A day in the life

Today I was awake early watching the fog lift over the city from my bedroom window; at about 5:15 a.m. After a breakfast of cheese, crackers, a boiled egg, and peach juice I settled in to read my book, "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places," by an author whose first name is Le Ly. The plan is that I will meet Le Ly on Wednesday evening; I want to be prepared to discuss the contents of her book when I see her so this is my homework. She is in town along with Oliver Stone as they work on his new movie about the My Lai Masacre. She is a Vietnamese woman who has written about her life during the war and her support of the Viet Cong during that time. She said for many people in the United States the war was about democracy vs. communism; but for Vietnam that wasn't the fight at all - - most Vietnamese knew little about democracy and even less about communism. For most Vietnamese it was a fight for independence; a war between rich and poor, a war between those who wanted to leave VN as it had been for a thousand years and for those who wanted it to change. She said these things had been going on for decades and still go on today. How could America think it could change a country that has been fighting so many battles for so long? It's interesting so far. She calls herself "uneducated yet literate." That's a description I would give to many Vietnamese people here. It seems formal education might not be prevalent but literacy is the norm. According to the statistics provided by this communist government the literacy rate is 98%. Seems high for any nation...

After visiting the War Remnants Museum (see previous post) we went to lunch by the river, next to the Renaissance Hotel I stayed at in 2000. We had a feast of shrimp steamed in coconut juice, clams steeped in ginger water, fresh herbs/greens, never-ending glasses of "cha da" (iced tea), pumpkin greens, heaping bowls of rice with "nuoc mom" (fish sauce), varieties of fresh fruit with salt and chilies, pork and eggplant, mud fish in garlic (yum!!) and probably more that I can't recall. We had more food for a bigger price today: 320,000 dong or $20US. What on earth!?! Are you kidding me!? Again, this is craziness.

After lunch we shopped. Each store had greater stuff than the last. I bought so many gifts and so many things I know I'll end up keeping for myself! Again, crazy low prices.

This heat is ridiculous. Not so much the heat but the humidity. My skin is constantly glowing, even the backs of my hands and my calves. I want to acclimate soon! Then I'll head to Tibet where the environment sucks every ounce of moisture out of the body! What a contrast!

On Sunday night we were graciously invited to Terry's boss's house (how is 'boss's' spelled, anyway?) which is on the other side of town in an area that sounds something like "foo lock", I think. Being a successful businessman, Hoe lives in apparent wealth and luxury with a gated ultra modern-style home that he recently designed and built. See photos. More important than the beautiful physical environment he has created for himself, his wife LiLi, children MiMi and BeBe, and dog ToBy (all nicknames; not their given Vietnamese names), there is a warmth among the family, servants and guests in the home that was a joy to be around! We enjoyed a many-course meal (now this is heaven on earth!), lots of wine/beer, lively conversation, and entertainment by Mr. Son (pronounced Sahn) and his son (pronounced sun). The interesting thing is that only three of the guests spoke both English and Vietamese so they acted as the interpreters for the rest of us. Mr. Son would carry on lively conversations with me, looking directly into my eyes smiling and animated and I would nod and smile back in hopefully appropriate places! I had no idea what he was saying until Hoe or someone else interpreted for me. The women appeared to speak no English but the children present were fluent in English complete with slang and intonations I could have heard at home in Minnesota! Part way through dinner Mr. Son decided to entertain us with "ope-er-ah" or his opera voice! What a treat. He sang a Vietnamese folk song that he said showed his love for his country - - he said he wanted to share that with us so we knew how much he loved his Vietnam. It was a song with apparently many verses because he sang for quite some time. I wasn't ready for him to stop because it was so beautiful. He sang a couple of songs for us - - everyone laughed at one of the songs but we have no clue what he sang. By the way, Mr. Son will go with us on Friday to Tibet along with Hoe, the host of our evening. Then Mr. Son's 12 year old (I'm guessing) son entertained us with his piano playing whilst we ate our pommelos for dessert. He is a beautiful classical pianist with a little "theme from Love Story" thrown in. It was beautiful. As I sat there listening to these strangers perform I thought: how lucky am I to be in this environment? How lucky am I to be able to experience these snippits of life in this other country? And like Hoe and I discussed after dinner we're all alike all over the world. We have the same hopes and dreams, the same thoughts and ideas, and the same need to reach out to strangers and friends. My mind keeps going back to Mr. Son performing opera at dinner as he stood at the table. I can't imagine experiencing such a thing at home.