Phil: Closing the Circle

In a few hours I'll be starting the long trip back to Columbia, MO, closing the circle on my six week odyssey in SE Asia. While I'll never be able to sum up this experience, here's a few final, disconnected thoughts and observations about my experiences.

Vietnam is a very young country. It seems that the majority of the people have been born since 1975. For them "the American War" is just history in the same way that World War II was just history for my generation when we traveled in Europe in the '60's and 70's. This is another way of reminding me that the experiences of my youth are history now.

It is interesting, and at times startling, to watch the Vietnamese interact with each other. They often are very soft-spoken, yet at times they can seem quite excited and loud with when talking together. When they are friends, men sometimes hold hands with other men, women with other women. Recently I was out on the street in front of campus and saw two men, probably in their 70's, walking down the street holding hands. On campus, I often see young women walking together holding hands or arm in arm. This doesn't seem to be an expression of gay/lesbian sexuality as it would be in the US. Rather it just seems to be affectionate behavior between friends.

Vietnam is a land of growing prosperity. Everywhere we look new building is happening. Although the current worldwide recession will no doubt cool the economy here for a while, it really looks like the direction is towards increasing wealth for the people.

If I'd had the time and the focus I could have done another entry on motorbike culture. It has been fascinating to see the ways that motorbikes and bicycles have been adapted to transport all forms of things. I've seen them with big cages on back for transporting chickens and dogs (which are a food item here as in many other parts of Asia.) We've seen someone on the back of a motorbike holding a sheet of glass as he was being driven down the busy street! We've seen them with two or three recently killed pigs tied on back. Motorbikes are currently the workhorse of Vietnamese society. As the country continues to prosper, they will probably be replaced more and more by cars and trucks, much to the detriment of traffic congestion and air quality.

I've come to have great sympathy for any person who is trying to function in a country where they don't speak the language. It is extremely hard. Recently I went to one of the photocopy shops on campus. Through gestures I was able to convey that I wanted one copy of the document I had in my hands. But when the worker told me the price I was at a total loss. I couldn't understand at all and he seemed unwilling or unable to write it down in figures or show me on a calculator. Eventually we did sort it out with more gestures, but it was quite humbling to be confronted with how totally lost I am without any ability to speak or comprehend the language.

I'm grateful to anyone here who speaks some English. The area where we live in Hanoi has little exposure to tourists or English-speaking residents, so even the people who have some ability to understand and converse in English often don't have the pronunciation down. As a result, it takes a lot of effort to concentrate and listen very closely to what they are trying to say. I often feel I've either missed most of what they've said, or I feel very fatigued from the effort. I imagine they feel the same way.

And finally, I'm very grateful for the kindness of strangers. People have, for the most part, been quite patient and helpful with us even though we don't know their cultures or languages. It would not be possible to travel and live in other countries as we have without relying on and trusting in the kindness of strangers.