life through words

I have returned to Sài Gòn after a week in the north--specifically, Hà Nội and Yên Bái. For the past few weeks, or months rather, I have been writing my thoughts down on paper and furthering them through conversation. There is much to say, but little time to do so as my summer days are usually kept busy--thus, what I shall do in the meantime is to keep track of daily happenings and ideas and elaborate on them upon my return to the states. As such, I welcome my readers to look forward to retroactive postings.

My focus for this update will not exactly the places I've been, but some conversations with the people I've met and seen again. A third person sort-of-view will be used to change things up a bit.

On a rumbling train with the night-time smell of country-side drifting through the grated windows, a conversation begins between two friends after a failed game of chess as the lighting was cut short. The topic of discussion starts with comparisons between the societal systems of the United States and Việt Nam; soon passengers with the mindset of resolution through violent action rather than discussion throw watermelon seeds at the two. The conversation is cut to whispers after the realization that rocks were not flying in through the windows in order to appease these vengeful minds. Considering retaliation against these unfortunate bunch, one friend persuades the other to ignore the actions of the poorly educated.

Diving further into the darkness of night, the conversation shifts to its trigger--the lack of education and opportunity in Yên Bái. The friend explains to the other that the small city suffers from those whom steal in order to maintain heroin habits, the lack of sex education and early marriages as a result, poor levels of tourism in a city without an industry or specialized trade, and police whom fear the citizenry's violent behavior. Soon, the friend explains her dislike of peoples such as the ones sitting in the seats across the isle whom have begun a conversation from eavesdropping on the activity of others--criticizing northerners whom have picked up southern dialect.

The next night in Yên Bái, the friend's mother's friend speaks a monologue of her hardships in life. She explains that her son was handicapped requiring surgery and without a father which left early on. With her meager earnings, she ate little and was eventually able to pay for the surgery her son required. Afterward, her son could move all but his left hand, and eventually graduated from high school. However, matters grew grim as her son's dreams of attending university in order to later become a librarian in the small town were soon crushed after he failed his college entrance exams. Nowadays, the woman refers to herself as retired and earns less than 200,000 VNĐ over the course of two months. Her son, whom is now twenty-four, will soon enter a two-year vocational school, and currently sells lottery tickets during the day--he brings home 1,000VNĐ to 5,000 VNĐ a day.

Days later at a dimly lit restaurant in the Old Quarter of Hà Nội, two individuals sit waiting for their meals to arrive after a brief tour of the city via motorbike. With the lingering smell of traffic from Bàch Khoa, the conversation continues with a discussion of future plans and reminiscing about the days and people whom have all but left this country. The moments drift by, and all too soon the two say goodbye as they embrace in front of a hotel on Mã Mây.

In the days that follow, two old friends sit at a café called Puku on 60 Hàng Trống. Still no luck in relationships since the previous meeting, the old friend speaks of obtaining his master's degree in information technology while the other discusses his plans to develop a for-profit non-governmental organization. Soon the conversation shifts to the education system of Việt Nam, wherein the old friend states that while the number of enrolled university students has increased, the textbooks are the same as they were fifteen years prior. Likewise, there has been no increase in the number of university professors as the enrolled student population grows.

On the final afternoon in Hà Nội, two friends meet to catch up on each other's happening. The friend has just returned from Thailand, and speaks extensively of her new Irish boyfriend whom is two years her junior; other topics include continuing work with the study program this month, and her recent ear surgery. She seems happier with her life, and hints that without the aid of her boyfriend, whom is back in Ireland to finish a degree in theater acting, she would have not had the opportunity to see the world outside of Việt Nam.