Saving Aeneas

Pura Vida

2011-08-10T22:48:00.000+07:00

When I lived in Buenos Aires 'Pura Vida' was a juice bar across the street from my apartment - my near-daily relief from the endless supply of meat and starch that constitute so much of the Argentine diet.

Here in Costa Rica, 'pura vida' is the national saying. While its literal meaning is 'pure life' it's generally used to mean something like 'cool' or 'great':

Como estas?

Pura vida, por dicha.

But Pura Vida is much more than just a phrase...it's a way of life. To live la pura vida is to really and truly live, to be healthy and happy.

Well, I'm leaving Costa Rica in a few hours. Pura vida!

2011-08-10T00:00:00.003+07:00

I noticed that many of the local workers here still keep Bill Clinton's portrait in their offices. I haven't seen a single one with George Bush. I asked someone about that - what happened to all the Bush portraits? -and he said 'We can't vote in the American elections, but we can express our opinions in other ways" and he pointed to the wastebasket.

Volcan Poas

2011-08-04T05:06:00.005+07:00

Some people might think it's dangerous to live in the shadow of several active volcanoes. These people are paranoid lunatics who wear raincoats in the shower so as not to catch cold. Nothing is wrong with unless you have some kind of crazy allergy to thousands of tons of ash falling on you.

At all other times (the non-erupting times), the volcanoes make a lovely natural park. The trick is to get there just as the mist is receding...

But before it comes back...

Also there are some waterfalls, but these aren't a patch in Iguazu.

Culture War, Why Not Culture Peace?

2011-07-27T23:14:00.004+07:00

Went to a beautiful exhibition of Da Vinci in the old Customs building last weekend. Rather short on actual Da Vinci works, but they had reconstructed some of his more ingenious gadgets and that was fun (especially his attempts to build tanks made of wood).

By chance, across the street was the annual Graphic Design Show put on by one of the local universities. One of the themes this year was Costa Rica-Nicauragua Friendship:

There are 500K Nicauraguans living in Costa Rica, representing about 10% of the total population. Obviously this creates some tensions; it's good to see some creative responses.

Later, I mentioned this to a Tico cab driver. He grumbled:

"The thing about the Nicas - it's like you're going somewhere, and a friend says 'hey, I'm going the same way' but he never pays for gas or offers to drive or anything. In the States you have a similar problem with the Mexicans, I think".

"They're absolutely essential to the economy. I believe the Nicas are too, working in agriculture and construction etc."

"Yes, well - the Nicas work hard but it's not enough. Plus some of them are quite dangerous. Why, just the other day they arrested a whole criminal gang."

"How many people?"

"Uh...three."

"All Nicas?"

"Two of them. That's still a majority."

It's Alive!!!

2011-07-20T01:34:00.003+07:00

Kind of prehistoric, huh?

Lluvia, Lluvia, Go Away...

2011-07-19T00:47:00.000+07:00

Is ten hours of rain a day enough?

Life's a Beach

2011-07-12T23:30:00.009+07:00

Last weekend I took my first overnight trip in-country and went to Manuel Antonio, a strikingly expensive (and beautiful, when the weather is fine) national park and beach resort about 3 hours from San Jose on the Pacific coast.

Not too much to say about it, really - a beach is a beach. Sand, water, sky. Hot and muggy during the day, thunder and lightning all night long. To be honest I'd rather visit a volcano or rainforest.
I DIDN'T GET SUNBURNED. For anyone who knows me, this is a major achievement.

Back to Nature

2011-07-06T00:08:00.009+07:00

Wheh. Now that the 4th of July is over, I can relax a little.

Step 1: get out of San Jose. I took the long weekend (American holidays apply to US citizens but not the local staff, alas) to take a '3-in-1' tour. Those 3 were:

- A slow ride down the Saripiqui River. We saw (but mostly heard) howler monkeys, numerous birds, lizards, and even a crocodile.

- A walk through the rainforest to admire all the flora (mostly primeval ferns and flowers) and fauna (including butterflies, frogs, and a number of snakes of varying deadliness)

- A 'conapy' tour in a gondola above the same rainforest.

Yes, it did rain in the rainforest. I was seated in the front row of the gondola so I got somewhat more rained-on than everyone else.

Costa Rica is one of the few places where eco-tourism is profitable enough that they make more emoney, even in the short term, by preserving the rain forest instead of tearing it down.

The Theater that Coffee Built

2011-06-30T00:18:00.006+07:00

No blog report from me would be complete without a discussion of the opera in that country.

The stately Teatro Nacional, flanking one side of San Jose's Plaza de la Cultura, is home to Costa Rica's classical music scene (such as it is). it was built at the end of the 19th century, when Costa Rica was riding high on coffee exports.

The interior is just as beautiful as the outside (pictures to follow). Even orchestra-level tickets are fairly cheap (about $20 at most) and a charmingly French cafe offers coffee and pastries to concert-goes and the simply hungry alike.

Alas, like so many cultural institutions, the Teatro Nacional is neglected by its public, as I saw when I attended an aria recital last Sunday. The quality was generally good (the women outdid the men) but the galleries were perhaps half full, while the orchestra level was almost completely empty. True, this was a concert on Sunday night in summer, but I can't help feel compasison for any artist who has to perform in front of what appears to be an empty theater.

Comidas Criollas

2011-06-21T08:56:00.003+07:00

In the right context, it's a magical phrase.

Costa Rican food has something of a bad reputation. Among all the various guidebooks I read before flying down here, about the nicest thing anybody could come up with was that it's 'unpretentious'.

And that it certainly is. Chicken, fish, and beef fried or grilled. Tropical fruits. Stews. Juice drinks of fruit pulp mixed with ice and sugar. The national dish is gallo pinto (painted rooster) which is a confounding name for a simple plate of rice and black beans.

Also, food in CR is not as cheap as you'd think. Especially when it comes to exotic (that is, non-western) cuisine prices can rival those in the United States.

When it comes to the local fare, however, there is hardly a better bargain to be found than the soda. These informal diner-type things serve the classic casado lunch. A typical casado ('married person') will contain:

-meat
-some sort of potato dish (mashed or sauteed)
-rice
-beans
-green salad
-plantains

You certainly won't leave hungry, and all for about $4. Not a diet for the Atkins-lovers, but no matter.

2011-06-20T09:08:00.003+07:00

So my internet was having trouble the other day, and I called Amnet (the local internet service) to have them come and deal with it. After they arrived they started hunting around for the cable box. In the process, THE DISCOVERED A FOURTH BATHROOM I DIDN'T KNOW I HAD.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

2011-06-13T08:39:00.002+07:00

So I finally made it into downtown San Jose.

Most of the complaints about it are true - it is crowded and dirty and lacks character. There are a profusion of people selling lottery tickets and those selling other things - fruit, mostly - cry their wares from every corner.

Even so, the center of town is impressively pedestrianized, and I made my way over to La Plaza de la Cultura:

Grr, the Gold Museum was closed - for how long, they didn't know. So I made my way over to the Costa Rican Art museum:

Which happens to front the city park, La Sabana:

The museum itself was quite small and not terribly interesting. The Modern Art Museum is said to be better.

What gets me is how very similar it is to downtown Cebu City (although less dirty and not so damn hot). I guess that really is the Spanish colonial style.

By the way, I should probably mention something about Costa Rica: they don't believe in addresses. Everything is notated in relation to other things. Instead of saying '120 Avenida Central' they'll say 'Avenida Central 100 meters south of the Iglesia de San Martin and 50 meters east of the bus stop etc.'. It's gets very confusing very quickly. Even though central San Jose is laid out on a grid pattern, I couldn't use the street signs because there weren't any. Well, preguntando se llega a Roma.

City of Witches

2011-06-08T08:14:00.007+07:00

Too bad I haven't seen any witches yet. That crest is probably the most exciting part of the whole neighborhood.

Rich people have always confounded me. Especially in their choices of where they decide to live. Why the isolation?

Security is obviously one thing. The desire for peace and quiet is another. Yet isn't it possible to have those things without sealing yourself into an over-sized condo with nothing but the TV for company?

Why is it that the world's oligarchs never live in communities? Why do they always drop themselves beside what are basically highways, with no schools, shops, parks, cafes, or anything else within walking distance - not as if they could walk, because there are almost never any sidewalks?

Of course, it is assumed that rich people have cars, and often drivers as well. Personally I find that a little indecent. I can't demand that somebody else devote the major part of his day to ferry me to get a croissant or to see a friend. That's the kind of thing I only ask of family members.

The Tico Times (local English-language newspaper) just ran a story about the recent census, where local census-takers complained about the difficulty of navigating winding streets, endlessly barred gates, guard dogs, and complex security systems just to ask basic questions of the residents within:

In light blue vests, four student census workers and their 22-year-old supervisor wandered through Escazú, west of San José.

The fivesome walked up steep roads, skipped over rocks to cross streams, dealt with barking dogs – and got lost.

Student census workers heeded a last- minute call of duty to assist in the task of surveying an estimated 1.3 million households. Approximately two dozen were sent to Escazú, where they encountered many obstacles. But none were more daunting than the area’s numerous condominiums. Security guards denied access to many census takers, as the upper-class neighborhood presented a challenge to the young pollsters.

...

It’s been complicated,” Sura said. “Not everyone is here and I’m going to have to keep coming back.”

It’s 1 p.m. already. She figured her day could go until 8 p.m.

At the nearby Paco Center, in downtown Escazú, some of the student enumerators hail taxis looking to grab some lunch. Sura seemed to have the best luck of all of them so far. Many never made it past the security guards, and had to leave forms with them to pick up later. One worker held up two fingers, when asked if she was able to talk to any residents. García herded her colleagues into a taxi. She waited for another one. The morning had been both tiresome and baffling. That wasn’t the worst part.

“We spoke to nobody,” García said, “We kept going around and around didn’t get to speak with anyone.”

Why be rich if you have to hide away?

