July 2005 Archives

As I was passing by the American Consulate last week, I saw something that really made me sad. There was a young Vietnamese girl just coming into her mothers arms and putting her head on mom's shoulder. She had a few tears and with all the documents in her hand I knew what had happened. She had just gotten rejected for a visa. It really got to me in the fact that I understood how nervous she must have been as she woke up, meticulously groomed herself, prepared her documents, and put on her brand new blue dress. I can imaging the anxiety she must have felt as she passed through all the metal detectors and turned over all those extremely hard to get documents to the Consular and tried to answer as best she could all those hard questions in a language so different from her native tongue. I can feel her nervousness and extreme disappointment when the Consular bascially said that America does not want her, even for a short visit.

I understand that the Consular was just doing their job, but sometimes it just isn't fair. It really makes me angry when I see so many Americans who do nothing but try to keep people out from entering the country such as those vigilanties in Texas, or those that rail against immigration do to their believe that America is solely theirs and they have an inherent right to it just because they had the luck to be born there. I really detest the argument "Well I pay taxes and those immigrants do not!!!" I'm sure if those immigrants had the good fortune to be born in America and have the money to pay taxes that they would too. I also wish those that do not want to offer the poor immigrants health care and their kids schooling would fall off the face of the earth and die. It is true that America has to practice fiscal responsibility but I really hate those who have always had enough money try to keep those that do not out of the club.

When we are children, we are taught that America is the land of immigrants and how the Statue of Liberty "cries with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door." They should also add, "Unless of course you don't have enough money in your bank accounts, do not have the proper documents, have not mastered English or do not give money to the Republican Party." They should also be advised, that all shall be fingerprinted, have pictures taken in-case you are a terrorist against are unfair policies, and that if you do not understand our English we will just repeat it louder in unfriendly tones.

It would be most excellent if Americans were subjected to the same treatment we are currently giving other nationals. If this were the case, we would have to pay an $80 processing fee every time we applied, and be subjected to interviews in other languages that almost nobody would pass. If there were not enough money in our bank accounts we simply couldn't leave America. Americans think that people cannot leave China because it is Communist when the fact is they can rarely get a visa!!

Just for spite, let me reply to myself in the form of a jingoist. "Those immigrants would come to American and take jobs from hard working Americans! They have no money so would be a drain on the public benefits, and should not be entitled to schooling, health care, or anything else. Send them back! We pay taxes, and it's unfair that these heathens come to OUR country and take OUR jobs! Why don't they go fix their own country and live there!" Unfortunately, this opinion is not uncommon.

I detest people that think they have an inherent right to something they were born into and try to keep it from others. What happened to the lessons in sharing that we were taught as children? Guess it got lost in all the materialism.

The one problem with blogs is that we do not revise and correct what we write. An idea comes into our head, and we write it down, without being able to correct, revise or find faults with the idea. But then again, that takes a lot of time and perhaps, it is beneficial to not revise so we can gauge the true thinking of those around us since most peoples opinions and ideas are not as well thought out as they should be and blogs act as a meter of mass mentality.

Today I'd like to examine the subject of being institutionalized. Most people associate this word with prisoners who cannot adapt to society since they have become too accustomed to life in jail. In the dictionary, Institutionalized as an adjective is defined as, "Given the character of an institution or incorporated into a structured and usually well-established system."

Therefore, are not most people inherently institutionalized if they have not spent much time outside of their own city, culture, or nation? It is very difficult for most people to adapt to a new culture and country if they have spent most of their life in only one culture. They are accustomed to the structure and mentality of their native land and therefore, couldn't we say that this is a limitation which impedes most people from becoming a true intellectual since they can only understand, or see one side? ......

Tonight I watched a movie about delinquent high schoolers who were taken to an "Enlightenment" session where the evil principal put in brain implants to make them "good" students.

This got me thinking about influences or perhaps the more disparaging word called brain washing. We grow up surrounded most likely by a group of people that have the same ideas/values/norms and we become like them due to the environment. For example, we are taught to be patriotic to our country without question. If we read the history of the United States and learn about Benedict Arnold, he will be called a traitor and we will think of him as such due to the teachings. However, as we become more critical in our literary analysis we learn that he could also be a "patriot" for Great Britian. He is even defined as a "traitor" in the dictionary. Since he is defined as such the opinions of those around us are supported by the information that surrounds us in a specific place which perpetuates our current thinking about the person in question. If the situation were reversed and Benedict Arnold was first on the British side who defected to the Americans, then he might be even called a "hero" in American dictionaries.

