And in case you're interested, I just started a new blog.  Just a place for me to write down my thoughts about the world around me.  Here's the address:

www.buxon.blogspot.com

hello tamil this isn't working. 

MIA

Hi Everyone,

So, obviously I'm back at home now.  Most of you have actually seen me already.  And, as you may or may not know, I ended up coming home early.  Pretty soon after my last post, the culture shock and other not-so-great circumstances finally caught up with me, and I knew that it was time for me to come home.  It's a long story, and I'd love to talk with you more about it, just ask.  

Since I've been home, almost everyone I know has asked me "How was Vietnam?"  Definitely not an unexpected question.  And unfortunately, my answer to that question has been mostly dominated by explaining the reason why things were hard for me there and why left the program and came home early.  I'm sad that I haven't really been able to tell people what an amazing experience that I had, and all of the things that I really appreciated and came to love about Vietnam.  I actually miss it quite a lot right now.  And although things were hard while I was there, I know that ultimately my feelings about Vietnam in the moment came mostly from the intense culture shock that I was feeling.  

But I want to set the record straight.  Vietnam is a wonderful country!  The people are incredibly nice and eager to talk to you and get to know you.  The countryside is beautiful, and the cities are dynamic and interesting places.  The food is incredible, and the coffee is unbelievably good (I am officially addicted to it, and am now going through withdrawals).  I made some really wonderful friends while I was there, and I wish I could have spent more time with them.  Being at Carolina in the summer, when most people that I know aren't around, I miss my Vietnamese friends so much!  The language is difficult, but beautiful.  I miss speaking it, and wish that I could find some sort of Vietnamese community here in Chapel Hill.  Vietnam is truly an amazing place, and I would love to go back someday.  

Even though things were hard, and thinking about the experience and my decision to come home is sometimes confusing, I wouldn't have traded my experiences in Vietnam for anything.  

Thanks for reading my poorly updated blog.  It was so great to get comments from all of you, and you brought a little piece of home to Vietnam.  

Until I go off and decide to do something else completely random and crazy,

Amanda

So, it's been a loooooooooong time! So prepare yourselves for a long post.

I have now officially seen "all" of Vietnam. About two weeks ago, the four of us on my program went on a 10-day tour through central and northern Vietnam. It was a much-needed break from the craziness of the city, and I loved seeing the more rural Vietnam.

1st stop: Hoi An

We flew from HCMC to Da Nang, and then drove a short way over to Hoi An. I absolutely loved Hoi An!!! Our hotel had a little balcony that looked over into a school and a small soccer field. I loved waking up in the morning to the sound of children. And the weather there was so nice! So much better than the sweltering heat of HCMC.

Hoi An is known for its tailors...sounds strange I know. Basically, the streets are lined with tailor shops, and you can get clothes, shoes, jewelry, you name it, made in just a day or two. And really cheap! I got two pairs of pants and a red pea coat made, all for about $35. So great!

Hoi An is also near the coast, so we all rented bikes and rode for about 20 minutes down to the beach. I was just a little bit terrified, because I haven't ridden a bike much since I was really little. So riding down the street with motorikes, cars, buses, and trucks (albeit a whole lot less than there are in the cities) wasn't exactly the best time to try and pick it up again. But once I got comfortable with the bike, I really enjoyed it a lot, and actually rented the bike on my own the next couple of days and rode it around the city.

We also went to My Son, the holy land of the Champa people. I never actually got a full explanation as to who the Champa people are, but the buildings there were really cool. They were kind of Angkor Wat-esque.

We also got to take a boat ride on a very very small boat. I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to hold 5 people plus the rower. Haha. But we did it anyway. Definitey an experience. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole tour.

2nd Stop: Bach Ma National Park

We headed off toward Hue, and stopped at Bach Ma National Park on the way. This was our "roughing it" part of the trip. The park is in the mountains in the Central Highlands, and it was absolutely beautiful!!! We drove up to the summit after we got there, and the view was absolutely amazing. I took pictures, but they really could never do it justice. Then we spent the night in this really run-down hotel. The room was just two mattresses on the floor and a pretty crappy bathroom, and there were bugs everywhere! Two people got locked out of their room, so we had to spend the night in the same room. It was interesting trying to fit 5 people on 2 mattresses. I got stuck in the crack. haha. Then the next morning we went on a hike to two watefalls. Both were beautiful, but one of them was really really huge and breathtaking. We actually went to the top of it first, and the view from there was unbelievable. Then we walked down 700...yes 700...stairs to the bottom of the fall. And then we walked back up 700...yes 700...stairs to the top. Luckily we just had to walk a little ways further to meet our driver to take us back down the mountain. It was definitely an interesting experience, and this is where I have seen some of the most beautiful things that I've seen in Vietnam.