Costa Rica - La Primera Vez

2011-06-06T02:24:00.003+07:00

Naturally, my first blogpost about Costa Rica ought to be an 'impressions' kind of thing, so here goes:

The Living

Many years ago, when the Savoy Hotel was being built in London, it had the unprecedented luxury of a bathroom in every suite. The builder was much bemused, and asked 'Who's gonna be livin' there, amphibians?'

My apartment has three. I ASSUME it was meant for more people, but maybe it's just for the sake of variety.

The People

Affectionately known as 'Ticos'. Spanish-speaking. The CR accent tends to swallow the last consonant, so 'incomodo' becomes 'incomo' etc.

The Barrio

Fairly dull. Lots of well-off expats and gated condos. To the north is a busy street (actually more of a small highway) lined with strip malls which the Costa Ricans call plazas. Alot of chains and car dealerships. Many off the menus, signs, etc. are in English.

To the south is 'downtown', but this is tame stuff - I was there last night at 8PM and I hardly saw anybody about.

Prices

High - hardly much less than what you would expect in the US. Maybe its a function of the neighborhood.

What IS really cheap are small restaurants called 'sodas' (more on these later) which serve quite filling meals for $3-4.

Also, the money has sharks on it.

Weather

Warm, but even during the day its not unbearable. At night it is cool enough that I don"t even need the AC.

Work:

I have a small office in the basement. Not much sunlight, but close to the cafeteria.

Right now many of people are on vacation, so it's taking a while to get everything organized for me - I'm still waiting on my cell phone and ID badge.

Water

Potable.

Until next time...

Well, It Got My Attention

2011-02-08T12:09:00.002+07:00

I suppose that was the idea.

Thundersnow!

2010-12-31T06:36:00.003+07:00

So a few days ago New York was hit by a severe snowstorm. It descended suddenly and dropped over a foot of snow on the city in less than 24 hours. It's also the first time in my life I've experienced a thunderstorm and snow at the same time. I knew such things happen, but they're exceedingly rare. I wonder what the science is behind them?

Anyway, the city has been pretty slow to respond. A great deal of public transit is still running behind schedule (particularly anything in or out of the city) and many sidewalks and especially crosswalks are still basically impassable.

I attempted to buy some boots at Macy's but now I have buyer's remorse. The ones I got are a little too cowboy-ish for me.

Oh well. At least the snow looks nice (when not mixed with dirt):

Something a Little Brighter

2010-11-03T09:10:00.003+07:00

Pardon the delay...

Washington Square

Nine Years On

2010-09-13T22:26:00.001+07:00

So Far and Yet So Close

2010-09-10T22:19:00.002+07:00

So what's the deal with New Yorkers exaggerating the distance between everything?

The other day I went uptown and asked a hot dog vendor the way to Amsterdam Avenue. He pointed it out to me but said "It's at least a 30-minute walk, you'd better take the subway". 5 minutes later I was there.

I remember a similar incident happened last year in Midtown. when I complained about it to a New-York-dwelling friend of mine she said "Oh, but the avenues, they tend to be really far apart". My cousin suggested that, because I was asking for directions, they assumed I was a tourist and wasn't used to getting around on foot.

I thought this city was the American capitol of walking everywhere. What gives?

Because the World Needs Another New York Blog

2010-09-05T10:19:00.003+07:00

Time: the Present

Place: New York City, Greenwich Village, just south of Washington Square

Protagonist: Loyal Achates, beginning his M.A. Program in International Relations at New York University

Argument: How to distinguish this blog from the thousands of others chronicling urban life in the United States?

Stay Tuned....

Manila, Chocolate, and Strawberry

2010-08-16T11:12:00.005+07:00

So now I'm in Manila, capitol and largest city of the Philippines.

Manila feels much more like a 'big city' when compared to Saigon, probably because there are many more tall buildings and the infrastructure is more advanced. The class difference, however, is a great deal more stark. Manila is, as some people have said, 10% Singapore and 90% Mumbai, or skyscrapers above shantytowns. A great place to live if you have alot of money...

Transport

Manila has jeepneys like Cebu, but thankfully it also has an elevated railway (the LRT) and something called an FX, which is basically a more modern jeepney, employing a van instead of an old jeep and costing about twice as much to use depending on distance.

Small World Part I: My first time using the LRT I found myself jammed into the railcar Tokyo-style. Right next to me was the same guy who sat acriss the aisle from me on the flight from Saigon to Manila.

So, what is there to see?

Intramuros

The old Spanish walled city. Most of it was destroyed by the Americans during World War II but some of it still remains. You can really get a feel that you're stepping back in time into the Spanish colonial era, where people wore European clothes in tropical weather and there was a Catholic church on every street corner:

Makati

The first-world part of the city. Shops, restaurants, bars and upscale shopping malls. Where the moneyed class chooses to live and play (if they don't live in subdivisions outside the city).

The Ayala Museum

A very modern museum built by the fabulously wealthy Ayala family. It tries to be all things to all people, encompassing ancient Filipino hstory, modern political history, ancient art, modern art, and some marine biology for good measure.

Rizal Park (aka the Luneta)

Practically the only sizable park in the city, it has an oddly disorganized and un-parklike feel to it. Stl, it contains a decent National Gallery (houding Juan Luna's masterwork Spolarium) as well as a pleasant Chinese Garden and a Chess Plaza where unsuspecting Americans like myself can lose 20 pesos playing against Filipino experts:

Small World Part II: While in the Ayala Museum I ran into a Filipino couple and their Canadian friend. I ran into the same group in the National Gallery AND in the Luneta.

Binondo

Manila's Chinatown. More or less the same as Chinatowns all over the world: narrow streets, Chinese restaurants, herbal medicine stores etc. It also borders Quiapo, which is the chaotic counterfeit-goods haven of the city.

Malls, malls and malls

As expected, Manila has more shopping malls than you could believe possible in such a crowded city. The biggest is Mall of Asia, which is - I believe - the fourth largest mall in the world.

Saigon Detour

2010-08-11T15:41:00.006+07:00

So here I am back in Saigon for a weeklong visit, meeting old friends and savoring the relatively sophisticated atmosphere.

Alot is still the same. Millions of motorbikes, pho stalls on every corner, and the tourist district of Pham Ngu Lao/De Tham is as pleasantly run-down as ever.

Even so, alot has changed. There is a huge new shopping mall at the corner of Dong Khoi and Le Thanh Ton, while half the other buildings downtown seem to be in the process of being renovated. There's also the Tallest Building in All of Vietnam being constructed along the Saigon River:

Well, that's economic expansion for you. In another 10 years this city (or at least the center) will probably resemble Hong Kong or Singapore more than the old French colonial town it once was. I hope they don't totally destroy everything that made the city unique - the colonial architecture, the amazing street food etc. But i'm afraid it's only a matter of time before some official decides that such things make Vietnam look 'backward' and then they'll be gone forever.

Malapascua

2010-07-26T11:29:00.004+07:00

Malapascua is a small island to the north of Cebu. I'd have bet a thousand pesos that 'mala pascua' meant 'bad Easter', but apparently the Visayans have decided that 'pascua' should mean Christmas, even though it means Easter in Spanish. The name comes from the Spanish sailors who arrived on the island one stormy Christmas night sometime in the 1500s.

Nowadays, Malapascua is a developing resort island, with a fair number of beachside hotels but still mostly rural. The beach is nice enough:

And you can go snorkeling:

There are some rather beautiful corals on the ocean floor and supposedly some manta rays and plankton-eating sharks, but I didn't see them.

For some reason, there are throngs of Germans and Austrians everywhere - to the point where the local guides are as likely to speak German as English.

Hello, Joe!

2010-07-19T07:18:00.002+07:00

So whenever I'm walking down the street and I pass a group of children, they almost always wave at me and say 'Hey Joe!" Is that like GI Joe? Kind of strange...

Credo in Unum Deum

2010-07-12T14:16:00.009+07:00

Filipinos love to get religious. And few places are churchier than the Basilica del Santo Nino in downtown Cebu:

Apparently it's the only basilica in Asia. What's the difference between a cathedral and a basilica, you ask? Moving on...

Santo Nino literally means 'holy child', and it's a reference to the baby Jesus, which is the patron saint of the Philippines. Now, I may not be an expert in Catholic theology, but it seems to me that Jesus would be the Messiah, not a saint, even if he is a baby. I suppose someone could be both a saint and the Messiah, but that just seems like overkill.

Still, it's a nice building:

And right behind it is a small hut containing a replica of Magellan's Cross, commemorating the place where Magellan landed in what is now Cebu City almost five hundred years ago (before being killed by the natives).

So, if you can dodge the water-sellers, icon-vendors, and nuns demanding alms, it's all very pleasant.

You're So Vain

2010-07-04T13:49:00.002+07:00

Is every single public restroom in this country full of Filipino guys fixing their hair?

I guess it makes sense, given the climate of the city. You can leave your house clean and fresh, but five minutes in the heat and you'll become a sweaty, rumpled, red-faced mess - or, at least, I do. The locals bear up a bit better, because they're used to it. Still, good grooming is clearly a high priority around here.

And while we're talking about bathrooms, why is every public toilet in Cebu missing the lid of the seat? Are people stealing them for sale on the black market? Are people fighting with these toilets? I can deal with the lack of toilet paper - Vietnam prepared me for that - but not having a lid is going too far.

Half-Jeep, Half-Van, All Awesome

2010-06-27T10:45:00.006+07:00

Cebu City has a problem common to many semi-tropical poverty-stricken cities: how to get around. In Cebu the government doesn't even want to spend the money on a bus system, much less a subway line, and it's too hot to walk anywhere. In Vietnam they have motorbikes. In Bangkok they built an elevated train system.

But the solution (at least in the Philippines) is jeepneys: converted half-jeep half-van contraptions which run along set routes (usually written on the side) Only seven pesos if the guy hanging precariously out the back is able to give you your change and not fall to his death at the same time.

Advantages: They're cheap and relatively reliable. They're also colorful, often painted with bright pop-culture themes. They'll also let you off pretty much wherever you want.

