Ross's visit

Hey all,

So this is going to be a shorter blog post than usual. I am going through the stages of packing/freaking out, so I’ve been pretty busy. This is going to be the second-to-last post I send to you from Ben Tre, I leave Ben Tre for Hanoi on Tuesday May 28^th! So, it’s only a short time until my time here in Vietnam is over. It’s pretty crazy to be writing to you about leaving Ben Tre, but let’s leave that sappy stuff for the next post.

In the meantime, why don’t I tell you about my last week in Ben Tre? This was a particularly fun week, because Ross came to visit! Ross was my roommate in the UChicago London program, and we traveled together to Amsterdam and Dublin. Ross recently wrapped up a Boren Fellowship in Nigeria, and he is going to Tanzania in the fall, so he is a seasoned third-world traveler.

Ross!

Ross arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, and I went up to meet him on Friday. We spent the weekend exploring Ho Chi Minh City, seeing the Jamail Mosque, going to Cholon to see Chinese pagodas and to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum to learn more about the city’s history. Along the way I also did my best to introduce Ross to the many delicious foods and drinks of Ho Chi Minh City.

The Jamail Mosque in Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City

Beautiful architecture so different from the surrounding pagodas

Pagoda entrance

Quan Am pagoda

Ross in the courtyard

Through the gate

Dragon dance masks for sale

The opposite side of the pagoda, with a giant green pool

Tiny turtle pagoda!

Outside Quan Am Pagoda

Inside Quan Am 

One of the entertaining things about having people from out-of-country visit me has been seeing their reactions to Vietnam. Typical reactions include,

“Oh my god it is so hot.”

“The traffic here is crazy!”

“Why won’t people stop trying to sell me things?”

“This is delicious.”

Ross’s reactions were a little different. They were more along the lines of,

“Wow, these roads are paved!”

“You have streetlights?”

“So you’re saying the electricity doesn’t shut off after 6 pm every day?”

“Sweet, air conditioners!”

“This is delicious.”

I’m beginning to get an idea what Nigeria is like.

Spotted in the market. Man vs. physics

The church in Cholon 

After exploring Ho Chi Minh City Ross and I headed back to Ben Tre. Ross was going to help teach my students and explore my province!

Ross in the courtyard of Ben Tre College

Ross got to help me teach my classes on Monday and Tuesday, which also happened to be my last classes in Ben Tre College. They were with the first-year students, and at first I was worried about them understanding Ross. However I gave Ross a game to play with the students and it went very well! Ross spoke very slowly and clearly and the students all participated. I was really glad my students did so well, and I was really proud of them.

Ross leading a game I learned from Andrew

 

Asking the students questions

Answering a question

My first year students with Ross and I

Ross was a big hit with the students, who definitely enjoyed talking with him. His clothing was a subject of discussion, because Ross wears a leather cowboy hat wherever he travels. The hat was a staple in London, and it was a huge hit in Vietnam as well. My students and teachers decided that Ross was a cowboy, or an actor who played cowboys in Hollywood films. For the next couple days the words “actor” and “Hollywood” were jokingly thrown around whenever Ross was around.

Ross with Mr. Tuan

Mr. Tuan with my sunglasses and Ross's hat

Ross with Mr. Tuan

Ross with Ms. Tuyen

Ross with Mr. Luan and Mr. Vu Hung and I

In the courtyard, ready for more adventures

Monday evening we were invited to dinner with the teacher’s English Club, where Ross and I “helped cook” several delicious dishes.

Stir-frying meat

Ross stir-frying noodles

Cutting vegetables. Our cooking skills were under constant critique

Finished meal!

Ross with Ms. Tien and Mr. Luan

The food was amazing, as usual, and spending time with the teacher’s English Club is always a lot of fun. The dinner was spent alternating between stuffing our faces full of delicious food and joking with each other.

