Skin color

I wrote an article for Nguoi Viet 2 from Vietnam. Nguoi Viet is a Vietnamese-American newspaper based in Westminster, Calif., which has the largest Vietnamese population outside of Asia. Nguoi Viet 2 is their weekly English version.

Anyway, this article is about the preference of some English schools for white teachers. Some of my Viet Kieu friends (interviewed in the article) have had problems getting hired or getting the same pay. Although I didn't have these problems, I did have one class that complained to the school about me, for no other reason than that I wasn't white. I wanted to drop the class, which I was teaching with a white Australian man, but the school told them to give me a chance. I can tell you it absolutely sucked walking into that classroom afterward, thinking that at least some of the students didn't want me.

But I found out later that a guy who I considered the class leader had challenged the dissenters to give one logical reason for dropping me when I was born in the States and was a native speaker. So they kept me, we got along, and they eventually asked that I be the class's sole teacher. One of my friends now teaches some of the same students, and he told me recently they were complimenting my teaching. "Maybe they want you back," he wrote.

Anyway, the article's below.

http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=38361&z=19

This garish red is far too bright to be either me or Jackie. These feet must belong to my aunt Thuy. 

My life, of late

So, a quick update: nothing new. Still teaching and still editing for Vietnam Investment Review and the golf magazine (the horror, the horror. I write headlines like "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright"). The weather’s turned colder and it wouldn’t be so bad except that as motorbike/moped is the most common way of getting around, there’s no protection from the wind slamming into your face.

The bird flu furor has died down a bit since I last wrote. For awhile selling chicken was banned from all major cities (although I know at least one Indian place that never stopped serving chicken tikka masala), but some of the larger supermarkets were recently allowed to start selling chicken again. They presumably come from unaffected provinces. Still, I won’t order any chicken. Although there should be no problem if the food is cooked, the ones likely to get bird flu are those who slaughter the bird and prepare the food, so I’ll do my part not to put them at risk.

The government is taking the H5N1 virus seriously. If they find one case of bird flu in a town, they’ll destroy all the birds there. I recall watching a VTV news segment that showed people throwing ducks into a burning pit. It was pretty sad, actually, watching as the now black-feathered birds tried futilely to get out. The government reimburses the farmers, but farmers only get a fraction of what the birds are worth.

And last of all, my sister is coming for a visit! And my Northwestern buddy Andrea as well. I’m thrilled to have a reminder of home during the holidays. Not only that, but Jackie’s bringing Miracle Whip and ranch dressing. The only thing more American is apple pie.

Born to be wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild...

Seriously, driving a motorbike in Hanoi is a brave new world.

When I came here, the one thing I said I would not do, under any circumstances, was drive a motorbike (mopeds back in the States). There are thousands of motorbikes and the only thing that seems to be lacking on the streets is, well, order. Remember, when I first got here I couldn’t even cross the street without a slight fear for my life.

So every time I get on my bike I’m a little bit amazed I’m doing it. After months of empty streets past midnight, I finally ventured onto the streets in the middle of the day and things just made sense. There are some rules here: follow the crowd, there’s safety in numbers; avoid all cars and by God, don’t get near the buses, they’re vicious; keep one eye constantly to your right in case a motorbike’s about to come careening out of some side alley, and slow down for the intersections where everybody is driving at once. It’s almost like being in a crowded mall or amusement park where you’re pushing past people saying “excuse me, excuse me,” except you’re on motorbikes, bikes shouldn’t actually touch, and no one says “excuse me, excuse me.” In fact, I know from experience they can take off a small piece of your pinkie and not even turn to see the look on your face.

But it is a pure thrill driving around Hanoi. I feel like such a local, except I’m going so slow I’m behind the bikers (and that’s an issue for another day. Frickin’ bikers should know their place isn’t the middle of the road). I rent a piece of shit Sym Power from Taiwan. Our first week together, a new thing stopped working each day: the ignition, gas gauge, horn and turn signal. That’s what you get for trying to save VND100,000 ($6.32) a month by not upgrading to the ubiquitous Honda Wave. I cursed and swore I’d get a Wave as soon as the month was up, but now I can’t let this piece of shit go. It’s really got a hold on me.


What picture blog entry would be complete without a cheesy shot of me?


And from the side...I no longer wear that awful helmet in the basket, by the way. I bought a much cooler one that completely covers my head and face, and no one can see me. I'm practicing taking it off in slow motion and shaking my hair out so that everyone realizes there's actually a hot chick underneath.


More traffic


And more...


And just in case you haven't had your fill of traffic yet.

There was a war? Oh, yeah

My friend Andrea, who is coming for a visit, wrote a letter recently where she talked about the Vietnam War (called the American War here). It’s funny to me that when Americans think of Vietnam they seem to think mostly of the war, when the Vietnamese are just focused on getting ahead. Every other article I read in Vietnam Investment Review is about the country’s economic reforms, all the foreign investment that Vietnam’s getting, what the country needs to do to join the WTO, etc. It seems like the war’s a distant memory, its remnants kept alive mainly for tourists.

