Thus I ended up spending the next 1.5 days with a group of twenty-one year old students. I initially thought that since it was a fieldtrip that some other faculty might be coming along. But nope...just me and eight girls. They told me that the car would leave at noon. I thought GREAT...we have a car. Well, I learned the hard way that the word car and bus is basically the same. So at noon, we were standing at the side of a very busy, dusty road in Hanoi waiting for the bus to take us to a providence northeast of here. The picture below was taken while we were waiting for the bus. This also the spot where I was nailed by a motorcycle a few nights ago.
The bus approaches and a guy yells something out the door........and the girls shout something back. It slows and we launch ourselves toward the bus and climb aboard. It never stopped completely....just slowed down so we could scramble aboard. We all make it and are on a packed bus with tons of people returning to the villages outside Hanoi. A bicycle is in the back...next to a bunch of chickens in a cage...and bags full of rice. I grab a seat next to an old lady who was overjoyed by sitting next to a westerner. She looked to be about 75 years old...and her mouth was red-purple from chewing betel nut. She kept patting my leg and talking to me. I have no clue what she was saying, but she was friendly!
The bus ride took 2 hours. We got off in a rural village and ended up walking about a kilometer to the home where the student lived. It was an amazing walk...though corn fields, drying cassava along the roads and plenty of people heading home for the evening.
The student's home where we stayed was a small farm. They had two cows...a mother and baby; many chickens and one pig. The chickens below ended up in the pot for dinner! That was the amazing thing. It was a two chicken dinner!
The father grabbed two of the chickens and tied up their legs and hung them from the motorcycle parked in the "kitchen". The Mom and Dad proceeded to slit the throats of the chickens and then handed them to the students. I was floored--because these girls took those chickens and had them plucked, gutted and into the pot in under 20 minutes. Imagine giving a chicken to a student in the US? I think this really captures the essence of differences between the US and Vietnam. They are experts and skilled at things we forgot or don't do anymore. They want to be like us, but imagine what would be lost in the transition!
So, the chickens were in the pot....and we were enjoying the evening. We had a wonderful dinner out on the "patio"...which meant the flat area in front of the house. Chicken, rice, soup, vegetables and some type of salty pork was on the menu. I was worried because the cleanliness wasn't the greatest. The water came from a well and that worried me. The vegetables were not peeled and the cups and plates were not perfectly clean. But hey...what do you do? You dig right in and eat! Meanwhile I was thinking....please, please, please let this food be ok for my poor digestive system.
After dinner we walked around the village. I was amazed because the village had a large Catholic church. Very interesting...and of course we went inside. found one nun and several villagers practicing singing for Christmas. They sang several songs for us....but were totally stunned at having a westerner in their church. It was great fun!
We headed back to the farm and I was in a minor panic. Two issues: Bed and toilet. I saw three beds in the house and no sign of a toilet. Well, the bed arrangement was that 4 students slept in one bed and 4 in the other. That left me and one student in the third bed. I am thinking bed bugs....lice....rats. But I am happy to report that I had no problems. They sleep on boards with a rice mat over it...so my poor hips got pretty sore that night. I kept tossing and turning - trying to get comfortable.
Throughout the trip...in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, while traveling though the countryside I kept wondering "Where do these people go to the bathroom?". Well folks....I got my answer this weekend. When I said toilet to the students they all giggled and got out their Vietnamese-English dictionary. Looked up "water" and "stool". They said water and pointed to the field in back of the house or the shower area next to the well....which of course got me in a state of panic because of the quality of the drinking water. They also said stool....and really laughed. Then they pointed to the barn area. The barn was attached to the house. The first stall had a pig in it. The second stall had chickens. The third stall was for the cows. Guess what the fourth stall was for? Basically a very, very small side shed was attached to the barn for "stool". I walked into that shed and found boards on the floor and a hole in the boards about 6 inched in diameter! Six inches! Gad....you have to be a pretty good "shooter" to hit that hole. No seat....no handles on the walls to hang on to. Nothing in there except a hole in the floor and bucket of ashes with a scoop inside. I guess you put ashes over the nasty.... So, needless to say, it was a challenge. Do this...right now. Squat! See if you can hold that position for several minutes. Imagine doing this with a sprained ankle that is still somewhat sore. It was an interesting experience!
The father also learned that I liked Hanoi beer...so off he went on his motorcycle...and appeared about 20 minutes later with about 8 big bottles of beer. Oh oh...I think. Well, the beer was for me and him. I had given him a Mizzou Tshirt and he really thought that it was special...so I think the beer was his "gift" to me. The students didn't get offered any.
Being a good citizen, I managed to do moderate damage to the 8 bottles. But, I forgot that drinking beer means that your restful night is going to be disturbed to head to the toilet. WAIT...there isn't one! What to do? Well, you crawl out of bed...over your sleeping student...and try to open the door so you can get outside. I finally got the damn door open and tip toe outside...across the patio...and leapt over the wall to the field behind. I "assume the position" with my pants at half mast. Relief.....but wait. I hear growing and barking. A rapacious dog decides that I am not supposed to be in his field...and starts nipping at my bottom. I am yelling at the dog...cursing at my stupidity for drinking so much...and of course wake up the whole house of people. It really was hilarious. I am trying to get my pants pulled up while running away from the dog. People are yelling something at either me or the dog.... and I still need to go to the bathroom. Sigh.....it was an experience! And of course the students laughed themselves silly and retold the story to everyone. Now when I walk by people on campus they bark at me! ha ha.....not funny!
The next day it was REALLY, REALLY cold. I was happy I had my polartec jacket. I walked into the kitchen area and the mother was squatting on the floor next to big basket of white rice. She had her sleeves rolled up and was mixing a baked squash into the rice with her hands. This was called "sticky rice" and is a traditional breakfast item. We also had some type of rice noodle with bits of meat inside. That is the white slimy looking stuff in the picture below.
After breakfast a mini van picks us up and takes us to a beautiful Buddhist Monastery in the nearby village. Folks...this place was awesome! I could have stayed there forever! Calm, quiet, and very, very beautiful. We walked around for awhile and then took a long hike up one of the streams in the area to a big waterfall. The students played and romped in the stream and we ate lunch....left over sticky rice, fruit and some meat type of substance that I never really could figure out. Again I am thinking....oh please....don't let me get sick from this!
Afterwards we headed down the mountain and back to the village where we caught the bus back to Hanoi. We were back on campus by dinnertime. Needless to say, I was exhausted because I didn't sleep much the night before.
It really was an amazing experience. The village really was very, very poor. All the homes were very spartan and basic. Little electricity...no water....no toilets....no refrigeration....nothing. But the interesting thing was that once I got over being somewhat shocked at what I got myself into....I really liked it. I realized that the area was poor. These people had little. Yet they had two kids in university. They were enjoyable to be around and very, very pleased to have me as a guest. They were coping very well and seemed to be enjoying life. They didn't have much....but they were doing just fine. I thought about the families and students in the US with much, much more.....yet these people seemed to have just as much if love and happiness could be considered wealth.
The Group!So......an interesting experience and a highlight of my trip to Vietnam!
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1 comment:
Gail,
This entry brought tears to my eyes...why I'm not exactly sure. And I laughed myself silly too, over the toilet incident. I have been in the same situation, but when I was much younger, in Central America! You know, there probably was a chamber pot somewhere in that bedroom and you just didn't know where; they don't go outside in the middle of the night to pee...craziness. Hint - next time you are in a country where you need to pee and don't know the language, grab the roll of toilet paper in your backpack and wave it at them - does wonders! Wait, you don't have tp in your backpack? Uh-oh!
Love, Lynn
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