Disadvantages: they're rattly, bumpy, slow, and full of smog. Supposedly it's quite easy to get pickpoocketed in one, but so far that hasn't happened to me.

2010-06-20T09:18:00.002+07:00

And, while we're talking about food...

The national fast-food chain of the Philippines is called Jolibee.It's symbol is, indeed, a jolly bee.

I don't really get the wisdom of choosing a bee. Aren't children afraid of bees? Though I suppose children are afraid of mice too.

Is it any good? Not really. But don't tell the Filipinos that. They're very proud of their own version of Macdonald's.

The one great advantage is that they sell fresh pineapple juice along with the usual soft drinks.

Getting Malled

2010-06-06T14:02:00.006+07:00

If there's one thing Filipinos love, it's shopping malls. In this regard they almost rival New Jersey.

Even though the Philippines is a relatively poor country, the fact that they've been open to foreign corporations for so long (and they haven't had any of those pesky socialist revolutions) means that most chains available in the US are present here too.

By far the biggest are the Ayala Center and SM City, but there are literally dozens of smaller malls around the city, including E-mall, JY Square, Mango Square, ParkMall, and on and on. Many of them provide not just shops and restaurants but arcades, movie theaters, gyms, apartments, office space, conference rooms, schools, and the occasional car dealership.

In fact, the Filipinos love there malls so much, they practically try to live in them. Most now even offer Sunday Mass services in improbable locations.

I once joked to a Filipino friend of mine 'I guess the Filipino dream would be to live on a spaceship.@ He thought for a moment and replied 'Yes, but only if it has aircon''

But for me, they provide something even more important: air-conditioning and bookstores. The only real drawback is that these malls are often prowled by packs of transsexuals who are looking for ignorant foreigners to prey on. May lightning strike me if I'm kidding about that. Ask any foreigner who's been here.

Manos a la Obra

2010-06-03T19:06:00.002+07:00

So, I finally got a job.

It's at a Korean school in Talamban. The hours are a little more intense than I'm used to - five hours a day Monday-Friday, which isn't bad at all, but the school requires I show up at 8AM every day even though my first class isn't until 11.

My one class, repeated five times, is Speaking - always the weak point of the Asian English-language student. Reading, writing, and grammar are fine, but when it comes to expressing their ideas in English it's usually a struggle.

My classes are quite small - only one to three students - but the students are nice enough. Most of them are planning to go to the US, Canada or Australia at the end of the summer, so that's motivation enough for them.

Also, lunch is included - Korean food of course, which isn't my favorite, but it tastes alot better because it's free.

Cebu on a Stick

2010-05-24T13:43:00.006+07:00

Okay, now to really important matters: how is the food in the Philippines?

Art, music, architecture, climate, mannerisms - all of these have their place, but really, what can compare for sheer weight (no pun intended) with the cuisine of a place? A man is what he eats, after all.

There's a reason Philippine cuisine has yet to take the world by storm the way Chinese, Thai, or any number of other Asian cuisines have; it's kind of boring. It's mostly meat stews over rice or fish or meat grilled over coals. Tasty enough, but not anything to really excite people. The emphasis on meat and the lack of creative vegetables exclude the health-conscious, and the lack of spiciness leaves out all the people who so gratefully dig into Thai or Indian curries.

Absent is the ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, star anise and chilies which are so prevalent in the rest of southeast Asia. There are a few dishes which I find interesting enough to make myself, but the emphasis on heartiness over vivid flavors isn't really my style.

There is also the propensity to grill absolutely everything and serve it on a stick - even things that one cannot possibly eat on a stick, such as small fish replete with bones and scales.

For dessert their favorites seem to be leche flan (the Spanish answer to creme caramel), halo-halo (an inelegant but refreshing mix of fruits, gelatin, and ice cream) and banana Q, which is basically a banana coated in sugar then caramelized over a fire.

Also the ketchup is made of bananas, but honestly I wouldn't have known if they hadn't told me - it looks and tastes the same.

Et Tu, Brute?

2010-05-22T12:18:00.003+07:00

Originality, thy name is not pinoy...

Apparently this is a big problem. Someone has a good idea, and immediately they become swamped by ten competitors and nobody can establish a successful niche.

Just another small example, about a year ago they opened up a zipline on the mountain of Busay just north of the city, and less than a year later there are already three. How many ziplines can one town support?

Living For Today

2010-05-16T17:25:00.002+07:00

The street I currently live on is lined with small, shabby little shops (though 'shops' might be too grand a term - perhaps 'stall' would be better) of the little-bit-of-everything variety, selling eggs and vegetables as well as offering internet and printing services, not to mention selling rum, bread, and anything else that happens to be around.

One shop in particular is festooned with tiny plastic packets of shampoo, good for a single use. I pointed this out to my roommate and he said "That's how it is here. I buy whole bottles of shampoo and people think I'm crazy."

Later, I went to a pharmacy to refill my aspirin.

"A bottle of aspirin, please."

The pharmacist looked at me. "We don't have bottles. We have boxes."

"How many pills are in one box?"

"A thousand".

"Uhh...." Apparently the thing to do is order pills individually. I ended up getting 20; only 1.65 pesos apiece.

Obviously this makes some economic sense. A family living on five dollars a day isn't going to drop seven dollars on a bottle of oil, even if that would be more efficient in the long run.

One of the hidden costs of poverty.

Election part II

2010-05-12T12:33:00.003+07:00

So the election is over and it looks like front-runner 'Noynoy' is the winner.

Coming in second was Jose Estrada, the tough-guy actor who was president during the late 1990s and is generally considered to have been a disaster for the country. I guess you can fool some of the people all of the time.

Elsewhere, reports of harassment, violence and vote-buying were rampant. Apparently in some places votes were going for as little as 100 pesos (about $2.20) each.

Like Argentina, the Philippines has a no-liquor-sales-the-day-before-the-elections law, which is unusual considering that, unlike Argentina, voting is not mandatory in the Philippines. I thought this wouldn't affetc me until the cashier at the grocery store wouldn't let me buy a root beer ("It says 'beer' right on the label!"). Isn't democracy great?

Noynow takes on Gibo!

2010-05-09T11:08:00.002+07:00

What do you suppose this is a list of?:

Noynoy, Dodong, Gibo, JC, Erap, Brother Eddie, Manny, Dick, Nick and...Jamby.

Perhaps the cast if a Latin American ensemble telenovela? Maybe a chldren's show/

Those are the 'official' nicknames of the 11 candidates for the presidency of the Philippines.

As of now, Begnigno Aquino III (Nownoy) appears to be ahead, although his conservative rival Gilberto Teodoro (Gibo) is mounting a strong challenge.

Politics in the Philippines is a family affair, Noynoy is the son of a president, while Gibo is his second cousin.

The walls are absolutely plastered with campaign posters of every kind, not only for president but for senator and congressman. There have been motorcades and torchlight processions. It's pretty exctiing, and yet every Filipino I've talked to said he wasn't going to vote. Curious...

Getting One's Phl

2010-05-06T07:19:00.004+07:00

So my arrival in Cebu was not terribly fortuitous. After about 20 hours in the air I finally arrived at Mactan International Airport, only to discover that my host believed I was arriving on May 5, and as such he was not at the airport to greet me.

He was also not at his house, though his neighbors all seemed to know him and I spent several hours sitting on my luggage and chatting with the hordes of children who hung around the coin-operated internet cafe at all hours of the night.

Eventually we did meet up and he showed me his house. It has the decaying, unkempt feel common to the long-term bachelor, but my room is comfortable enough, the neighborhood is very safe (it's near an army base) and the price was right.

Some quick observations:

- It is again very hot.

- Roosters are everywhere. And they crow all day long.

- the water has so much chlorine in the tap water there's a permanent smell of the swimming pool

- The basic layout of the Filipino street seems to be about the same as it was in Vietnam - narrow sidewalks and 'shops' which are basically converted garages. Npt nearly as much traffic though.

Three Short Stories of Vietnam

2010-01-12T22:25:00.001+07:00

From Tales of Asia.

A Second Opinion

2009-12-20T03:18:00.002+07:00

Here's Farr's view of SE Asia:

Arrival/Day 1
Day 2
Day Three

Red Paprika

2009-11-14T17:49:00.005+07:00

So now that I've been in the Communist world, the post-Communist world, and the Capitalist world, and the future Communist world (America) I feel like I can make some reasonable comparisons between them.

First of all, Oriental communism is completely different from European communism. Vietnamese communism was poverty, Cambodian communism was a terror, and Chinese communism was poverty and terror together. Nobody I met in any country would admit (at least openly) that they wanted the bad old days of forced enthusiasm and collectivized farms back.

in Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the older a person is the more likely they are to feel like abandoning Socialism was a bad idea. Part of this is nostalgia (things always seemed better when we were young etc.), some is simply practical, as pensions for the elderly have been significantly reduced by the governments and by inflation (the 'paper leprosy' in Hungary) since the Wall fell, and some is disgust at the materialism and corruption of the new economic order.

Hungary, remember, had (after the revolt of 1956) a system of 'Goulash Socialism' where the government provided abundant material comforts to the general population while only going after those political dissidents who actively sought to bring the state down. Not the old Stalinist 'If you're not with us you're against us' but rather 'If you're not against us you're with us'. One guy in his mid 40s told me "Everyone had enough to eat. Everybody had a job though you didn't have to work to hard, there were plenty of community groups so people always had something to do, what more do you want?".

in Prague I found a similar story. In the Castle District I saw an open-air display in honor of the 20th anniversary of the revolution which brought an end to the Communist government. It was mostly signboards with interviews of people who had participated in the protests, and from what I could tell most of them said that the whole thing was a mistake and should never have happened.

So far as I know Hungary is the only country that ever reverted to Communism after abandoning it once before (the Hungarian Soviet Republic only lasted from 1918 to 1919) so if they ever went Communist again it'd be some kind of record.

