A little more from Vietnam

I had my first holiday in quite some time a couple of weeks back when David Pitron came out to visit in Ho Chi Minh aka Saigon. It was great to see David, and Vietnam from a fresh set of eyes again, including cowering at the traffic, and being enchanted again by the things that you can fit on a motorbike, we literally cried with laughter at the sight of half a dozen ducks….

We explored the Mekong Delta for a couple of days with a guide Jimmy and a driver. They were great, and didn’t seem to mind that we wanted to stop to look at rice being dried on the side of the street, or to get a picture of water buffalo. Equally, we were unfazed by the couple of stops at Bonsai places – where we were left to admire the trees for 15 minutes or so. The Delta was incredibly photogenic and absolutely stuffed full of fruit, which was harvested and then sent to the floating markets and on for sale throughout Vietnam. Didn’t get to find out how many days in the supply chain, before those of you at Compass ask….

We stayed overnight in a home stay, where the family were very friendly, and we got to sleep on what can only really be described as tables with a mosquito net. Jimmy gave us a few moments of worry, as he took tonhis table/bed first at about 8pm and demonstrated what effect the fruits could have on your digestive system.Luckily it seemed to quieten down after a bit…The food was great, with freshly caught shrimps, and all manner of fruits. Bit of a shame that David eats neither fish nor fruit and a good thing that he likes rice.

One of the most memorable moments was wondering around the area that we were staying and watching people go about their business. We also spent hours on a number of different kinds of boats observing life on the Mekong. We made a couple of visits to a brick factory which seemed a little random, but turned out to be quite interesting, and a monastery where some nuns were chanting. They seemed not to mind us gawping.

We visited Saigon sights, and David took photos of convenience stores and supermarkets for his collection in his never ending search for the next big thing in retail. It was good to talk a bit about that world again…. The war museum was pretty harrowing, as at least half the photos there were to document the impact of Agent Orange on the next generation. And there were a lot of photos.

We took a trip out to visit the highly picturesque Cao Dai temples, and on to the Cu Chi tunnels. We crawled through the tunnels which had been widened for those of us with larger hips, but decided not to have a go at shooting rifles, the noise of which did add to the atmosphere, but left a distinctly uneasy feeling.

Hanoi is cooling down, (I’ve had to wear a cardigan twice now!) and I am still enjoying exploring it. In the evenings now on my walk home the smell of pollution is overpowered by the wonderful smell of hoa sua (milk flowers) that have the scent of cardamom and it feels distinctly exotic. The street food also seems to have changed a little and the waft of barbequed meat is also mixed into the aroma.

So I am looking forward to my next visitor, Laura, at Christmas when I will have a couple of weeks more to explore some of this fantastic country. I continue to be well and happy as I hope you are, Jean x

Hello there, well I haven’t been in touch for a bit which I guess is a sign that things have settled down into something of a routine. Going to work does that to you.

Work has been something of a revelation, and the UN bureaucracy is stunning. Luckily for me UNAIDS is a much smaller agency that seems more nimble and focussed, and whilst I still don't understand great chunks of it, it is becoming less opaque. There are meetings that I sit in that feel a bit like an episode of West Wing, and others that make me laugh. The strangest thing of all is having come from a culture where mininmising cost and spending was paramount, and cash flow management a fine art I am now in a culture where we have to spend more and spend faster, and spend it all by year end. I kind of get why, but it is a very very alien concept, and I am still not sure that the why makes sense.

I spent a lot of June asking people if it got any hotter in the hope that someone would say no. I now understand why none of them did, as the heat continued to climb, and with it the humidity, which I am reliably informed hits 85% some days. Not only does this reek havoc with my hair, but meant that it was difficult to get enthusiastic about doing anything outside for a bit. But it is cooling down, and there are some incredible downpours every now again, when the roads flood, and flip flops come in to their own.

I visited Ho Chi Minh City – aka Saigon – for a few days last month where I stayed with another Volunteer Tanya. It was strikingly different from Hanoi. The humidity was less, the streets wider, and people could understand my accent when I spoke the few words of Vietnamese that I have. We went for street food one evening, and decided to have a hot pot. Very luckily for us there was a menu where parts were translated into English, and we could see that we had a choice of goat or penis. We took the goat.

It struck me though that I missed Hanoi after a few days, and I guess that that is a good sign. I love the charm of the city and the vibrancy. Now that I am daring to go back outside I have taken to walking around districts in the hope that the eventually I will understand how to get from A to B, and I am also taking the brave step of getting a bicycle – though I am not convinced yet how much I will use it given that I have only cycled once in the last 17 years and the state of the traffic. Not sure that they’re ready for me yet.

I have been in my new role for the last 3-4 weeks, and it has been a strange phenomena moving from an environment where I knew “everything”to somewhere I know nothing. In the first couple of weeks I sat in meetings held in English where I did not understand a word of what they were talking about. The use of acronyms is staggering – amixture of UN jargon, HIV/AIDS technicalities, Vietnamese Ministries, Politicians and Donors – has left my head spinning. Slowly though the jigsaw is piecing together and I think I stunned everyone at the weekly team meeting when the question was asked of the room what UNGASS stood for and it was me that shouted out the answer. ActuallyI stunned myself, I had no idea that had sunk in! I am also beginningto get to grips with the finances and the cash which as ever helps.


