Vietnam - Walk with Confidence

Whatup everybody?!?!?!

So Vietnam was so awesome! I honestly don’t even know where to start haha.

So I will take the easy way out and do some shout outs to you guys first! Kayla – Well I’m glad that I could entertain you from so far away…I do my best lol. Sorry but this guy isn’t a McPhearson, he is a MaCasland so I don’t think that is what you are interested in, my bad. Dang you sound like you are having a majorly jam packed semester. You are crazy girl! Hey I want to go bungee jumping just as much as you, but there isn’t really much I can do about it right now because I am on a boat with really expensive internet, so why don’t you take advantage of free internet and find us something to do this summer lol. You know I’m down…just tell me when and where!! Gahhhh that is so cool about Big Weekend, you and Chris are making me very jealous right now. Yeah I gotta give you all something to look forward to this summer, and it won’t all fit in the blogs (I already feel like I write too much). Can’t wait to chill this summer, speaking of, what are your plans for the summer?!?! Love ya girl!! Nat-Attack – Haha don’t worry about me chica! We heard about the earthquakes and tsunami but it didn’t affect us at all. Although the seas are pretty calm and boring right now so we could use some waves to liven things up lol. Thanks for your concern though! I guess you probably shouldn’t read about some of the stuff I have been doing because safe isn’t the best word I would use to describe some of my adventures haha. Miss ya girl, can’t wait to catch up!! Chris – Dude you crack me up, I laughed out loud in the middle of the computer lab when I read your comments. Heck yes about the Mulan thing!! Kevin and I were actually talking about that when we were hiking up the steps on one part cause we felt like hooks were all the sudden gunna come flying over the wall. Dude I am sooooooo jealous of you getting to be a part of Big Weekend! I would totally prefer it to be at the church instead of the Wellness Center…just like the good ole days! That’s awesome that you had my bro in your group! That is a solid group of boys and they definitely got the best leader if you were in charge of them. I wish I could have been there to see the youth leading worship in big church. We were seeing that more and more this summer and I think it will do only good things for the church as a whole. Those kids have a passion for worshipping Christ and it is very contagious! Again I am jealous of you going on the Mission Trip, you are gunna have a blast bro! God is gunna use you in crazy ways man, I have already seen Him do it through you and He isn’t done yet! Love you bro! Oh and no landmines for me, so I’m all good lol!

The most important shout out of this blog goes to my favorite bro!! Happy Birthday Daniel!!!!!!!! For those of you that don’t know, my brother turned 15 on March 2nd, so yesterday I think. Don’t really know what day it is back home, or here for that matter. So if you see him tell him Happy Birthday! Love you brother and I am sad I couldn’t come see you for your B-Day!! Hope it was great and make sure Mom and Dad treat you to a nice dinner, although I’m sure they already did by the time you are reading this haha. Hope all is well my man!!

The picture I chose was from one of the nights in Vietnam after dinner when we were walking around the city taking a round-a-bout way back to the ship. It was just Ali, Bridget, and me that night and this was just a random pic we took while walking back to the ship. Bridget is on the far left, I’m in the middle, and then Ali (or B.B.) is on the right, or more like the front of the picture.

When Americans hear something about the country Vietnam, the first thing that pops into our heads is “Oh yeah we fought a war with them a little while ago.” While this is true, it is sad that this is the prominent thought process held by Americans. Vietnam is an absolutely amazing country and it is extremely hard to believe that this major city was once reduced to nothing as a result of the war. I walked through forests that 30 years ago contained no trees and now it is so thick you can’t even walk through all the vegetation and growth. Probably the most shocking thing to me was the Vietnamese attitude toward Americans. They were so welcoming to us and you would never know that any hostilities had ever happened between our two countries. People smiled and waved at us, they called us friends after talking for only a couple seconds; it was incredible to see such acceptance when they have every right in the world to hate us. Seeing what Vietnam has overcome and accomplished in the last 20 years is mind-boggling and something that has truly changed my outlook on not only Vietnam, but other countries and people groups that I have previously held a bias about. I will no longer solely think of Vietnam as a country that we fought in a war and is our enemy. No, from now on I will remember the people I met and their determination, friendship, hospitality, and optimism exemplified in the way they live their lives.

