So far I'm still
doing fine on the
adjusting and missing
people front. I think
subconsciously I must
miss people more than I
realize, though, because
I keep having mad
anxiety dreams about
trying to talk to or
hang out with people and
have it always go wrong.
Probably also related to
my continually thwarted
attempts to get online
at a time when west
coast people are
actually awake and
around. =P Three nights
ago I had a dream where
I was trying to take a
shower, but people kept
coming in and talking to
me and interrupting me,
and I was going to have
some time after my
shower to hang out with
Jonathan before I left
for Vietnam but by the
time I finally got to
shower I had only a few
minutes before Mom was
picking me up to go to
the airport. Two nights
ago I dreamed that I was
trying to go see
Stardust with Becky,
Nicole, H, and Emma, but
somehow I missed the
meeting time and then
everyone was gone. Last
night I had a dream
where my sister blamed
me for some other people
coloring in some huge
line drawing she'd done
and we got in this huge
shouting match and she
wouldn't listen to me.
It was pretty weird.
---------------------------
Anyway, here's the recap
of our time in Soc Trang!
Sorry, it's super long.
As usual I'm basically
using this in lieu of
any sort of personal
paper journal because I
like typing a whole lot
better.
---------------------------
I woke up about 5:10 AM
on Wednesday; we all
left the hotel at 5:30
AM to board a boat to
Soc Trang province,
which is southeast of
Can Tho City, further
down the Song Hau (Bassac
River) toward the ocean.
The boat was not exactly
as spacious as the one
we took from HCMC to
Vung Tau, which was
actually pretty cramped
but did have
airline-style single
seats. Not so on this
baby: two to a seat,
thank you, and believe
me, that seat was not
the size of a standard
American bus seat,
being, after all, not
sized for the standard
American butt but rather
for the significantly
smaller Vietnamese rear.
('Cuz Vietnamese people
are small. We are all
fatties here. It's
immensely amusing to try
on an XL blouse that's
the largest available
size... and too small.)
Anyway, we took our
little boat down the
river, enjoying
extremely salty egg
sandwiches and chilling
with various books.
Around 8 AM, we arrived
on Cu Lao Dung Island.
Which is a pretty
redundant name because
"Cu Lao" means "island
in the river," so I'll
just call it Cu Lao
Dung. We checked in at
the house we were
staying at, which turned
out to be the house of
Angela's uncle, though
we all didn't realize
that for a while. Then
we went to a local
school where we met with
the vice-chair of the
People's Committee of
the commune as well as a
district official. (The
hierarchy of
organization is commune
--> district --> uh...
province? --> national.
I think? Dang, I forget.
Anyway, something like
that.) They talked to us
about the natural
environment of Cu Lao
Dung. It was really
interesting and I really
wanted to be engaged in
it, and I was just
nodding off in a major
way. Due to roommates I
didn't fall asleep until
maybe 11:30 or later so
I was not exactly with
the sufficient sleep and
I really couldn't handle
it. It was pretty
frustrating. I really
wanted to listen and
really get a lot of it.
But I was literally
falling asleep in my
chair. There were a
couple head-jerk moments
and I definitely caught
tiny flashes of
seconds-long dreams,
strange memories of a
second ago that would
suddenly intrude my
mind. It was weird; I've
never had that happen
before.
We adjourned for a ten
minute "break" that
ended up being about
half an hour of Ashley
and I conking out on the
tables. I think they
decided to spare us any
more and we left for
lunch, though not before
being swarmed by
children in the
schoolyard. We got lunch
and, our savior!,
glorious ca phe sua da,
which ensured my
continued consciousness.
And food was delicious.
Best tofu I've ever had,
no lie. In the commune
canteen, by the way. (Is
that how you spell the
food place? It's not
cantine, right, because
that's the one you drink
out of...? Or is it the
other way around?)
After an hour-long
napping/dozing/reading
period, we all jumped on
motorbikes to visit a
shrimp farm! This was
the first time I have
enjoyed riding on a
motorbike. Beautiful
scenery and no traffic!
Wonderful! The only
thing to fear was the
fact that the concrete
"road" was so narrow you
definitely could not
even drive a car down
it. And some of those
bridges were pretty
sketch. Eh. Whatever.
If you're wondering what
a shrimp farm is like,
at least on a small
scale--family operated,
not industrial--it's
just some muddy
rectangular ponds. Not
terribly exciting. We
watched the farmer cast
nets and pull up tiger
prawns to show us. Their
sickly white bodies and
myriad grotesquely
waving limbs gave me, to
use a technical time,
major heebie-jeebies.
*shudder* A couple of
people from our group
tried casting the nets
as well, and we took
turns going out in a
tiny, extremely low
rowboat.
After the shrimp farm,
we visited an orchard.
Reaching it involved
crossing a kind of
questionable bridge and
a definitely
questionable but really
fun monkey bridge. I
love monkey bridges!