All information is thus filtered to fit the dogma, or idealism of the nation / religion to suit their teachings and it is very hard to see a situation from all sides since we lack a more complete source of information. Noam Chomsky also states that we ourselves filter information and are thus hurting ourselves. We will read newspapers and written materials that already support our view and even if we do read the opposite opinion it will not be with an open mind and we become actually incapable of considering that point of view....

Here in Saigon the food is excellent but one must be careful where one eats! A lot of foods have natural bacteria and most westerners are not accustomed to certain types of bacteria found in the food here. It sounds disgusting but every six months foreigners have to take some medicine to "de-worm" themselves because almost everyone will suffer from diarrhea. I took my medicine not more than a month ago but yesterday ate at the greasy spoon restaurant around the corner and I caught something fierce. I have felt like hell for the past two days and am hoping that it will go away. At least 30 times a day my stomach cramps up and it is really painful! But if it keeps up then I will have to get myself to the hospital once again.

Speaking of sicknesses the bird flu has made headlines once again. The papers love the statistic that it could become a pandemic and up to 7 million could die if the disease spreads. But this is a bit misleading and sensationalist. Thousands die every year of common colds and the flu and since there is no vaccination for this new type, the mortality rate could be worse from this flu than normal. I'm not worried in the least though because those that do not survive are usually those with weak immune systems or are very young or old.

Anyway, since I'm feeling like crap, I think I'll spend the day at the pool relaxing, catching some rays and studying Japanese. The Sofitel has one of the nicest pools on the 18th floor and the views of the city are fantastic.

Living in Saigon isn't all flowers and fuzzy bunnies. Sometimes there are annoyances as well. Overall though, there is no violence and it is very peaceful here. But I'd like to list some of the things that can be annoying.

1. Police raids on bars - Sometimes the police will enter a bar and all the lights turn on and music stops. The police are checking the liquor licenses to see if they have the right papers to sell hard alcohol. The beer and wine industries have tailored the law to favor them and it's very difficult for the spirits companies. However, there is a demand for spirits, so sometimes bars sell them anyway. It is ususally for spirits that the police raid bars. I experienced my first one during one of our darts league matches and the lights came on and two police came in. We continued play while the manager tried to get things sorted out. Our score keeper girls are provided by Johnny Walker and they were also questioned.

2. Police raids on houses - Sometimes the police will come to a private residence in the middle of the night to check foreigners papers to see if they have overstayed their visa. This may sound strange and it's never happend to me but I've also been told that the police in America do this as well in minority neighborhoods to check for those who have overstayed their visas.

3. Passport to use the library - I was able to get in with my drivers licenses but the girl asked for my passport when I tried to get in. I had also brought my Japanese Kanji book to study and was told that you are not allowed to bring your own books to the library. I guess the reason is they have no security system there and thus can only verify that the books are theirs if nobody brings in their own books.

4. Electricity - There is a double standared in pricing between foreigners and Vietnamese. Health, Utilities and other things are more expensive for foreigners because they have the ability to pay more. When I first heard this I was appalled, but when I thought about it, foreigners do make so much more than Vietnamese so it is kind of fair and I think I would implement the same thing. Our electricity bill is outrageous though and I put off paying it for just under a month when some people came to my house and turned off our power. They simply flipped the switch and put a notice on our utility box. I had pondered just flipping the switch back on but thought this might be a bad idea. So I went and payed the bill and our power came back on.

For most of my life I had defined poverty as having little monetary means. I would look at how the "poor" lived in the ghettos and slums and the violence that raged there.

However, speaking with a good Vietnamese friend yesterday at an extremely modest, (those in the west would say poor) beer hoi I came to a different conclusion.

In the West I saw the violence that went on and thought that most people who lived in the poor neighborhoods were unhappy. In the west this might actually be the case. They look up to the middle and upperclass and see what they have and consider themselves poor. If one were to lose most of the material possessions they have they might also consider themselves poor since they have lost something..... I recall Sally Struthers plea on T.V. to give money to those that "earn less than a dollar a day."

