Streets of Vietnam

A pictures straight from the streets. 

You can see and purchase my photography on www.sherryott.smugmug.com

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Room with a View

During my first few months in HCMC I stayed in a guest house on and off for a few weeks at a time. The guesthouse was close to work, and next to tons of cheap eating places in the heart of the ‘backpacker’ district. However, with the good comes the bad…right? For $18 a night I didn’t expect to have a penthouse view, so when I arrived in my room and pulled back the curtains to see what my view was, I wasn’t surprised to find out I looked out on a huge mud pit which was masquerading as a construction site. Who needs views of trees when you can have a lovely view of large cranes…not the birds. Since I worked during the day, I felt this noisy construction ‘mess’ wouldn’t bother me – so I let it roll right off my back as you are supposed to do in Asia if you want to survive. However, soon I realized that I had overlooked the golden rule in Asia…there are no rules.

Smoke Break

The construction was conducted 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I have no idea how many crews of people they had coming and going – but there was at least 15 people working around the site every time I looked out the window. It didn’t matter if it was pouring down rain, or if it was 3am; they were still there, working away driving pylons in a pit of mud that swallowed them like quick sand when they tried to walk.

With the 24/7 activity, came a symphony of sounds. Sadly the sounds didn’t resemble Mozart, instead they were the classic masterpieces of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Phantom of the Opera.

 Who knew that I would be awoken at 3AM by broadway tunes in Vietnam? One night at midnight I was serenaded by Christmas music. It’s like dueling banjos each tune competing in volume over the next. Strangely enough the music was coming from the construction site vehicles; surprising…not really. All over Asia trucks and large vehicles have a warning signal for when they back up. However, it’s not the traditional beep, beep, beep that we are used to in North America, it’s more sophisticated than that. It’s generally a whole tune that sounds like it’s coming from an old, tinny Atari game from 1980. A cheap tinny speaker sound that is invoked each time a truck is put in reverse; at any time of the day or night.

Dirty Job

I’m not really sure what the fascination with vehicle musical tunes is. One night I was commuting home on a motorbike and the city bus was making a right turn in front of us – as soon as the bus turned on his blinker (a miracle that even happened), Happy Birthday started chiming from the bus. The turn signal actually chimed happy birthday. You can imagine my surprise! Is there such a stimulation overload here in HCMC that a simple blinking turn signal is not enough…it has to play the Birthday song too?!

Don't look!

I watched as men climbed a huge crane without ‘tethering in’ in a thunderstorm full of lightening. I watched them weld rebar with absolutely no protective gear. In fact, they would stare right into the welding light/flame. Sometime if there were a bunch of ‘sparks’ flying, they would put up their free hand to shade their eyes…but that was about it. I watched mud spew up from deep holes as if they struck oil and everyone scattered running to ‘safety’. There was no end to the peril these men were put in every day….and they didn’t even care about the danger, which was probably the hardest part to understand.

Don't look down...(click to enlarge)

It was clear that Vietnamese construction sites operated quite differently from the western world; however, one thing was surprisingly the same. One evening I had run across the street to get a bottle of water to brush my teeth and 4 construction workers were sitting on the curb taking a break at 10PM on a Friday. As I ran out of the store with my purchase – I heard it…a cat call. It stopped me in my tracks. Now that’s not a sound you hear often in Vietnam. ‘Aggressive chauvinist’ is not one of the words I would normally use to describe Vietnamese men. However, after I turned and gave them a disapproving look, I crossed that street and smiled to myself in amazement; construction workers are the same all over the world.

Colorful Bowls

Bowls at the China Town market in HCMC. 

You don't need to know Vietnamese to understand this sign!

It’s nice to know that other places around the world invent holidays for the flower industry. I have just experienced my first Teacher’s Day in Vietnam! November 20th is a major holiday here in Vietnam; Teacher’s Day. Granted – you don’t get the day off of work, but it is well celebrated. In fact, it’s the first holiday that I actually ‘qualify’ for. I have often felt a bit cheated on Mother’s day, and of course Valentine’s day is non-existent for me - there is no ‘single woman’ holiday, nor is there a vagabond holiday, so finally I have found a holiday that I qualify for; Teacher’s Day!

