Sweet Success

In case you guys haven't noticed, August snuck up on us this week. I was quite shocked when I had to flip my desk calendar. Families are taking their end-of-summer vacations and teachers are enjoying their last few weeks of student-free bliss. Here in Vietnam, I'm operating at full throttle as my final weeks fly by. That's right. There will be one more Derrick in the Hollow in 3 weeks!

Since I moved to Vietnam, I haven't talked much about the work I've been doing, so I'm dedicating this post to our fabulous team working to save newborns from a lifetime of disease, expensive medicines, and complications from hepatitis B.

A lot of people in Southeast Asia are infected with hepatitis B--a virus that can lead to liver disease and death. Vietnam is one of 9 top-priority countries for improving vaccination against the disease. We've been working with the national immunization program and provincial partners in Hai Duong province to vaccinate more newborns to protect them from getting the virus from their mothers during birth. Within only 4 months, PATH and our partners were able to reach more than 8,100 newborns in Hai Duong province with a lifesaving vaccine against hepatitis B. Check out PATH's blog to read more about our project.

It is nice to remember our successes in the face of so many global health challenges. As my time here comes to a close, it is nice to know that in the last 2 years, I was able to help this fabulous team get additional funding to expand our hepatitis B work and share our successes with the world.

Beachside Team Building

Last week, I spent 72 continuous hours with my PATH colleagues at our bi-annual retreat. When I first moved to Vietnam, I missed the retreat by just one month. This year, I fit it in with only 1 month to go! For 3 days, the team ate, drank, and learned a lot together. We did a lot of team building activities, like seeing who could build a device that kept an egg from breaking when dropped from 6 feet above a concrete floor (the softest material we were given was straws). I'm proud to announce that my team won with our Eggtastic Egg Launcher. It not only survived a 6-foot drop, but it almost made it through a 40-foot launch on a concrete slab. I repeat almost--there was a little crackage.

The retreat was held at the beautiful Van Chai Resort in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. It was a 4.5-hour drive from Hanoi. I wasn't super excited about the retreat at first, but after it was over, I was sad I had missed the last one! Not only was it great to wake up with a swim in the ocean or a dip in the pool every morning, but hanging out with my colleagues and learning more about their families and lives was a lot of fun. I interact with almost everyone in the office because I work on all of our projects, but there are a few people that I hardly ever get to work with. The retreat gave me a perfect chance to get to know them better, especially after a few glasses of whiskey! And, of course, no Vietnamese outting would be complete without kareoke. On our last night, we sang kareoke for 2 hours. I even mustered up the courage to do a little Whitney (why, I don't know because she is way out of my range) and some Billy Joel Uptown Girl.

It was a great time all around and we definitely felt our team building goals were achieved. Below is a picture of the team from the last day.

The PATH Vietnam team at our 2012 retreat at Van Chai Resort, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam.

Footloose and Fancy Free

I realize that the first day of summer was June 20 this year, but the summer doesn't officially start in Hanoi until the first dance party. When that first invitation arrives you get this exciting feeling that screams summer. Now, some of you in the US may be imagining typical American dance parties where there is food, beverages, and lots of party music in the background while people mingle and catch up with friends. Not in Hanoi. No sir. When we say dance party, we mean you dance or you risk being pulled onto the dance floor, at which point everyone will be staring at you so it is better to just bite the bullet and get your groove on, on your own terms.

This year's kickoff party was a legendary. The longest on record (okay, so I only have 2 years to compare to), it lasted 6 hours. By 2:00 am, my calves were aching, my dogs were barking, and my hair was a hot mess. As evident from the first picture below, I did a lot of jumping around, and no, Jump Around was not on the DJs playlist (although I would have been awesome at that dance).

This was indeed a fabulous start to the Hanoi summer. I can't wait for the next one and I'm already working on my playlist for the next go round--a mix of Usher, Prince, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, LMFAO, Michael Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, and catchy new boy band tunes out of the UK. America, be ready for the Hanoi dance party invasion coming your way in August! :-)

That's me on the right, looking like the
crazy dancing queen that I am!

