Saturday, August 26, 2006


Tonight I had the honor and the pleasure of attending a local talent show of sorts. It was a competition between four school groups, one was a Khmer group, one was from Cang Long high school, another a local high school and finally TVCC. It was quite a spectacle with much choreography, props and lovely girls in Ao Dais and stoic guys foisting-high red flags emblazoned with the hammer and sickle.
I have learned in my time here that Vietnamese people really love singing. There is no way that I could overstate the prevalence of singing here, be it in Karaoke, in a show like tonight or just as the inspiration strikes in everyday life. Maybe it is related to the whole tonal language thing...
In any case the TVCC English club is organizing a soiree of their own in a few weeks and true to form, this will include singing. The students have been trying to convince me to sing an English song at the meetings pretty much from the beginning. I mercifully have been saving them from this kind of aural abuse, but now I have some how gotten talked into singing at the party. I am not sure if any of you have ever heard me sing... and there is a good reason for that. But what the hell.

Most people here favour singing very romantic or sentimental songs, the more they can emote the better. Just to shake things up I am fantasizing about busting out something angry like "Enter Sandman" or maybe something non-sequitur from Neutral Milk Hotel... Kate Bush? Maybe some artful wailing? Anyway, your suggestions, serious or humorous are much appreciated. Comment away faithful readers!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

After CAPI associates Helen and Peter visited me last week things have started to move a bit here in Tra Vinh in terms of work.
Yesterday and today Quyen and I visited 3 main schools and 6 sattelite schools. Generally rural schools are managed by bigger more accessible schools and the schools together have one PTA and head teacher. Sometimes teachers are shared between the school sites. It is pretty incredible that schools are able to function well given the infrastructure they are working with... or lack there of. Many of these schools have one almost bare room and some battered benches with a chalkboard and that is it. No running water, no outhouse, no electricity, no maintenance staff, no playground. Many of the students are not able to afford books, fees and uniforms. (I am questioning the why resources must be spent to have uniforms when they have to compete with the need to buy books and pens.)
Anyway the whole scene is pretty spartan, as I am sure it is in most rural schools around the world. We are visiting before school starts, so I am sure that it will be a less drab place once it is filled with kids!

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

I still don't have much to report in terms of work but I feel compelled to write and so I will update you on what I have been doing to keep myself from going crazy! I am kind of burned out on wandering around the town, so for the last few days I have been focusing inward a bit.

I played my flute for the first time in years. I packed it only at the last moment after one of my fellow interns at the CAPI orientation strongly suggested that we bring as many portable things to do as possible. I had already put most of my belongings into storage and so I wasn't even sure that I had it. All of my sheet music is in storage but thankfully my flute is with me and I found several websites with music that I can play from. I am actually pretty amazed that I can still play and read music. I played a lot in high school but hardly at all since then. At first I was a little rusty on the sight reading but it came back to me after a few minutes.

I have also been reading some books from research courses that I took as part of my BSW. In addition to preparing for the project that I hope to do here, this has inspired me to think about what I would want to do for an MSW thesis. I have known ever since I graduated that I wanted to go back at some point but I wasn't sure what my focus would be. I know that it would centre around kids in the social service system in Canada, but that is pretty broad. After being here and learning a bit about the plans for improving the lives of disadvantaged children through the education system here in Vietnam (and looking forward to starting work and learning more!) I am considering researching something about how the school system supports or suppresses the resiliency of foster children in BC. Does anyone know of any research or resources in this area?

Later this week the Assistant Director of CAPI will come to visit and I hope that she will help me to get things going here. I feel hopeful. Until then I will try to occupy myself as best I can.

Compulsively listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Show Your Bones".
Reading "Sophie's World"

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Just a quick note to address some of the questions I have recieved about work and why I have not been writing about it.
I still have not really started my job. The training session that we were supposed to do was cancelled and the office that I will hopefully be working in is waiting for funding from my hosting organization before they fully take me on. I have attended a few meetings since I have been in Tra Vinh and I have met with my counterpart Quyen to make plans, but no real action has taken place yet.

It is difficult because having nothing to do is making the time creep slowly. I am trying to plan the research project that I was originally hired to do, which now I think I will try to do off the side of my desk (which right now is no problem because my desk is empty!) I am hopeful that my life here will take on some kind of rhythm and flow so that I can feel normal and productive again. I hope that being busy with work might help to off-set some of the difficult things about being here, but for now I just have to wait.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006


Usually when I first buy a bicycle as I did yesterday I am enamored with it for sometime, unfortunately this time love has taken a rocky start. I was a little worried that they said that they could replace the tires, install a basket, and change a fixed gear into a multi gear bike in 15 minutes, but with the number of bikes on the road here I thought these guys must know what they are doing. I was a little worried when Quyen translated the receipt which said that there were no refunds, but I had already paid my 750000 Dong (about 60 bucks) and I wanted to hit the road. It was immediately clear that if I was going any kind of speed the breaks were ineffectual, but then 5 mins into my ride home the chain came off-- no big deal, I re-attached it, but then as soon as I resume peddling the chain breaks! Luckily there is a bike repair stall on almost every corner and a kind gentleman repaired my change and charged me 3000 Dong (about 15 cents). Then today I was starting out to ride to the market and the chain came off and then broke again. One of the hotel staff took it to be repaired again and I hope for the best.