Most recently there have been so many Viet Kieu or "Overseas Vietnamese" coming back to Vietnam. For the Tet holiday I think was the biggest single time of returning Vietnamese coming to visit their birthplace. I met so many of them going out and seeing people I know with Vietnamese I had never seen before (You get to know the faces in the ex-pat bars). I would introduce myself and upon hearing their accent would know they are American. They told would tell me that it was the first time back for them in 30 or so odd years!! Also, about how the place changed so much and how it was strange to see so many foreigners now living in HCMC. I was talking with one who I became good friends with and she told me that Arizona was home now but she felt guilty because Vietnam should feel more like home. I answered that in this day and age, there is no reason that we should only have to pick one home. For me, I feel comfortable and at home just as much in Tokyo, HCMC and Madrid as I do in Columbus.

But it got me thinking. What exactly defines a nationality? When I was a child I thought an American was either white or black and spoke the English perfectly. As I got a little older, I began to think it was anyone who spoke American English flawlessly. But now, I know it is anyone who holds an American passport. Restrictions aside, it is possible for anyone to go to American and call themselves American if they can get a passport. However, it is only a one way street.

With the ease of air travel, the popularity of studying languages abroad, and less governmental restriction there is a large amount of people leaving their native lands and taking on new nationalities in Europe and America. But this has not happened the other way around. I can never be a Vietnamese or Japanese no matter how well I learn the language or adapt to the culture. I also read an article in "Let's Go Vietnam entitled Going Home....

The President of Vietnam recently made the first visit to the United States since the end of the war. It was really big news here among the business community and we all hoped that the trip would spark a more definate answer about when Vietnam would join the WTO. It seems the trip went very well and Vietnam is on it's way to finally joining hopefully by the end of this year or more likely sometime next year. Right now HCMC is booming and there are new businesses opening up everywhere. It seems my initial feeling about this place was correct and HCMC is really a great place to live once you get past the third world surface. The people are really friendly and it is a very relaxed lifestyle. However, during the President's visit there was a small group of protesters holding signs such as "Stop the Oppression" and other such nonsense. We in the ex-pat community wondered exactly what "oppression" these protesters might be refering to. Now without divulging into politics too much, I don't see, feel or have heard of any "oppression" what so ever in this country. In China there is definately a feeling of big brother but I don't feel this at all and definately think Vietnam is a wonderful place to live.

During his visit, President Bush also promised to come visit Vietnam at the end of the year which is huge news. I really think he might make some sort of statement when he is here about exactly when Vietnam will join the WTO and after that the country should take off economically.

Every morning I ride my motorbike to work and it never ceases to be an adventure. Here in Saigon most inhabitants use a motorbike to get around which creates a lot of pollution. After 8 months of breathing in burning fossil fuels I finally decided to go with a mask no matter how ridiculous I might look. Most of the ladies on motorbikes here also cover themselves although they prefer that no skin is visible since white skin is seen as beautiful. It really has nothing to do with Europeans I would think but rather they don't want to be seen as manual laborors who work in the sun and who's skin turns almost black. They cover themselves so well that they almost look like a million terrorists riding around in hat, sunglasses and scarf covering all of their face as well as shoulder length gloves.

Traffic rules here are also mostly a suggestion. The traffic lights are a relatively new feature in the city and people usually revert to their country habits when crossing an intersection which is to beep frantically, reduce speed and continue right through even if the light is red. Here in the city there is a ton of traffic so people are getting used to the red lights but as in the West they too get tired of waiting for it to change even if there is a ton of on coming traffic. Therefore, they all tend to slowly push halfway out into the intersection until the oncoming traffic has no choice but to stop.

As you might imagine there are also a lot of traffic accidents. Even if you are able to look in all 16 directions when driving there still will be people crossing the street at the worst possible times. To cross a street here in Saigon, you simply step off the curb and proceed at a very slow pace until you reach the other side. The traffic will swerve around you like a school of fish and come within inches.

But it really is not as dangerous in the city as it might seem. The Vietnamese have a very inate sense of traffic and the motorbikes remind me of a school of fish which avoids collisions.... usually. Even if you get in a crash the speeds are not very high and everyone is usually alright. The true danger lies on the freeways when there are accidents at high speeds and the fatalities are pretty high. So if your thinking about driving across Vietnam on a motorbike you should probably not, and chose the bus. Even though most understand traffic there are a few who do not and those are the ones you have to watch out for.

Apparently, I have to post every month or my entries get archived. I've been pretty lazy about posting recently but will get back on track soon. Lots going on recently in HCMC.