The people here in the office though have been incredibly friendly. It is a mixture of international staff from all over the world and thenational team. The office is next to the Hanoi football stadium, and when standing on the 4th floor you have a great view of the pitch. There has been one big match on to date, and as I fought my way home it made me smile to see people lining up with their eyes to the cracks in the doors to catch a bit of the action. It is all a little different from Chelsea, Ricoh and Madjeski where I used to attend meetings. I did get a bit of a shock the other day though when I was waiting for someone in the 4th floor office, and peered over the side of the building to the neighbours roof to see a man striding about in his pants. That is not a view that I saw everyday in Uxbridge!

Life continues to be very sociable. I have done loads including representing the office at the Queens Birthday Party Celebration to hanging out at Beer Hois which are fantastic little dives where they serve fresh beer – it has to be drunk in a few days, and is incredibly cheap, delicious and cold, and as I keep telling myself very much apart of the local culture (though maybe not for women)… It also generally means that I end up perching on chairs or stools that would be classified as children’s furniture at home, much to the amusement of the other patrons who are somewhat smaller in stature to myself.

People are incredibly friendly though, and I often find myself in conversations on the bus or in the street explaining what my name is, where I am from, how old I am, yes I am working here and no I am not married.

Slowly but surely I think that I am getting into the groove of things,having my own place to live and finally understanding the bus system to work have all helped. It has been a bit tougher than I imagined, but all the better for that. I do like a challenge,

I hope this finds you all well and happy,

Jean

Hello there,

I hope that this finds you all well. Things here are good, and I have now finished my in country training and started my new job this week. I think that I may have been learning the wrong language over the last 3 weeks though, as the UN seem to have one of their own altogether! Quielty confident though that I will get the hang of it though...

The In country training was great, it was largely taken up by language lessons, which I was really surprised to find that I loved. I wish I had felt the same way about French lessons at school! We also got up to speed on the programmes that VSO are running on HIV and Disability which were really interesting and a good grounding for what we have ahead of us. 2 of the volunteers have now headed for Ho Chi Minh City, and the 4 of us left here in Hanoi started our jobs on Monday!!

I am slowly starting to find my way around the city, though I am usually found clutching a map trying to work out a bus route. WhilstI am getting more used to the traffic there is absolutely no way that I am risking riding a bike in it. Well I say that I am getting used to it, whilst walking to work on Tuesday I was surprised to discover that in times of high traffic the mopeds use the pavements too. I was going to let them know the errors of their ways, but most were laughing so I couldn't help but do the same thing too.

I am still amazed some of the sites on mopeds incluing a family of 5, 6 pigs, small children who can barely walk standing on the seats loosel clutching their parent as they weave through traffic, though my favourite sight so far is definitely the two nuns that i saw in crash helmets.

Things are very sociable still, and I have quickly fitted into a network of other volunteers, and people working in the NGO sectors. My current task - other than the new job - is to find some accomodation, but I think that might be sorted by this weekend - fingers crossed. So things are good, it all feels like an adventure still, and I can't quite believe still that I am living here. It has got to sink in at some time!

Take care,

Jean

I think most of you know this, but just in case you don't I have taken a bit of a journey in the last week, and left the UK to work with VSO for a couple of years. I have taken a placement in Hanoi, Vietnam andwill be working for UNAIDS in a couple of weeks time.

Leaving home proved to be a lot harder than I ever expected. I was very sorry to leave great friends, and a job that I essentially loved. But it was time for a change and a new challenge so here I am.


VSO are pretty organised here, and I am on a 3 week in country training course, and so far so good. The most important lesson so far seems to have been how to cross the road, which can be summed up as absolutely terrifying. To cut a long story short it appears to rely on other vehicles dodging you as you walk very slowly. I have arrived with 5 others; 2 of whom are from the UK, 2 from Holland, and 1 from Canada. They are largely involved with a variety of social work, and they will be working with other local NGOs. 4 of us will be based in Hanoi, where there seems to be an amazing social scene in one way or another. People seem super friendly across the board.

We have started our language lesson , which end in fits of thegiggles, and my losing the ability to speak. Everyone I have met tells me that I can only hope to master the basics, and I suspect they're right, but we'll see.

The food as suspected is absolutely marvellous, and coupled with thedelicious beers, any hope that I had of getting into shape over hereare rapidly disappearing.


There seems to be quite a commitment to language lessons from VSO and I can continue them for quite some time. My senses seem to have been hit on every front, and in all honesty Ihave been pretty exhausted, which I suspect is down to the sheer hardwork of packing everything up and leaving, the emotion of it andfinally the jet lag. I am doing my best to be sensible about things,and not take on too much. So far so good.

But I am safe and well, and mightily impressed with Hanoi, so far so good.Speak to you soon,


Jean