Chow.

Tchau and chào are both pronounced as chow. One word is Portuguese, the other is Vietnamese. Both words signifies my status around the world today:

Tchau (chow) means bye in Portuguese. chào (chow) means hello in Vietnamese. This week started with me in Sao Paulo's Airport saying Tchau to Brazil and ended with me saying Xin chào to Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh's dead body, host family, and Hanoi's School of Public Health. 

Some quick goals for this month:
- Practice speaking Vietnamese, learn to read and write fluently (continue this when I'm in the States)
- Go to the only climbing gym in Hanoi and perhaps meet people and climb outside - that would be a dream come true
- Visit my family down South
- Sign up for classes at CC 
- Create relationships and reconnect old ones (everyday goal of mine.) 


Here's a glimpse of my first few days in this country full of history: 

Good morning, Vietnam!

First day in Hanoi!

At The Central Sector of Imperial Citadel of ThangLong - Hanoi 

Lingering Vietnamese New Years Decorations

Vietnamese flag

Three out of the Six stories at my host family's home! So fortunate to live in this home with a host sister and host parents.

Jo Francis and the view outisde of my window. Much love to Hang, Qua, and Lyly. 

Breakfast set for us the first morning - sweet pastries and even sweeter host parents.

My host university - the Hanoi School of Public Health.

Classroom - we've had two guest lectures on 1) the political and economic history of Vietnam and 2) the strengths and weaknesses of the current health system in Vietnam. The Communist Party is the ruling and ONLY party in Vietnam. It's principle is based on Lenin's Democratic Centralism. Even though most people don't even know what that means, it's supported because Ho Chi Minh was a Marxist-Leninist and he sought Independence for Vietnam from the France in 1954. Since 1986, an economic movement called "Doi Moi" has encouraged a market-driven economy and VN integrated itself in the world's market. However, the country is focused more on the economy and not enough of social problems, such as inequality and health. Our speaker says, today, democracy is encouraged and wants everyone to have a voice. But it is not written in the law. The media here belongs to the government and is censored, but our speaker argues, "Competition is sometimes good for development." 

First Vietnamese Language lesson! Yeehaw!

Classroom for one day - Hanoi Cinematheque (a privately owned screening area.) We watch two films for the day and had classroom at a cafe outside. One film was called In the Year of the Pig (1968), an American documentary of the Vietnam War,  and Mai's America. Mai's America was about a teenager living her dream to study in America. But realizing that it is not what she dreamt of, she says "In Vietnam, it takes so long to make a dollar. In the U.S., so easy to spend it." She ends up dropping out of college because of not getting enough scholarship money, living in Detroit, doing nails to make enough money to go back to Vietnam.

Exploring the word "belonging",
Lynn