Another example of an amazing boat woven from bamboo.
A resort where we went for a swim recently. Life as a volunteer has its perks!!!!
Some of the VSA volunteers at our barbeque, Anne, Alan, me talking to Brian and Merike who is a volunteer from Belgium who has left. Merike bought the impressive looking cake locally.
In the fortnight since I returned to Quy Nhon life has been fairly quiet. During this time I have been adjusting to settling into my life as a volunteer here. This process has been a little up and down at times. It was great to finish the language school and I was happy to return to our quieter city after the interesting but frenetic HCMC. I was a little surprised to find that I went into a bit of a slump as I endeavored to get my project underway. Now on reflection I can see that this was probably somewhat predictable. I think that a combination of facing the daunting challenges of making my project successful and the second phase of culture shock combined with some minor health problems, seemingly endless problems with things breaking down, some home-sickness and a difficult grieving patch was culmatively exhausting. I am working hard to lift my mood and now feel that I am getting back on track. I still feel very fortunate to be here and only have fantasies about jumping on the next plane home occasionally.
There are some excellent things on the horizon. I have recently heard that Tim and Laree are going to have another baby in November. It will be wonderful to be a grandmother for the third time. Unfortunately I will still be away when baby is born but I will be back when baby is at a delightful age for laughing, cuddles and babysitting. I have already enjoyed finding some baby clothes.
Something else that I am looking forward to is Donna B, my first visitor arriving later this month for a few days on her way back to Dubai. In September Christine C, her daughter and a friend will stay for a few days while they are touring Vietnam and later in the year Nicky L is coming for a holiday. It will be really enjoyable to have friends here that I can really relax with. I am keen to show people some of the local interests and have managed to find a booklet with some English information about the area.
I know that it is not polite of me to be amused by their written English – I am still illiterate in Vietnamese and have no right to laugh, but some of the expressions in the booklet made me smile.
Visitors will be glad to know that as well as “breathing the pure fresh air from the sea, feeling the caress of sea breezes and hot embrace of the tropical sun” you will also be able to enjoy “tasting the peculiar specialties of the region” including “rice vermicelli with pork intestines”. You are also invited to enjoy “bathing in the blue-water sea or lying on the clean yellowish sand”. If it is not warm enough for you we could go to some hot springs that with attracts many “tourists for its disease healing effects”. I am sure that staying in facilities for “diseased people” will sound attractive to many. We could follow that up with a visit to the museum with its “peculiar art show” because culture in the region is “prosperous and pluriform”.
My modest home cannot possibly compete with one of the local hotels that invites you to “Watlaw (wallow?) in romantic golden beach. Glance the first sunbeams of sunrise on the sea. Enjoy the warmth of golden lights. Dance with song of wave. Feet (feel?) how the life worthy is with blooming smile of zealous staffs” but I will endeavor to look after your needs as zealously as I can.
Anyone else who is thinking of coming is most welcome – there are still plenty of times available! Viet Nam really is rewarding place to visit. I have just finished reading a book – “Catfish and Mandala” by Andrew Pham. He was a Vietnamese refugee who went to the US as a child. This book is the story of his family and a bicycle journey that he made through Viet Nam. My experiences have not included any of the tribulations that he experienced as a visiting expat but his lively descriptions of the street life and restaurants are very similar to those I have seen. I highly recommend it to anyone who has been and anyone who is not planning on coming. For those of you who anticipate a visit I strongly suggest that you save it until after you have been incase it frightens you off.
At the beginning of August there is an important local festival for which parts of the city are undergoing a makeover. With astonishing speed new road surfaces have been laid, statues erected, fountains built, old houses cleared and tall trees planted. The entire city waterfront (about 5 kilometers) is now an attractive park. I am really looking forward to the three day festival which will include displays of martial arts, food, music and handcrafts. Perhaps I will finally get to see some genuine local craft work.
Since I got back from HCMC I have been becoming more familiar with the city. Each time I need to purchase something, or to get something fixed, it is a mini-adventure. Simple tasks like locating somewhere to buy allen keys, wrapping paper or an extension cord can take several days of investigation. Unable to read the written and non-written signs makes working out that nature of different stores challenging. The other day I needed to buy some more bandaids and set off in search of a chemist shop in my local area. After a fruitless search one of the others told me that it was in the back of the photocopy shop (now why didn’t I think of that!).
Gradually I am getting to know some of the vendors at my local market. It opens very early each morning, closes for the majority of the day and reopens late in the afternoon. Usually I try to do my shopping in the outside stalls because the heat, smells and crowding inside are so overpowering. Sometimes I am able to communicate very simple transactions in Vietnamese but often sign language and laughter is the dominant form of communication. This morning one woman attempted to put two live ducks, tethered together at their feet, into my basket. This caused a great deal of laughter in all of the surrounding stalls.
Fortunately we get our lovely lunches during the week because I mostly still cannot deal with buying the pieces of dead animals and live seafood. Alan (the volunteer who lives upstairs) and I put on a barbeque for the other volunteers last weekend. We inveigled our housekeeper to come with us and with her help managed to sort through the pieces of pigs for a suitable lump and to scoop up number of large prawns. Fortunately, Alan who has lived in Laos for a long time is much more domesticated that me and we managed to prepare a dinner that was appreciated by all. The others had been to an off-shore island for the day. I decided not to go because two hours each way by boat is no treat for me. This turned out to be a good decision – not only were some of the others very sick, but the unapproved venture also drew the attention of the local authorities. They had spent most of the day kept to a very restricted area while intense negotiations went on. I am however going to do some boating soon. Planning is underway for a boat race using the little round woven coracles with us, the VSA staff and some of the locals. If we are able to make it happen it should be fun. The boats are propelled by a standing person using one oar which maneuvered in a figure of eight under the water. They are amazingly swift. I am fairly certain it falls into the “looks easier than it is” category. The other morning on my bike ride I came across some canoes that are also woven from bamboo. These were operated by person standing with two oars. I would love to see people making these craft but have not been able to find out where it is done yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment