Michele Parkin is traveling to Malawi, Africa as a participant in the Leave for Change program.
To encourage global awareness and impact, Western’s Staff International Engagement (SIE) group has established partnerships with several leading development organizations. As Western staff travel the world to share their expertise and learn about and from other cultures they will be using this slice of the web to share their experiences and insights.
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For those of you in my age bracket that remember the excellent early 80's video game Frogger, I think you would enjoy crossing the street in Hanoi. I don't have it on fact, but I am pretty sure that the inventor came up with the idea after spending some time in Hanoi!
To be frank, this has become my new favourite hobby! I am now crossing the street at random for fun! It's like the reverse experience to being a driver on campus the first week of school!
My working time in Vietnam has been a big learning curve for me. Working for a University in Canada and in Vietnam has it differences and it's similarities. I think in education around the world you can always point to a lack of resources. There are ideas, and opportunities, but not always the people to run it, or the facilities. This has been the challenge for FOT. We have come up with some ideas to start with some passive engagement. I was able to meet students and make several presentations in classes during the week. With the student run FOT Press Club's support, I launched a photo contest. The resulting pictures have inspired me. The students are proud of their school, their friends and their home. I got to see the personal side of Vietnam, through the eyes of the students!
Lucie and I spent some time last week roaming some different streets and seeing the big cathedral in the old quarter. There was a little white poodle with ears and tail dyed pink that was running around and making us giggle. It's interesting to see in any area where there is open space people being active. Some school boys were playing badminton in a circle and some older kids were kicking around a soccer ball. The street is only a couple of blocks from where we live, but it is a street with a lot of trees and shade. We had a fun time wandering the area. That night we met up with Sara and had a crazy bbq experience. You name it, they grill it! Sara was the most daring of us ordering a whole frog on a skewer.
We went to see the Ho Chi Minh complex after work one night. The mausoleum is currently closed as I believe Ho Chi Minh's body is touring Russia right now. However, the gardens were great, and the One Pillar Pagoda was a great sight to see. I had a really interesting time, as I met a girl from Florida who is working in Hanoi at another university on a Fulbright scholarship. Maggie is working with math teachers to improve their English, but they have asked her to help with student engagement as well. So it was neat to have the discussion with someone outside of my institution in the same situation.
After wandering around the complex, we wanted to exit to the museum, but between the construction work and the blocked exits, we had to leave the same way we entered. Thinking that we could follow the street around to the front (FYI...there are no straight streets in Hanoi), we set off...and found ourselves randomly at the Botanical Gardens. Not on either of our list, but what a random find. It was so fun to see all the people exercising in the park. You can't even begin to picture it. Badminton, soccer, jogging, walking, dancing, aerobics, workout machines. It was awesome! Plus the park itself is so unique. There is a pond with fountains and a little island with bird houses in the middle, an enclosure with two peacocks in it. Another one with a couple of monkeys and a baboon. An area full of carvings. The only thing we had trouble finding was an exit!
And like that...week two was practically gone!
This weekend I spent my down time by getting out of town! I ran away to Ha Long Bay, and now I can't imagine my life without this in it!
I went through a tour group, and there were 11 of us for the weekend. We were picked up at our respective hotels and driven from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay. Our mini tour bus was new and well air-conditioned, and we had two seats to ourselves. The distance is only 160km from Hanoi, but due to the roads and traffic, the drive takes between 3.5 to 4 hours to complete. Our tour was lead by Jackie 1 (the driver) and Jackie 2 (our tour guide). Jackie 2 was great. He was funny and knowledgeable and really made the trip fly by. One of the things that I found most interesting was the explanation of the custom of burying the dead.
Vietnamese people bury the dead twice. They bury them after death, but then after four years they dig up the bones (4 years is considered long enough to have the body decompose and leave the bones) during the night and wash the bones in fresh clean water and replace them in a new and better casket. They believe that this is when they are reborn, and this casket is their forever casket for their bones. The job must be completed before daylight or they can't be reborn. Being buried twice represents the person's two homes, the one they lived in with their family, and the one they start with their own family. This practice continues in the more rural areas today, however in the major cities they are running out of room, and so cremation is starting to become more common place.
