Virtual-Doug

Chalk Dust

The class was over – and it was the very last class I would have with the group of 60 first year students – the same who invited me to their Christmas Party - and the class described in the post “Whazzit Like to Teach English in Việt Nam?”

As I have written repeatedly, the teaching profession is an honored one in Việt Nam, and I half-expected some small taken from the class – and they indeed presented me with a delightful card and a pottery knick-knack.  What came next was unexpected.

The class monitor sang a song to me in English. The song was “Chalk Dust.”  Then the entire class sang it in Vietnamese.  Here are the lyrics:

Chalk Dust

   When you're writing
   Chalk dust's falling.
   There are some grains
   Falling on the dais
   There are some grains
   Falling on your hair.

   I'd love this moment
   Your hair seems gray and gray,
   Grayer for chalk dust
   To give good lessons.

   When we are grown up
   How can we forget
   Long ago you taught us
   When we were still young.

I love these kids – I really do.

Việt Nam in Transition

In a recent post, I wrote of my experiences at a countryside funeral.  I was told that this gentleman has lived in Sài Gòn for a number of years, and seldom returns to the home village.  During a photo-taking session, he stepped forward to take a picture.  He is wearing the traditional white mourning dress, and is using a camera phone to take the shot.  Tradition and modernity.

On May 5th, the commercial sale of used cars became legal.  Up to this point, the only way to buy a car was to get it from a dealer, or buy a used car from an individual. It is now possible to buy from a used car dealership – like this one. Autos can be (and usually are) imported from other countries.  This is the first used car lot in Huê, and presently the only auto dealership in the city.  (I understand that a dealership was opened a few years ago, but it only stayed open for six months or so.)  I’m not so sure the Vietnamese have considered the full ramifications of having more autos on their narrow and congested streets.  By the way – I doubt this dealership will sell many Porches or Harley-Davidsons.

How about a water park – one with an aquarium? Hô Thủy Tiên is just outside Huê.  I know there are bigger amusement parks in Việt Nam, but Huê is not a large city.  Inside the dragon is a nice little aquarium and folks can climb into the dragon’s mouth for a view of the area.  At the other end of the lake is a small stadium where music shows are held – replete with dancing water fountains.

Finally – look to the left of the giant television transmitter, and you see the twin steeples of the Phủ Cam Cathedral.  From the origins of the Catholic Church circa 1680 to modern television broadcasting; Việt Nam continues its transition.

Huyên Không Sỏn Thương

West of the city of Huê, in the foothills of the mountains, lies one of the most peaceful and placid places I have ever been.  It is a pagoda, but unlike most pagodas around Huê, it is not ancient.  It is fairly new, and most of the money to build it came from Viet Kieu – overseas Vietnamese.  It is a place where families go for picnics, and young couples to stroll.   I was shown this out-of-the-way place by two of my first year students.

As always, be sure to click on the picture to see a larger version.

The place is lush – and very well tended.  The entrance to the main pagoda ushers you to a small bridge over a stream.  In the background you can see the main building, which is flanked by two smaller structures.  The whole scene exudes serenity.  Looking into the main pagoda, where the monks meditate early in the morning, one sees richly finished wood, and an altar.

The remainder of the grounds is quite large – there is a pond with a small island, and it is normal to see the monks out tending the area.  There is even a small bamboo bridge – sometimes called a “monkey bridge” because of the dexterity needed to use it – that can add a little fun to the day’s walk.

But the pagoda is about serenity – and meditation.  Its everywhere you look.

One Building’s Construction

How about marble for your stair steps?  Pretty classy, eh?  They were just beginning the installation of the slabs when I was there, and I was asked to be careful when walking on them.  On the second floor I found two workmen preparing interior doors for installation, and these too looked quite nice.   Notice the blue tarp on the floor to protect the newly installed tile flooring.

In the next room, another worker was hanging out the window to spray stain on the window frames.  Safety rules?  What safety rules?

Alas, with only three weeks to go before our departure, I won’t see anyone move into the house.  I guess that will have to wait until our first return visit.

The Funeral

I do not pretend to know all that went on, nor do I pretend to understand all the underlying significance of what I saw.  But, the Mystery Guest Blogger and I were honored to witness the countryside funeral of the elderly grandmother of one of our young Vietnamese friends.  What follows are just my impressions, and I warmly welcome any comments by Vietnamese readers.

Outside of Huê is the village of Tuân.  (The name is misspelled here because the system will not tolerate the diacritical marks needed for correct pronunciation.)  Near the Perfume River, it is an archetypical Vietnamese village populated by hard working farmers.  In the immediate area outside the usual concrete home, chairs and tables were set out for the many visitors.  Like funerals anywhere, it is a gathering of family and friends, and a time for recalling the old times.  In one of the rooms in the house, the casket, flanked by family members, is on display.  It is expected that visitors will light incense and offer prayers for the dead.  The two of us offered our prayers as well, in our own faith, but in accordance with Vietnamese custom by placing incense in front of the casket, then praying aloud while bowing three times.  The normal family altar is seen on the right side of the image, but it is not where prayers for the dead were offered.

In the countryside, funeral “arrangements” are not handled by a funeral home.  Rather, the village leaders take over many of the functions done by a western funeral home, such as arranging for music, the Buddhist monk, and a casket.  Obviously, the viewing of the casket is done in the family home.  Remember that multiple generations live in the same house, so the elderly seldom live by themselves as they do in the west.

Outside the house is an area set aside for ceremony.  Notice the white gauze over clothes worn by the mourners.  These are for blood relatives only – in this case, the deceased’s son was in white, but his wife was not.  The young people are blood kin, so they too wear white mourning clothes.  (Picky detail:  the clothes seem to have a bluish tinge to them – it was caused by a blue plastic canopy that was strung overhead as a shield against the sun.)  Accompanying the ceremony was plaintive music supplied by four musicians in appropriate black garb.

