Heh...

I just got an e-mail from someone asking if I could sub as an urban planner for a project in Yemen. I'm not really available to work on it, unless I only have to be there for a week or two (and I think he said something about 3 - 4 months), but still - I laughed.

I'm going to Yemen!

Except for the fact that I'm not.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I’d like to say that I’ve been exploring Nha Trang, but instead we’ve mostly been watching the horizontal rain. It goes away for entire minutes at a time, but now I’m back in my room, trying to decide if the dripping from the air conditioner that’s soaking through my bed is a leak from the rain, or condensation. Either way, this, combined with the small flood in my room this morning (that’s the second one so far, for those of you that are keeping track) has me pretty sick of this place. But we leave on Monday, I can deal for another day and a half. Those evil kids were up, running around and screaming at 6:15, but at least I’d gotten to bed earlier, so I had a reasonable amount of sleep in me. I think someone may have told them to zip it because they were quiet 10 minutes later, but I was already up. Ah, the beauty of being genetically programmed to be an early riser, much as I may try to resist it and occasionally succeed in doing so.

Regardless, I’m feeling well rested today. The group has decided that we’re going to go to karaoke tonight…I’m a little frightened. Itsy Bitsy seems to have a thing for American folk songs, and will occasionally bust out into “Oh, Susannah” or “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain”. (I’m not sure if those are really folks songs, but I don’t know what else to call them.) It’s funny, and cute when she starts singing. I don’t know that all of Nha Trang needs to be subjected to my song stylings, but it could be fun. Hopefully dogs won’t start howling in the background or something.

I think today may be my much-needed day of decompression. PM is off climbing a mountain, the tallest one in Khanh Hoa province, and we’re all hoping that he didn’t get swallowed in a mudslide or something, because today is not the day to be out and about. He’s apparently a member of the Vietnam Mountaineer’s Association – I’ve seen his membership card and everything, so one would assume that he knows what he is doing. I was invited to go along, and were it not for the fact that the weather is what it is, and is likely to remain so for the next couple of months, I might have gone. But I didn’t, and I’m okay with that. As much as I don’t mind being outside in the rain, it’s only water after all, this is a deluge, and I’d prefer not to be out in it on purpose, with only my running shoes to keep my feet in contact with the ground. I had considered bringing my hiking boots, but I didn’t. I think I learn more with each trip what I might reasonably need for the next trip! The good news is that I don’t think I brought much that I won’t use at all.

I gave up and switched rooms. This one seems to have fewer ants, but the key element is that it definitely doesn’t seem to be flooding and/or leaking anywhere. They even gave me actual sheets and stuff, so that’s good. I’ve done a little washing in the bathtub, which is now hanging up to dry, and some time tomorrow I want to re-pack everything for our departure on Monday. In the meantime, since it’s such a gray and rainy day, I may take a nap, a rarely indulged luxury! Save my voice for karaoke tonight. I might also watch a movie on my laptop, since the satellite TV is suffering in the midst of all this rain and storminess.

Well, karaoke actually turned out to be really fun. The place we went was in the middle of a street full of karaoke places, and it was different from what I’m used to. We basically went into a private room – the building looked as though it could have easily been a hotel as well. The karaoke machine “scores” your song based on how in tune you are, and your timing. I’m proud to say that I got the highest score of the evening – a clear indicator of both how little the scoring has to do with anything resembling talent, and what the “competition” was. There was a good selection of English songs, so I introduced the group to such classics as “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (the title of which was very confusing to them) and “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. Just for fun, I also decided to pipe in on some of the choruses of Vietnamese songs, which made everyone, including me, crack up. I have no idea what I was saying, and I’m sure I mispronounced every syllable, but it was a good time, there was lots of clinking of beer glasses and “cheers”-ing all around.

I think we’re going to take a tour tomorrow to see some places in the area, which is good. The weather has been absolutely lousy, but I would still like to actually look around and see the place. Coming at the wrong time of year doesn’t mean that I should totally waste the opportunity I have to be here. I took some pictures of the bay today, through the rain and fog. It’s funny, you can see the line where the ocean floor must drop, because the water goes from the brown of the shallow bay that’s been all churned up by the storms, to the dark ocean blue. Kind of a cool effect, really.

It’s been an interesting day, and I’ve had some time to decompress a bit. I’m still looking forward to getting back to Hanoi and unpacking, even if it’s only for a week. But it’s been good to be here, the work we’ve done is really cool, and I’ve even managed to get some work done on other projects, so even the down-time has been useful.

This whole trip has already felt so much more useful than the last one, and been a much better professional experience. I’m really glad that I’ve had this opportunity. I’m also looking forward to being home in the spring, and I think I’m going to take some French classes, because I really am serious about becoming bilingual, it’s just going to be a lot of work!