The dead are very important to the living. If you give a good life to the dead, they will defend you and give you a good life. The first son in the family is responsible for keeping the death date records. This son keeps a notebook that is passed on through the generations with all the deaths in the family recorded. This way the son can make sure that the death dates of each descendent are celebrated. Part of the celebration is to get paper replicas of the items that you would like to send to the dead in the world they are now a part of, and burn those replicas to send them to your dead. It was stories like this that really helped the drive seem to fly by.
Once we arrived in Ha Long Bay, we had a taste of the chaos that a Mecca of tourism can provide. Tour groups, buses and ships as far as the eye can see. Jackie 1 manages to snag a spot right infront of the departure point, and Jackie 2 ushers us right onto a transfer skiff. We take a two minute ride out to our boat, and we are ready to go. The tour group is a perfect size, the boat is more then big enough for us, and we get assigned our cabins and sit down to the first of many indescribable meals! The choice, the amount and the presentation are beyond words! I can't imagine the effort that went into us! While we overate, the boat set sail.
I don't know how to begin to describe to you the size and beauty of Ha Long Bay. Once we get out of the harbour, the number of boats begins to thin out and we are off on a peaceful sail. I went to work on setting a personal record of how many pictures one human can take in a single weekend!
Along our way, we stopped at the Pearl Oyster Farm. I didn't think that this was something I wanted to see, because I knew kayaking was next, but it was really interesting! They grow three different types of oysters here that produce different kinds of pearls. The workers scrape matter off the inside of the oyster shell, producing a powder. They press this powder into a ball. They then take the live oysters out of the water (fun fact they can survive out of water for 1-2 hours), take a piece of the oyster membrane, make an incision in the oyster's gonads and insert the membrane and ball and then close the oyster up and return it to the water for however many years it needs to produce a pearl. The length of time is dependent on the oyster and pearl type.
When harvesting the pearls, they open the oyster completely, which kills it, and they use the meat to feed the workers at the oyster farm, so nothing is wasted. It really was an interesting tour.
After this we sailed to a calm and quiet area, and pulled out the kayaks (YAY!). Did I mention how patiently I was waiting for the kayaking portion of our tour? The kayaks were tandem kayaks, but since we had an odd number for some unknown reason Jackie 2 asked me if I would like to be in a kayak on my own. I was happy to have the opportunity, and for an hour got to imagine that kayaking on Ha Long Bay was my life. The water is clear, the colours are the kind we cannot duplicate. Getting to paddle up close to the rock walls was great. I would love to wax poetic on it all, but simply said, it was breathtaking!
Once I was forced against my will out of the kayak, we had some free time to swim!! We went swimming in Ha Long Bay!!! We jumped off the boat into Ha Long Bay!!! I think at some point I turned 12 again! The water is very warm, and very salty. I don't know why I was surprised, I just have trouble understanding how such a huge body of water can be so warm. After the crew dragged us out of the water, it was time to shower and then be fed again!
After dinner we all participated in some squid fishing. I am pretty sure that this activity is something that they made up to entertain the crew! Give the foreigners a piece of bamboo with some string and a lure and tell them to make it look like a prawn swimming! A light is attached to the back of the boat, and we all sat there trying to imitate prawns swimming and watching some tiny squids swim by. I actually really enjoyed this. After most people gave up, I continued to sit there and watch the fish and squid. Most of the squid were tiny, 5cm in size, but eventually I saw a couple that were around 10 cm and then I saw one that was about 20cm long. Eventually, a jelly fish swam into view, and it was mesmerizing and peaceful to watch it make it's way through the fish.
Sunday morning brought another feast, and then a trip to Sung Sot Cave. It is the largest cave in Ha Long Bay, and thousands of tourists are Brought there everyday. Another activity I was not initially interested in, but glad that I got the chance to see it. We climbed up the Side of one of the larger rocks in Ha Long Bay, and entered the cave. It was huge and the rock formations were fascinating.
We took another route back to the harbour and enjoyed another couple of hours of beauty. Along the way we were treated to a demonstration on how to make traditional Vietnamese fried spring rolls. Once we learned how to make the filling, we all got a chance to roll our own. They became part of our lunch, and were delicious! After lunch, we had to return to reality. We returned to the harbour, found Jackie 1 and set out to return for Hanoi! Somehow...I have to focus on work in the morning!
Friday morning I went into the office and started on some information relating to student groups and student engagement. I finished reviewing notes on the university, and started working on some ideas for the Press Club and the students at FOT. This morning Ms. Giang was in the office with Tim and I, and she took the time to listen to some of my ideas and talk to me about what students do outside of school in Hanoi. Ms. Giang is amazing. She is a Junior Teacher at FOT and is completing her PhD, as well as being married with two children. Yet she has time for my questions, and is so friendly.
I finally was able to complete a plan for the next two weeks of my mandate, and was feeling very good about work. At lunch Tim took me out to the Main Street to have some fried rice from a local stall. It was great. Featuring my favourite fried tofu.
Friday afternoon I finished my plan of attack and headed "home". After a quick stop in my room, Sara and I were off to the Temple of Literature. It is an oasis in the middle of the chaos of Hanoi. A celebration of Confucianism, it is a compound that has shaped bushes, and historical buildings and altars. There is a drum tower and bell tower. There are a lot of bonsai trees as well. It is just a beautiful and relaxing experience, and I recommend it to everyone!
Dinner was awesome! We met up with Ngoc, a coworker of Sara's and she took us to a restaurant to have Bun Bo Nam Bo. If you have ever eaten at Vietnam restaurant on Dundas Street, then this is a staple! It is number 25 on their menu! I am obviously biased, but so far this was my favourite meal of the week! The dish is vermicelli with shredded beef and bean sprouts and lettuce and fresh mint and peanuts. With it we had pork steamed in banana leaves.
To round off the best day of my week, we wandered out to the night market. From 7pm on Friday until midnight on Sunday, some of the streets are blocked to traffic in the old quarter where a night market sets up and entertains! What are you looking for? Underwear? shoes? make up? Good Morning Vietnam t-shirts, kids clothes, cards, art, I could go on for hours! It is an awesome experience.
Truly a Friday anyone could fall in love with!
Thursday morning I started my day in the WUSC office completing the minutes of my meeting the day before and making a list of questions for the people I am working with at FOT. Then I headed over to FOT to meet with Ms. Phuong and the president of the Press Club, and Ms. Thao who is the head of the Youth Union. The ladies were undaunted by my large list of questions and explained how things run and what they are trying to do. Ms. Thao invited me to attend her class in the afternoon, so that I could ask the students some questions. After this I set up in the office and started compiling my answers and trying to come up with a plan. I was fortunate enough to have Tim Cyr, a long term Canadian volunteer in the office to bounce some ideas off.
Thursday night was just one of those days were you head home from work and need a bit of time to relax. I went out with Sara (volunteer from Humber College staying at the same hotel as me) and we wandered into a restaurant based on what we were seeing people eat in the window...looked good...didn't pay enough attention to the actual restaurant. Lots of young professionals in the restaurant, but once we sat down, it was clear that this was the Vietnamese version of "Hooters"...definitely not what I had expected! So, not my best meal in Hanoi!
Well, here it is! My first day of work...I think!
I arrived at the WUSC office to meet with Ngoc and head off to The Faculty of Tourism (FOT) at Hanoi Open University (HOU). It was a fair ride from the WUSC office, and we drove through areas of the city I had yet to see. There is such a dichotomy of old traditional buildings next to these huge construction projects. There are huge malls and then street side vendors all in the same block. I truly like the green space and the flowers in between the lanes of traffic, and I have to say you always have to look up. There are all these balcony gardens and some amazing filigrees on the tops of buildings that may look less appealing at street level.