I couldn't even get the whole waterfall in one picture...it took 3!

Next Stop: Hue

This is where we did all of our really "touristy" stuff. Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty. first we went to the tombs of two old emperors (spelling?), which were both pretty impressive. Then we had lunch at the house of a princess, which her granddaughter now owns. There was a lot of history there, which was cool. Then we went to the citadel, or forbidden city, which is where the emperors used to live and work with the royal family and all of the "government" officials. It was really big and all the buildings were pretty much the same, but we stil had a good time. Then we went to the national pagoda of vietnam, I can't remember the name. It has a 7-layer tower in the front, and then a typical pagoda in the back. We got to see the monks there doing their chants and walking around the pagoda. It was strange because all of them were really young. they had "monks" as young as 7 or 8. I still don't really know what to think about buddhism, because I know next to nothing about it. but it was interesting to see that.

I finally got my own leaf, or conical, hat! This is the cone-shaped hat that you always see women wearing in Vietnam. The way they made it is really cool, because when you hold it up in the light, you can see shapes in the shadows. One of them is the 7-layer tower that we had seen there in Hue.

Final Stop: Hanoi

I'm not sure what to think about Hanoi. It's so big and we didn't really get to see very much of it in just 2 short days. It has a very different feel from HCMC. I mean, the traffic is just as insane, but the whole atmosphere is different somehow. The people speak with a very different accent, and there is a lot of history there, and the city definitely has a French feel to it (Hanoi is the city that France used to control the country when Vietnam was a colony). And they have really good Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup, the most famous food in Vietnam)!

We went to visit the Presidential Palace, where Ho Chi Minh lived and ran the government of Vietnam after French occupation and before the Vietnam/American War. We also went to see Ho Chi Minh's Mosoleum. Usually you can go in and actually view his body, but it was closed the day that we went. It's really interesting to me, because Ho Chi Minh wanted to be cremated, and never wanted his body to be put on display. But after his death, they went against his wishes and built this huge mosoleum and preserved his body for display. Kind of weird...I'm almost glad that it was closed. I don't think I want to see the body of a guy who's been dead for about 40 years.

Because of timing, Hanoi is where I spent Easter this year. A very unique easter, walking around a lake in Hanoi at sunrise. Certainly an easter that I will never forget.

Before heading back to HCMC, we spent an afternoon in Halong Bay. This is one of the most famous destinations in Vietnam. We took a boat out into the bay, stopped at some caves on the way, and had lunch while enjoying the scenery. So beautiful! Again, pictures wouldn't do it justice.

Time to go back home

We came back to HCMC, and all of us were dreading it. At least I know I was. It was so nice to get out of the city, and now it was back to life-as-usual. Not too much has been going on since I got back. Basically just going to class and my internship. I can't remember if I've written about it before, but I'm interning at a place called the Little Rose Shelter. It's a shelter for girls ages 12-18 who have been sexually abused, or are "at risk." I've kind of struggled getting started with it, not really sure what they wanted me to do, or what would help them the most. But I've finally settled in now. I'm teaching english really informally to some of the staff there. They've had english before, so I'm basically doing reading comprehension and helping them with pronunciation. After doing that for about an hour, I basically just play with the kids, which is a little hard right now because they're not used to me and we really can't communicate at all. But I'm starting to have more fun with them, and I've decided to start bringing my video camera and letting them make a video. I'm not sure how that will work out, but I think it would be cool.

We're heading off to the Mekong Delta (again...for me) next week. We'll be there for about 4 days, so it'll be good to spend more than just a few hours there.

5 weeks and counting! I'm heading home exactly 5 weeks from today. As bad as it may sound, I'm counting down the days. Three months is a long time, and although I've had some really great experiences and learned some really invaluable lessons, me and Vietnam never really cliqued. I'm ready to come home.

Well, this didn't actually turn out quite as long as I thought it would. I hope you've enjoyed it!

One of the roommates did our hair.

Not much they could do with mine. :)

That's definitely a grapefruit...that happens to be the size of my head.

Me and Ho Chi Minh

A quote from Ho Chi Minh

Semi-rural Vietnam

Me and Hanee on our boat in the Mekong

Houses along the river

The floating market

A guy selling drinks from his boat

We met another girl from Korea and a guy from Japan.

It was cool to spend they day with them.

