By: Alice Boerner
Hello all! Xin chào!
My name is Alice Boerner and I am a junior Dance and Sociology/Anthropology major at St. Olaf. We’ve done a little bit of everything these past five days in Vietnam, from museum visits to handfishing to homestays, so get ready to hear about it! I’m excited to take you along.
Tuesday was a day full of classes at SIT Center in District 1 of HCMC. We heard from Assoc. Professor Trang Phung who taught us about microfinance in Vietnam, we discussed field methods and ethics with Cô Thanh, and had Ethical Tourism class taught by Prof. Elizabeth where we gained some context on the Vietnam/American War in preparation for our visit that day to the War Remnants Museum.
Founded on September 4, 1975, this museum is a member of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) and has three floors of exhibits depicting war crimes and atrocities inflicted on the Vietnamese people largely by Americans during the war. It has about one million visitors per year and is a popular stop for tourists of Ho Chi Minh City. This museum was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life, and was nothing short of horrifying. We walked through the exhibits, reading about and seeing the horrible methods of torture, violence, and imprisonment used against the Vietnamese people. Not having learned much about this war in high school, a significant amount of this information was new to me and really opened my eyes to how stories like this can go untold.
In our Ethics of Study Abroad class we’ve been considering what our responsibilities are as tourists and students visiting these sites of war and remembrance. Certainly not an easy question to answer, but my personal philosophy (though continuously developing) has been that it’s important to absorb all that we learn as much as possible, by listening and watching and being silent. These truths, though difficult to grapple with sometimes, need to be recognized, and what else can we do to understand except listen?
Wednesday certainly brought a change of pace, with our visit to Green Noen Farm! First thing in the morning we drove about two hours to Củ Chi, and
made our way to this beautiful, fully green little oasis in the suburbs of HCMC. Upon arrival we were immediately greeted and each given a non la (a traditional Vietnamese conical hat common in the countryside) to wear. From there we had a tour and walked around the farm, seeing tapioca plants, flowers (planted to attract pests so the farm can use zero chemicals), and baby rice planted just two days ago. We learned how to harvest the tapioca root by tugging the whole plant out of the ground, and appreciated just how much work goes into it.
Following our tour we proceeded to each take a turn milking one of their dairy cows. Despite being from Iowa, this was a new experience for me and many of my fellow globies. Some of us were more nervous than others…for me, Iowa came through and I was basically a pro. Kind of.
Next up was in my opinion the wildest part of the day- handfishing. The first step was completing the Vietnamese outfit and changing into a traditional farmer áo bà ba. They were quite comfortable, lightweight, and flowy, and I personally wanted to take one home with me. After donning the new clothes, we marched on down to a little mossy pond where the farmer who was guiding us upturned a bucket and let loose somewhere around ten huge fish into the water, with the instruction to “go catch them!” …..so we could eat them for lunch. A number of us proceeded to wade into the pond attempting to grab these slippery critters, knowing that once we accomplished it we’d then be eating them. There were many attempts, a lot of escape artist fish, and a plethora of muddy water splashes on one another, but eventually we had the fish.
Then we took them to a grassy area and were taught how to stab them through the mouth with a stake and set them up to be cooked, which was admittedly a little jarring. I personally did not participate, but a few brave souls got out there and killed the fish, and then we watched as the farmers covered them in straw and set them ablaze. (Did I feel a bit bad for the fish? Yes…. Did I eat them anyway? Also yes…..)
After the fish extravaganza we learned how to make a traditional Southern Vietnamese dish called bánh xèo- a buttery egg mixture cooked into a pancake and topped with mushrooms grown right on the farm. From here we walked to the dining area and enjoyed a delicious meal of spring rolls where we rolled the rice paper ourselves, fish (yep, those fish), bánh xèo, and more. Then we made the journey back to our hotel for the night.
Thursday brought yet another adventure….Thanksgiving Day! Happy Thanksgiving to all reading this! We began the day with a later start to the morning (a happily welcomed opportunity to sleep in) and then an event planned by our lovely Gratitude Committee where we (all 23 of us) wrote a note to every person in the group of our appreciation for them. It was such a heartwarming preparation for our homestays, where we’d be spending the next seven evenings apart from each other, something we hadn’t done at all since being with our host families in Costa Rica.
The gratitude didn’t stop there, for next we headed to Thanksgiving Lunch, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pie, everything we were missing back at home on Thanksgiving. It took place in a New York-style diner, making us all feel a bit closer to the US, and was planned by our lovely and amazing TA, Hằng. Though it was certainly not the same as being home for the holiday, I think I can speak for all the globies when I say it was a welcome opportunity to enjoy some Thanksgiving food, spend time with one another, and feel grateful. Thanksgiving lunch also included the sharing of some riddles, at least on my side of the table, which brought many laughs and made for exactly the kind of lighthearted joy I was yearning for. I miss my family so much, and I’m also so thankful for the opportunity to be on this program, with all the challenges it brings.