Bathtime in Budapest

2009-11-09T18:18:00.005+07:00

For the last couple of weeks I've been suffering from a persistent cold and sore throat. Oddly, my efforts to nurse myself back to health by walking around in the cold and fog proved to be unsuccessful so I decided to head over to the Szechenyi Baths and 'take the waters'.

You see, Budapest is positively filled with the kind of Austro-Turkish baths fed by hot springs which were all the rage with European aristocrats around the turn of the 20th century.

Just my luck, one of them was holding a 'Climate Change Bath Party' with half-price admission, so I went. It was basically three open-air swimming pools - normal, warm, and 'sauna'/ The sauna was deadly hot; bathers are warned not to stay more than ten minutes in them for fear of burning their skin.

all in all it was a good time, even though I'm not a huge fan of swimming. It was also a little surreal to see people shivering in their bathing suits whenever they stepped out of the water.

King of the Budaivar

2009-11-05T20:59:00.007+07:00

Since I mentioned Prague and it's castle overlooking the city on a hill, I would be remiss not to mention that Buda has an even grander castle of its own. Behold, Buda Castle...

Built by the Austrians after the 1848 Revolution to keep the Hungarians under control. It's easy to imagine it as the seat of a great empire. Like many such places it is not only a fortress but a city-within-a-city, comprising a palace, shops, restaurants, museums, and:

A church, Szent Mathias.

A picturesque series of towers, the Fisherman's Bastion:

Statues of Hungarian worthies, such as King Stephen:

And even a series of underground caves. Not bad, Fatherland!

Be Praguematic

2009-11-05T20:57:00.005+07:00

So...Prague! Home of absinthe, Vaclav Havel, foreign exchange students and would-be bohemians from all over the world.

My first impressions of the city were famously unfavorable. Now that I am giving the place a second chance, it hasn't improved too much, though I certainly can understand what draws so many people to it.

Certainly it has many fine old buildings, though not as many as Budapest. In general it is a bit more touristic than Budapest, with a slightly thicker concentration of chain stores and fast food outlets.

On the other hand, there are festive lights in all the major squares and the chill weather gives the place a Christmas air, even though Christmas is sitll almost two months away.

In my brief time here so far I walked around a bit and looked into the Czech National Museum. Unlike its Hungarian counterpart, the Czech National Museum doesn't seek to glorify the history of the Czech people but is much more of a natural history museum, with rooms full of mineral samples, stuffed animals, and a special exhibition on the solar system. All this seems a little bit incongruous with the Baroque statuary and vaulted ceilings, but none of the exhibits seem to suffer for it.

I suppose the difference between Prague and Budapest is that while Budapest is dignified and stately, clearly the sometime home of both a grand empire and a thriving intellectual and artistic scene, Prague is sort of a medieval Disneyland, a little too precious and cute for its own good.

The crowds of tourists are mainly responsible for this. Even now, during the off-season, the tour groups buzz like mosquitoes everywhere. In the Old Quarter and near the castle you have to positively wade your way around through masses of Americans, Germans, Chinese, Spanish, Koreans and every other nationality which can spare the money for a but of old-world sightseeing.

The higlight of my trip was almost certainly the Puppet Don Giovanni, which is exactly what it sounds like - Mozart's opera enacted with puppets and a classic recording playing in the background. Of course it had to cut down brutally - from over to hours to an hour and a quarter - but it was still a rollicking good time.

L - R: Don Giovanni, Donna Anna, Leporello

Rumble on the Danube

2009-11-03T20:28:00.003+07:00

A couple of days ago I descended into the Metro to find the place swarming with riot police. The trains, too, were crowded with yelling groups of people and more riot police. Was it a political demonstration? Were people taking to the streets? Some kind of Halloween event? Then I saw everyone wearing the same scarves amd I realzed what was going on.

A football match.

I wonder what it is about football that has enraptured the rest of the world but has so completely escaped us Americans.

Revolution Day

2009-10-25T20:56:00.005+07:00

Don't ask me what the banner says because I don't know.

Last Friday I decided to take advantage of the Turner Exhibit at the Fine Art Museum. Much to my surprise, the exhibit was free. After I had my fill of Madonna pictures and Turner's Italian paintings I walked outside to see a crowd of people standing in Hero's Square listening to Beethoven. I recognized it because it was the 'Egmont' Overture, which I learned to play during my brief time with the Brandeis Orchestra. I had no idea what the crowd was up to, or why the were playing music by a German composer.

After the overture ended they all produced Hungarian flags and sang what I assume was the Hungarian national anthem. Apparently it was Revolution Day (which explains the free museum pass), the anniversary of the 1956 uprising which ushered it the more moderate Communism which lasted until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Politics in Hungary are currently in a bad way. Elections are coming up the Far Right is expected to do very well. Partly because of the economic crisis, partly due to growing prejudice against Gypsies, and also because the ruling Socialist Party disgraced themselves when the former Prime Minister was caught on tape at a cabinet meeting talking at length about how terrible the economy was becoming and how they'd lied to people.

Looks like there are crazies all over.

What Hungarians Drink

2009-10-21T20:39:00.003+07:00

Earlier in the day, Magyars have a European-style passion for coffee. Cafes (kavezok) abound, serving the usual array of coffees, teas, espressos, lattes etc.

Later on, when something a bit stronger is needed, they turn to:

- Beer. Most Hungarian beer is pretty terrible, but there are a wide range of imported German, Belgian, and Czech beers.

- Wine. I haven't had much Hungarian wine so I can't really comment. Apparently Georgian wine is excellent, and when the Russians invaded the imports stopped. Some people talk about this wine-less period as if it were a war itself.

- Palinka. Strong fruit brandy, generally made from apricots, peaches, cherries or plums. Usually the aroma of the fruit used is very apparent.

- Unicum. This is Hungary's national bitter, and it is terrible. A dark, soupy medicinal-tasting potion for the truly intrepid.

Six Thousand Words

2009-10-12T19:27:00.009+07:00

Hero's Square

Fine Art Museum

Opera House

Fighting the Hydra

Danube Bend

The Great Synagogue

Kontroll

2009-10-09T15:01:00.002+07:00

The Budapest Metro has a rather odd ticketing system. Tickets can be bought from a machine or from a ticket-seller, but then they are checked by people called 'Kontrollers', who stand near the entrances to the trains and ask to show your ticket. Of course if you've got two or three people checking tickets and hundreds or thousands of people using the Metro at rush hour, most of the people simply breeze through whether they have a ticket or not.

It goes without saying that being a Kontroll is a pointless and alienating profession. I've heard stories about Kontrollers simply being ignored or told to fuck off, and while of course there's a fine for being on the subway or the tram without a ticket, technically the Kontrollers can't enforce it - they have to call the police, who don't like being bothered.

A few years ago there was a movie, also called 'Kontroll', about a group of Kontrollers who live in the subway without ever going to the surface. They deal with the scorn of the public and the indifference of the suits downtown. To pass the time they dirnk during their shifts and go 'railing' - that is, having races along the tracks to see who can out-run the next train. It's mostly a fantasy but it captures the spirit of the profession fairly well.

O Buda

2009-10-05T02:06:00.002+07:00

So I've solved one mystery: why Budapest is so quiet at night: because they've recently made it illegal to drink on the street, forcing everyone to stay inside the bars and not stumble around outside. Sounds normal enough, but it's provoked mutterings of 'creeping fascism' from the local drinking population.

Hungarian food - like most Eastern/Central European food, it seems - has the aim of putting as many calories as possible into a meal, usually involving some kind of breaded meat chop, sour cream, and a thick slice of bread. Also liberal use of paprika, which by regional standards makes Hungarian spicy and exotic.

A classic Hungarian snack is a piece of bread slathered with lard and covered in onions. Also, fried bread covered with sour cream and cheese. Arteries, shmarteries!

They're also fond of pastries, especially a pie-like thing called retesh, which is a flaky little bundle filled with a variety of things, usually apples or cherries or poppy seeds.

Magyar My Home

2009-09-29T04:43:00.003+07:00

So here I am, out of Asia and in Europe - Budapest, Hungary to be precise. The land of my ancestors.

I have a one-person flat in Obuda. Obuda (or 'Old Buda') is a pleasant enough neighborhood, though there's not a whole lot to see. my street has a post office, a supermarket, and some Chinese restaurants- what more does a person need?

Speaking of food, Budapest seems to have a passion for 'Turkish' fast food, especially gyros and falafel. Pizza is also popular but most of it is pretty lousy. As mentioned, there are also greasy Chinese takeout places everywhere and plenty of chain burger joints too.

Budapest is a beautiful city. It's kind of a shock to see fine buildings everywhere after the comparative poverty of Vietnam, but I suspect that if it weren't for Communism half of those buildings would have been torn down to build shopping malls and Gaps.

The public transit system is pretty good. There are basically three metro lines which cover Pest (with one sneaking over into Buda) and there is a bewildering network of bus and tram lines, which I am still trying to figure out. The trouble is that the metro shuts down at 11:30, forcing me to use a cab to get home.

Budapest is also a shockingly quiet city. Downtown on a weeknight seems practically like a ghost town. At first I thought this was just in contrast with bustling Saigon, but locals and expats confirmed that Budapest really was was that silent.

Farr and Away

2009-09-23T19:43:00.002+07:00

So Farr's long-awaited visit to Indochina finally took place. He arrived late Friday night and took up residence in Stefan's dress shop along Hai Ba Trung.

He took to the difficulties of Southeast Asia - the traffic, the crowds, the constant demands for charity - with surprising equanimity, as if it were all local color. He was also agog over the low prices and took to photographing all of his meals.

The one thing neither of us could really take was the heat. After an hour or two of exploring we'd be forced to find an air-conditioned cafe and restore ourselves with a cold drink or two.

We did the usual tour things - War Museum, Reunification Palace, Cu Chi Tunnels. We also went in search of a tailored shirt that would meet his exacting standards (no luck( as well as cheap DVDs and various Vietnam trinkets (success). John was particularly taken with a shop selling old propaganda posters, urging the Vietnamese to raise more pigs and fight imperialism and so on.

