Oh, not a good noise

Electricity
We’ve taken you for granted
Now we are sorry