Following lunch…. We transitioned to the highly anticipated event of the week- moving into our homestays! All of the host parents gathered at SIT to pick us up, our names were called, handshakes and hugs were exchanged, we grabbed our bags, and off we went. There are 6 of us that are in solo homestays, and then 7 groups of two. I personally am going solo for the next week, so I met my host mom and dad and the 3 of us jumped in the car and made the 20ish minute journey from District 1 to District 4. They both speak very minimal English, and I even more limited Vietnamese, but despite the language barrier they could not have been more kind and welcoming from the very beginning. We traveled along a narrow street packed with food stands, motorbikes, and cars, and eventually turned into an even narrower alley through some twists and turns before arriving at their house- charming and square shaped and several tapered stories high. They showed me to where I’m staying, a large room with my own bathroom and ginormous bed (on which I am currently laying while typing this).
I felt immediately at home, they brought me dragonfruit and grapes and toothpaste and made sure I was taken care of. For the first few hours I was left alone to rest, which was much appreciated. I met my host parents’ daughter, who speaks English and has a newborn baby and a three year old, and I met both of them as well. It’s a three generation household, and so far there is always bustling happening or noise being made, which I love because it makes me feel like I am just a part of the household. That night we ate four variations of stir fried noodles and seafood, all with different types of noodles and vegetables. They expressed that they didn’t know what I liked, so they wanted me to try everything. I happily obliged, and it was all incredibly delicious. We finished off the night with some YouTube videos of cars (for the three year old, yes, but I was entranced) and milk tea.
Friday morning, after enjoying a very large bowl of beef soup for breakfast, I commuted to school from my host family’s house for the first time. My host sister was kind enough to call a Grab bike for me. I strapped on a helmet, hopped on the back of the motorbike, and sped through the streets of District 4 on my way to class. I’ve now gotten used to being transported by motorbike, and it’s so much fun. It’s so much faster than by car because you can weave in and out of cars and there aren’t really any traffic rules anyway.
Once at SIT we had two classes, one on urbanization and housing attainability in Vietnam by Dr. Nguyen Luu Bao Doan and one on gender equality and poverty alleviation in Vietnam by Dr. Le Thi Ngoc Tu. It’s been fascinating in many of these lectures to see this country from a bunch of different lenses, and compare statistics relating to Vietnam’s economy to that of the United States. We discussed how urbanization can have different definitions based on who you’re talking to, and how stats might be biased toward one specific type of housing, for example, changing how you view that country.
After class I grabbed some ice cream at Mixue (a must), and due to popular demand played a couple rounds of Love Letter (a card game I brought from home that has only recently been recovered from the depths of my luggage) before heading back to my host family for the night.
The evening contained a lovely dinner of chicken, fried rice, prawns, and many vegetables. The three year old ran in circles around the room instead of eating, and I told the family about my little brother at home who not long ago was doing the exact same thing. I’m so happy to be in a house with kids, it makes me feel very at home. I headed up to my room after some educational train videos with the fam, and went to bed. But not before listening to the Wicked soundtrack…..I am very obsessed after seeing the movie last week.
I woke up Saturday morning and jumped right in the car to tag along with swimming lessons for my young host brother. He was so excited about
swimming, and he seemed happy that I was going with them. I didn’t know what to expect, but it ended up being quite peaceful and fun- I sat by the pool (located on a rooftop), my host sister got me coffee and I journaled while the three year old splashed around and seemingly had the time of his life. After swimming we ran a few errands around town, getting stuck in some considerable traffic, and meandered to a tiny little sushi restaurant off an alleyway. It was an unassuming place but definitely some of the best sushi I’ve ever had.
That evening we had a group event at the Saigon Opera House, the À Ố Show. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the show, but I was excited nonetheless because it was a chance to reunite with everyone after a grueling 24 hours apart. (Just kidding, but I did miss everyone!) We all caught up for a few minutes, and then sat down for the show- it ended up being so entertaining to watch. As a dance major, I was absolutely locked in, noticing the choreography. There were breakdancing, parkour, and jazz elements with a huge influence coming from acrobatics and circus. There was such amazing storytelling and they used long sticks, baskets, and woven disks to create sets and characters. They climbed on top to make them into boats, and wore them as costumes to turn into turtles and birds. It was such a great ending to the day, and also happens to be a lovely end to my blog.
We are all missing everyone at home, so a Happy Thanksgiving to you all once again. Thanks for keeping up with us!
Love from Vietnam,
Alice
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