The table

Mr. Vu Hung, Mr. Luan and Ross

It was a deeply surreal experience watching Ross go through the steps of being “hazed” as a foreigner in Vietnam—being given too much food, attempts to set him up with various single female members of the club—while understanding most of the Vietnamese that was being spoken. It wasn’t so long ago that I was in Ross’s position, and to watch it as no longer quite a foreigner felt very strange.

On Tuesday Ross helped me teach my final English class, and we had a big farewell lunch with the English teachers. Ross got to experience a Vietnamese restaurant meal, complete with repeated shots of rice wine and more food than you can eat. #culturalimmersion

Lunch with all the English Teachers!

Then after that we rented a motorbike. Ross and I wanted to go explore the province, parts of which I had seen but had never explored myself. We successfully found a place that would let us rent motorbikes, then set off down the road.

There was only one tiny, tiny problem. I am pretty proficient by this point at driving an automatic motorbike. But this motorbike was manual. I had no idea what I was doing.

Our (semi-)trusted vehicle

After several eventful starts and stops, and a fair amount of cursing/prayer on both our parts, we finally started to figure it out. Ross knew how to drive a stick-shift car, so between our two skill sets we should be able to figure out how to drive a manual motorbike, right?

Actually, it ended up working. Ross and I were soon speeding down the country roads, heading out into groves of coconut trees and rice paddies.

"Hey, where are we?"

"No idea."

"Cool."

We biked for three hours around the countryside, stopping once for a refreshment break. As we headed back the sun gleamed through thin clouds, casting bright white light into our eyes over a flooded rice paddy. I had to remember that this will not be a common sight when I return to the U.S.

That night we were unexpectedly invited to drink with the mechanics. That was fun, as always. Highlights include the question “why did you go out to the countryside? There's nothing there!” and Ross gaining an additional hat.

Ross was given an additional hat due to concerns that the heat would be too much. I, not having any hats, protested that I should get a hat in vain. 

Ross with Mr. Dat and Mr. Le

The whole group: Mr. Hoang, Mr. Duc, Mrs. Ut, Mr. Man and Ross

On Wednesday Ross and I spent a relaxing morning, then he got back on a bus to Ho Chi Minh City. He was heading to China, and I would be in Ben Tre for a little while longer. Before he left, though, I showed him how to cut open a coconut. 

Ross and I outside the gate of Ben Tre College

Cutting the coconut

RUN AWAY!!!

While Ross was here, I had the opportunity to introduce him to a game called đá cầu, or shuttlecock. The game is played with a feathered shuttlecock, and the object of the game is to keep the shuttlecock in the air as long as possible. It plays like a Vietnamese version of hackeysack, with everyone trying to keep the shuttlecock in the air.

Ross playing đá cầu with my students

The shuttlecock is very light and aerodynamic, so the slightest touch is enough to propel it through the air. It drops quickly, though, and come come from many different angles so you have to judge the trajectory perfectly. You can kick it, hit it with your knees, even use your hands (although better players don't do this). No one keeps score, and there are only two objectives in this game.

1. Keep the shuttlecock in the air
2. Do it with style

The best players use the sides of their feet, their shins, they leap in the air and twist as they send the shuttlecock flying through the air. They let the shuttlecock fly over their head, then lean forward and kick back with their foot, blindly hitting the shuttlecock with the sole of their foot and sending it flying forward. They use their shoulders, their heads, their elbows, the back of their knees. I've seen players send a shuttlecock flying just by hitting it with the inside of their elbow, straightening their arms and popping the shuttlecock into the air.

And eventually, despite all these heroics, the shuttlecock falls to the ground. Everyone laughs, and maybe points a finger at the player who made a mistake. But then they keep playing.


This game for me seems a perfect illustration of life as a foreigner in Vietnam. You're thrown in the midst of it, and at first you just struggle to keep things up. You flail wildly, trying desperately to keep the shuttlecock off the ground, and failing most of the time. You feel slow and clumsy, ham-handed and graceless. Simply keeping everything together evades you. You have been exposed as a clueless foreigner, and you feel the urge to hang your head in shame.

