My Lil’ Saigon

As many of you know, air pollution in HCMC is horrible. It is like sucking on a tailpipe for an hour straight. There is no escape. With millions of motorbikes, a high percentage of them being old or chinese crap, plus old inefficient trucks, plus sewage in the rivers, its really a big problem.

Since houses are open to the outside, the air permeates everything. Even with Air Conditioning, you still get it in the house. The worst is during rush hour, especially when you have to go through busy intersections and through construction limited roads (half shut down). You can feel your lungs crying. Or maybe thats just the carbon monoxide.

Anyway. I purchased the most expensive mask I could for my evening drive. A whopping 63,000VND, or about… $4US. It has a filter, though I couldn’t find any technical information on it, so I don’t know the filter size or material, but its better than loose fitting cloth. And now, I don’t wonder why Asians have a thing for facemasks.

Here it is in all its glory. I call it the Blue Bandito

As I post this, I am feeling quite ill. Tension headache and stomach problems are the after effects of the fever I had last night while trying to sleep. I hope it clears up in time for me to finish off the rest of my work schedule this week.

I’ve put up some pictures in an set I’m calling Bad Attempts at Art.

Don’t expect too much.

Pictures Page

Hello All, I’m going to note to you that a few things that I’ve updated, and write about a few things that have happened over the last week or so.

1st: Updated Flowers Pictures Page.

2nd: Teachers Day.
Every year in November, in Vietnam, there is a holiday called Teacher’s Day. On this day, those that are teachers get honored, mostly by students, but also by the organizations that they slave work for. VUS seems to be the big money enterprise in ESL education, and they didn’t disappoint in presentation (as I may have mentioned, they fed us at the Sheraton). Some highlights include (but are not limited to).
Being greated by Hennessy at 9am in the morning:

Teachers also gave some awesome performances including the blacksheep from Tan Binh Campus: *Video Coming soon, but here’s a picture of the crew*

Chào các bạn, I’m sorry for the delay but I’ve been very busy. Taking these classes, and teaching 35+ hours a week makes for little time to prepare any sort of interesting pictures or stories. So you’ll get a few interesting snidbits (I am not sure if that is a word).

1. The guards at the US consulate are carrying AK-47’s. They don’t like you stopping to take their picture either. I go chased away. They are the only guards in the city (of ANY consulate) carrying guns. You think he US isn’t paranoid? They are also BY FAR the most heavily armored consulate in town. concrete posts all around the compound to keep any vehicle far enough away to not “bomb” the building, I’m sure. Also, the most guards and intensive gate system. Heck, the British consulate, just down the road has an open door all day long, with only one guard there to stop you.

2. I have some interesting pictues coming when I get some time to put them up.

3. Teacher’s day is awesome. I got some gifts, some flowers, and they school I work for threw one hell of a party. They said they spent $40,000USD on GIFTS for teachers. and I believe it. They gave out about 40 free 2 day trips with accomodations at 5 star hotels. I mean…. wow! That was impressive. They also had the party at the sheraton, which can’t be cheap. To top it off…. We had bottles of hennessy at our table, unlimited supply. When our bottle was finished, another one magically appeared. If it wasn’t for a few of the really boring speeches, I would have given it two thumbs up. Oh, that and I didn’t win anything, but they did give us a really nice leather bag.

4. Vietnamese classes. I’m tone deaf. So learning a tonal language is like a blind person trying to read War and Peace that is only in half braille.

Look for pictures (at some point)

Chào các bạn, có khỏe không?

“Hello you all, How are you?” (Rough translation I suppose).

I started taking Vietnamese Classes today! 5 days a week, 8am-10am. In addition to that, my school is offering them on Tuesday/Thursday 10am-12pm. I plan on doing that too. As exhausting as that may sound, it should be good for me. Only real problem is that I am being taught “proper” (Northern, aka where the government is located) Vietnamese.

Much as the Northern parts of other countries dislike the south (America, Italy, etc), here it goes beyond dislike. People from the south say that the northern accent is ’shrill’ and horribly irritating. Now, I am learning the language to communicate with the southerners, so I probably should learn southern, but no one teaches that. I guess I’ll just have to try to learn both.

