Sunday… my impressions from today… subject to change tomorrow.

May have just discovered the truth in the saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover’… today was just an excellent day… it was just as noisy as yesterday, every bit as smoggy as yesterday, and the pace in the city was just as frenzied . But I’ve never experienced a place that just dripped with traditional culture and some of the friendliest people I have yet to meet… and surprisingly, it was relatively easy for me to separate out into a quieter place and pace.

Our group of VPV volunteers went on a city tour today… took the bus everywhere and went to two museums…the first was one that was dedicated to the history of the Vietnamese people and the various sects…the next one was to a Buddhist temple originally built to teach the brightest scholars of around the year 1000 and to expand upon the wisdom of Confucius and those during that time.

While the temple & museum were exceptional, it is the people of Hanoi that really just blow me away. First the volunteers themselves…this is once again a really great bunch as I’ve found most to be wherever I’ve gone. With the noise and my difficulty hearing in crowds and specifically understanding any foreign accents, it is difficult to follow much of what is going on… .and having many wear facial masks is an added pebble in the road as I really strongly rely on seeing a person’s lips to understand. But it really hasn’t mattered much as I so like to try to figure out for myself what is really going on solely thru observation. But our group has just been so helpful to me and very much into helping me out whenever necessary. I truly feel no separation from the group dynamic at all. But oftentimes it isn’t easy and I’m fine just letting others take the lead and I’ll come along and pick up whatever I can pick up.   

But it’s the Vietnamese people that are the real jewel of this country. We have 3-4 local Vietnamese volunteers from the area, Binh, Quuyan (Quinn), and 2 other girls whose names are hard for me to remember… they pretty much showed us their city yesterday…proudly and rightfully so. The women of Vietnam often will dress in their more traditional formal garb and look so elegant and with the Oriental mystique that just seems to surround them… .and those that don’t and choose to just wear jeans are just ‘hot’ with some of the smoothest, most beautiful skin I’ve seen. I know it will become clearer what the attraction to these people is for me (and assuming many others), but it’s just not clear yet.

About the Viet Nam war and perhaps most or all wars. When I see the people and faces and smiles on the bus and realize it wasn’t long ago that bombs and B-52 bombers over the city were an everyday occurrence for these people here to live thru, I just scratch the old bald melon. These people are just like me…happy faces, go to schools and colleges, listening to their Ipods…just wanting to live their simple life of taking care of themselves and their family…nothing more. Certainly not ‘me, me, me’ types. They don’t seem to much care whether the gov’t is communist or capitalist, they are just content to live their life day to day and let the governments have their personal battles. 

Again, it’s hard to put into words, but it sure seems that while gov’ts on both sides do battle over ideologies, it just doesn’t seem all that important in the day to day lives of the people on the ground . And while I know that there probably is some repression to rights, I just haven’t seen or felt it as of yet and I’m not sure how much the residents do… and if they do, I don’t think they much care. Perhaps ignorance is bliss or perhaps both sides are ignorant and wear blinders… and the people must find individual freedom within themselves (sorry for the ‘heavies’). Actually, what I find most amazing is that the residents are so warm and accepting of those that were dropping bombs on them every day… not quite certain if I’d have such warm, fuzzies if the situation were reversed.


 Monday....
Off to my work placement…it has changed and I’m fine with that since I enjoy working with kids so much and I’ll be with Ryan & Kristina working at Peace Village. PV exists to help with 2nd & 3rd generation victims of Agent Orange, the defoliant used during the war to kill the underbrush in the forests. There are 8 million victims of Agent Orange and many of the disabilities, as I understand, are pretty horrific… being born without eyes and limbs and numerous nervous system disorders . Since tradition is such a big part of the culture here, disabilities and bad fortune are considered to be punishment to a family for past crimes…so often not only is the disabled person ostracized, but his family is as well.

Anyway, today is orientation day before our placements begin tomorrow…so it’s off to ‘work’.... OK, orientation is over, it is off to massage #1 with a new friend Julie who I just met from France and has had a few while she has been here... tomorrow she leaves to go back to France after being here for 1 1/2 months....hardly got ta know ya.