Then, Angkor Wat, which are not any less magnificent for having seen them already. The usual swarms of postcard-hawkers were there, though they seem to have absorbed a great deal of information about the Obama family, which they used to gain our sympathy (and money).

It was all over before we knew it, and we each went our separate ways again. Until November.

Hai Ba Trung Pharma

2009-09-10T21:21:00.002+07:00

After about 10 days in Vietnam I began to get worried that i wasn't getting enough calcium; I can't remember the last time I had a solid glass of milk and so I decided to head over to My Chau Pharmacy, which was recommended by Let's Go Vietnam.

You see, Stefan's shop (www.stylespy.vn) is located on Hai Ba Trung, the 'fashion street' of Ho Chi Minh City. It is lined with stores selling shoes, jeans, dresses, and every other f=piece of clothing you could wish for. For some reason, near his shop there is a small strip of pharmacies selling what I assume are dodgy generic medications.

Still, I felt confident enough to try for some basic vitamins and minerals. I waltzed into My Chau and gave the clerk a small slip of paper with 'calcium' written on it. In return, he gave me a very small packet containing four pills and demanded 500,000 dong (about $28). That seemed distinctly odd to me. I looked at the package and realized he had given me Cialis, not calcium.

Strong bones, indeed.

Huizhou; Between Limbo and Hell

2009-09-05T20:33:00.003+07:00

So now that I've escaped the PRC and their internet filters, I can say a few words about my life in Huizhou.

Huizhou is what in China would be considered a small city (roughly 3.75 million people) in Guangdong Province, about a 90 minute drive from Hong Kong.

It is, according to Wikipedia, 'In the provincial economic development strategy, Huizhou is regarded as a site for a world-class petrochemical industry, as well as the hub for solidifying information technology, and expanding exports and trades'.

That about sums it up. The whole place is as bland and uninteresting as a foreign metropolis of almost 4 million can possibly be, dominated by Wal-Mart and KFC. Also, there are no toilets.

The students were nice, but I didn't have many teaching hours and most of my time was given over to looking at grad schools and reading every book in my possession, including:

- The Red and the Black
- The Beach
- Kiss Kiss (by Roald Dahl)
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- The King of Torts. That's right, I read a John Grisham novel

Sometimes, the gods punish you by granting what you ask for. I was feeling a bit cramped in Saigon and wanted to get out. Now that I'm back, it's never looked like such a cosmopolitan and exciting place.

Websites Banned in China

2009-08-07T13:06:00.000+07:00

They include:

Blogger
Youtube
Facebook
Most human-rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch etc.
The Daily Show/Colbert Report websites
Wikipedia's entry on 'Chinese Internet Censorship'

Websites that have been blocked in the past include non-Chinese Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail.

Firefox, canny little devil, notes that when the website you're trying to access is blocked it does not say 'Error' or 'Web timeout' but 'connection interrupted'.

Of course, if Blogger is blocked, how am I writing this? I'm using what's called an online proxy, which hides your ISP and allows you to surf the internet (mostly) free of restrictions, though some websites such as Facebook are still a bit off.

A Chinese Story

2009-07-22T09:01:00.001+07:00

Having fled Vietnam just in time I found myself in Hong Kong with a few days to kill. Since I didn't know anybody I headed over to the local Jewish organization. When they turned out to be arrogant and unhelpful I realized I was going to have to take care of things myself.

Out of necessity I ended up staying in Chungking Mansion, where a tiny little room with a fan could be had for the bargain price of only 80 Hong Kong dollars a night. Imagine if Phamn Ngu Lao, De Tham and Bui Vien streets were crammed into a single shabby high-rise and the Vietnamese replaced with Indians and Africans, and you have a pretty good idea of what Chungking Mansions is like. Decent curry though.

Hong Kong isn't much of a city to look at - just endless skyscrapers housing offices, apartments and shopping malls, with elevated walkways between them to avoid the drudgery of having to descend to the lowly earth. On street level, Hong Kong resembles nothing so much as simply a Chinese New York with British street names.

It is notoriously short on sights. There's the harbor and the Big Buddha and some decent parks and even a Disneyland but didn't appreciate them.

You see, I was in a lather because NOT ONLY did the French people decide to go to Paris without telling me or leaving a forwarding address, leaving me stranded, but my backup plan - teahcing summer camp in Zhuhai, China - was canceled due to swine flu. At my wit's end I stormed into the office of the Education Company (I'd rather storm into Jean-Marc Merlin's office, but he's out of reach) and demanded they give me money or, failing that, employment. Eventually the agreed to give me a do-nothing job in Huizhou, a city near Canton.

So now I'm in Huizhou, which I suspect was devised by some clever Ministry of Tourism initiative to make every other place in China - maybe every other place on earth - look fun and exciting. My teaching starts next week but it looks like my classes will have less than 5 students each.

China is strange. It pretends to be Western with it's high-rises and straight streets and Macdonald's, but just under the surface it is far more bewildering than anything I encountered in Vietnam. Also the censorship si really bad; i can't get on Youtube or Facebook, and I can only update my blog now because I got a 'proxy server' to get past the firewall.

Wish I were in gay Paris, but that'll have to wait. I'll still be back in Vietnam come September.

Tam Biet, Vietnam

2009-07-05T21:11:00.002+07:00

So Now I'm in Hong Kong awaiting the next leg of my journey...and a good thing, since it turned out my Vietnam visa expires on Tuesday. I got the day/month thing mixed up.

So, since I'm not in the spirit for a lengthy introspection, I'd just like to say that I appreciate all the people I met in the last year and I'll miss you...at least until September.

More Like 'Singariche'

2009-07-01T10:38:00.005+07:00

The best way I can describe Singapore is basically as a very luxurious retirement community. It's warm. It's clean. It's well-organized. There are plenty of laws to keep the young'uns from getting out of hand, cheap and cautiously spicy Asian food, and non-threatening English-speaking minorities.

Also there are shopping malls everywhere. If there's a global recession on, you wouldn't know it from Singapore. The shopping, dining, and construction is blazing ahead at a rate that makes HCMC look quiet and indecisive.

Setnoas: A kitschy little island to the south of Singapore proper, with theme rides and beaches and aquariums and other stuff for children and their grandparents.

The Esplanade: A durian-shaped performing arts center (and shopping mall, of course) right on the bay.

Singapore Art Museum: A charming modern-art museum with some rather bizarre exhibits, such as a video of a Vietnamese artist cutting up dozens of pieces of pork, putting them into glass boxes and placing said boxes on the subway escalators.

Sir Raffles believed that ethnic groups should each have their own little enclaves, and so:

Little India
Chinatown
The Colonial District
The Arab Quarter

All pretty much what you'd imagine them to be, with the appropriate restaurants, shops and temples.

Then I was late for my flight and had to spend all day in the airport. I suppose you could argue most of Singapore is basically an airport mall, but it still wasn't fun...

Oh, and the Merlion! Half fish, half lion, it's the national symbol of the city-state which in an odd way manages to represent the dual East-West nature of Singapore itself, or so I just made up.

Dragon Smile

2009-06-22T11:11:00.004+07:00

Walking around Saigon one is sometimes struck by the hideous grinning teeth all over the place with 'Nha Khoa' (Tooth House) written above. Some of them are straight-up dentist offices but many of them offer teeth-whitening and similar services.

Since I've always wanted to whiten my smile (and for the low price of only 1.5 million dong) I decided to go ahead with it. It hurt like hell (I had to sit with my mouth pried open for about an hour) but hey hey, my teeth are as bright and white and shining as the rest of me.

Saigon Spirits

2009-06-14T20:20:00.003+07:00

I;m still recovering slightly from last night, which was the closing of the 1st Annual Saigon Beer Festival. After bargaining the guy at the door down from the absurd entrance price of 400,000 VND I got in and found myself in a quasi-nightclub/bar where about 25 different kinds of beer were on offer. Also there were:

- Many many English teachers (and Westerners of all kinds)
- a Filipino cover band
- pool and foosball tables
- Chasids

The last were having a spot of trouble as they were unable to eat any of the food avialable, which was invariably of the fried and Bratwurst variety, and so had to down their beers without the consolation of calories. Unluckily, I forgot my new tailored shirt in the cab on the ride over. It only cost $20 but I really liked it and now I gotta go make another one.

Man Bites Dog

2009-06-08T15:15:00.003+07:00

So I suppose I might as well admit it: I ate a dog the other day. Don't judge me!

It wasn't an accident, some mystery meat from a street vendor. A Swedish friend of mine had vowed that he would not leave Vietnam without eating dog, and he brought me along for moral support.

Traditionally, dog is eaten more in the North of Vietnam than in the South, probably because it is considered a 'warming' food and the South is hot enough already.

As for the taste, it was rather like lamb, only even greasier. That's the reason it warms you up so quickly - there's so much fat. It wasn't terrible but I won't be eating it again anytime soon. For some reason you can definitely tell it's a dog; you can almost taste the barking and I find it a little unsettling.

A Vietnamese Joke

2009-06-01T13:59:00.003+07:00

Stop me if you've heard this one...

A Brit, and American, an Australian, and a Vietnamese man enter an elevator. Suddenly the air begins to smell foul. The Brit wrinkles his nose and asks 'Who farted?'. The American waves his hand in front of his face and demands 'Who farted?'. The Aussie gags slightly and asks "Who farted?". The Vietnamese guy glares at everyone else and demands 'I did!'.

Explanation: in Vietnamese, the expression 'Who farted?' (ai dit) is pronounced 'I did'.

The Opera Curse Returns

2009-05-26T16:56:00.003+07:00

About two weeks ago I was thrilled to see that the Saigon Opera House was planning to do Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne, one of his first operas and a charming little rustic comedy. I was a little put off by the fact that the brochure wasn't even printed in focus, but I put that down to the usual Vietnamese slapdash way of doing things.