Posing for a quick picture mid-dance.

 

We started to lose people to the seats after about 4 hours.
As usual, I was one of the last to leave after 6 hours of dancing!

Where Old and New Collide

Skyscrapers, dumplings, high-end shopping, Cantonese, and grits. That's what I found in Hong Kong--it really is Southeast Squared! I just spent a short weekend in the shopping mecca of the region. On day 1, I perused the ridiculously expensive shops in the Central district. I had never heard of some of the European luxury brands with the outrageous price tags. On day 2, I spent the entire day on a boat in the South China Sea, riding the waves, swimming in the cool water, and hanging out with a fun and eclectic group of people from all over the world (apparently that's the norm in HK). After the boat tour, I met everyone out for a night on the town. We hung out at a local bar in Central called Fly that has awesome co-owners/managers, tasty drinks, and a rockin DJ. By the end of the night, we were wiped out and hungry. This is where the grits come in. We stopped at a late night diner and as I was ordering my biscuits and gravy (also very Southern), the waiter pointed out the sides and asked which two I'd like. I was amazed, and super excited, to see grits. I'd like grits and grits, please! Two little ramekins of yellow grits later, I felt like my HK experience was complete! I wish I'd had more time to take in the tourist sites in HK, but I guess I'll just have to go back one day! Hope you enjoy some of my photos.

My teeny tiny hotel room. Apparently the
norm in HK even though you pay way
more than in other cities like Bangkok.

Street view near my hotel. All skyscrapers
and very clean like Singapore.

The Central area was super hilly, which I didn't
expect. There are tons of little stairways like this one.

View of HK from the boat.

Learning to shuck oysters!

The fruits of our labor! I wasn't a raw oyster fan until these!

One of the outlying islands near where we swam.

View of HK as the night lights are coming on.

One Tone at a Time

Last week I had big, but quiet, event in Vietnam. I had my last Vietnamese language lesson. Em không học tiếng Việt nữa. That's "I don't study Vietnamese anymore" in Vietnamese. When I was asked by a Vietnamese colleague this morning how my Vietnamese lessons are going, in Vietnamese, I knew what he said and how to respond. Success! I did panic a bit at first and fumble for words because one of our consultants was standing there, mouth wide open, waiting for me to say something. I don't think he realized I knew a little Vietnamese, so when I understood what was asked of me, I think he was a little surprised. 


My colleagues know I'm studying and they usually say small things to me in Vietnamese a few times a day to test me. I'm pretty relaxed with them, but when others get in the mix, I get nervous. The tones are so important and I'm afraid of offending someone by calling them a horse instead of a mother, or worse! I have to remind myself that you can't get better without trying, and making a few mistakes along the way. Another Vietnamese colleague who studied in the US told me that he was never afraid of offending people and he loved speaking English with consultants in Vietnam and his friends and fellow students in Alabama. It was the only way he could really get better.


After studying Vietnamese for 1.5 years, I'm even more impressed with people who learn languages that are so different from their own, and especially of people who teach themselves! I've met so many Vietnamese who initially taught themselves how to speak English. I think Vietnamese is hard, but English isn't an easy language either with our many exceptions to hundreds of rules and words that sound the same but have different spellings. I'm sure many Americans who couldn't wrap their heads around grammar would agree! I'm amazed by the dedication, fearlessness, and persistence of these people, and it inspires me to keep using my Vietnamese and to work more on my Spanish skills.

Shrimp Cakes Galore!

Last week I took a whirlwind 5-day trip that covered all 3 regions of Vietnam and hit 5 provinces. One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to go back to Hue in central Vietnam. I was just there about a month earlier with my friends C and J who were visiting from the US, but this time was different...I had local Vietnamese experts with me to find the really great eats.