Have a good day! Leave some Comments, won’t you?

Here is a quick little dialogue from my first day of class:

Việt: Chào cô Lan, cô có khỏe không? ̣(Hello Ms.Lan, How are you?)
Lan: Chào anh Việt, tôi khỏe, còn anh? (Hello Mr.Việt, I am fine, and you?)
Việt: Cám ơn cô, tôi cũng khỏe. (Thank you (miss), I am also fine)
Lan: Chào anh, hẹn gặp lại. (Goodbye, see you again)
Việt: Chào cô, hẹn gặp lại. (Goodbye, see you again)

Ly, How did I do?

First off, Welcome to a post that doesnt’ have anything to do with me adding new pictures or changing format!

I’ve been reading a book called “The Mekong” by Milton Osborne. It has taken me awhile to finish it due to being busy, but it is very good book about the situations surronding the Mekong River, especially the last 50-100 years. Reading it has brought up many questions about different things for me. These questions tend to be mostly hypothetical, but thats normal. One of the main questions that has bothered me in the last 50 or so pages of the book is the differences between the industrial powers of Asia and other Western countries. For example, how does America compare to China in their disregard for the environment of surrounding countries in their pursuit of industrial success? One of the things noted in this book is how China has built multiple dams on the upper reaches of the Mekong, for Hydropower, and has said that the effect on the flow and fauna of the river would be minimal and in fact the downflow of silt from the dams would be GOOD for the countries along the course of the river. Again, as pointed out in the book, it seems that China has a great ability to disregard the opinion of everyone outside their internal circle of power, even with the social liberalisation of the people the conciousness concerning those outside the country is minimal at best.

I know that I can stand and say “That is wrong”, and people would agree with me, but then again, this is only one specific example of a repeated behavior of governments around the world, with the prime example likely being the United States. I have not even entered the realm of environmental impact, as that could continue for a long time. Basically, the people with the money just want more (both money and power) and they don’t care about the long term future for anyone but themselves.

…and now I’m rambling. So I shall digress.

“When you are poor, you can’t have dignity”

As a blessed person economically (never have I gone hungry or shelterless), I dislike this comment, as my hopes for other people are much higher than that. This comment is in regard (not spoken to me directly) about the young women here taking up marriage with much older men almost purely on the basis of money, or leading on the men just to get their money. Sadly this is common, not an exception.

and… I think my rant is over. Comments appreciated.

First Set of Pictures (and movies) of my school kids, check out the adorable little things!

The Kids!

Also some Flowers!

Flowers!

*edit*
Today’s Moment of Zen:
After workign on getting all these pictures of my kiddies up, I realized that when I look at the pictures, I really do enjoy working with little kids. The smiles really make it all.
Even the screaming “TEACHER TEACHER” at least makes me feel like they really enjoy my teaching. That being said, No way in hell would I want to spend an entire day with them. 1 hour is great, I think 2 would be pretty good too. Damn, they are cute.

So you’ll have to wait to see them.

While you wait, check out this awesome video of my Kendo Instructor.

I’ve made the change for this format from now on.

I will slowly get all the pictures and everything up on this site, for now you’ll just have to wait.

I took some pictures of my Primary school kids today, plus a bit of video, so we’ll see how that turns out and I’ll put some of that up too.

Just wait, You’ll get everything you’ve ever wanted, and more!

In the meantime, Here’s another picture of Ly:

NO! It has been 4 days!

Sorry to keep you all waiting, I just haven’t done anything interesting at all this week. I hurt my back playing soccer on sunday, so I’ve been letting that rest (besides working everyday and driving my motorbike, which hurt like a bitch). Its only a muscle strain, and its going away finally. So maybe I’ll play again on Sunday! (glutton for punishment RIGHT HERE)

In other news, I have decided that against my financial best interests, I shall travel to Nha Trang and learn how to dive. By doing this I may be eventually have to pay interest on my loans but you know what.

I’ll take the I.O.U… thank you.

Oh, and here’s a picture of me looking stupid and white, and Ly looking dark and happy. Enjoy. Click to see full size