But then you start to ease into it. Keeping the shuttlecock in the air gets easier and easier, and soon you begin showing off. You start trying new and intimidating feats, some of which succeed, some of which don't. You pull off moves that you had no idea you were capable of, and you learn them faster than seems possible. Eventually, you stumble upon the truth of the game.

It's not about keeping the shuttlecock in the air forever. Nobody can do that. Failure is inevitable, and placing perfect success as a goal is unrealistic and ultimately crushing. No, it's about trying new things, about pushing yourself. About embracing your failure and continually trying new and more difficult things. About having the courage to try and backheel the shuttlecock into the air, to leap and scorpion kick it, to try and hit it with the side of your neck because why not? Eventually you find yourselves capable of things you never thought possible.

And when you do fail? Laugh at yourself, pick up the shuttlecock and just keep playing.



Can't believe I'm leaving Ben Tre tomorrow. AAAAAAAGH?!?!?! So many feelings. Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more!

Peace,
Jefferson

Ben Tre sunset

friends, visitors and a race

Hey guys,

So this past week has been a lot of fun--even more fun than usual--because I had visitors! Two people came by my area. Andrew, my teacher from Hanoi, and Zach, coming all the way from the U.S.A.! Fun times abounded, so read on!

The week kicked off on Tuesday as Andrew came to Ben Tre to do a presentation. Andrew is an English Language Fellow through the U.S. Embassy, based in Hanoi University of Pedagogy 2. He is the one who taught all of us how to teach way back in Hanoi in August, and I haven’t seen him since the Fulbright Gala.

Andrew and I were both going to the Phu Quoc Half-Marathon along with nine other Fulbrighters. On his way to Phu Quoc Andrew stopped at four schools—Tien Giang University (Lindsay), Ben Tre College (me), Bac Lieu University (Quan) and Ca Mau Community College (Trevor). Andrew gave presentations to both teachers and students at Tien Giang University and Ben Tre College.

On Tuesday morning I went with the Ben Tre College car to pick Andrew up from Tien Giang University. It was the first time I had seen him in several months, so I was immediately happily catching up with him. We came to Ben Tre College where a very official reception was being prepared. 

Andrew meets Mr. Phuoc, Vice-Rector of Ben Tre College

Signing the guestbook

Andrew did two presentations, one for teachers and one for students. The student presentation focused on playing games as a method of studying English. Andrew taught and demonstrated several games for my students, all of which I found very interesting. 

The audience, still starting to fill in

Andrew mid-teaching

A rapt audience

There were fifty-sixty students at the presentation. Two whole classes of second years, and part of one first year class as well. Apparently even more students wanted to get in! I was really impressed with the student turnout, and their participation in the games was great!

Some of my students help demonstrate one of the games

The whole lecture room

Andrew demonstrates a game using playing cards

The next presentation was on assessments. About fifteen teachers showed up, mostly from the English Department, but with another couple from other departments. Andrew gave another very good presentation and several teachers enthusiastically participated.

Andrew with the teachers

Demonstrating proper assessments

With Mr. Duy, Vice-Dean of the Department of Social Sciences

With Mr. Luan, my boss

With all the teachers

They made a sign for Andrew! Andrew only told me he was free about a week before he came, so I was pretty impressed at the level of detail. 

After the presentation we went to get lunch, then Andrew and I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out.

At lunch

The next day, on Wednesday, I finished up English Club and headed into Ho Chi Minh City. I had a special visitor from the states. The one, the only, Zach Denkensohn!

Zach is a friend of mine from UChicago. We were both in the same fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and he was also my study partner when we were both writing our theses. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen Zach, almost a year. He is currently finishing off his gap year with a world trip, and I was one of his final stops.

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 9:30 pm, only a couple hours after Zach. The first night was very laid back. We just got some beers and food while we caught up with each other.

On Thursday we woke up early for tourist activities. In the morning we visited both the War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace. It’s running on three times I’ve been to the War Remnants Museum and two times I’ve been to the Palace, but they both are still interesting places to visit. 

