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Aaron Allen writes...

...about his experiences while volunteering in the Vietnam University program.

May 30th
Hey Everybody,

For those of you who don't know, I'm in Vietnam right now and I'll be here for the next two months teaching English to basically anyone who comes my way. I've only been in this country for about 12 hours now, but I can already tell that it's pretty amazing, and it's really really hot. I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City last night, and thousands of people were standing outside of the airport. I was really hoping that they would all start chanting "Aaron...Aaron" but instead they just stared at me with disdain. (Actually it wasn't so much "disdain" as it was "hey, look, there's a white guy.") Anyway, I found a friendly Vietnamese American on the plane who got me squared away in a hotel at about midnight. I asked the guys at the hotel when I needed to be back at the airport for a 6:20am flight, and they said I should leave the hotel at 4:30am. So I said "Can you give me a wake up call at 4:15?" And they said "Sure, but if we forget...sorry." Yeah, so I didn't get any sleep, and I didn't receive a phone call so it's a good thing I didn't sleep. I flew to Danang this morning, I was picked up by this really nice guy and taken to my massive living quarters for the next 2 months. I live on the 3rd floor of a 4 floor house. The staircase is made of marble. I have a balcony, king size bed, and best of all...a cook. Yes...there is a lady here that will cook all of my meals. I really hope I like Vietnamese food, cause she doesn't do hamburgers. I'm already doing my first class tonight, so I'm pretty sure they're going to run me ragged, but all the people I've met are really nice. I even met this one Vietnamese girl that speaks Japanese. Anyway, so far things are good. I'm sure there's a lot more to come. Hope everybody's doing great back in the states. I'll see back there in 60 days or so.

June 1st
Hey All,

I'm still alive, and for the most part well. I had my first bout with food poisoning last night. It wasn't exactly fun, but it seems to be over with for the most part. When someone else is cooking for you everyday, it's hard to know which foods are the dangerous ones. But still I wouldn't give up the cook. Even though today she seemed a little upset when I asked her to use the bottled water to make ice instead of the tap water. She couldn't really communicate it, but I can tell she was thinking "Wuss." Anyway, it's still really hot over here. It so hot that you can hardly think about anything else. In fact, I wake up in the morning and by boxers are just soaked...and an 99 percent positive that its just sweat and not a bed wetting problem. When you hear people say things like "some people in 3rd world countries have never taken a hot shower,,,isn't that sad." No it's not sad because only an idiot would take a hot shower here. I take freezing cold showers and like it. Anyway, I'm heading up to the mountains tonight with the family that's living at my house. They say it's suppose to be cool up there, so I'm excited. Hopefully, I'll meet somebody up there that speaks English, because my Vietnamese is still definitely lacking. Hope everybody's doing okay. See you when I get back.

July 15th
I just had a random cultural experience that's begging to be written down. Sometimes you know you're in for a cultural experience like when you go to a wedding or a graduation ceremony, but when you go for a haircut, you usually don't expect much. I usually expect some scissors action and some loss of hair, but Vietnam takes it to a new level. So my English teacher friend tells me he knows a good barber, and he took me to his shop which is about the size of a bathroom. He sits me down and my friend says "He'll cut your hair, give you shave, and clean your ears a little, and I'll be back in a half an hour." Yeah, I had a lot of questions about the whole clean you ears thing, but he was out the door. So the guy, without a question, or even a thought I'm pretty sure, just starts getting rid of my hair. I never had someone use rusty scissors cut my hair, but their always a first for everything. And he did a suprisingly good job. Next he got out a FRESH blade. (I mention that only because I can hear my mom heart beating faster thousands of miles away as I mention getting a shave in a 3rd world country.) So this wasn't the standard Bic razor...no, this was a razor straight out of the movie Swing Blade. The slides at the waterpark were scary, but having a stranger who probably has horror stories from a war involving your home country holding a blade next to you neck is even more scary. Once again he came threw with flying colors, and I haven't been this smooth since before puberty. I was a little weirded out when he shaved my cheeks, but whatever. But after he shaved my cheeks, he shaved my nose, then my ears (front and back) and finally he shaved my forehead. I know I'm basically an ape compared with the hairless Vietnamese, but come on, I don't have hair on my forehead. Or at least I didn't. Now that I've been shaved there, I'm anticipating some thick dark hairs just shooting out of my forehead in a couple of days. And now for the ear cleaning. I knew I was in for a treat when he stuck a light on his forehead, and laid down 8 different tools for this job. I was really just hoping for a Qtip. He started out easy just kind of swabing and trimming the outside of the ear, but then he grabbed some tool that was really hot and jabbed it way down in my ear. It's hard not to finch with a really hot piece of metal way inside your head, but the whole "I really don't want to bust my eardrum in a third world country" kept me still. Then he put some foamy stuff in my ear, and it seriously sounds like someone was eating Rice Krispies out of my ear. Then he started the long process of drying the inside out. It involves two vibrating tools with different sized pieces of cotton, and finally a drill like thing with a big piece of fleece on it. No matter how I describe it, though, you can't imagine the discomfort. But the worst thing of all was the thought of having to do my other ear next. I really wanted to throw in the towel, but I just kept telling myself "This is a cultural experience...This is a cultural experience...This is..." I figured he didn't pop my first eardrum, so he probably wouldn't pop my other eardrum. He did finish the whole thing off with a massage of my head and shoulders, which was nice. And for all that torture, I only had to pay 2 dollars. Good times. I'm really going to miss this place...you probably think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Talk to you all later.

