Destination Danang 06

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! =)

I'm sorry this is like wayyyyy overdue but I was in Viet Nam from 11 Dec to 30 Dec. I would like to say that I have only just fully recovered from all the drinking bouts we had there, the mee kuang, rice crackers, the sleeping on cold hard floor with your sleeping bag, bathing with the wonderful insect life that somehow loves to commit suicide in your rain water storage area etc.

I really enjoyed myself on this trip not withstanding the little sexist event that happened. My tolerance was severely tested on this trip and maybe somehow I did compromise all my ideals a bit but ultimately, I did make it up in other ways. Going on this trip was like rediscovering the ideals I set for myself and had of others. One thing I noticed was the army incident is slowly disappearing from my conscious mind. I don't really get so hung up over it I guess. Ideals ideals. I don't realy want to mention the sexist incident over here or talk about it because it also involved my friends. Sometimes, I choose peace over conflict because I'm a mediator by character. I also am very proud of my upbringing as an IJ girl: Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty. The motto means so much to me as it symbolises that as long as my ideals are simple and pure, it is my greatest honour to be steadfast in executing them. The real meaning behind the motto might not be like that but I have interpreted it as such and it has never failed me.

I realised that I do have high expectations of myself in doing things that I believe are right. Of course, as Glynsen said, Right is subjective but then again, to your own self, right is whatever you want to believe is the correct way. I don't necessarily impose them on people because I seriously know that we both have had different phemenological experiences. I might feel disappointed, yes, but it is something I would just ponder and soon forget. But if I do get upset, I think it is because of a personal reason rather than just my ideals playing a part.

Also, on the RnR, I saw more of death in Viet Nam than the scenery. Call me morbid but I was given information more on the deaths than on anything else. Viet Nam has a lot of fighting in their history and it doesn't help that the province we are in has the most number of martyrs given that they were near the North of Communist Vietnam during Viet Nam war. So many people with individual lives fighting because of power relations. Sometimes, you don't know what to make of it. Fighting just purely militarily is again to me an honour just like it is to Field Marshal Rommel but fighting because some crooked ass on the top decides that he cannot allow another country free will just makes you wonder about the freedom they talk about. The characters of war came alive to me during the trip and seriously, I would have gone on and just meandered around the dead but my group had other plans. I took a long time at the war museum because I wanted to find out about the history, not to mention I also have some background knowledge that I apparently gave Ee Min and Jan a short history lesson. My military knowledge is rusting though haha. What exactly are flamethrowers for? Anyway, it was after one of this incidents through Marble Mountain where the Viet Cong fought on the mountains. While everyone was gushing about the view and the serenity, again, I thought of betrayals, assasinations, secret missions, artillery fire, falling planes, falling boulders and the lost dead. Sometimes, knowing too much history makes you want to go back in time and hopefully give men a smack on their heads. It was also during this time that I had a solemn talk with Ee Min about death.

This trip also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone. I learnt how to kill houseflies! Haha, kidding. It was more of trying to regulate my alcohol intake and of course, I learnt how to ride a motorbike. It is very interesting that in Viet Nam, there aren't many traffic lights but there aren't many accidents. People always look out for each other and once when I was a pillion rider, my motorbiking friend sounded the horn as they approached the t-junction and the motorbikes on the right gave way. I mean wow! Also when you are a pedestrian here, you just walk any given way without looking. Of course it is unnerving but a very fun experience. Eye-opening in fact.

So then what about the real objective of the trip which was to furnish a reading room, to paint and to interact with the kids? Did anything come to fruition? Did they learn English? Was an environment created for them to learn English? Haha... in the end, I don't think so. Again, with my convo back before the trip with Yiling and Junwen, weren't we imposing English on them? But in the end, everything was in Vietnamese with a couple of English books. Also, we realised that they didn't need us to be here. All the stuff... they could have done it by themselves! So why? Up to today, I still cannot have a conclusive answer to it.

But I enjoyed this YEP and the new friends I have made, the shit we went through, the games we played, the fact that we could learn more about ourselves, the guys: Glyn and Dom who went all out to listen to me, the assumptions we made, the tears we shed, the drinks we bottoms up, the people we KO-ed as a team, the fake rice wine and beer we concocted, the Mot Hai Ba YOH!, the wooden splinters we got, the wounds that required First Aid, the girls' hearts the guys broke eg ChenYong 1 Viet Nam 0, the cooking into the late night, the nagging, the WHO DOES THE WASHUP, the hot coffee and milo in the morning, those french loaves everyday...

So A Big Thank You in no order of merit to
Edmund
Andy
Ee Min
Lynnette
Geck
Mad
Hui Pang
Yiteng
Yin Yee
Jan
Jingyi
Dom
Glyn
Ibnur
Lester aka Mor-rester
Hong Keat
Chen Yong
Ru De
and last and not the least Lianghan.

Destination Danang 06!