Living with New Experiences. 5/9/2008

These pictures of me visiting four kindergartens are part of the good experiences I have had here. More information my experiences of early childhood in Viet Nam will be included in a later blog entry.

I feel the need to have a big whinge! (sp?) I have had a bad day and right now I am feeling fed up. It started yesterday and just got worse all day. I am going to tell you all about it whether you want to hear it or not! Yesterday I went to visit two more early childhood centres. They were in the hills in an ethnic community – that part was good so I will talk about it later, when I have finished complaining. After the visits I went to lunch with the local officials and ece people. I was treated to a local delicacy – if they were not baked goldfish then I do not know what they were. Everyone tucked in – scales, bones, fins, tails – everything but the heads which were discarded. I did try a little but I just couldn’t do it. All those lessons to be careful of bones that we learn from young childhood meant that I just couldn’t crunch my way through these. I know we eat sardines but these bones, scales etc were not soft. I felt bad that I could not enjoy something that they had given.

Adeline (current flat mate) and I decided buy dinner rather than cook. We went to one of the local street stalls (think little little plastic stools and tables, little eating bowls and food cooked on a brazier. I decided to have pho (sort of pronounced fur), a noodle and vegetable soup with, in my choice beef. This is a recognized Vietnamese specialty (ref Peta Mathias’ book about food in Vietnam) which I had been looking forward to trying. Maybe this was just a poor example of it. It will be a while until I try again! Giving up on that we went to another stall and I tried to order a fruit smoothie that I had had, ordered by another person, the previous night. I mucked that up – got something completely different – a fruit salad with large chunks of avocado, dragon fruit (which was worth trying), some sort of brown fruit and a sweet sticky, lumpy sauce all over it. Not yummy! Gave up, went home, packed my belongings for moving (more about that later) showered and went to bed.

Then – our house got invaded. Suddenly there were thousands and thousands (felt like millions) of flying insects all through our living area and bedrooms. A shrieking Adeline (who has an insect phobia) and I emptied two cans of fly spray through the rooms before we had (almost) killed them. The insects which were about a 10mm long dropped off their wings and lay wriggling all over our floors, furniture, hair, and belongings). We swept and scooped them up, re-showered and retreated once more to our respective beds. We thought that they had got in through an open roof vent. One of my lovely bits of news this morning was that they are termites that had come out of our walls and we may well have the same again tonight. We have bought more fly spray!

Have you had enough yet? Well go and make a cup of coffee and come back because I ‘aint done complainin!

This morning I was expecting all of my belongings to be picked up for my move (this is going to be a good thing so I can’t explain it here). I also thought that Binh (my interpreter) would be able help me get a number of pressing and overdue tasks done. Binh phoned and said that she had to attend to things that need to be done for the 2nd anniversary of her father’s death – perfectly reasonable but disappointing. The chap who was to cart my stuff turned up, and without much ability to communicate with each other I managed to establish that it would be “tomorrow” . Yay – I will still be here for the second invasion of the winged army tonight. It also means that I have to remake my bed, find clothes, toiletries etc – now I am just getting petty but it is HOT okay.

I worked at home for the morning because the office was having a power cut this morning. This is not a Hamilton type power cut where you lose power for a while because of somebody running into a pole. Think Auckland “brown out” but on a mega scale. There is not enough water in the dams so whole sections of the city often have the power cut off for large parts of the day. I cannot work out the pattern of it (it is probably included in the cheerful 5:30 am broadcasts) but it is close to every second day. The house that I am currently in is not usually affected because it gets power from the hospital generators but it affects the office, the other businesses and most houses – including the place I am moving to tomorrow. As I was reminded today, as I was frustrated at every turn – this means no way to recharge your computer or cell phone when they go flat (not that my cell works most of the time anyway), no fans, no internet and no way to do lots of business. I am well aware that there are many people in the world who never have any power but they would have a society adapted to it. Today I could not print material that I really needed for our meeting, could not get stuff photocopied that I need to send away so my unaccompanied luggage can make one more step in its tortuous journey towards me and could not book my flights for Hanoi (more about that in a minute). Apparently there is no end in sight for the cuts and it will get hotter. Humph!

I still haven’t finished – if you haven’t given up on me in disgust or boredom you might like to go and get another coffee before I give you the next chapter.


Hanoi. Hanoi is another story. I have been asked to go there for a week to meet up with some officials and more early childhood people. When this was requested I was really delighted. Even before I came I had identified the need to spend time with the ece people who were behind the development of the new curriculum. I also am keen to see Hanoi before the winter. Well – there are a few fishhooks!

(1) VSA will only pay for a return train ticket not flights. I know that I am a wimp. I do not have the constitution of my nephew Matthew. 22 hours – yes 22 hours in a cramped, shared compartment to get to Hanoi does not appeal. 44 hours of traveling (during my weekends) so I can go to a weeks worth of meetings. If I choose to fly instead I have to pick up the extra cost 3,000,000 VND about $250.00 NZ myself.

(2) I am having some difficulty arranging meetings. I have tried to contact the NGO’s working in ece (Save the Children, Unicef, Oxfam etc) who might speak English to start making arrangements but these seem to be turning to custard. Many of the contact names I have collected seem to be out of date or the people are going away. I cannot contact the Ministry of Education directly. That has to go through someone official – if I can find someone official willing to do it. It is agreed that this is the key meeting for the week. I need to talk with them about the philosophical basis of the curriculum (eg what does “child centered” mean here). Problem is the people who I need to meet probably do not speak English and no one will supply an interpreter.