I started seeing the signs up as I was sitting at a stop light on the back of the motorbike. I can’t read Vietnamese – but the painting of the young lady with a chalk board and A, B, C written on it was all I needed to understand that it was a teacher. It had the date 20-11-08 written on it. I tucked away the information in my brain and didn’t really think about it much again.

On the 20th, the students poured into class baring flowers and colorfully foil wrapped presents. I was a bit beside myself as I wasn’t really sure what to expect on teacher’s day, but I wasn’t expecting any outpouring of gratitude or gifts like this! My beginner class did a little presentation in class and gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a lovely set of laquerware boxes that said Happy Teacher Day on them with the date. At break time it was time to celebrate with food. Asian rice cakes, crackers, dried fruit, and some of the cutest marshmallow treats I’ve ever seen! Due to the sugar high, I tried to rework my lesson plan on the fly to incorporate some more fun games into the 2nd half as I knew there was no way I was going to be able to get them to concentrate on the present continuous verb form after a dozen sugary marshmallows! Or maybe it was me that wouldn’t be able to concentrate –who knows.

After class one of the girls came up to my desk and gave me another gift from her as the other gifts were from the whole class. When I opened up the pink lacey box, I found a pair of shoes; now that was definitely the last thing I expected. My insecure side wondered if she hated my shoes so much that she thought I should have new ones?! At the same time I was actually flattered that she thought I had size 6 feet! Oh, Asians have no idea what it’s like to be a size 9! It was definitely the thought that counted when it came to this gift!

My elementary class also showed up with gifts and flowers. I even received a standing ovation from them…the whole thing kind of took my breath away. They also had a lovely wrapped gift for me – a handbag! At least size didn’t matter for this gift. Both the shoes and the handbag were Vietnamese crafted (i.e. made of plastic), but they were both cute nonetheless.

The students begged me to let them take me out for coffee, so I couldn’t turn them down; we finished class early that day to celebrate this fabulous holiday that was all about ME! I told them that I would end class early and go to coffee on one condition, everyone would have to speak English over coffee! They begrudgingly agreed.

I love little moments where you realize something unexpected. As I grow older, I find that those moments are precious because they are few and far between. Therefore, Teacher’s Day was a wonderful emotional surprise just when I needed it most.

Sticky Situation

Let’s take inventory. I’ve been in Saigon for two months now. It’s honestly been good and bad. Maybe bad is the wrong word…it’s more like “challenging”. Considering I’m a challenge junkie, one would think that I could have rolled with all of this massive change in my life a bit better, but alas…I am human.

I met a roommate and that ended up falling through (not off to a good start)
I went to a huge Ball the first weekend I was here (forcing me to shop…oh darn)
I know three people that have contracted Denge Fever (and unfortunately I’m living with them in the same house)
I’m the proud owner of my own motorbike helmet (I’m a safety girl!)
I’ve been caught in downpours while on motorbike taxis at least 8 times showing up to work dripping wet.
I have had one ‘nice attempt’ at an American cheeseburger, a pretty good Ruben sandwich, and tons of great Asian food – and have still managed to lose weight!
I am getting very little sleep thanks to the stress of trying to figure out answers for my life.
I have met the head of at least 6 companies here. (Networking has been a breeze in such a small expat community)
I have had 2 job offers outside of teaching.
I’ve eaten in establishments with rats running around at least 3 times. (keep in mind, these are only the ones I saw)
I’ve had one bloody bike crash. (but did end up with a nice pedicure when the day was over)
I have seen at least 3 other people crash or get hit by cars. (yes –I have insurance)
I have one friend who was hit crossing the street – and then had his wallet stolen on top of that!
I still don’t have a place to live!

I suppose things could be better, they could be worse; regardless, it’s definitely an adventure. At least I’m not living over a buffalo barn (see posts from Nepal!). That is a phrase that I will take to my grave I’m sure.

A wet Commute

It’s strange, I have really good days when I’m on the back of a motorbike and feeling on top of the world; loving the fact that I am somehow conquering all of my inhibitions and fears and tackling the unknown. Then the next day, I hit a low; a day where I really wonder if I can make it. The mind games begin and intensify when you are solo. I wonder if I want to teach. I wonder if I can deal with all of the hardships of living in Vietnam (and there are many). I wonder if I’ve made a mistake. I wonder if there’s any way that I will be able to really stick it out. I’m coming to the sobering realization that I not only took on a new career that I am unsure of, but I’ve moved to a foreign country where the culture is very different. There is a vast difference between traveling in a country and living in a country; I think I knew that before I came, but now I really know it. It’s no longer a simple thing to go buy milk at the store. In fact, buying milk at the store can now take me all day. That last statement is probably pointless since I can’t buy milk anyway as I don’t have a kitchen or fridge to put it in!