I wanted to ask my more bike-knowledgeable friends out there, who are hopefully reading my blog, for some advice. Do you think that all of this breaking has to do with the gears or is the chain perhaps too short? I think there are probably a multitude of explanations. I also wondered if you recognize the back breaking system shown above. How does it work and how might I make it work better? Any ideas?

Anyway, being on a bike is much more fun than walking here and I feel less self-conscious getting myself around that way... if I could just get the thing to work!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Fun times at TVCC



Originally uploaded by fotobot.
Last night I attended my first meeting of the Tra Vinh Community College English club and it was the most fun I have had in Tra Vinh to be sure.
There was a group of about 9 students, an instructor and me. There is a pretty wide range of ability in the group but the instructor's sense of humour keeps things moving. 2 of the students will be studying aquaculture in Newfoundland this September and I excitedly told them about the famous maritime hospitality and the instuctor asked "Are the people in Newfoundland more friendly than you?" and I responded "Oh, yes, very much so". I think the group found my resolute response quite funny.
We played that game where you sit in a circle and the first person introduces themselves and then the second person introduces the first person, then themselves, and so on adding as you go along. For me this was pretty easy, having the language advantage, except for remembering people's names. I had to apologize at each step for surely saying their name so very incorrectly, but it was another source of amusement for the students, and they were very kind to help me. I am hopeful that some of them will show me around the town and the area, maybe go to the beach that is 60km from here. I have agreed to come to the club every week until I leave, although they did kindly offer to pick me up in the TVCC private jet so that I could still participate while I am in Canada ;) I found out that TVCC was founded using Malaspina College (Nanaimo) as a model. It is another one of those things that makes the world feel small, even as I feel so far away from home.
Tomorrow I head to Ho Chi Minh city for the last of my immunizations and also the opportunity to buy a couple more English books and maybe some jam. There is no Western food to be found in Tra Vinh, so a few luxuries are in order to hold me until I leave TV again on Labour Day weekend.

Roots


pirateboat_float
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen.
I think it is natural that when a person finds themselves in a very new context, it makes them think about where they come from.
This week that has certainly been the case for me. In part this is because many of the people I have met have never left the neighbourhoods they grew up in. I have been thinking a lot about what it would be like if I had never left Esquimalt. How would I be different than I am now? What would I have been doing there over the last 10 years? What if all of my friends had also only ever lived in Esquimalt and never expected to leave? What would it be like if someone from the other side of the world suddenly showed up?
I am trying to see myself more from the perspective of my hosts... I think some of them think I am crazy to have left my home, partner and job... maybe some of the readers of my blog think that too!! But anyway, I am learning so much all the time. It is almost painful really.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Cam on!


star fruits
Originally uploaded by anhtu.
After my last post I recieved a number of messages of reassurance and support. Thank you so much!
I think I was feeling particularly messed up because I wasn't eating, and that was because I was freaking out whenever I left my hotel and so it was a nasty cycle.
They don't call it culture shock for nothing. I was in this weird paranoid, anxiety-ridden state all weekend. It was not pretty but I think I am past the worst of it now.
A big part of the shift in the positive direction has been due to the help of my Vietnamese counterpart Quyen. She took me around to the market yesterday and got me set up in my new digs. I am living in a hotel but I have access to a kitchen, which is great because I can take refuge when I need to and still have food!
The market is a very intense experience; there are so many smells and colours and so much interaction with the vendors. Shopping in Canada is a very sterile process indeed compared to this! The most striking thing I saw in the market was when we went to one of the beef stalls. You could literally buy any part of a cow; hooves, intestines, eye balls, bones, and at first I couldn't figure out what this other pile of flesh was but then I realized that it was the cow's face, whiskers and all! It looked like rubber mask and made me wonder what people make with it.
Quyen also helped be figure out the proper resonse to all the hellos: be sure to repond to children and seniors, but not to young to middle-aged men. I guess with women it is my call. Ok, 10-4.

Work has also slowly started to take shape. This week we will have a meeting of the head teachers of all of the schools we will be working with. I beleive that head teachers are the equivalent to principals in Canada. We will describe the program to them and our aim of increasing community participation in the school and building the community's capacity to help vulnerable kids to attend class. Next week we will have a three-day training session of the head teachers. It is a little hard for me to find my place in this. I have definately got experience in putting on workshops, organizing meetings and problem solving, but I worry that it doesn't translate into Vietnamese culture. I hope that my being here is helpful rather than just adding on work.