But every now and then I’ll see a reminder. My former tutor once asked what I thought of the fact the U.S. wouldn’t compensate for dropping Agent Orange all over Vietnam’s forests. My aunt, while explaining a grammar concept, used the example, “The Americans dropped heavy bombs on Vietnam.” And my friend’s husband’s name is Chien Tranh, or “war.” His mother went into labor while hiding in the bushes as French planes dropped bombs not too far away.*

So the war memories are there. Sometimes there’ll be a soap opera or music video with actors who are clearly supposed to be soldiers (although I’m surprised at the amount of makeup Vietnamese female soldiers wore). One of the main streets near my house is Kham Thien, which caused an uproar in the States when it was bombed. My current tutor said the Kham Thien bombing killed many civilians, mostly the very old and young. Now I just see it as a perpetually busy street that’s a pain in the ass to drive on.

*I originally wrote had his name wrong (Chien Thang instead of Chien Tranh) and also had the war wrong, claiming it was the Americans and not the French who bombed away. Chien did fight in the American War, though.

"My shoulder hurts...do you think I have bird flu?"

Okay, despite my seemingly casual attitude toward all things pandemic, I gotta admit, I'm a little worried. It's hard not to be with the constant drumbeat of news about "it's not IF there's a pandemic, but WHEN". The first thing my editor greeted me with today was, "Vietnam just confirmed another bird flu death" - this time a Hanoi man who lives in MY district. He ate a chicken bought from a local market, developed symptoms, and died a few days later (although nine family members who ate the chicken with him haven't shown any symptoms).

So I inwardly freaked (or not-so-inwardly, if you count the piercing shrieks that permeated the newsroom.). Just yesterday I ate grilled chicken in a neighboring district! Up until this morning, I heard that you couldn't get bird flu from properly cooked chicken (and you possibly still can't; I don't know how his chicken was prepared). But it's a cause for concern and I've sworn off all chicken. Still on the fence about eggs.

When I first came here six months ago, bird flu made an occasional appearance in the news, but it wasn't a huge concern. I saw chickens walking around on sidewalks in the Old Quarter and on Nguyen Thai Hoc, a big street, and laughed to think how unconcerned people were.

Now you definitely won't see chickens strolling about. The government has banned the popular duck blood pudding (truly as DELICIOUS as it sounds...kidding), and the Health Ministry recently advised people not to eat chicken at all. My relatives in the city won't eat it, the street that specializes in grilled chicken is now quiet, and yesterday a restaurant informed us they no longer serve chicken.

I'm still trying to get a feel for what people know. One of the Vietnam Investment Review reporters wrote an article last week that claimed, "Bird flu has appeared in countries like Indonesia and Taiwan. Indonesia has had dozens of deaths and recently reported four more deaths." I changed this to "Bird flu has appeared in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Indonesia recently reported four deaths that pushed the total number of deaths to 62. According to the World Health Organisation, Vietnam has had 41 deaths from bird flu" (although since then the numbers have risen slightly).

I asked my teenage class if they heard of any bird flu deaths in Vietnam. One boy actually said there weren't any yet. The other students quickly corrected him, but some of them were quoting figures like six deaths. Bird flu re-emerged in Vietnam in December 2003 and Vietnam now has 42 bird flu deaths - out of 64 worldwide (65.6 percent). Vietnam has also had 92 human cases out of 125 confirmed by the WHO (73.6 percent).

Anyway, here are some WHO figures, as of Nov. 9. WHO only counts cases which have been confirmed in their laboratory.

CAMBODIA:
4 cases
4 deaths

THAILAND:
20 cases
13 deaths

INDONESIA:
9 cases
5 deaths
*On Nov. 9 Indonesia reported a death it believes is due to bird flu, but this has yet to be confirmed by WHO

VIETNAM:
92 cases
42 deaths

TOTAL:
125 cases
64 deaths

No, I don't have the bird flu...

...although I guess you could say it IS too early to tell.

Sorry for not writing in so long. I'll just give a quick update.

So we moved into the house I mentioned; the owner relented, but on terms more favorable to her (three months' rent in advance and a month's deposit). The house isn't perfect, but we're happy in it. There's me, Patrick (24, also an American Viet Kieu), Daniela (26, an Italian who interns for an NGO) and Thanh (22, a tourism female student at the University of Society and Culture). Thanh pays a less than one-fourth of what I pay, but I don't care. She's still learning English, and we speak primarily in Vietnamese.

As for work, I'm now a regular staffer at Vietnam Investment Review. Despite shoddy journalistic standards (people PAY us to do Q&As with them), I actually do like changing and improving a story. I'm also still with the golf magazine, which I consider pretty damn low, but as established in previous posts, I'm a whore.

Still teaching as well. In fact, the school gave me a new class when I subbed for another teacher and the students requested that I be their permanent teacher. I consider this a nice little coup because the previous teacher was Caucasian, and the Vietnamese tend to prefer a white English teacher to an Asian one (despite knowing I was born in the States).

Other than that, life is going well here. My Vietnamese is improving; I'm not fluent and won't be for a long time, but I can understand some movies and can read some articles from the local women's magazines (the other day I read a short story about a woman who thought her husband was cheating on her, only to find out it was all in her head)(that's right, highbrow literature for Pauline). Unless bird flu dramatically changes my plans, I'm not planning on coming home for four or five months. I love the unhurried pace of life here.