He's definitely having a bad day!

I honestly hate this roller coaster that I’m on; mainly because I hate to feel weak and I hate to doubt myself. Yet both of those feelings tend to creep in and send me in a downward spiral about every other day. I hate feeling distraught with no one really to talk to except my computer.

I don’t mean for this to sound gloomy, because I suppose if I really think about my time here – it has been pretty damn good. I have met some super nice people that will remain friends for life and who have taken me under their wing. These friends have graciously let me stay in her home with her family until I find a place to live. I have met friends that include me in social outings such as an opening of a new restaurant and boutique hotel and ate free sushi all night…I never complain about free sushi. So – things could be worse…much worse. I could be back in America being inundated with elections coverage and bombarded with news on how our economy is crap and taking down the rest of the world with it.

Overall, I’m surviving, trying to figure out how to stand still for a while. Thanks to everyone who has weighed in on my VOTE of what to do with my Vietnam life. I have made some decisions which really incorporate all three options – they involve still teaching part time for a while, doing business/IT consulting off and on, and working on writing…none of this yields very much money – but at least it all yields freedom.

Packaging

Taking off on a long term journey!

Here’s the link to my latest article on the Indie Travel Podcast!  Go check it out and peruse the whole site; it’s a wealth of information for the independent traveler!

Do you have what it takes to become a vagabond master? Complete this four-week training regime to prepare your body, mind and suitcase for the realities of life on the road.

http://www.indietravelpodcast.com/article/become-a-vagabond-master/

Biker in An Phu

It has been a month and a half since I’ve gotten a pedicure. This is normally not how I operate; but when traveling you don’t really get to treat yourself to the pleasantries of foot care. I had a free weekend so I decided to venture out and find a place to do some massive repair on my feat. The leach scabs had finally disappeared so I was ready to have my feet worked on again.

I have been staying with my gracious friend, Jill in District 2; a ‘suburb’ of HCMC. Jill and her family were in Thailand for the weekend, and she told me I could use her mountain bike whenever I wanted. The previous day I had found a little spa in the area so I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to venture out on transportation other than my own two feet or being driven by someone else. I surveyed the bike and decided that there was enough air in the tires to support me, I found a lock and key, and I even searched around for a bike helmet successfully. Granted, I believe it was one of her daughter’s bike helmets – but after a bit of internal debate on looking like a fool vs. acting like a fool and going without; I decided to dawn the purple slightly small bike helmet.

In the burbs, the weekends are pretty quiet, and that also equates to the traffic. Sure, people are still out, but it’s not the gridlock as it is on the weekday. I was excited for my little Sunday afternoon bike ride. As I took off towards the spa, located about 2 miles away, I was energized by my new wheels and freedom that they brought me. Granted, hunkering down in a nice house for a weekend alone is nice, but I had been in there working, writing, and surfing the net for the whole day; I needed to get out!

Navigating myself to the main road and biking happily along, I smiled to myself. This was the first time in Vietnam that I was traveling on my own. I had a familiar rush of adrenaline come over me that occurs when you move and you start to figure things out and feel comfortable in a new location.

I noticed a stopped taxi van on the side of the road so I started to swing out around it, but right when I did that, the taxi decided to also move and do a U turn in front of me without looking effectively cutting me off with his 90 degree turn. I slammed on my breaks and next thing I knew – I was hitting the pavement; I had flew right over the top of my handlebars. I didn’t hit the taxi, in fact, it just turned and kept going – but now I was laid out in the middle of the street completely dazed. It all happened so fast I was stunned. With a rush of adrenaline laced in fear I got up and tried to dust myself off moving the bike and myself to the side of the road. I knew that I probably had blood oozing from somewhere – so I started to try to check the damage – my hand, leg, and face seemed to be throbbing the most, so I checked those areas first for any major bleeding. I deciphered that I hadn’t broken any bones or teeth and that it was mainly some really nasty road rash. I looked around to see if anyone had even see what happened and for once there was no one really around. People were whizzing by me on their motorbikes, but no one stopped. I was sweating profusely as it was the middle of the day and the sun was beating down – the incident had put my sweat glands in overdrive, so I started to move my bike into the shade; as I started walking, I realized that I was completely light-headed and may either throw up or faint. I got to the shade in a shaky manner and propped the bike up against a wall and just sat on the curb trying not to hyperventilate.