Sooo – at this stage I will go to Hanoi, probably choosing to fly (if the airline office has power and opens before I need to leave) at quite a personal expense (ie over half of my monthly income), where I may not end up meeting with anyone useful who I can actually communicate with! It is driving me crazy. I have come across enough information to know that there have been quite a few meaningful research projects and some wonderful initiatives in Vietnam but I don’t know how to get in touch with the people who can tell me about them. I want to draw from these past experiences not replicate them.

Anyway – that is all my whinges, apart from a bike, with a seat invented by a sadist, that hardly works (I am really looking forward to my one arriving), bottled water that sometimes tastes like cabbage, “pantene” shampoo that smells like insecticide, seeing amazing sights out the car window when working and I can’t stop for photos, people who hoick on the street, buying cheap reading glasses that fall to bits the next day …..


Later - I thought that I had finished there but Adeline came home after a bad day too. We decided that we needed comfort food and a good laugh so we decided to go to Barbara’s Kiwi Café down the other end of town. When I went to get on my bike I was convinced that it had been stolen (as if anyone would want it) but remembered I had left it at work after I had tried to go to the airline etc etc. I went to get a motorbike taxi – there are always at least 3 guys sitting at our gate, but true to form for today, they were all gone tonight. I ended up going by cyclo (where you sit in a seat in the front of a bicycle). I felt terrible for the poor little old man biking me but they often take two Vietnamese women – hopefully I wasn’t too much more weight to carry than two of them!

Alan (the man who lives in the flat above the one I am moving to – he started on the same day as me) and Meireke (sp?) (a lovely young Belgium woman who is a volunteer for another organization) met us there. Alan had had a difficult day too. When we saw Barbara I told her that we were suffering from culture shock and needed home comforts. She recognized the emergency, organized ‘kiwi tucker’ for us and joined us for most of the evening. She is an amazing woman, really knowledgeable and helpful. She says that the train to Hanoi is fine. Maybe I should just get over it – I will decide this weekend. Some more whinging then a good laugh later we were all feeling much better.


But – despite all of the above that I am still really glad that I came. I think I should finish by listing some of the good things about living here.

Every day is different

My work brings with it many interesting challenges. I think that there are opportunities to contribute something worthwhile.

The practices in the ece centres are very different from NZ but there are also commonalities, including good teachers who work really hard and care a lot about what they do.

The children are gorgeous.

The Vietnamese people are mostly truly lovely people. They laugh with each other, and with us, often and warmly. Being in their company, even when I don’t understand what they are saying, is a real pleasure. They continuously good naturedly tease and joke with each other. They spend time building relationships when they meet and highly value families. Many of them are coping with far greater difficulties in their daily lives than the small things I have been grumbling about. They do this with grace and good cheer.

Binh (my interpreter) is excellent at her job. As well as interpreting she is providing me with a lot of guidance about appropriate processes. She has also been open in discussing her life as a Vietnamese woman. She is recently married and expecting her first child. It will be a pleasure to see this event.

Nobody has asked me “how did you get so fat?” yet – although Meireke told a funny story about how a friend, a tall woman who is not at all fat, got weighed at a gym. The next week when she went in everybody in the class was discussing her 'astonishing' weight.

The house lizards have not died despite their huge ingestion of fly spray last night.

I live near the beach for the first time in my life.

Tomorrow I am moving into a flat on my own. When I came I understood that I had to share, either a small flat or this house. This seemed like the better option and in lots of ways I was lucky. The other two have done a lot to help me settle in but when I discovered yesterday that I could have the flat (2 bedrooms) to myself I jumped at the chance. I will have the power cuts there, I won’t have company close at hand and I will have further to go to work and other things – but it is in the good things list because I will enjoy having my own space. And it will be good when people from home come and stay!

Most things are really really cheap – sometimes for good reason (ref glasses above)

It has hardly rained since I came here.

I am never cold. Sometimes, especially in the evening there is a lovely balmy sea breeze.

There are many places I want to go and see in Vietnam. It is a beautiful and interesting country.
Almost all of the other volunteers are really great people. Most evenings there has been something I can join in with if I want to.

Biking around the city is becoming fun. It is dead flat so is easy for someone who is not very fit. I am gradually becoming more adept at managing the traffic. Today, feeling proud of myself for successfully negotiating a busy round-a-bout I did discover that I had ended up biking on the wrong side of the road – this is however not really a big problem as lane direction is fairly nominal. In actual fact it is probably safer riding a bike here than NZ – there are so many bikes that nobody can ignore them.

There are many more places to go and eat – we don’t have to go back to places that are not great. Most of th food is really good. There is plenty of fruit and vegetables. I am way over my 5+ a day.

You don’t have to wait for Christmas for fairy lights – they are everywhere.

It is safe walking at night – there are always hundreds of people around.

I have increased my knowledge of Vietnamese language by about 500% - ie from 2 words to 10.

I have bought a kite and plan to fly it this weekend

I hardly have to do any housework. I have my clothes beautifully washed and ironed for me and I get a lovely lunch cooked every work day - I will be so lazy by the time I get home.

We have internet that works often.

And most importantly of all I have a wonderful family, good friends, a job and a home I love waiting for me back in NZ.


What a long blog!!!! If there is anyone left reading at this point – thank you. It was good for me to write this all down knowing that there would be people at home who would understand and would not judge me too harshly for being a whinger (how do you spell that word?). I think that today was an example of me over-reacting due to culture shock. Sometimes it feels like everything is different. Often that is exciting but sometimes it is tiresome and small things become irritating rather than interesting.

Sorry - I am behind in my email replies for this week but plan to catch up this weekend. It has become evident that, like my cell phone, getting messages in and out can be a bit unreliable. If I have not replied to a message that is more than a week old please try to get in touch with me again as the message may have got lost in one direction or the other.