Alas, four days before the opera was to be performed they announced that instead it would be replaced by a double bill of opera arias in recital and Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor. Much as I like those tings (and the performance was quite good), I'd really rather see Mozart. I guess my dream of seeing an actual opera in Vietnam will have to wait for the distant future.

As said, the performance was itself rather excellent save for two things: the Vietnamese singers attempting excerpts from 'Porgy and Bess' managed to make a hash of it (perhaps not unexpectedly) and the violinist insisted on doing an encore of the concerto's third movement, which delighted the crowd but ruined the symmetry of the piece. It's hard work being a snob.

Happy Birthday Uncle Ho!

2009-05-20T09:19:00.002+07:00

1890-1969

Former pastry chef and revolutionary.

A Quick Guide to Vietnamese Fruits

2009-05-10T14:59:00.006+07:00

Although in retrospect my roommate might be a better person to write this article...

I've already discussed the mighty durian, and Vietnam has the usual bananas (which are smaller and sweeter than usual), mangoes, pineapples, and coconuts in profusion (which, for reasons unknown, the Vietnamese like to eat with salt and fish sauce). But it also has a whole range of fruits which are totally unknown to the Western palate. they include:

Water appleA shiny, vaguely tubular shaped fruit. As the name implies, this tastes rather like an apple (or possibly a pear) but moister. That's all there is to it.

SoursopHas a taste rather like an apple, but more starchy with oversize seeds. Also known as a sweetsop. Go figure.

Dragon fruitThe bright magenta outside hides a white, pulpy interior filled with black seeds. Totally bland, despite the fierce name.

MangosteenA strange, dark-purple fruit on the outside, soft and white on the inside. Mushy and intensely sweet.

CarambolaAlso known as a star fruit for obvious reasons. Has a sharp, sour taste and is even better when used in smoothies, though these are surprisingly hard to find. Also used to garnish salads and platters of fresh rolls.

Rambutan

A hairy-looking little spheroid which is in taste almost identical to a lychee, but obviously much more interesting to look at. Known as the 'hairy cherry' for people who like double entendres.

PomeloAlmost identical to a grapefruit, but with yellow instead of pink flesh. Also less sour and so far more appetizing.

Communism Weekend

2009-05-01T12:49:00.003+07:00

This weekend is a double-whammy of Vietnamese socialism. First there was April 30, Reunification Day, when north Vietnamese tanks came crashing through the gates of the South Vietnamese presidential palace and made Vietnam into one country, as it remains to this day. Immediately afterward is International Labor Day. Four day weekend!

There isn't much to tell about the festivities here, really. You'd think that at least a Communist country would go all-out for Labor Day, but apparently not. I haven't seen any parades or large patriotic demonstrations. though there are some cool propaganda posters:

Other than that, most shops in the center of town are still open to cater to the large numbers of families who need someplace to take their kids since school is out.

Uneasy Rider

2009-04-28T19:12:00.004+07:00

It's seems odd that I've been blogging for almost 10 months and I've barely even mentioned Vietnam's most ubiquitous mode of conveyance: the motorbike. Sometimes it seems as if Saigon is not really a city but some kind of vast parking lot and testing ground for the two-wheeled menace. They crowd the streets (of course- but also the sidewalks, the alleys, and every place they can possibly be parked.

For people who are either semi-blind or desperately poor and cannot afford their own motorbike, the motorbike taxis (or 'xe om' or 'hugging bike', referring to the old practice of holding the driver by the waist) It's surprising to see how many of the older ones can speak English...and when they ask you where you're from and hear 'America' they tend to give a thumbs-up and say 'Ah, America very good! Numba one!'.

The reason for this becomes obvious if you talk to them a little. A high proportion of the motorbike drivers used to work for the American forces in VN or at least served in the South Vietnamese Army. After Reunification their employment options were limited and driving a motorbike was practically their only way to make a living.

The only trouble (once you can avoid being overcharged) is the at this point I happen to know my way around Saigon better than most of the drivers, but they won't listen to me either because my Vietnamese is lousy or because I'm a foreigner.

Alot in Dalat

2009-04-23T21:38:00.004+07:00

Last weekend I headed out to Dalat, some six hours north of Saigon, to take in some fresh air. I had heard about as 'Le Petit Paris' of Vietnam, and while I wouldn't go that far it was a perfectly nice place to visit.

Legend has it that 'DALAT' is an acronym for 'Dat Aliis Laetitiam Aliis Temperiem' ("Giving Pleasure to Some, Freshness to Others") Like most legends, this is too charming to be true.

Dalat is known as the 'City of Flowers' for its extensive flower markets. Also renowned are Dalat strawberries and (somewhat incongruously) the local artichoke tea.

Dalat is most famous as the honeymoon capital of Vietnam, the picturesque vistas, flower gardens, and mild climate allowing couples to contemplate their future together without choking on dust on being drowned in their own sweat.

Also, Dalat has it's own mini version of the Eiffel Tower:

Of course, because is so elevated and doesn't have the pollution of Saigon this makes the sun much stronger, as I discovered when I became horribly sunburned. But I suppose that is my own fault.

The Ice Dam Sen Cometh

2009-04-16T09:48:00.004+07:00

One thing it is very hard to be in Saigon is cold.

Oh sure, there are over-air-conditioned rooms here and there, but they're not much fun, and in any case they make my glasses fog up.

For cold - REAL cold, snow and ice and danger of hypothermia - you might be able to go all the way north to Sapa, but even then it's not a sure thing.

At some level all people desire the new, however, and to provide it the Dam Sen amusement park (out in distant District 11) has created the Ice Palace, an extra-cold room (basically a freezer) which has palaces, pagodas, and other impressive buildings carved out of the ice. Thoughtfully, the management hands out parkas at the entrance because most people inexplicably forgot to bring their own.

Unfortunately, ice is kind of boring, even when it's been carved into buildings. It's colorless and smooth and blandly uniform. So, the obvious solution was to fill it with oddly-colored lights. Viz:

I wish I could rent that place out for parties...

The Burger of Doom

2009-04-08T22:00:00.005+07:00

Well, we all knew it would happen eventually...

Burger King is coming to Vietnam. The first location will be on Le Loi street sometimes toward the end of May. I never went to Burger King in the States very much; now, like Samuel L. Jackson, I find myself basically a vegetarian, but I do love the taste of a good burger.

This is apparently in a move to counter Mcdonald's, which is opening it's first location in Hanoi around the same time. It could start a new war...

Well, ultimately I suppose this isn't really any worse than the proliferation of Lotteria and KFC, but there's something about the two ultimate American burger chains moving in that has a this-is-the-end feel to it...soon even the chain stores in Vietnam will look the same as everywhere else.

Ironically, the BK is opening not far from I Love Burger, a local place which strives to create a 1950s American hamburger-joint atmosphere, and may ultimately be run out of business by the real thing.

Update: I found out why this was so long in coming. Until recently, Vietnam had a series of protectionist measures in place which mandated that all international chains had to use Vietnamese produce. Apparently the quality of beef and potatoes here is too low even for a fast-food-chain, and so they stayed away. Now that VN has joined the WTO such restrictions have been lifted, and Burger King will use beef from Aussie and potatoes from Singapore.

Take A Seat (Not Safe for Work)

2009-04-02T08:58:00.004+07:00

As noted previously, the Vietnamese authorities are notably squeamish about what they allow people to see in terms of sex and violence.

Also, the Vietnamese haven't really cottoned onto 'malls' yet. Oh sure, there are department stores (always 'plazas') like Diamond and Parkson, but in terms of a mall - that is, a large space with numerous discrete shops in it - there are only one or two.

One of these is Saigon Center, on the corner of Le Loi and Pasteur. The ground floor is cafes, the second floor used to a combination of things, and the third floor is furniture and utensils. Anyway, I was wondering around there the other day when I stumbled upon this (do not scroll down if you happen to be at work right now):
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Not only is this way over the top for a country which won't allow women in bras in to appear on TV, but as a concept it just seems kind of....odd. Yes, come in, take a seat. Haven't you always wondered what it would be like to sit inside someone's ass? Well, wonder no more.

I guess it is a talking point...

April is the Cruelest Month

2009-03-30T17:47:00.002+07:00

When I first arrived in Vietnam the heat was the most overwhelming feature. It was hard to focus on absorbing the city, the culture etc. because so much of my time was taken up with keeping cool and hydrated. I spent the first month or two dashing from one air-conditioned haven to another, meanwhile gulping down gallons of water from the coolers all schools offer in the teacher's lounges.

That, however, was the rainy season, which supposedly lasts from June to November. Over time I got used to the heat and it gradually got cooler as we moved into winter. Now, however, comes the harsh two-month stretch of April and May, when the weather is hot and there is no rain to temper it.

Actually this was proven wrong (at least for a day) by the rainstorm this afternoon, which made the atmosphere quite pleasant and opened up what possibilities this city could have if it was 20 degrees cooler and not so humid.

Cheaters Sometimes Prosper

2009-03-23T21:48:00.002+07:00

While reviewing exams for my English 5 class I noticed that one student's writing sample seemed oddly familiar. it was written at a level far above the rest of the class, for one thing. The topic was 'A Nightmare Journey' and it described a trip from Dresden to Mallorca(!) Something was clearly fishy. So, i looked through the textbook and found the exact same writing sample in a chapter we had read some weeks back. Not to mention, the offending student had left behind a handwritten copy of the very same 'nightmare Journey' on his desk.

Brimming with teacherly indignation I marched over to the Academic Administration office and informed Ms. Uyen what had happened. She scowled at me and I immediately realized I had done something I shouldn't have.

"Where," she said "is your PROOF?" I produced the note, the exam, and the textbook. She glanced over them before turning back to me. "This doesn't mean anything. Maybe he just memorized it. It happens alot, what can you do? We can't punish him for something everyone does". She shrugged "But if you really want...take away a few points for lack of creativity". She waved a hand and the meeting was over.

Capitalism is here for good.