I sat there and tried to get my head about me again. This rush of panic came over me regarding how bad this could have been and how lucky I was. The fact that the taxi driver didn’t look was completely normal in the ‘anything goes’ wild east of transportation. This shouldn’t have surprised me. I think they don’t look so that they don’t have to feel responsible for what happens. Therefore is also shouldn’t have surprised me that the taxi didn’t stop as I was sprawled out in the middle of the road as road kill. The little Pho (soup) vendor across the street also didn’t move to help…no one helped, and that was an impactful realization. For some strange reason – even though I was hurting, no tears came – I think I was in shock. I think of all of the times that my eyes have been welling up with tears at the wrong moments this last week due to mental anguish, and now, when it was appropriate – there were no tears.

I knew that my chin was bleeding as the majority of the impact was on my right hand and my chin. I tried to wipe it off with spittle (where’s a wet wipe when you need one?), but it stung. I tried to get the blood wiped off the best I could and sat there for about 5 more minutes trying to calm down.

Day 1 chin injury!

I was trying to decide what to do next. Do I give up and go home, or do I keep going. Nothing was broken, I knew that I looked pretty horrendous…but so did my feet. Actually, for some reason I didn’t want to give up on my excursion because of this accident…if I did, I wondered if I would ever go out again. Adopting ‘the show must go on’ attitude and got back on the bike gingerly. I knew it was crazy…but maybe I wasn’t quite thinking straight after the blow to the head.

I arrived at the spa where the guard had to help me lock my bike as I couldn’t quite function yet. The spa was oozing zen with white furniture and fresh flowers adoring the big oversized tables. As I walked dripping in sweat and blood and they just looked at me. I told them I was there for a pedicure, and they stopped staring and started moving saying “yes, yes, mam”. Money always speaks…even through a bloody chin. I asked if there was a bathroom I could use first and they gladly ushered me there.

Day two chin injury - a messy scab!

I got a good look at myself in the mirror and it probably wasn’t as bad as I was imagining – but it wasn’t pretty. My chin had road rash on it about the size of a quarter and had already started turning black and blue and swelling up. I tried to wash my face, hand and leg off with some soap which stung more than you can imagine. It reminded me of when I was 15 and I would get strawberries from sliding in softball; the stinging feeling as if someone poured alcohol into an open wound. I tried to wipe off some of my sweat and proceed back out to the lobby looking a bit more presentable.

I decided that after that experience a pedicure AND a foot massage were in order.

Line Dry

Vietnam is a country without dryers…at least most people don’t have a dryer.  It just doesn’t make sense to run a dryer when you live in an apartment without air conditioning and 90 degree weather everyday.  The alternative…let mother nature take care of it!

View and purchase my photography on www.sherryott.smugmug.com

Founding Father

This was a really exciting day. I have been marveling at just how far-reaching the US Election is/was. There is a weird excitment in the air - even in the polluted Vietnamese air! One of the fascinating things for me is to understand just how global our US election really is; it’s overwhelming.

I talked to each of my classes today about it. The fact that some kid in Vietnam that barely speaks any English and has never traveled outside Vietnam knows Obama’s name is really interesting to me. The fact that they are excited that he won is even more interesting.

The impact globally is HUGE. All of the other teachers today were totally into the coverage; not just the ones from America.  The teachers come from the UK, Italy, S. Africa, Australia, Ireland, and Canada.  It actually made me proud to be an American; something I normally don’t feel when I am traveling abroad. The rest of the world is buzzing with excitment over the decisions that we made. We did the right thing, we are on a road to global recovery and improving out international image; that’s extremely exciting to me.

I just watched Obama’s acceptance speech on the Internet. I marvel at what an eloquent speaker he is. This is really the first time that I’ve actually missed America…not my friends…but America.