Women on the Mekong

Me on a beautiful bridge. :)

Market in Vinh Long

Hey Everybody!



Sorry I haven't written in a while, partly due to laziness, and partly do to a lack of things to share with you.



The last couple of weeks have been relatively uneventful. I've just basically been going to class and hanging out with the people on the program. But there are a few new things to talk about. :)



The American students and our roommates went to the Cu Chi Tunnels a couple of weeks ago. These are underground tunnels, basically a whole underground town, that the local people used to fight the Americans during the Vietnam War (which the Vietnamese call the American War). We actually got to crawl through some of them, which was really awesome. Definitely not for people who hate small, enclosed spaces. :) they were so small! Being there it was clear to see that the Vietnamese are definitely proud that they won the war.

That same day we also went to a Cao Dai temple. Cao Daoism is a relatively new religion which began in Vietnam in the mid 1900s. The temple was really impressive. It was really big and had every color imaginable. The main symbol is a left eye. They have great respect for the left eye because they believe that it is the window into your soul. I don't know much else about the religion, except that it is a mixture of many other religions. There was even a bust of Jesus at the front of the temple. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, because my camera was temporarily out of order (and getting it fixed was not a pleasant experience...)

My Korean friend Hanee is visiting this week! She studied at UNC last semester, and just went back to Korea in January. It's so great to have a good friend here, if even for a short time. We have had all sorts of adventures. :) We went to visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which was an interesting experience. The Vietnamese have a completely different perspective on Ho Chi Minh than we do in America. They respect him a great deal, and they portray him almost like a saint. It was really eye-opening to go to his museum and see such a different perspective on him and on the war than what we have in the US. They had a lot of quotes from him posted up on the walls, which was probably my favorite part of the exhibits.

We also went on a one-day trip to the Mekong Delta, which I loved! It's probably my favorite thing that I've done in Vietnam so far. It was so great to get out of HCMC and really get to see the more rural side of Vietnam. We took a 3-hour bus ride to Cai Pe, where we got on a boat and went up the river to the floating market. The floating market is where the locals buy and sell fruits, vegetables, etc. There was even a guy selling sodas from his boat! :) We also got to see people making rice paper, rice crispies (haha...and yes, they were just like the cereal!), and coconut candy. We had lunch at a river-side cafe and got to walk around and explore a little bit. It was so nice just to have time to walk around in this quiet, serene place. Before heading back to HCMC, we got to spend about an hour in a nearby town. Unlike the city, the people here aren't used to seeing foreigners, so we got lots of stares. But I loved it because we actually got to talk to the local people. The city is so impersonal, and no one really cares that you're there. But here people actually wanted to talk to us, kids especially. I got to practice my Vietnamese, which was great. I love having Hanee here, because she makes me feel like I actually know how to speak a lot of Vietnamese. haha.

I've been able to visit a couple of churches here. The last two sundays I went to a Vietnamese church. They had someone translating the service into english, which we listened to in headphones. But the technology really wasn't that great, so it was still hard to understand. But it was great to at least be in a room with about 200 Vietnamese believers. This morning I went to an international church that met in an incredibly large home in District 2. It was great to actually sing songs in english and hear a sermon that I could understand. And the pastor talked about adjusting to living in another culture, and remembering, even when things are hard and we feel like we are failing, that we are made in the image of God and that He loves us no matter how much we mess up. That was really good to here, because I'm still really struggling with adjusting to the culture here. It's a lot harder than I expected it to be, and I've been fighting the culture so far. But I know there is always grace for me, and that His mercies are new every morning. I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I'll try to get off my lazy butt and update more often from now on. :) I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings!

Amanda

p.s. - I'll add some pictures soon. It's getting dark and I need to head back to the guest house. :)

Life in Viet Nam

I thought I'd share with you some ins and outs of my life here in Viet Nam.

- Motorbikes EVERYWHERE! They weave in and out of traffic and are always blowing their horns.

- Crossing the street is an interesting experience. You basically just have to go and let the motorbikes go around you. I'm pretty sure my mom would have a heart attack if she saw me crossing the street here (haha...Hi mom!)

- Every single kid here is cute. No...seriously...all of them. And that goes for the old people too. :)

- Wet bathrooms...hate them. Basically, there is no separation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom, just a shower head stuck on the wall. This means that everytime someone uses the shower, the entire bathroom is soaking wet. Yuck.

- Iced Tea...yes, they have iced tea here. But it's a little different from Bojangles. You get iced green tea with every meal and everytime you go to a coffee shop.