I had a meeting with one of the directors of FOT at HOU this morning. Ngoc and I went to the university, well, to the buildings that they currently rent. They do not have enough space at the main campus and have had to find buildings to rent. This creates a real problem for the faculties, they have no connection to each other due to distance, and they do not participate in the rare activities that are held on main campus due to the distance the students would have to travel.
Ms. Que and Ms. Giang met with Ngoc and I to discuss the faculty and the students and what they are looking for during my time here. They are looking to try and get the students more involved, and my experience with students is what they are hoping will help. Maybe I have an approach or activity they haven't tried yet. I sure hope so! After our meeting we had lunch in the staff room. Can I say one of my favourite Vietnamese foods was part of our meal! I get it at my favourite restaurant in London - Vietnam on Dundas street. At home they call it beef wrapped in lop leaf. I have no idea what they call it here, but I call it delicious!
The FOT at HOU has a long term volunteer named Tim (he's Canadian). He is here for a one year assignment that started in March. Tim was conducting a seminar this afternoon on strategic planning and Ngoc and I attended it. It was a very interesting experience, and I really think that I need to bring some of this back to the Department and discuss it. The seminar was very different for me because Tim was speaking in English, and being translated by one of the directors, while showing slides and using posters that were all in Vietnamese. I wasn't able to participate in the session, but I was amazed at how engaged the instructors were. They were active participants, and with that kind of engagement in the staff, I hope that we will be able to find some of that with the students. Unfortunately, none of the people I will work directly with are available tomorrow, so I will be in the WUSC office in the morning working on my meeting minutes, and then I will meet with the leader of the Press Club and the leader of the Youth Union. I hope they are ready for the approximately 4 pages of notes that I made...mostly questions!!
Tonight Sara and I roamed through the old town waiting until something called to our stomachs. The winner tonight was barbecue. You sit at this little table in the street and on these stools that are so low, I thought I would need help standing up. There is a burner on the table with a cast iron grill plate covered in tin foil. They bring you a plate of raw meat and vegetables and you cook it with your chop sticks on this grill. The dipping sauce is made for you at the table. It is salt and pepper and some red pepper flakes and garlic with some tiny little limes (I called them key limes, but I am not sure if that is actually what they were), awesome! I picked up some fresh rolls and plums on the way home to take to work tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be the start of my mandate.
Tuesday is off to another hot start! The plan for today was to finish orientation at WUSC, and then meet with my employer in the afternoon. However, my employer had to cancel, so Ngoc came up with a new plan. After orientation I went for lunch with Ngoc, Alice and some friends of Ngoc's. The restaurant we went to was huge. It was four floors and each floor had a gigantic buffet. I don't even know what half of the items available for eating were! I gambled and won some and lost some. Trust me when I say that I had more than enough to eat!
After lunch Ngoc and I went to Hoa Sua's School for Disadvantaged Youth. It is a vocational school, and after our discussions on Monday about some of my experiences she thought I would be interested and could make some quick recommendations. I wish that I could have stayed. I really believe in what they are doing there, and I hope that they will get a volunteer in there soon to help them. The director is trying to make it possible for me to do a cooking class one evening with the students.
Jet lag hit me hard this afternoon, and I had an evening without adventure. The French influence is still strong in certain ways here in Hanoi, and one of those is bread! I had a delicious baguette sandwich with some spicy avocado.
Did I mention that it's hot?
So, Monday morning came a lot earlier for me then I had hoped! My body was confused and so I was up at 3:49am. I had the opportunity to watch the sun come up from my hotel window. Finally at 7am I went down to breakfast and met up with a volunteer from Humber College who is working at a university an hour away from where we are staying. With some tips from her and some free time on my hands, I headed out to experience Hanoi. It's hot! I cannot stop replaying the scene in Good Morning Vietnam when Robin Williams does the bit on it's hot...it's damn hot! If you don't remember it, google it. While you are laughing at Robin Williams, keep in mind, that is actually how hot it is!!