I'll Admit It

Today was an easy day, no question. We got up early to have breakfast together, then went over to the provincial project management offices for a morning meeting. The meeting went well, PC and his staff were receptive, and everyone made nice, despite some tougher questions and some criticisms. R and Eye Patch had to leave in the afternoon, so we went for an early lunch as a group. Lunch was good, and the remaining group wanted to go to a mud bath and hot mineral spring spa that a bunch of people went to yesterday. It sounded like a great idea, but I didn’t have a bathing suit, because I didn’t think I’d need one for this trip. PM said they had things there that you could wear, but this is Vietnam and I had about zero confidence that anything they had there would fit me. I was assured that this was a big tourist spot, but that wasn’t quite enough assurance for me, so Itsy Bitsy and Teeny Weeny said they’d take me to the market.

For some reason, and I think it may have had something to do with just being really mentally and physically tired, I started to get an attack of the schmonelies. Everyone was talking in Vietnamese, and I just kind of wanted to be home. I like it here, and I really like the work I’m doing, and I’m good with my own company most of the time, but being in a van full of people who are all talking and laughing, when you can’t be one of them because they're doing all those things in a language you don't understand, can start to make you feel isolated. I’m sure I’ll get over it, but I ended up just staring out the window and kind of wanting to be home. I shook it off by the time we arrived at the market and went inside. We found a couple booths that sold swimsuits, and I eventually found a black bikini that fit reasonably well, which I ended up trying on behind a piece of cloth in the booth. I just kept yelping “keep that curtain up!” and hoping that I wasn’t too tall to fit behind it. I’m sure I partially flashed at least one person, but shopping in the market comes with lots of hazards. It any case, I found something that mostly fit, it cost less than $10, (IB and TW bargained for me), and …well, it worked. Did the trick, as they say.

We went back to the hotel and got ready to head out for the hot springs. I’d never been to anything like this before, and I had a feeling that a mud bath could possibly backfire since my skin is so sensitive. However, the hot mineral springs…oh my goodness. Anyone who’s ever lived with me knows that I have a bad habit – I am completely incapable of taking a short shower in all but the most dire circumstances. I like long hot showers, and I always have. Well, the hot springs are like one massive swimming pool filled with hot water, which makes your skin and hair feel great, and is so incredibly soothing. Then there’s a waterfall you go to, and finally a huge soaking tub, that all six of us managed to fit into (we have a few more team members on this trip). It was just great, I could feel my muscles unwind, and my head start to clear a little.

Just as we were leaving, the skies opened up again, and on the cab ride back to the hotel I started to drift off, encased in a completely fogged up van. I don’t think I was the only one – after the soaking and relaxing, I think everyone’s eyelids were feeling heavy.

I think part of my “meah” feeling is that we’ve done nothing but group activities since Monday and I’d honestly like a little time alone, instead of being alone in a car full of people. Maybe check out the city a little tomorrow, take a walk on the beach, something like that. I’m sure that people will be going out and doing interesting stuff, and I’ll likely end up going along because I don’t exactly think that my opportunities to spend time here will be endless, so I don’t want to miss things. I think that diving is almost definitely off the books, because the ocean is so churned up from the storms the past few days that the water is brown, instead of the clear blue it was on our first day. But we’re going for an early-ish dinner tonight, and I think I’ll probably want to come back, maybe watch a movie, and then get some good sleep.

And if those kids are tearing around at the crack of dawn again tomorrow…I will not be responsible for my actions.

Is It Really Thursday???

Things go by fast when you’re working 14-hour days in the field! I’m writing from the beautiful and tremendously rainy city of Nha Trang. I don’t know if it’s officially the rainy season or not, but my gosh is it doing a good imitation of one. It has been pouring for the last two days, which makes it highly unlikely that I’ll go diving this weekend. I’m kind of bummed out about that, as I’ve never been and would really like to try it. Also, it’s supposed to be gorgeous around here for diving. Well, if the weather’s not good, I think we can take boats out to some of the islands around there. Not that a boat ride in storms like we’ve been having is the best idea in the world either, but it could still be a lot of fun.

The last few days have totally been a blur, up early, on the road for hours with too many people in one SUV, meeting with commune officials, talking to villagers, back in the SUV, and out to dinner with the whole team. Someone Vietnamese orders in Vietnamese, and they bring out massive plates of food and it’s served family-style. You really can’t refuse anything, it’s very rude, so this means an endless assortment of things, some of which I might order myself, and some of which I wouldn’t. I had the best shrimp I’ve ever had in my entire life today, but I also had braised frog. It wasn’t bad, really, tastes like chicken and all that, but it didn’t do much for me. I’ll probably just order chicken if I want something that tastes like chicken.