I am going to tell you all about Vietnam a little differently than the other countries. It was so stinking cool! I don’t know where to begin. Don’t get me wrong, China and Japan were awesome, but Vietnam was a different kind of sweet!! Instead of huge cities with everything in English and subways and shopping malls, Vietnam was the total opposite. It was still big and all but definitely on a different scale; the closest thing I can compare it to is Managua, Nicaragua. The city was formatted like a big city but with very few huge building and the majority of the shops were just little holes in the wall, literally. Much more the kind of city I like to hangout in. I was getting pretty tired of the big cities and Vietnam was just so much more my style. The people were amazing, the kids were running around outside and would say hi to you, and the layout was just so much simpler. Oh and the weather. Every day in Vietnam the temperature peaked around 95 degrees Fahrenheit and then dropped to a comfortable 80ish at night. It was nice change for me after China and Japan. Some people complained about the temperature a lot but they didn’t really have good reasons, they were just being babies if you ask me. Don’t know about you all in Oklahoma but I have an awesome tan going right now (didn’t burn thanks to my Indian blood) and have been wearing shorts, t-shirts, and cut off shirts for a little over a week now, and it’s only gunna get better!! Nothing but tropics and warm weather from here on out!

One interesting thing about Vietnam was the unique smells we would encounter as we moved through the city. In some areas there was a lot of people selling stuff right on the street corner. Everything from sea snake in a fish tank to exotic fruits to coffee. Now imagine all of those smells in 3 stalls lined up touching each other and your sense of smell is in for a serious shock. Then there are the Mekong River and Saigon River which give off their own interesting smells. Again just another very unique aspect of Vietnam. One of the coolest places I stumbled upon in Ho Chi Minh City was this little district under an overpass that was a poorer part of the city but at the same time so much more interesting. I was by myself at the time because I didn’t want to shop with everyone else so I just walked off. I stumbled upon the district and oddly enough I felt more at home walking through it than in the touristy parts of the city. The people were all smiling and laughing; there were kids, dogs, and chickens running around everywhere (although I doubt the chicken knew that the kids would probably be eating it the next day lol). Oh and hammocks!!! They were everywhere! Wherever there was a stall, there was usually a hammock that the owner would chillax in while he/she waited for their next customer to come by.

The preferred modes of transportation in Vietnam are mopeds and motorcycles; actually preferred isn’t really a good word. I mean, they are preferred, but it’s more like a necessity in some ways. Literally the only other things on the street are buses, trucks for transporting cargo that is too big for the motorcycles, and then the very rare care (one of my tour guides said that only the people that work for the major car companies are the people with cars). Okay so when you cross the streets it is absolute chaos! There are no traffic lights and the flow of traffic is unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere else in the world. Sure there are lines on the road but they are more of guidelines than really meaning anything. There are also “crosswalks” but because there are no traffic lights there isn’t ever a time when you can just walk across while the cars are stopped. So, the saying goes “When you cross the street, walk with confidence!” Two key words in that phrase: “walk” and “confidence.” You literally just start walking (not running or jogging, walking) and the traffic will weave around you based on your pace. The confidence is just the process of getting past the mental block in your head of, “oh crap I’m walking into a death trap.” I personally thought it was kinda fun because I mean you never know what could have happened. The American diplomats that came on board for pre-port also told us that the #1 accident or incident that occurs to visiting Americans is getting hit or clipped by buses or motorcycles. I thought it was cool because it made walking around the city that much more interesting and we all got really good at just walking and hoping that everyone was paying attention and wouldn’t hit us lol.

Ok so the food in Vietnam was incredible!! There was only one thing that I didn’t like and that was this papaya drink thing but everything else I tried was awesome! The dish that is most popular in Vietnam is called Pho and it is basically broth with noodles, chicken or beef, and then some random vegetables depending on the place you are eating. They had Pho restaurants and then you also had people selling Pho from a cart on the street corner. Like I said just picture Mexico or Nicaragua and you have a pretty good idea of some of the people selling food on the sidewalks. Oh gosh the food was amazing! Everything from the street fair to the fresh fruits was just so good! I even tried Vietnamese pizza which was interesting, oh and they have a Vietnamese style yogurt place that was basically just like Orangetree but with different flavors and topping so we tried that just to say we did. Little taste of home, but not really because the food was so different on some many levels lol. I was talking with one of my buddies on one of our day trips and we both mentioned how half of the stuff we were eating we would never even think about eating in the states, mainly because we have so many options that we know we like and are comfortable with. Well you all are in for a shock because I told myself in January that I would try everything cultural that I could get my hands on; and I HAVE! You all are gunna flip when you see the pictures of all the vegetables I have eaten (I have taken a picture of every meal I have eaten in port, and every snack) and then the weird stuff I told you about in China. Now there wasn’t anything too too extreme like in China, except for this one thing I had but just to spite Kayla I will make you guys wait for the pictures and story for the summer haha. Oh and I still haven’t gotten sick thanks to my little buddy Pepto, although I probably just jinxed myself haha. With the temperature we were CONSTANTLY drinking water although we had to be careful because the tap water is NOT sanitary. Even the locals don’t drink it cause it will make them sick. There was just too much pollution in the rivers where they get their water supply from.
My first two days in Vietnam were completely random so I am just going to tell you all about them in one fail swoop and try to give you a rough idea of everything that I did, saw, and experienced in a short 48 hours. This will no doubt be impossible because I have about 200 little stories I could tell you and there is just no way I can do that sufficiently in this blog. So again, just wait for this summer when I have pictures and hours of stories to tell you all!