Zach contemplates a Chinook at the War Remnants Museum

Zach looks presidential

Demonstrating the right amount of class necessary to drink Vietnamese coffee. 

That afternoon we visited the markets and bought a whole bunch of different souvenirs. We also swung by a really cool bookshop I like with lots of propaganda posters and minimalist movie posters. Then we met up with Jess for dinner.

That night was a lot of fun. We had a couple bottles of wine, then went to the beer pong bar with Trinh. We dominated the tables, including a huge run against some of the local Vietnamese competition. Then we headed to another bar for more drinks and more fun. Zach, Jess and I all got back to our hotel very very late (Trinh had ducked out at a more reasonable hour). We weren’t getting much sleep that night, but hey, no problem.

This turned out to be a slight problem.

Zach and I had a 6:55 am flight. We woke up at 7:00 am. Oh God.

Well, there wasn’t much to do now except rush out the door and curse our far-too-quiet alarms. Zach and I piled into a cab, exhausted, sleep-deprived, depressed and beaten down. I cursed myself for poor planning the entire bumpy, noisy cab ride to the airport.

Thankfully, due to the grace of God/the kind lady at the Vietnam airlines counter, Zach and I were able to get on another flight to Phu Quoc. And we didn’t have to pay any extra charges! Honestly, I think the older lady working for Vietnam airlines just felt extra sorry for Zach (I looked bad, but Zach looked miserable). But whatever it was, it worked! And we were moved back to Jess’s flight. Huge bullet dodged.

Then we were well on our way to sunny, gorgeous Phu Quoc! I think I’ve already made it clear how much I love Phu Quoc here and here so I won’t belabor the point.

Short version—we spent the entire vacation in Phu Quoc on a gorgeous beach in tropical weather. We ate breakfast at a restaurant/shack on the beach where we overpaid for greasy delicious noodles and felt the sand at our feet. Old women offered hour long massages on the beach for $5 an hour. Friendly dogs wander the beach, looking for food and petting. We barely moved from our stretch of sand for three days, and I don’t think anyone felt bad about it. 

We had a huge crew in Phu Quoc. There were the Fulbrighters (me, Tyler, Quan, Anna, Claire, Lindsay, Jess, Kate, Amanda), Trevor’s friends in Princeton in Asia (Stephen, Alex), Anna’s friends from Hue (Steven, Dave, Jenelle, Jared), Jared’s friends in Volunteers in Asia (Laura, Maria), Claire’s friends from Long Xuyen (Jennie, Anna, Christian), Andrew and Zach. And most of us were staying in the same beachside resort. So we had twentyish foreigners taking up one stretch of beach. Awesome. 

We had all come to Phu Quoc for the Phu Quoc Half-Marathon/10k. Anna was the one who originally hatched the idea, and a whole bunch of us had gotten dragged into it. I really am not a long-distance runner; all my previous athletic history has been with soccer and ultimate frisbee. Running in a straight line is not my thing. However, I do succumb to relentless peer pressure. So, with the right amount of heckling/taunting/encouragement from others, I agreed to run.

At race HQ

Getting warmed up

Lindsay gets psyched

Anna, Dave, Andrew, Quan, Trevor, Stephen and Alex would all be running the half-marathon. Tyler, Steven, Amanda and I would be running the 10k. I had been training a fair amount, running about twice a week. But with my shaky knees, I was really only trying to avoid injury and finish the race.

We arrived at the race site on Saturday afternoon. As we changed into our sweet racing gear (free swag!) and warmed up, all of us slowly got psyched for the upcoming race.

Tyler and all of his sass

Fulbright runners!

Back row: Andrew, Trevor, me, Tyler, Quan

Front row: Anna, Amanda, Lindsay

Cheer section (not pictured): Jess and Kate

Fulbright and friends!

New additions: Dave (blue shirt) and Stephen (on the left) and Steven (rainbow shorts on the right)

The race started at 3:30 pm. We all charged out the gates, ready to run!

But the thing about a 3:30 pm race start…that means it’s still really hot. Officially 93 degrees Fahrenheit, it felt like 107 degrees Fahrenheit due to the humidity. There was no tree cover.