My favorite part is getting to talk to people in the villages, to learn about their lives, to see if what we’re doing is helping them. It’s interesting, though, I have a feeling that we’re being shown the best projects in the best communes, as everyone is enthusiastically 100% in favor of the projects. The project coordinator (PC – ironic, since he’s one of the least PC people I’ve met) who’s been showing us around actually came into the meeting I was running today, told Itsy Bitsy not to translate what he was about to say, then berated the commune officials and community participation specialists I was speaking to, saying that I would think it was suspicious if everyone’s answers were the same and everyone was over the moon about the project. I’m not sure what his point was exactly, but it took him about 20 minutes to make it. But the little kids and the shy women in the corners and the genial rice farmers are all great to talk to, really open and friendly, and grateful that we’re paying attention to them. I’m just grateful that they want to talk to me, because there’s certainly no reason why they should, but they do, and they’re hospitable and kind.

Monday we flew down here to Nha Trang, and the unwieldy size of my suitcase (I brought the big one, because I figured that the small one wouldn’t cut it for two weeks. Then I remembered that I only brought the small one with me from Pakistan when I came here for what turned out to be six weeks. Oh well.) was the subject of much comment and laughter. It’s not too hard to figure out that someone’s talking about you, even if you don’t understand the language, when they point right at you as they’re talking and so on. Maybe I’m just intuitive. But it’s fine, it’s just the way things go. However, given the constant buzz of Vietnamese, R and I don’t feel quite so bad about talking in French in front of other people. (Apparently, I have a really thick American accent when I speak French. Ah well – it’s hardly surprising.) But he leaves today, and then it’s just me from here on out with the rest of the local team.

The hotel we’re staying in is nice (and $12 per day), it’s clean and the beds are comfy. But it’s got an ant problem. They’re everywhere. By now, they’re in my suitcase, my clothes, my bed, everything – if I feel an itch, it’s a 50/50 shot that there’s something crawling on me. It’s not my favorite thing in the world, in fact I freaking hate ants, but I have to admit that I’m getting to be less girly about it. Not that I ever want to feel like an ant infestation is something that I’m cool with, but I suppose that if I have to deal, I know I can. Oh, and my room flooded the other night. Fortunately, Eye Patch was around and I asked him to call down to the front desk and tell them what was happening, so they came in and swept all the water out and mopped the floor. I’m looking forward to the swank hotel in Hanoi again, I have to admit. Next week we’re heading to a different province, where the accommodations are alleged to be less nice than they are now, and two weeks after that…supposed to be much worse. I mean, if I’m spending my days interviewing people who earn less in one year than I pay toward my student loans every month, I don’t want to be a complete jackass and get all prissy. But I have to admit – if we’re in a place like the communist guesthouse where we stayed last week, it’s going to be a *rough* week. But Nha Trang is nice – it’s right on the ocean, the seafood is amazing, as you might imagine, and it’s a resort-y destination for the country.

So, to sum up, the city girl in me wouldn’t mind getting back to Hanoi, but all of me is enjoying driving from the beach up into the mountains, curving along hairpin turns on mountainsides, watching the peaks disappear up into the low-hanging clouds. The only thing scarier than driving on 1 ½ lane mountain roads in Vietnam is doing so and rounding a hairpin turn, to find yourself face to face with an Army truck. I’m not driving, and our driver is a fairly typical Vietnamese driver, although PC was telling him to chill out on Tuesday because he was making me nervous. He actually wasn’t, he was making Itsy Bitsy nervous, and me teasing her for flinching was construed as me being the one flinching. Ah well – she never corrected the assumption, but we seem to have moved past it, largely because I had a beer at lunch today. To say that PC is quite the drinker is an understatement, and I decided to avoid taking anything more than the tiniest sip every time someone said “Cheers!!” which was about every five minutes. Otherwise, I’d be drunk, with beer spilled down the front of me. Like PC was on Tuesday night.

Life in Hanoi is good, but now it’s time for me to turn off “Kung Phooey”, close up the computer, and get to bed. Must definitely get to bed. So…very…sleepy.

As a P.S. I'm sending this at 6:30 am on Friday. This is because someone has been letting their children run around in the hotel halls screaming since 5:45 am. In these situations, not only do I massively resent the lack of sleep, but I blame the parents 100%, not the kids, who are just being kids. For those of you parents out there - would you be okay with your kids running around screaming in a hotel since the crack o' dawn? I'm not a parent, but I can't imagine I'd be okay with it... My meeting this morning is going to be brutal.

Off to Nha Trang

I don't have a whole lot of time to write at the moment, but I'm off for the airport in a few minutes and need to finish chucking the last few items into my suitcase. I would imagine that I'll have decent e-mail access in Nha Trang, but I really don't know, to tell you the truth. SO, if there's nothing here until October 29 or so...well, that gives you lots of time to catch up on what I've already written, if you're that desperate for reading material.

I'll be off, then...