Hey Everybody,
I've written many emails about Vietnam, and almost all of them include something gross or negative about Vietnam. For example, sickness, unclean food, dishonest officials, heat, and armpit bacteria being wiped onto a counter top. But there are many wonderful things about Vietnam. So before you strike Vietnam off you list of places to go make sure you read this.

Top Ten Things About Vietnam
10. The "Hello" Thing: It's just cool to be noticed so much, but if you really think about it...it's actually pretty rude. (For example, can you imagine if we all just said "Hello" to every midget we saw simply because we don't see midgets very often.) Nonetheless, I like it.
9. The "Food In Restaurants" Thing: When I go to a restaurant I order exactly what I want whereas the cook just puts food on the table 3 times a day. The Vietnamese people at the table seem to be happy. But they also are happy to eat dog meat and duck blood, and my supervisors girlfriend basically jumped across the table today to get the fish head first. She ate the whole thing (except for the bones) and the first thing to hit her stomach were the eyes. I couldn't watch her eat it. Even still the food is really good.
8. The "Prices" Thing: Things are really cheap here. It’s nice.
7. The "People" Thing: The people are just friendly. I enjoy being around them, and they always seem amused by my stupid antics. Such as when I go to buy some food or something, and the old lady behind the counter will give me my receipt, and I will say "Cam on. Anh yeu em." (Translation: Thank you. I love you.) I tell you, nothing makes people crack up more than telling them that you love them. I've used that joke no less than 25 times, because they just die laughing every time. Whatever.
6. The "What’s That Used For?" Thing: I really enjoy walking down the street and seeing a tool of some sort that seems to have no logical purpose. And then a couple of days later you'll see it being used and it'll all come together. For example, There's this cart with food and stuff in it on the way to work, and the cart has two cylinders or rollers that look exactly like a old time printing press. Then the next day I see them running bamboo through the press, and I can't figure out why they need flattened bamboo at a food stand. They don't eat the bamboo. Then finally a friend took me to the stand, and asked me if I wanted some sweetened milk. I said sure, and wouldn't you know, the bamboo was actually sugar cane, and they were squeezing the sugar into the milk to make some kind of milk shake. It was good. That kind of thing happens at least once a week.
5. The "Popularity" Thing: I wouldn't say that I'm unpopular in the United States. I have good friends and I'm generally well liked, but it's very rare that people have a party in my honor for no good reason. And I've been to about 5 parties for no reason since I got here. Also, I went to a graduation party yesterday for the senior English students at the University (I didn't know any of the students at this party.), and even though this party was in their honor almost all of the speeches included some mention of me. And most speakers looked directly at me for the entirety of the speeches. It's not fair to the graduates, but it's fun for me.
4. The "I’m Tall But Not Skinny" Thing: I get so sick of people telling me that I'm too skinny in the U.S. All of 4 billion people Asia have my size waist, so maybe you should take a look at yourselves and not at me. But I also appreciate the comment "Wow, you're so tall." Because that happens very rarely in the U.S. And I am one tall drink of water.
3. The "Random Moments" thing: This is what can make or break a tourist in Vietnam. Because you never know what's going to happen. Twice I been with people when the tire of their motorbike blew out. You can either say "Wow, I never thought I'd be walking a motorbike down a highway at night in Vietnam." Or you can think "I'm going to die." People who say the latter usually don't do so well here. (Don't worry mom, I wasn't going to die)
2. The "Not Having To Wash Dishes Or Clean The House" Thing: I sincerely hate washing dishes.
1. The "My Students Are Awesome" Thing: I really enjoy teaching all my students in the mornings. I hang out with them after class. And they invite me on trips, and we go to parties together. They're always interested in my stupid stories, and they open up to me very easily. They're not shy, and if you ask them to speak only in English they actually do just that. That wasn't the case in Japan, or with my younger students here. I hope we become friends, and keep in touch after I leave.

So as you can see. Vietnam isn't bad. Think about taking a trip here sometime. It's a good place.