- High heels. All of the women here wear high heels. It's craziness! I went to a waterfall when I was in Da Lat, and there were women climbing across the rocks...in high heels! The women are always dressed up.

- Now, I thought the US was a coffee-drinking culture. I've never had so much coffee in my life! I've had at least one cup of coffee everyday since I've been in Vietnam. Every restaurant has it, and there are probably twice as many coffee shops as there are restaurants. But I'm not complaining. I actually love the coffee here, even though I don't drink coffee at all in the US.

More to come later...

Hey Everybody!

Long time no...blog. haha. Sorry it's been so long. I didn't have a chance to email in Da Lat, and my internet connection has been pretty sketchy since I've been back in HCMC.

So...Chuc mung nam moi! Happy New Year! I had a great time bring in the New Year (the lunar one, that is) in the romantic city of Da Lat (and speaking of romance... Happy Valentine's Day!).

The City of Da Lat






Da Lat is absolutely beautiful! And it was a much need change from the big, loud, impersonal HCMC. The city reminded me of some little hillside town in Italy or France (not that I've ever been there...oh the wonders of photography). It is in the Central Highlands region, and it is where the French colonialists would vacation to get away from the heat. The streets wound their way through rows of 3 or 4 story multi-colored buildings. The colors were absolutely beautiful! Rich reds, yellows, blues, greens, all stacked up together on the hills. I loved it! Da Lat is also known as the city of flowers, and there were definitely beautiful flowers everywhere.








End of the Year Party!!!








The days before Tet are filled with lots of preparations. People clean and decorate their homes, make enough food to last them through the few days of Tet, and just generally get ready for the New Year. They want to spend the days of Tet just relaxing and visiting family and friends, so there are lots of things to get done before the first day of the New Year.




One of those things is to have a party celebrating the year that is ending. I actually was able to go to two such parties. Lucky me :) I remember just chilling one morning at Ka's house, helping her to make spring roles (which I'm not very good at, by the way). One minute it was just me and her, the next there were about 30 people in her house...all family members. And they all wanted to meet ME! Ahhhhh!!!! It was absolute craziness. Everyone was talking and laughing and drinking and toasting. It was such a cool experience, to see how happy everyone was to see each other and to celebrate the New Year together. It was like that everytime they got together during the week. Many of the cousins in the family go to school in HCMC, so this is one of the few times that their entire family is able to be together. The second party I went to was at Ka's aunt's house, and we all sat around on the floor eating food and talking. I got a choice of the five boys in the room of which one I wanted to be my boyfriend. haha. Other than that awkward moment, I had a great time.

And for all you American Idol fans out there, there is a Vietnam Idol, too. And Ka's cousin came in fourth place in the last season of the show. He's almost finishe recording his first album. I got to meet him, and got a picture with him, of course. Let's just say that he was very proud of his achievment. :)

Another part of the preparations for Tet is making a tradition "cake" called Banh Chung. It is rice (a special kind of sticky rice only eaten during this time of year), green bean paste (sounds weird, but it's pretty good) and meet, all wrapped up in a leaf and then steamed. It actually looks kind of like a Christmas present. The story, to keep it short, is that a king had many sons and was trying to decide which one would succeed him as king. He told them to make him food to help celebrate the New Year, and the one who pleased him the most would be the next king. The 18th son, not very important in the line up and with a mother who had been shamed, made the Banh Chung and another kind of cake. This food was very simple, but he made each of the cakes in a way that they represented the earth and the sky. The king was impressed, and made this son the next king. Now Banh Chung is prepared and eaten every Tet holiday. I got to make a few...and I didn't do too bad, if I do say so myself.

Tet has finally arrived!

Finally, it was Tet eve. You could feel the excitement. People were running around the house, getting things ready. We got a visit from a dragon and one of the Buddhist gods. Kids from around the area came around in costumes to each house and did the dragon dance, mostly to get Li Si, or “lucky money.” It’s given to kids during the Tet holiday to wish them a lucky year and to celebrate their birthday. It’s kind of confusing, but the Vietnamese at least ceremonially base their age on the new year. Every Tet they gain another year on their age. I was glad to spend Tet with a family, because I got almost 200,000 dong (about $12, but it goes a long way here) in Li Si! :)

There were fire works in the main part of time to celebrate the coming of 2008, and we could see them from the balcony of the house. You could hear people cheering from the town. It was so great!