Rated V

2009-03-17T09:13:00.002+07:00

It's always a little difficult to tell exactly what is and isn't done on Vietnamese TV. Obviously extreme sex and violence are out, but it's not clear where the line is.

My first encounter with this came when 'Fargo' was on TV and they cut out the scene with the two kidnappers and the two prostitutes in the hotel. It's not very graphic but it is noisy, so I could see why a prudish government would cut it out.

I was stuck in a hotel room last weekend and 'Irma la Douce' came on TV. There's one scene (or possibly several) with Shirley McLaine standing around in her bra, but you can't see it because they've blurred everything below her neck. Of course, when they show the beach they don't hide the women in their bikinis, so I guess there's a distinction between underwear and beach wear.

I wonder how you get a job as a censor...

Better Know a District, District 5

2009-03-11T20:01:00.004+07:00

This HCMC's District 5 aka Cholon, originally a suburb of Saigon proper (though still connected by Nguyen Trai street) and the center of Chinese merchant life. As such, the name 'Cho lon' literally means 'big market'.

For much of the 20th century the district had something of a checkered past, gaining a reputation for shady casinos, brothels, and opium dens frequented by sailors and foreign pleasure-seekers and other unsavory characters.

After Reunification the Vietnamese government moved to nationalize most of the businesses, including those controlled by the Chinese community. This eventually led to the Chinese invasion of Vietnam in 1989, partly in response to the alleged persecution of the Hoa Chinese and also in retaliation to the Vietnamese for toppling the Khmer Rouge.

Nowadays Cho lon isn't terribly distinct from the rest of the city. Sure, they have alot of pagodas and narrow, winding streets - but so does practically every other place in town.

English Teachers in the Wild

2009-03-06T09:57:00.005+07:00

When traveling through Asia one cannot help but come across the ENGLISH TEACHER. They come in many forms, so here's a quick guide:

The Young Adventure-Seeker: 'A young cowboy named Billy Joe/Grew restless on the farm/a young man filled with wanderlust/who really meant no harm'. These are early-to-mid 20something people (in which I include myself) who, often fresh out of college, desire to travel and see the world before obligations set in.

The Orientophile: Someone who loves Asia, is fascinated by Asian culture, adores Asian people and feels more at home here than anywhere else. Often the Orientophile is the only person who can speak the local language with any skill.

The Educator: A person who's while life is teaching and who happens to be in Asia, not a person who wanted to come to Asia and took up teaching as the means. These are often (though not always) motherly middle-aged women with lilting accents.

The Spouse: The wife or husband of a big-league tycoon or diplomat who needs something to pass the time. Due to their higher social and economic status Spouses rarely socialize with other teachers.

The Woman-Hater: These are men who, disgusted by the independence and equality sought by women in the West, have come to a place where their relative wealth and status makes them desirable.

The Misfit: As the name implies, the Misfit turned to English teaching because all professions which require normal people were unavailable.

The Fugitive: A man (and it is almost always a man) seeking to flee his erstwhile home. Possibly something actually criminal' more likely a messy divorce.

The Dissolute: The Adventure-seeker plus 10 years. These English teachers never quite made it back home and now have no wish to. Their fondness for cheap beer is only exceeded by their fondness for cheap marijuana and the occasional prostitute.

Some categories may intersect.

L'Opera du Rue Catinat, II

2009-02-25T22:42:00.005+07:00

I finally beat the Curse and went to the Opera House. It's wasn't actually doing any opera as such but that's beside the point.

The first half of the program was solely orchestral; the overture to Der Freischutz, an Vietnamese piece, and 'Variations on a Theme of Haydn' by Brahms'. All quite well done. I wonder what the HCMC Symphony Orchestra does with all their time.

Puccini's Messa di Gloria was a nice, exuberant piece, though I can't say it was particularly memorable. Still for an 18-year-old composer it was quite impressive.

The Opera House is a pleasant little theater but I'd be surprised if it could hold more than 300 people. There's no way they could actually perform opera there (maybe in concert?) but it gives you an idea of how small the French community actually was.

Afterward Oanh and I repaired to Q Bar, located in the basement of said opera house and so combining two of my favorite pastimes. It turns out Q Bar is rather labyrinthine, but I suppose that's the charm of it. Good drinks too, though I managed to spill my mojito on myself (klutziness not drunkenness).

Update: the local press weighed in, praising the performance though describing the Mass as an 'opera' by 'Puchini' (and a 'five-chapter' opera, no less). Still, it's good to see that at least they noticed...

Know Your Streets

2009-02-18T21:58:00.004+07:00

Like many countries (Avenida Libertador, anyone?), most cities in Vietnam have the same street names, almost all of which are named for Vietnamese heroes and/or kings. This can be confusing for visitors, but here are some of the more prominent:

Pham Ngu Lao - a 13th century Vietnamese general of the Tran Dynasty

Le Loi - Vietnamese emperor in the 15 century who liberated Vietnam from Chinese rule. He is said to have been granted a magic sword by a turtle on the eve of a major battle. After his victory he returned the sword to the turtle in its lake.

Hai Ba Trung - The two Trung Sisters rode elephants against the Chinese way back in the first century AD.

Le Thanh Ton - Vietnamese emperor not long after Le Loi. He is known as the 'Vietnamese Hammurabi' because he drew up a comprehensive legal code and attempted to rule Vietnam through proper Confucian principles.

Tran Hung Dao - a Military commander during the 13th century, who managed to repel not one, not two, but three Mongol invasions.

Nguyen Trai - Scholar, poet, political thinker, and close friend of Le Loi. His writings helped inspire the Vietnamese people to rise up against the Ming Dynasty.

Some notable exceptions are streets named for Frenchman (Pasteur, Yersim, Alexandre de Rhodes) and Dong Khoi, know to the French as Catinat, the RVN as Tu Do (Freedom) and now Dong Khoi (Guerrilla Uprising).

Valentine's in Saigon

2009-02-15T13:42:00.003+07:00

So it looks like Valentine's Day has come to Vietnam is a pretty big way. The usual pink and red hearts are everywhere, set-price dinners abound, and flocks of schoolchildren selling flowers add to the usual gum and postcard hawkers.

Of course it makes sense that it should be so: Vietnamese culture is quite sentimental and any opportunity to sing love songs and sell candy is siezed upon.

The upshot of all this, however, is that it is literally impossible to find a taxi. Usually content to simply ride their motorbikes, the Saigonese have decided to splurge on a motor vehicle with doors and four wheels.

Eventually, Oanh and I were forced to share a cab with a good-natured Japanese fellow who was on his way to the airport, but the traffic was tremendous - even more than when Vietnam won the Asia Cup.

L'Opera Du Rue Catinat

2009-02-06T08:37:00.002+07:00

They re-opened the Opera House! And right after Tet, just like the receptionist told me.

No opera in it as yet - just some silly Vietnamese comedy involving cross-dressing. Still, this is definitely a hopeful sign. I'll drop by today to see if they have a schedule posted.

I don't expect Juan Diego Florez or Cecilia Bartoli to drop by anytime soon, but something classical would be nice...

Climbing Mt. Jesus

2009-01-31T15:28:00.003+07:00

Since time was passing slowly at Tet i decided to take a short trip to Vung Tau, a beach resort about two hours outside HCMC.

It's a pleasant little town, with nice beaches and good seafood. For some reason Vietnamese people don't usually wear swimsuits to the beach; they show up in jeans and shirts and go into the water anyway.

For reasons no one can quite explain, VT inspired a the construction of numerous huge religious statues. Probably the most striking is Mt. Jesus, who peers down on the city like a stalker hiding in the bushes:

Once you get closer, however, old JC becomes a bit more impressive, if not any less silly:

The Tet Blues

2009-01-26T13:45:00.002+07:00

So today is the first day of the Vietnamese New Year, or Tet. This year is the Year of the Buffalo - my year!

Alas, everybody leaves town for the holiday and most of the businesses shut down. I'll have to find a way to pass the time until things start up again.

On the plus side, the streets are relatively peaceful and there are flowers all along Nguyen Hue.

Ego, Obama...

2009-01-21T09:43:00.006+07:00

It says 'Barack Obama will unite America just like Ho Chi Minh united Vietnam'.

As Barack Obama enters the White House, like most Americans I can't help but be reminded of the I, Claudius novels by Robert Graves. In them, Graves recounts the 'autobiography' of the Emperor Claudius, who took over the Roman Empire after cruelty of his uncle Tiberius and the more ruinously insane follies of his nephew Caligula.

Tiberius, of course, is probably Clinton. For all his bizarre (maybe 'indiscreet' is a better word) sexual habits under his watch the Empire was mostly well-managed, with the public works running and the treasury overflowing with gold. When Caligula took over from him, he was greeted with public adulation and the belief that his youth and eloquence would be the antidote for that dusty old he-goat. Unfortunately, Caligula turned out to be rather insane, committing incest with his sisters and pulling pranks like granting his favorite horse senatorial rank (at least according to Suetonius).

Eventually Caligula was assassinated and his uncle Claudius - infamous for his stuttering, his physical disabilities, and his general reputation as an idiot and an idealist - was made emperor by the Praetorian Guard, after which he surprised everyone by ruling justly and well.

So the question is: is Obama a Claudius or a Caligula? Like Claudius he has a fondness for studying history and is often underestimated by his opponents. Unlike Claudius, Obama probably won't be officially deified until he's out office. Like Caligula he has a talent for oratory and youthful vigor, though as far as I know Obama has no particular regard for horses. We will see...

Better Know a District: District One

2009-01-14T11:11:00.002+07:00

Situated smack on the banks of the Saigon River, HCMC's original district - the very first place to be called 'Saigon', though the distinction has become somewhat blurred recently - and still known as the epicenter of the sprawling metropolis.

It is in District One that you find almost all the old French buildings, including Notre Dame Cathedral, the Hotel Continental, the People's Committee Hall (nee the Hotel de Ville) and the Opera House.