(Basically, a log over
the river. Sometimes a
couple logs arranged in
an arch but you're
always walking on a
single log. Not a
particularly wide log,
either--like, you walk
with your foot sideways
and it fits comfortably
into the arch on the
sole of your shoe kind
of width. And a single
hand rail on one side.)
We picked longans off
trees and ate them and
learned about farming
practices and land use.
Then we attempted to go
to a corn farm. It
started pouring so we
took refuge at this
random place where we
drank more iced coffee.
Once the rain let up we
went and picked corn for
only a couple minutes.
Then we drove more and
picked more corn (this
time for our own eatin'
and not for animals).
Our dinner was
delicious. We went with
our host out to his
shrimp/fish ponds and
watched him catch fish
and shrimp for dinner.
Alex, Jazzmin, and
Rebecca jumped in and
swam around in the fish
pond. Later I watched a
guy kill and gut the
tilapia. And at dinner I
ate some. Heh. I
definitely did not eat
the shrimp, though. I
couldn't forget their
horrible waving legs.
Also they still had
heads and I'm not down
with my food staring at
me. Pass the vegetables,
thanks.
Oh, our host was also
really big on giving us
shots of the local
"wine," which is pretty
strong stuff, more like
liquor. In Vietnam to
toast one thing you can
say is "Yo!" So suddenly
this awesome, incredibly
nice Vietnamese man
would be standing at
your shoulder with two
little shot glasses of
golden liquor for you
and someone else in the
group, and you can't
turn down that
hospitality (just like I
had to eat the snail for
Professor Bich). No
choice but to call,
"Mot, hai, ba, YO!"
(one, two, three, yo!)
and drain your glass!
They were actually just
little half-shots,
though, so there wasn't
any harm in it even if
he pressed a few on you.
And it was fun. Yo is a
pretty good cheer. I got
someone to do an "eins,
zwei, suffa!" with me,
too. (Bavarian German
for "one, two, drink!")
All of our beds were
basically wood planks
with reed mats on them.
Except for the guys who
slept on the floor. We
got mosquito nets, too.
It was a little warm but
surprisingly not that
uncomfortable. I slept
fine (once people
actually stopped
talking, which took
quite a while... 12
people sleeping in
basically one room is
not a recipe for
silence).
----------------------
Day 2 was pretty sweet.
I woke up really cranky
at having been kept
awake so late and having
to get up so early. Ca
phe sua (milk coffee, no
ice) made life bearable,
though.
Our group hopped on two
smallish boats and
headed down the river to
end up nearly at the
ocean. We were in the
middle of the river and
we hopped out into water
just a little higher
than our knees. Yay low
tide. Wading through
water brought us to some
really awesome mudflats.
We spent quite a while
running around, taking
silly pictures, and
enjoying the mudflats.
Eventually we trekked to
the mangrove forest,
which took a while but
was totally worth it.
Towards the mangroves it
got progressively
muddier and muckier
until we were sinking
into the mud up to our
knees with every step.
It's not the easiest
thing in the world to
pull half your leg out
of sucking mud with
every step, by the way.
The last maybe fifty or
a hundred meters were
pretty hard but totally
worth it. The mangrove
forest is amazing. Since
it was low tide we even
had firm ground to stand
on once we got to a
place where the plants
made the ground firmer.
I think it would be so
cool to see the forest
at high tide, when the
trunks of all the trees
are submerged and you
just have a forest
sticking up out of the
river.
It rained on us right as
we made our getaway.
Alex called it "the most
aggressive shower of my
life" as we sped down
the river being buffeted
by wind and rain. Yeah,
that was pretty sweet.
And of course, getting
back we were plied with
more delicious food than
we could eat, as usual.
I had still been so full
from dinner that I
didn't really eat
breakfast so lunch was
much needed and
immensely satisfying.
And there was plenty of
"yo!" at lunch, too.
After another nap period
and a short language
class, we returned to
Can Tho City. Some of us
were very sunburned, we
all collected some bug
bites, and we were all a
little sad to leave the
peace, natural beauty,
and kindness of that
hamlet on Cu Lao Dung.
It was an excellent
excursion.
--------------------------
By the way, I have
850,000 dong left of my
stipend for the last two
weeks. In USD, of my $73
stipend, I've got $53
left. Not only has that
bought all my food, I've
also bought a shirt, a
notebook, shampoo,
postcards and stamps,
snacks outside of
meals... Yeah. If I keep
spending money the way I
have been, my stipend
for the first eight
weeks will cover my cell
phone and my ao dai,
which is the traditional
Vietnamese women's
dress. (Google it, it's
pretty.) My stipend for
the ISP period could
conceivably leave me
with plenty of spending
money too. Sweeeeet. I
love being able to get a
delicious meal for
thirty cents...