The next morning we got up and put on new clothes (a must for Tet) and went to visit the family. We went to Ka’s grandfather’s house, and you could hear the cheers before we even went inside. They had started giving out Li Si, and it was the funniest experience I’ve had in Viet Nam so far. All the kids were lined up, holding out their hands and looking at the older people like “Where’s my money?” haha. And even though I couldn’t understand what people were saying, I could tell that they were all joking about how much they had gotten, or who was supposed to give money to who. People would open up the red envelopes, and then make a face and jokingly ask for more money. It was hilarious! And everyone was just so happy the be spend time together.







Then we went to visit the graves of their family members who had passed away. Each grave has a picture of the person, and they would light incense and put it on the grave. That was definitely a new experience for me. Then we went to a pagoda, where Ka and her family spent a few minutes lighting incense and saying prayers. I have to do an ethnographic project while I’m here, and I’m thinking about doing it on religion and the role it plays in the everyday life of Vietnamese, so it was really interesting to be able to see these religious “ceremonies.”





After that, we just rested. For the next few days there was nothing to do but enjoy having nothing to do. Overall, the Tet holiday was a really great experience, and I’m glad I was here in Vietnam to see it!

Wow, it's hard to believe that I've been in Viet Nam for a week already! Actually, it feels like I've been here forever. Home feels a little bit like a distant dream.

A lot has happened since the last time I updated:

Roommates!

First of all, we finally got our roommates! My roommate's name is Thao, but she goes by To (easy enough to remember...haha). Sometimes we have a little trouble understanding each other because of the language barrier, but she's great! We really get a long well. She goes to the Foreign Trade University here in HCMC, so she's basically an economics major. She's from Da Lat city, the city of Flowers. :)

The other three roommates are great too. I get along really well with all of them. They are all classmates at Foreign Trade, so they knew each other already. We (the Americans) have been able to spend a lot of time with them because this is their break for the New Year. We've been going out to dinner, drinks (they drink a lot of fruit juices, coffee, smoothies, etc.), to the movies (man, was that an interesting experience), and shopping.

The first day they were here, we participated in Amazing Race: Ho Chi Minh City. Haha. Each roommate pair was a team, and we had to perform 6 different tasks in the city. First, our roommates taught us a traditional Vietnamese card game, and then the Americans had to play each other without the help of our roommates. The first team to win (that would be me...hehe) got to go on to the next task, which was to drive to the National Library, the Museum, and back to the CET office. Then we had to make a map, including all the streets, at least 2 businesses on each street, and 5 other landmarks. It was so hard for me to remember how to spell the street names! But it was really fun riding on the back of To's motorbike. :) The next task was just for me - I had to crack open 10 pumpkin seeds (traditionally eaten during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year), leaving the seeds completely intact. It was harder than it sounds, but it didn't take too long. Then we had to take the bus to another part of the city and get someone to volunteer to tell us their family tree, comprised of at least 10 family members. It took us forever to finally find someone who was willing to help! We came back to the CET office and had to put together a puzzle of a Vietnamese poster. And then...WE WON! :) Our prize was some money to go to dinner together. We had such a good time!

Me, To, Motorbike :)

Me, To, Hiu

Tet

Tet den roi! Tet is coming! Tet is the Vietnamese New Year, and it is a BIG DEAL here. There are decorations up all over the city, and almost every store or business has a sign up that says Happy New Year - Chuc mung nam moi! The university students get about a month off, many people take of work for the whole week of Tet, and most business are closed for the three days of Tet. Ho Chi Minh City is supposed to be the center of the Tet festivities, but many people go to visit family all over Viet Nam. I'm really excited because I am leaving tomorrow with one of the other roommates, Ka, to go to her home in Da Lat to celebrate Tet with her family. I'll be there until next sunday, so for about 8 days. It'll be great to stay with a Vietnamese family and to see how they celebrate the New Year!

Decorations for Tet

Chao anh. Anh ten la gi?


I started taking Vietnamese on monday. Vietnamese is so hard! The pronunciation is really
difficult, and to make it worse, they have SIX tones! I think I'm doing pretty good so far, but I don't feel like I know a lot just yet. My teacher is Co Trinh (sounds kind of like Jen), and she's really great. When I do something well, she says "bling bling", which is pretty much hillarious. Haha. Be praying for me as I try to learn the language. I really want to be able to communicate with people here.





Well, this post is long enough already. Thanks for reading! I don't know if I'll have access to the internet next week in Da Lat, but if I do I'll be sure to tell you all about Tet!



Prayer requests:

> adjusting to both Vietnamese culture and city culture
> discipline to fight for my time with God
> a friend here who is a believer
> opportunites to share with my new friends here
> wisdom to know how to invest my time