There are people everywhere. It's 7:30am, and even though the stores aren't open, there are people everywhere. Walking, in cars, on bicycles, but mostly on motorbikes. I have seen it before in other countries, but I am still always in awe how a motorbike can be a sedan, moving van and delivery truck! With all the traffic there doesn't appear to be any road rage, people just find their way around everyone. I faced my first challenge of the trip...crossing the road! Everyone had helpful hints about how to do this. I actually think closing your eyes, and holding your breath is your best bet! Seriously, the first time was daunting, the second time is just nerve wracking, and after that, you just go with it.
At the end of the street you reach Hoan Kiem Lake. It is a gorgeous area! The lake holds key to a legend about a sword borrowed from a dragon king and returned to a tortoise in the lake. The lake is in the middle of the city in the Old Quarter. While traffic abounds on all sides, there is a path around the lake that people are walking and jogging. There are manicured gardens of different flowers around the path, and at the end closest to where I live there is a red bridge leading to Ngoc Son Temple. I took the bridge and wandered around the temple. I asked around if anyone spoke English, so I could learn about the people being honoured in the temple, but no one spoke English, however the one woman asked French? When I said yes, she broke into great French and told me about the figures representing Literature and Taoism, and in a separate room a National Hero who fought off the Mongols three times.
Monday afternoon I visited the WUSC office for the first time. The Ladies in the office are amazing. They are so welcoming and had answers for all my questions. Hanh is the Country Coordinator, Ngoc is the Sector Program Officer, Uyen is the Accountant and Administrator, and Alice is the Volunteer Support Officer. These ladies are here for all the volunteers, short or long term. They have seen it all and heard it all, and I feel well supported. Ngoc is my life line here in Vietnam. She will be taking me to meet my employer and sort out what I will be doing.
Monday evening ended with some authentic pho. Sara and I wandered out to a place she had seen in her travels. Since it was my first real meal here, I was a bit cautious and had "well done" beef. The little store front pho restaurant had about 15 seats shoved in a room about the size of our seminar room in Modern Languages. We ended up sharing a table with a couple from Norway...and I have to stop complaining about the heat, they definitely deserve that more then I do!
All in all, a successful day one!
Whoever said that it's not the destination it's the journey, was definitely not talking about traveling around the world!
I started off at 4:40am on Saturday, the 24th to the London airport. Everything is as it should be and we head for the runway...and stop...and turnaround! Apparently traffic at Pearson on Saturday morning at 6am is a gridlock, and we had to go back and sit at the gate in the plane until our flight was given the green light to go. No big deal, I have 3 hours layover in Toronto. Second time's the charm, away we go to Toronto! Arrive and find that Flight number two to Hong Kong is delayed by two hours. That sucks! Try to find out what that's going to do to my fight from Hong Kong to Hanoi, but no one seems to be able to tell me. Yay...a mystery, who doesn't like a good mystery! Good news on the flight, it is almost entirely sold out, but lucky me I end up in a row with a free seat in the middle. A little extra room on a 15.5 hour flight is awesome! Arriving in Hong Kong was a little nerve wracking, the crew were unable to give me any information about what would happen when I landed. Anxiously I alit and found a lovely lady with my name on a printout. I had missed my flight, but they had booked me on the next flight to Hanoi leaving an hour and a half after my original. They weren't sure about my luggage and I had to sign a form saying that I was willing to fly without my bags. Everyone had a varying opinion. Maybe my bags made the first flight. Maybe they would have to follow me on a flight later on. A slight chance they could find them and get them on to my flight with me. It was going to be a surprise! I love surprises! Boarding the flight I was informed that my bags were found and made it on to the flight! Yay, my bags and I were finally going to Hanoi! Arrival was not a problem. Long lines for customs, down to the belt, found my bags, lovely driver sent from WUSC was there with my name on a sign and a vehicle to take me to my hotel. Home for three weeks is the Church Boutique Hotel. The hotel is in a bustling area, and surpassed my expectations!
Let the adventure begin!
Staff International Engagement