A Vietnamese funeral seems both more formal, yet more relaxed than a western funeral.  Yes, there seemed to be strict protocol to follow, yet while the ceremony was going on, others were at nearby tables chatting with friends.  I didn’t find this distracting nor disrespectful – just different.  The ceremony conducted by the Buddhist monk went on for the best part of an hour.  Note the wireless microphone he is using.  The loudspeakers were set up in front of the house.

This 85 year old woman is the deceased person’s sister.  The MGB took this shot of her being lovingly spoken to by our hostess.  It was a warm and wonderful display of affection.

The actual internment was to happen the next morning at 5AM.  A specially gifted person in the village was consulted as to the best time for burial, and 5AM was it.  Unfortunately, we missed it – not because of the hour, but rather because it was raining heavily.

And life goes on.

(Note:  I apologize for the lack of postings lately.  My laptop has died, and with two of us trying to use the MGB’s computer, my leisure-use computer time is thin.)

Điện Biên Phủ

For almost 100 years, Việt Nam was a colony of France.  Actually, it was just part of a larger colony called French Indochina which also included present-day Cambodia and Laos.  The colonization ended with the decisive battle between the Việt Minh, led by General Võ Nguyên Giáp, and the French, led by Colonel Christian de Castries, when Điện Biên Phu fell on May 7, 1954.

Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.

Điện Biên Phủ is in the extreme northwest, almost into Laos.  Back in 1954, it was not much more than a village. Today, it is a regional city of almost 100,000, served by two flights daily from Hà Nội.  It has done a marvelous job of preserving the old battlefields, many of which are in the center of town today.  It has managed to avoid the kitsch of the Cu Chi Tunnels near Sài Gòn, and there is much more to see than on a tour of the old DMZ.

It was pure accident that the trip was planned for the 52nd anniversary of the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, but I’m glad it happened.  This old gentleman was helped by his son and grandson to clamber atop an old French tank.  But, it was his eyes that caught me – he appeared to be lost for awhile as he gazed into the distance.  I wonder if he was reliving the battles of his youth.  I wonder if he pondered friends long lost.  I’m sure many of them rest here in the beautifully tended cemetery of 640 soldiers – only four of which have names.  The remainder have never been identified.

Inside the military museum is an excellent map depicting the battle.  Narration is in Vietnamese, French, and English and covers the entire time span from the initial parachuting of French troops in November, 1953 until the surrender in 1954.  Outside is a static display of the some of the weaponry.  Some readers may recognize this as an American 105 mm artillery piece and therefore assume it was used by the French.  Not so – while the French did indeed have this piece, the 105 was also the primary artillery of the Việt Minh.  The guns had been captured during the Korean War, then transported south and given to the Vietnamese by China.

While there were numerous battles all over the valley, the final ones were fought on French strongholds atop small hills inside the city.  This is a recreation of an old French bunker that was part of the defenses of Point A1, one of the last to fall.  It was overrun, recaptured, and overrun again a total of three times in mostly hand-to-hand fighting.   Today the barbed wire gives visitors some idea of the difficulty in assaulting this hill.  Note the nearby mountains.  In an incredible miscalculation, the French did not believe the Việt Minh could haul artillery into those hills.  The result of their arrogant miscalculation was to have their fortifications pounded into rubble, lose the use of the airfield, and have hundreds of their troops killed.

General Giáp ran the whole show from his mountain command center some 25 kilometers from the city.  Well hidden in dense forest, the old compound has been preserved.   In the valley, Colonel de Castries held out in his command bunker until the end came with ignominious surrender.

Today a huge statue, built for the 50th anniversary of the victory, towers over the city.  But also, not far from de Castries’s bunker, is a small memorial to the French soldiers who died at Điện Biên Phủ.  Also dedicated in 2004, it was built by an association of members of the Foreign Legion.

Do you suppose that one day there might be a memorial to the American troops who died in Việt Nam?  One day in the future when the war is forgotten, and life goes on for everyone?

(Note to new readers of this post:  be sure to read the comments.)

Maybe Its Time

Its been awhile, eh?  Well, Gentle Reader, I have been gone.  I took a long planned trip to Điện Biên Phu with some other teachers, while the Mystery Guest Blogger stayed in Hà Nội to stay with a friend who just had a baby.

But – that’s not the only reason why I haven’t posted lately. 

First, the video card on my IBM R51 laptop is shot.  Kaput.  Gone.  Sure, once in awhile it will boot, but I dare not have much open lest it freeze, and I have to power off without rebooting.  So, I’m emailing and posting using the MGB’s laptop.  There are some serious family quarrels brewing over computer usage.

Plus – all my photo software is on the IBM.  Yes – I know I could edit stuff on her machine, but time – that’s the hard part – her finding time to give up her Dell, and me finding time to use it when she doesn’t need it.  I doubt I will be able to post anymore pix on this blog or on the PBase photo site,

Next – the optical viewfinder on my Konica-Minolta A2 decided to die while in Điện Biên Phu.  True, I can still take photos, but I dislike using the big LCD screen as that is washed out in sunlight, and my old eyes can’t focus anyway.

Finally, this old body seems to be in need of some repair work too.  As this is a family blog, I won’t get into the gory details – I’ll just say that an old digestive problem has come back, and that will reacquire some physician work.

Give me a bit of time to write about Điện Biên Phu – for those of you wondering, that is the town in extreme northwestern Việt Nam where the French colonial army met its demise in 1954.  The trip was great, and I enjoyed it immensely.