Blazing hot sun overhead. The whole time. If I hadn’t worn a hat I would probably have gotten heatstroke. After one kilometer it felt like torture. Eventually I had the chills, and I seriously considered lying down and dying at various points. Instead I just kept running.

The course itself was nice enough. We ran down the main road of Phu Quoc, first on a paved road, then on a red dirt road. As we ran we passed trees and future developments, luxury resorts and ramshackle huts. Locals cheered us on as we ran by, with dozens of children yelling “Hello!” as we passed. Several of them raised their hands for high-fives, giggling with glee whenever a runner slapped their hand.

On the way back I occasionally ran by a pack of students on their motorcycles, just getting out of school. The boys hollered and cheered as their girlfriends sat on the back and giggled at us.

As I neared the finish line I began to kick into a higher gear. Finish strong, you know. But the race organizers had different ideas. The start had been at the front of Long Beach Hotel. But the finish line was actually at the back of Long Beach Hotel, on the beach. That meant it was another 500 meters back from where I thought it ended. Well, I was on my last legs, but I figured I could run a 500m fairly fast. I was so close! So I kept the pace up, willing my exhausted body (screaming at me to just walk, goddamnit!) to greater and greater speed. As the signs counted down the distance, I could feel myself gaining more and more strength.

And then I saw it. The last 50 meters. The final stretch of the 10k. It was on the beach, a 50m sprint in the sand.

I have just run 9.95 kilometers in +100 degree heat. I am pretty sure my entire body has shut down and my legs are running on autopilot. Pain is a constant throughout my entire body. The thought of relaxation is an abstract concept, on par with the categorical imperative and Plato’s cave. And now you want me to run in sand?

Well played, race organizers. You bastards.

I sprinted the last 50m, hating everything, and collapsed over the finish line. 

Photo cred: Jess. Hating myself over the final stretch

Photo cred: Jess. Running across the finish line

Lindsay at the finish line!

My two goals for the race were to not injure myself and to finish. I managed to do both! Which was awesome! Even better, I actually managed to run fairly fast. I ran the 10k in 58:42, good for 10^th overall and 8^th in my age group.

Others in our group did even better! Tyler won second place for the 10k, and Alex won third place for the half-marathon! All of us finished, and we all collapsed on the sand together. As much as I hated running on the sand, the proximity to the ocean was pretty nice. We ran/jogged/stumbled/fell into the ocean, some of us still wearing our jerseys. Nothing feels better than a post-race swim in the ocean.

We then chilled for a while, availing ourselves of free water, bananas and massages. Oh, and our finisher medals! I also ran into Kevin, a teammate of mine from Manila Spirits, which was really cool. Then we headed back to our resort. 

Post-race glow.

After an extensive stretching/showering session we headed to dinner. We opted for a super fancy dinner at the nicest resort in town. Service was slow, but food was delicious. After finishing dinner we had a couple drinks before collapsing back at the resort.

Everyone at dinner

Wait, what is this? This isn't a burger...

IT'S A BAGEL BURGER!!!

Sunday morning Zach and I had a relaxing breakfast before leaving at 12:00 for our 2:00 pm flight. I said my goodbyes to my friends. Some of them I will see again in Hanoi, but for others I won’t see them until I get back to the U.S.

Bros on the beach

After a short plane flight Zach and I parted ways. His travels continue on to Hong Kong, whereas my road was back to Ben Tre. It was definitely sad saying goodbye to him, but I had so much fun on our trip! I’ll see him again soon, I’m sure.

Anyways, only a little time for me to process this, because in a couple days my friend Ross comes! Crazy, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted! Stay tuned!

Oh, and I’m only in Ben Tre for two more weeks. WHAT?!?!?!

Freaking out,

Jefferson 

P.S. Bonus picture no. 1

Can't handle this much bro

P.P.S. Bonus picture no. 2

I CANNOT HANDLE THIS MUCH CUTENESS. !POUBPBFWF@QF!@