The district forms a backwards L shape, with Ben Thanh Market at the juncture. To the north is the French Quarter and to the southwest is the Tourist quarter, where backpackers on package tours live in relative poverty compared to the Parisian-style splendor which starts along Le Loi Street.

Although it has been getting some recent competition from District 7 and even Districts 2 and 3, District One is still where most of the action is and where I spend most of my time when I'm not at home.

Back in Town

2009-01-10T09:31:00.001+07:00

So my vacation is over and it's back to work (at least until Tet...) expect more updates soon.

Angkor What?

2009-01-02T17:37:00.005+07:00

I met a traveler from an antique land,
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

2008-12-29T09:47:00.001+07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. the Parents are in town and need constant guidance. Off to Cambodia soon!

Of Spikes and Smells

2008-12-18T20:34:00.000+07:00

Behold the durian, King of Fruits:

This fruit is widely available across Vietnam. Practically everything about the durian is distinctive, from its large size to it's numerous thorns to, above all, it's powerful and dangerous reek.

For durian smells bad, and there's no way around it. If there is a single durian for sale in the supermarket you will smell it the instant you walk in the door. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain employed a rather vivid simile to describe it: 'it takes like you'd buried someone holding a big wheel of Stilton and then dug him up two weeks later'. Travel writer Richard Sterling goes even farther, claiming that the smell 'is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.' I'm not sure if I'd describe it that way but the message is clear enough.

So, how does it taste? Rather like a mix between mango, Gouda, and cream custard. Does that sound disgusting? I rather like it, but not raw. Only in smoothie or ice-cream form does it become palatable.

Oh Those Scamps

2008-12-12T22:12:00.000+07:00

The other day in my 9th-grade class I was playing one of my favorite games, which apparently is called 'Hot Seat'. To play is simple. You Have one student stand with his or her back to the board and write a word behind. Then the rest of the class must help the student in the hot seat figure out what the word is.

BUT, sometimes after the students have played for a while I let them turn the tables and write words behind my back. Usually this is OK, but this time one girl wrote a word and much giggling ensued.

One of the boys raised his hand "Teacher! It is a baby cat".

At this point I got nervous. "Is it 'kitten'?" No, it wasn't.

Kids say the darndest things.

Better Know A District: District 7

2008-12-08T20:07:00.000+07:00

Last Saturday I found myself in District 7, aka Saigon South aka Phu My Hung (for some reason every district has to have at least three names) to see a Christmas Concert. I never got to see the concert, but this gave me plenty of time to wander around.

District 7 is located south of the Saigon River, passing through District 4 from the city center. It is also known by yet another name, 'Koreatown', because of the high concentration of Koreans living there.

It is important, however, to realize that most of these Koreans are not simply people of Korean descent living in Vietnam. Most of them are expatriate businesspeople, and by the look of things they;re doing pretty well.

Because, you see, going to District 7 from my apartment I found myself transported out of Ho Chi Minh City into a Korean version of Bethesda, Maryland. Tall buildings, wide well-kept streets, expensive restaurants and a fair bit of greenery. It was pleasant enough but seemed rather unreal.

Stay HIV Free...

2008-12-05T23:07:00.000+07:00

...and be happy.

Things That Go Bump in the Morning

2008-12-02T17:55:00.000+07:00

Whoever lives in the apartment above me must be running a woodshop or something because from about 8 AM to 6 PM every day I hear sawing and hammering. I should complain, but I'm not sure getting into an argument with someone who probably doesn't speak English and owns alot of power tools is a good idea.

Also the weather has gotten much colder recently, as a result of which I have a persistent cold. Baaahh....

Dai Nam Park

2008-11-26T18:09:00.001+07:00

If Walt Disney had been Vietnamese, he may very well have come up with Dai Nam Park. DNP is a huge complex, comprising a shopping center, hotel, movie theater, theme park, campground, water park, zoo, and numerous temples.

The park is so large that people get around it by bus and electric train. To give you an idea; here's the entrance:

Luckily I had a lovely and talented Vietnamese guide so I was able to make sense of most of it.

For me, the oddest party was the 'hells', temples which were basically haunted houses. They were scary enough at first, but after a little while you get used to them.

Trouble was, I had to be back in HCMC by a certain time and this cut my enjoyment short. I'll be back there one day...

2008-11-20T21:33:00.000+07:00

Today was Teacher's Day, the national holiday in honor of educators across Vietnam. In return for my faithful service, I received:

- a day off from school
- a new notebook
- a card
- a rather ugly striped blue shirt
- A donut with the date and 'teacher's day' written in frosting
-Best of all, a conversation with a pack of Argentines in a pizzeria on Thai Van Lung St. Excellent pizza and I got to hear 'mira vos!' for the first time in over a year.

Cutting More than Hair

2008-11-18T13:21:00.000+07:00

I was sitting in a hot toc (barbershop) getting my tri-monthly haircut when a red-faced woman came rushing in brandishing a pair of scissors and attempting to stab one of the hairdressers. The rest of the staff quickly restrained, disarmed, and expelled the offender, then everything went back to normal.

When in Saigon...

Something They Didn't Teach Me at TEFL

2008-11-15T13:27:00.000+07:00

Among other things, what to do when you get this text message, as I did about an hour ago:

Hello teacher im your student I have a truth that i want to tell u Do you have any girlfriend? Hope no coz i love you really Let me know your feelings

I don't even know who the student is. I only gave out my cell number in the first place in case the students had any questions on the upcoming exam.

In any case, it's a dangerous situation on a number of levels. I'll have to defuse it carefully.

Chain of Foods

2008-11-10T16:42:00.000+07:00

While KFC and Lotteria are quite common (Pizza Hut just moved in), they only make up a tiny percentage of restaurants in Vietnam.

Vietnam's two major contributions to the world of chain restaurants have yet to spread to other countries as yet. They are:

Highlands Coffee

Essentially a slightly-expanded version of Starbucks, offering meals and fruit juice in addition to the usual coffees, mochas, etc. A pleasant and elegant place to while away the afternoon, though the prices are (by local standards) sky-high. What you're really paying for is the ambiance.

Pho 24

The guidebooks invariably refer to Pho 24 as 'clean', and that it certainly is, making it ideal for squeamish tourists who can't stomach the idea of eating pho on the street. The bowls and utensils are clean of course, but so are the herbs, onions, scallions, and lemons that come with it, and the sauces are exactly the same proportions every time. A little creepy, if you ask me. Why '24'? because Vietnamese people usually eat pho for breakfast - this tried to make it an all-day thing.

Yes We Did?

2008-11-05T18:17:00.000+07:00

Goodness, there's a surprise: almost everything went according to the Democrats' plan.

Whether you like it or not, this is going to be a pivotal moment in American politics. Essentially an Obama landslide with comparatively small Democratic gains in the House and Senate.

I do wish I were there now, so I could see things up close. I tried to talk about the election with my class this morning, but wasn't sure that such thorny issues as democratic elections would go over well with my Vietnamese minders. Luckily they already seemed familiar with the American political system, and other than one 6th-grader yelling 'Obama Banana!' when I mentioned BHO's name.

Saturday is for Fun

2008-11-02T20:30:00.000+07:00

At least some of the time, anyway.

Payday! There's something rather dangerous about getting a month's pay in cash...in an envelope to boot.

This Saturday I had my usual Cleverlearn class (I cheated a little bit and showed them the Halloween episode of 'The Simpsons') and then back to Sax'n Art, the jazz club. i'm beggining to notice a certain repetition in the music there; it seem slike they've had the same musicians playing the same songs for the last two months at least.

Friday is Frightday

2008-11-01T23:29:00.000+07:00

Halloween day, which doesn't mean a whole lot to most Vietnamese, though goodness knows we expats try. My own efforts were rather tame compared to the teacher who showed up in a witch's hat and giant plush spider.

Afterwards I had intended to go to Sheridan's Irish House for their Halloween party, but it was so jammed packed I couldn't get in the door. Instead we went around the corner to Alibi, a French bar of excellent repute and reasonably priced cocktails. Too reasonable, actually: they were very strong and after only two I decided it was time to head home and eat my leftover pasta.

Thursday Come Early

2008-11-01T23:09:00.000+07:00

This morning I had a new class: another public school, fairly early in the morning, thought not insanely so like the other one.

I was pleasantly surprised; the school wasn't too far away, the grounds were nice, and the students were actually at a higher level than any other students I currently teach. On my first day they got into an argument on the merits of rap music and demanded I teach them Spanish instead of English.

The only problem is the lack of resources. So far all the public schools I've seen have been clean and air-conditioned, but other than a blackboard and chalk I have nothing to work with. In the lower levels it's ok, but when things get more advanced and listening/speaking becomes a big part, half the textbook is unusable because I don't have a stereo.

Then Vietnamese class and to Cleverlearn to teach the kids about Halloween. I brought them some candy but they rejected it as being too cheap. Snobs!

Down With Wednesday

2008-10-30T20:57:00.000+07:00

Another early morning - 6th grade this time, though they're usually easier to handle than my 8th graders.

It's fairly obvious which textbooks were written by Vietnamese and which were written by Americans. The American ones usually assume a familiarity with American culture that is completely unwarranted (one chapter on food concentrated largely on Cajun cuisine) while the Vietnamese ones have characters named Hoa and Nam rather than Tom or Alicia who live in Hue or Dalat instead of New York.

Another difference: this week I get to teach the chapter about Ho Chi Minh's Young Pioneers! Did you know the Young Pioneers help poor and sick people? And they embody the spirit of a unified Vietnam? I do now.

After class I headed over to Pho 2000, one of the few places I can eat watched over by a smiling Bill Clinton rather than Uncle Ho. The potato curry was quite nice after two straight months of eating their pho.

Then Vietnamese class, where we read a dialogue of two people 'at a party' accompanied by a photo of two people clearly standing in front of a post office.

Finally I saw 'Tropic Thunder' at Diamond Cinema with a friend. I wasn't sure if the Vietnamese would like it, since it's mainly a collection of character actors mugging and swearing loudly, but they seemed to enjoy it.