Virtual-Doug

Miscellaneous Observations While Traveling

Did you know the 14 hour flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Tokyo is in daylight the whole way? It never gets dark. Did you know the return flight only takes 10 ½ hours?

You know how loud cell phone talkers in airports irritate you? Its usually men – the guys with barrel chests, loud voices, and an attitude. In the Tokyo Narita Airport, I’ve discovered it is Japanese teenage girls who are the irritants. I am surrounded by them in the gate area. The sweetie sitting across from me has two cell phones going at the same time.

Probably because I’ve spent so much time there, I think the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport is the noisiest in the world – constant automated announcements recorded on worn-out tape, hard floors that don’t absorb noise, and tile floors that make baggage rollers create even more noise as they roll over the tile gaps. Narita is the opposite – quiet carpeted floors, soft musical announcements spoken by slow talking women, and a relaxed atmosphere.

I’m not sure I have ever gone through immigration and customs faster than I have here in the Philippines. Off the plane, get the luggage, cursory glance at the passport and immigration form, then customs - - both done quickly and with a smile. But, I’m here in the room of a brand-new, very nice hotel, after leaving the house 28 hours ago. I’m tired, but looking forward to the visit. I’ll sleep fast tonight.

Not Quite Bye Bye Yet

Okay – I said I was outta here on the way to the Philippines. But, my wife had a birthday surprise for me. Along with three other friends, we went to see Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire in concert. Yeah, hearing “the old songs” was great, but the best was when they quit trying to sound like the original album, and just jammed. Great show by both groups.

Of course, I still had to get up at 4 AM, so I had a nap of three hours. I’m sitting in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport right now, waiting for my flight to Tokyo - - but as soon as I’m through talking to you, I’m going back to sleep.

Thanx for the great birthday present, C. As Chicago sings, “You are the love of my life.”

Going Bye Bye

I’ll be getting on a plane early in the morning – on the way the Iligan Institute of Technology in the Philippines. Hopefully, I will be able to begin some cooperative web-based learning efforts between IIT and my school, the University of Texas-Pan American. I have no idea whether I will have access to the Internet while there as I know we will be traveling into some remote areas. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see any posting for a few days.

On the topic of teaching in Viet Nam – we had something happen the other day that illustrates how different things are going to be. We were informed that our school in Viet Nam needed good photo copies of our diplomas. That was unexpected – our diplomas were framed years ago, and hung on the wall. Nobody wants to see the diploma – institutions want to see transcripts. Or so we thought. In talking to an native of India I work with, I find that in most of the world, the actual sheep skin itself is important. Another gentleman from Mexico told me the same was true in his country.

What goes on in America is not necessarily what goes on in the rest of the world.

The Growing Economy of Viet Nam

I just came across this excellent article from the BBC about present day Viet Nam. I offer it as an objective view for those who still see Viet Nam as the name of a war, and not as a country.

The BBC did another article about investments in Viet Nam, but it actually comes more to the core of what C and I will be doing - teaching English to college students. Note the salaries skilled Vietnamese earn - and note the comments on their work ethic. Most Vietnamese do more work by accident than I do on purpose.

Enjoy.

Two Digit Midgets

The time is drawing closer – less than one hundred days before we get on the plane and head towards Viet Nam. The excitement is heightened by email swaps with some of the teachers in Viet Nam – team members we will soon be working with.

There are so many questions to ask these folks –

How do we get to our classes? Buy a bicycle? Turns out, it will depend on where we’re assigned. (We will find out next month.) Dalat is too hilly for bikes, and the traffic in Hai Phong is brutal. I would imagine Ha Noi is worse. But we also found that the expense of a decent quality bike is not too high – about $80 USD.

We’re spoiled here in the US – we are totally used to broadband Internet access. Not so in Viet Nam. I had experienced the slowness of dial-up connections on previous trips – there were days when a 14.4 connection was hot stuff! We’ll have to wait to see if there will be a phone in our apartment. We may have to wait to have one installed. I gotta think one of our teammates will take pity on us and let us get online to post to the blog and to send/receive emails until we get our own line.

We were surprised to learn we should bring a basic American history text book with us. After all, we’re going to teach English, not history. But we’ve been told the students thirst to learn anything American. One teacher told us she was having some students over for pizza. Best of all - - I have a friend who is a history professor and textbook author. He is happy to contribute one “for the cause.”

If I bring my iPod, will the Vietnamese think I am a showoff, rich American? Turns out it a good idea to bring one - - playing “oldies” like the Beatles is a good way to teach conversational English. Besides, they think all Americans are rich, so having an iPod will not change our image.

What about our little portable printer? No problem – but the Vietnamese do not use 8 X 10 paper – they use paper that is slightly longer and narrower.

If we have learned this much, yet haven’t even moved there, how much more will there to learn?

Apparently, a lot. And that’s kewl.

Something Vietnamese Before We Go

C and I last visited Viet Nam in July of 2002. As the wheels were coming up, we looked out the window at Viet Nam, held hands, and knew that in some way, Viet Nam lay ahead in our destiny.

During that trip, we visited Dalat - an incredibly gorgeous small city in the mountains at the southern end of the Central Highlands. The French developed it back in the 1920s as a cool place for their colonial functionaries to stay on holiday. For some reason, it was spared during the wars against the French and the Americans. While it is decidedly "touristy", there is much that is charming there. And, we came back with two things from Dalat.

The first is the beautiful embroidery of wintering storks. It hangs in our living room.

I also found artichoke tea. That's right - artichoke tea. I have never been a big time tea drinker until I found this stuff. There was a sample in our Dalat hotel room. I liked it so much, I brought some back home with me.