So the first day we arrived in port, we spent the morning going through our normal customs routine and receiving a diplomatic briefing, which was actually very informative and brief because the girl from the U.S. consulate in Vietnam had a friend do Semester at Sea and he had told her what we wanted to hear and didn’t want to hear which made it more enjoyable lol. We got off the ship around noon and started walking into the city. One of the big things to do in Vietnam is get a custom suit made so some of the guys I was with wanted to do that first. No way did I want a suit, I mean hello do you know who you are reading about?!? Me buy a suit…YEAH RIGHT haha!!

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city and experiencing the different areas of the city the way a Vietnamese local would experience it. We took a taxi at one point, rode a rickshaw at one point, and then definitely took a ride with some locals on the motorcycles or “motos” as they are referred to in Vietnam. The moto rides were definitely an experience cause you were just weaving in and out of traffic, in the wrong lane and the right lane, it was just crazy! But they were so cheap and it was way quicker than a bus or taxi so we actually used them a couple times. Despite the occasional use of moto, we spent the vast majority of our time just walking. Yeah sure it was hot but we didn’t care, we were in Vietnam!! We saw the touristy sections of the city with the famous landmarks and markets, then at one point I went off by myself and experienced the poorer sections of the city near the docks and that was really cool to be able to experience that. Oh, and Wes if you are reading this, I got hit on by a Vietnamese woman as a was walking down the street. Just waved and kept walking but I still thought that would make you laugh.

We visited the Vietnam War Remnants museum which was eye opening because we got to see the Vietnamese side of the story. It was a touching experience and one I will not soon forget. The museum had a lot of artifacts and even simulation prison systems used by the Americans and South Vietnamese that really open your eyes to the way in which the war was fought and handled. Just a very interesting opportunity to get to hear a drastically different perspective on something that I have grown up hearing a one-sided story. We also spent some time visiting Reunification Palace which is very significant to the Vietnamese people because it signifies the unification of the country after the war and the beginning of a new era in their history. The palace has been left exactly how it was in the late 60’s/early 70’s so when you walk into it, it is like you are walking back in time. Some other sights that we visited were the Notre Dame cathedral located in Vietnam, the Opera House, the Central Post Office of Vietnam, and of course the giant market in the middle of the city, the Ben Thanh Market. Located in a central area of District 1 of Vietnam, this market is the main market of Ho Chi Minh City. They sold everything from food to silk clothing, all types of souvenirs, and ripped DVDs. Vietnam is known for its pirated movies and TV shows, and they were abundant in the market. The market catered to tourists and Vietnamese alike so it wasn’t too touristy but at the same time it wasn’t an authentic, Vietnamese only market. All of the stuff was really cheap though, and if you know how to barter you could get stuff at an amazing price!!

One night while walking alone through the streets of Vietnam, the words from a Jeremy Camp song came to mind. Don’t ask me why or what prompted it, but all of the sudden I could not get the following lyrics out of my head: “All my life, I have seen, where You’ve taken me, beyond all I have hoped, and there’s more left unseen. There’s not much, I can do, to repay all You’ve done, so I give my hands to use. This is my desire, this is my return. This is my desire, to be used by YOU.” In the little more than a month that I have been on Semester at Sea, I have experience people, places, and things in ways that I never even considered back in the United States. God is teaching me new and exciting things each and every day and it is absolutely incredible. I am learning to be mindful of other people’s opinions (students on the boat, teachers, and the people we interact with in these countries) despite the fact that I may or may not agree with them. I am experiencing different viewpoints from these countries that are halfway around the world and realizing that we aren’t too different and have way more in common than people think. God has taken me places I never dreamed I would go; He has shown me things in a different light, the most prominent being that His children are scattered throughout the country and every person on the planet was created and loved by Him. This is also true in the United States, especially in Oklahoma. Look around today, every person you come into contact with was created by God. Who are we to judge them, reject them, or ignore them? We are called to love them like Christ loves them. Unconditionally and without reserve. I challenge you to think about that as you go through your daily routine. Love, Accept, just like Christ has done for you. God is absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to see what he has in store next.

I know this blog was a little different than previous ones, but I just loved Vietnam so much I had so many random things to tell you all. What I wrote doesn’t give Vietnam and my experiences there justice, but I will be able to make up for that this summer. This is only my first Vietnam post and I will tell you all about the other half of my time in a second blog that I will post here in the next couple of days.

I hope you guys are doing awesome! I’m praying for each one of you!

T