My Post-Sabbatical Year(s) in Asia (or wherever): Beginning of the Evergreen Vietnam trip

I might as well start this blog with a laundry shot.

Mekong delta floating market laundry

March 3rd - The First Morning:

After a long day of transit (20 hours from Seattle to Seoul to Ho Chi Minh City) on the first and 2nd of March, we let the students sleep in, then went exploring the city in small groups. We spent a lot of time all year during Trip Advisory class preparing the students for maximizing their experience in Vietnam with classes on addressing their fears, accepting "vulnerability" as an opportunity instead of a fear, self-reflection and meditation, and the students took their lessons to heart. They were excited to try everything. Here is my group trying their first fresh coconut juice.

We walked to Ben Thanh market, which is a huge indoor complex where just about everything is sold. We wandered through the meat market.

Students had their first bowl of pho (Vietnamese soup).

And I had my favorite dish - fresh spring rolls.

In the fruit market students saw dragon fruit.

Durian

And of course, the best fruit in the world - mangosteens. As president of "Mongosteens Are The Best Fruit In The World Club," it is my priviledge, right and responsibility to share this most delicious fruit with everyone. We are in Vietnam 7 weeks earlier than normal. The mangosteen season has just begun, and they are very expensive - 200,000 dong per kilo (about $4.50 per pound), but I have to say that they are worth it. Membership in my club is free, all one has to do is agree with the name of the club. Out of my small exploring group of 5 students, I now have one new member, and two students decided to start their own club, titled "Mangosteens are the best fruit in the world, along with a number of other delicious fruit. " Personally, I like my club title better.

Banana bicycle

Street sales woman

In the afternoon we went to the War Remnants Museum, which graphically documents the American War (what we call the Vietnam War).

US plane carpet bombing

I like to start the Evergreen Vietnam experience by going to this museum. It is a very intense experience for everyone, but especially for Americans. And it helps to put the year's study in perspective (students study Vietnam's history, culture, religion, economy all year - five days a week) - this trip is not a vacation.

After about an hour and a half at the museum, we met up as a group to refective journal write and then debrief. One student said, "What really affected me was the photo of a US military man giving mouth to mouth to another soldier. And then seeing the photo of the two little Vietnamese boys shot down by our soldiers. How do these two realities exist side by side?"

Other student comments during the debriefing:
"It is sad how we can look at these photos, feel really bad, then a few minutes later, just forget and be right back in our daily reality."

"I appreciate so much how lucky I am, and how much I have."

"War is not war. It is vicious aggression and revenge."

"Even though we studied the American war, it became so much more real to me when I saw the individual faces of the people hurt by this war."

Birth defects from agent orange

Gas-masked US soldiers working with agent orange

Before and after shots, showing the rebuilding of Vietnam

March 4th: Mekong Delta all day tour:

One of the student learning to make edible rice paper.

Student and snake

Mango tree

After a 2 hour bus ride, we started the tour on a large boat through the floating market. We then walked through some villages, learned to make rice paper, watched popped rice made from hot black sand in a huge wak, watched the making of coconut candy, and ate a delicious lunch, the students boarded small row boats to explore the canals.

Students working hard on their row boat.

March 5th: I was invited by Mike, our national guide, to the wedding of his brother-in-law, as the students went to Cu Chi tunnels to explore the underground network of the communists.