The First Few Days

It seems as if I will have the time these first couple of weeks to blog kind of frequently, although maybe that will change as the week progresses. For now though, there is another update from Hanoi!

This week has a pretty simple schedule, although it is tiring. Every afternoon is spent doing "In-Country Orientation", basically meetings with our supervisor to learn logistics. But in the mornings we get to go do touristy things around the city while learning to use different forms of transportation. Yesterday we took a taxi to The Temple of Literature which was Viet Nam’s first university (it was first built in 1070, although it’s been rebuilt a time or two due to a few wars that have come through here). Today we went by bus to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, to his house in Hanoi and to the official Ho Chi Minh Museum.

I thought learning about Ho Chi Minh was really interesting. I didn’t realize that in his mausoleum you actually see his body! He died in 1969 and yet he is just lying there in this HUGE building. When you walk through you have to be very respectful. There is no talking and a guard even corrected Calah on the way her arms were (she had her hands clasped behind her back which we learned means you have a higher status than the person you are walking past). It was interesting to see so much about him. I look forward to learning a lot more about him and the revolution he represented while being here in Hanoi, a city that holds a very unique perspective.

Here is the Musuem:


Here is a little story that I found very entertaining:

After the French left in 1954 Ho Chi Minh moved (along with The Party) to the city of Hanoi. But in an attempt to live like the people and not set himself apart, he chose not to live at the presidential palace. Instead he built a little house on stilts next to it. The house is right next to a pond that the French had built. They say that there are 2,000 fish that live in it, although I don't remember why. Ho Chi Minh supposedly really like these fish. Every day he came and fed them. He would go to the water and clap and that is how they knew it was feeding time. One time when he had to go away he gave very careful instructions to someone else so they could clap and feed the fish. But, the man must have forgotten because when Ho Chi Minh returned the fish didn't come to him anymore and he was very upset. Ok, so that story is kind of anti-climatic, but everyone there kept clapping and the fish all come. Maybe all fish come towards sound, but regardless, I really liked it.




Something I have learned about myself this summer, or maybe even something that has developed recently, is that I ask A LOT of questions. I don’t know where it came from, studying sociology maybe?! It seems that whenever someone tells me something it creates 10 new questions in my mind. And because I say most things I think, I tend to ask all those questions out loud. Here in Viet Nam I’m hoping it will be a handy characteristic, as long as I don’t drive the people I’m with crazy!!

PS My camera was found! They had it at the airport!! Oanh (pronounced like wine with g at the end), the administrative woman at the MCC office, called yesterday and worked her magic and I got it back today. Amazing!