Its a little hard to find in the US, but while visiting our son in Orlando, we went to Little Saigon for dinner one night, and found it in the Vietnamese grocery store next door.

I know the day is over when I brew my cup of artichoke tea, light my daily cigar, and open up a good book to read - unless, of course, I read my favorite blogs.

Hey - you might not like the cigar, but you might want to try the tea.

So – What’s All This Whining About Getting Ready?

I played hooky from work Friday. Admittedly, I have a bit of a “short-timer’s” attitude, but that certainly was not the only reason. Its just that there is so much to do to get ready to go to Viet Nam. During a phone call with my sister today, I felt it difficult to explain all that we have to do – so I thought it would be fun to write down the things we did today.

Hand wrote thank you notes to those who have sent us gifts and support. We did this while drinking our Saturday morning cup of Vietnamese coffee.

Arranged to have more of our bills paid automatically as a deduction from our checking account.

Talked to our volunteer agency “handler” on the phone.

Worked on both the agenda for the upcoming meeting of our Advisory Committee, and made up a “To-Do” list resulting from the last meeting. That took quite awhile.

Kept on setting up and adding to the programs on our new laptop. The machine I had been using belongs to my employer, so we had to break down and buy our own laptop to take with us. I like this new IBM ThinkPad R51. I got a neat little H-P portable printer to take along too. Set that up today.

Paid bills – of course, I have to do that anyway, but its one more on-going thing.

We rehearsed our presentation. It’s a 30 minute long PowerPoint-supported talk by both of us, with an included video presentation imbedded in it. We have to fine-tune it before speaking to various groups.

Printed out and stuffed envelopes with more newsletters.

And this is all just today! No, I’m not really whining, but it is interesting to actually write down all the things we’re doing.

And worth every minute!

By the way - I added some new pictures of the house to the Photo Album to the right - the one titled Moving to Viet Nam.

Who Knows Where Viet Nam is Located?

Last night, C and I went to get some pho at a new Vietnamese restaurant in town. As this is only the second Vietnamese restaurant in town (deep south Texas is kinda short on any other ethnicity than Mexican-American), we just had to see how good the pho would be.

What is pho? Let me digress. It is Vietnamese noodle soup. Normally eaten at breakfast, it is consumed at all times of the day and available at little vendor stalls all over Viet Nam. Like any other food, the actual recipe varies by region, and by maker. Grandma Nguyen’s recipe will be a bit different that Grandma Le’s. Personally, I love the stuff. Its filling, nourishing, - and tastes so good. Find out more at Pho-King and/or Noodle Pie.

When we walked into the restaurant, we found out we came on the wrong night – never visit the place on Monday night as the Vietnamese chef is off – and there was no pho. Bummer!

But, we got into a good conversation with the manager, who is a 28 year old Vietnamese, born in 1976 (right after reunification), in Dong Ngai Province north of today’s Ho Chi Minh City. He’s obviously a bright young man, and attending classes at the university where I work – the University of Texas Pan American.

As I said, deep south Texas is very heavily Hispanic. Most of our students speak Spanish as their native tongue, and most have never left the area. Many of them have never seen an Asian before. Of course, most think he is Chinese. When he tells them he is Vietnamese, and he is from Viet Nam, most confess they do not know where Viet Nam is located.

Fascinating! A country that has made so much of an impact on me, and will again in the near future, is unheard of by the young people of the area.

Fascinating!

The Support Group

Going off to live in another country is not an event to be sneezed at. There is a lot to do, and it has to be done on a timeline. I suppose if C and I were newly weds and in our twenties, there wouldn’t be as much to do. But because we have accumulated so many encumbrances over the years, there is a lot to do. We’ve asked a group of friends to help us.

One thing we have to do is line up support. It will take some money to live in Viet Nam. While we had originally anticipated covering almost all the costs ourselves, the agency we are working with requires we raise half our funds from donations. I rebelled against the idea at first, but quickly saw the wisdom of having people back home committed to supporting our work. Our support group is lining up presentations for us to make – to Sunday morning groups, civic clubs, and the like. We did our first presentation the other night – and got the predictable “you must be crazy” look when people realized we were going back to Viet Nam.

We’re gonna have some fun raising those funds. See the picture on the right? Yep – that’s me. A sixty year old man with a pony tail. And we’re going to have a raffle – the winner gets to cut off the pony tail. The “event” will be the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Tickets are $2.00 each. Wanna buy a ticket?

Now - - I’m trying to figure out what to tell the one guy at church who said he would shoot it off with his rifle if he won.

What did you expect? We live in Texas, after all

The Carving

I let them do it. I let them carve on me this morning. I went in for the hernia repair, and am back home, in bed, and letting C pamper me. I still have on those funny nylon stockings they put on you to help circulation, and have a “girdle” over the incision. I call it a girdle because that’s what the medicos call it, but its more like a white weightlifting belt.

I went into this thinking it was not going to be a big deal, and its not. Just mildly uncomfortable (drugs help) and movement makes me conscious of how often we all use the abdominal muscles.

Maybe it was the first affects of the anesthetic, but as I lay on the table, my vision was restricted to looking at the ceiling. That was interesting as I could hear people chattering amiably, but I couldn’t see them. I noticed the nurse used a technique used by horse lovers – whenever she was going to do something to my feet or legs, she touched me first, just like the rider who touches a horse’s rump before walking behind him. I could only stare at the various cords and plugs in the ceiling – each color coded – but the colors had no meaning to me. While thinking about such silliness, I began to wonder when they were going to get on with things, and that’s about the time I peeled my eyes open and realized I was in the recovery room.

Now, if you will excuse me, I gonna drift . . . off . . . . . . to