In my previous Hue post, I mentioned that the city was famous for their Hue specialities, but I completely missed the selection of banh, or cakes, that are quite popular. Now this isn't a cake like you're probably thinking about. That is the literal translation of the word banh, but depending on the second word, you could be talking about crackers, sliced bread, cake (like what Americans would call cake), cookies, and on and on. In this case, the "cakes" are made out of rice flour and they all contain shrimp in some form. Check out my pictures of each of the cakes, which are actually more like dumplings now that I think about it, and some brief descriptions. I hope I didn't mix up the names!

The first one I tried is the most well-known, banh beo. They are served in little dishes with spoons that you use to scoop the contents out. Inside was ground shrimp and it was topped off with dried pigskin to give a little bit of crunch. I ate way more than half of these little buggers.

My half of the tray of banh beo. The bowl not like the others
was a sauce you could pour on top with chilies for a kick.

The second treat was called  banh nam. This was similar in taste to the banh beo except it didn't have the little crunch of the pork topping. It came wrapped in a banana leaf. I was a mixture of a kid on Christmas morning unwrapping my presents and a nervous Nelly waiting to see what kind of oddity I was unraveling.

Ground shrimp on top and wrapped in a banana leaf.

The third goodie was banh bot loc. This was my least favorite of the group because it was really gelatinous and hard to chew. Plus, the shrimp inside wasn't peeled, so you were eating the tail and shell too. It too came wrapped in a banana leaf, but it was smaller overall and had a small piece of leaf tied around it to hold it together.

A little sticky--you had to peel the banh bot loc off the leaf.

And last but certainly not least is banh it ram. This one was my second favorite. The top part was a little too chewy for my taste, but the bottom little crunchy ball and the crispy pork skin on top made up for the chewiness. This one is a Southerner's delight! Fried dough and fried pig skin!

They should serve these at the SC State Fair!

Another great trip to central Vietnam and more delicious local food to add to the list of yummy (and some not so yummy) things I've eat in Vietnam.

Favorite Little Place in Vietnam

Hoi An, a cute little port town in central Vietnam, is one of my favorite places here. There is no where else like it in the country. The buildings are all painted a beautiful, eye-catching, but not bright, yellow. The streets are closed off to all traffic, even bicycles, in the main town center for the majority of the day. That it definitely unheard of in Vietnam!

After my visit to Hue with C and J, we headed to Hoi An, about a 3.5-hour car ride south. The ride down was really nice as it is supposed to be one of the best scenic drives in the country. They built a new tunnel that takes about 30 minutes off the trip, but you can't see any of the beautiful landscape, which is usually the case when you're driving through a mountain encased by concrete. :-)

It was great to show C and J around one of my favorite spots. C and J both got into the Hoi An tailoring groove and bought several items each. We spent our days in a nice rhythm starting with breakfast, followed by beach time. We'd take the 2:00 pm shuttle into town and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening meandering through the shops, eating lots of great food, and drinking $0.20 homemade beer (it is even cheaper than Hanoi!). I unfortunately got burned the first day despite being under a palm tree in what I thought was the shade. I was lounging by the pool reading a book most of the afternoon and by that night, from my knees to my ankles were burned on the front because of how I was sitting in the chair. I looked quite ridiculous. I also had a very weird tan line on my arms because I ran out of sunscreen or just forgot to put it on past the top part of my arms. You could see the fingers marks from where I stopped. I just can't go to the beach without a crazy sunscreen incident.

I hope you enjoy some of the photos from our drive from Hue to Hoi An and some of the scenery around town!

A hill station on the road to Hoi An where US
troops use to scope out the North Vietnamese
troops. The area is very close to the DMZ.

View from the drive to Hoi An along the Hai Van Pass.

$0.20 beers in Hoi An! They are fresh too!

Hoi An is lit by lanterns at night.
I wish my camera could do it justice!

Lounging beach side in Hoi An. This is day 2 and
I stayed under a fully covered tiki hut the whole time.

These are cocoons! It was the strangest thing ever.
They were just sitting out by the place our
shuttle dropped us off in town.