Antidote to Burnout

Long time no post....

Virtual Doug recently presented several potential reasons for his not posting for a long time on his blog.  Missing the muses was one of them.  I have definitely missed the muses over the past month and a half.  My last posting was just prior to leaving for San Francisco, and now that I have returned to Ho Chi Minh City, I am relaxed enough to get back to the blog.

Doug concluded that he had "stopped observing the world", and I heartily agree that observing the world is perhaps the major impetus to most blog postings.  That is certainly true of Doug and his blog where there have been more interesting observations and profound conclusions about life per inch of posting than any other blog I read (over two hundred a day, not all of whom post daily).

In my case though, I have been accumulating photographs and ideas for blog items, but I simply have not had the desire to write the posts.  Writing is not a natural activity for me -- I really have to work at it and edit many times.  So it does take the prodding of the muses to keep me writing, and when they take a holiday, I stop writing.  And the holidays do take a lot of psychic energy, time, and attention.

Now that the Christmas season is over and I am back in Vietnam, the Tết season is upon us, and it requires some of the same psychic energy, even though I am not directly participating.  The logistics of surviving these long holidays in Asia are a major part of the time and attention taken away from other desirable pursuits.  Of course there are also the emotional benefits and cultural experiences gained from observing these holidays that outweighs all the stress in the end.

This year, I have been invited to the family home of a Vietnamese friend of mine.  We will be taking a long bus ride to the hills of Dắk Lắk Province in central Việt Nam, around Buôn Ma Thuôt, where the famous rich coffee of Việt Nam is grown.  I hope to capture many good photographs and observations, but I don't know that I will have internet access while out in the country.  If not, there will be another couple of weeks of no posting, and thereafter a potential flood of postings.  I am looking for the muses to be back inspiring with a cattle prod.

Cultural differences

Most of the Asians I know don't totally fit the stereotypes I unfortunately carry around in my head about what people should be.  The same applies to how other people view me -- my neighbors often wonder why an American expat (supposed to be rich) lives in what they consider to be a Vietnamese ghetto.  Nevertheless, we laugh as we read the long lists of characteristics we ascribe to ourselves because there are often elements of truth in them.

Tim Johnson of the journalism blog China Rises recently posted a series of pictographs  illustrating perceived differences in culture and outlook between Germans and Chinese.  The following poster illustrates the differences in behavior at a party, with the German pattern in blue on the left, and the Chinese pattern in red:

This pattern is consistent with my own different experience at American vs. Vietnamese parties, and as documented by Duong Lam Anh in his blog about Vietnamese life.  This particular pattern for Vietnam might have two or three circles instead of one.

These posters were designed by a Chinese designer named Yang Liu and were exhibited at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin this summer (photo from the yangliudesign.com website).

It is interesting that these perceived cultural differences have been given the imprimatur of a government agency.  Although we politically-correct ones would like to think we shy away from such generalizations, I think there are differences and commonalities to be learned about each other as we view these pictographs and compare them with our own experiences.

We are back "home" in Ho Chi Minh City after our month in the USA.  We went there for the wedding of our older daughter.  I have been putting off posting anything about this wonderful event, while running through a debate in my mind as to whether this blog has become (and should be) more journalistic and much less personal.  My original intent was to mix the two, but the past year has been predominately journalistic.  But even professional journalist bloggers like Tim Johnson, Beijing Bureau Chief for the McClatchy Newspapers, occasionally gets family personal in his excellent and prolific blog China Rises.

So here's a wedding photograph of Kristine's wedding to David Nakamura, Washington Post journalist.

The setting is a mountain lake in western Montana just southwest of Glacier National Park.  Montana is my home state where I was raised and achieved my B.Arch at Montana State University.  After that, though, it was off to see the world, and learn how to live in big cities.

Kristine has never lived in Montana.  She chose this location to bridge between her friends, colleagues, and David's family in Washington, DC, where she and David live, and her friends and relatives in California.  She also wanted to encourage her relatives and friends to take some time off for a vacation in Montana.

This brings me to some thoughts as to why I would return to Saigon.  Why not just retire in Montana and enjoy this wonderful setting?  Or at least stay in San Francisco, one of the acknowledged prime cities of the world.  My plan is to someday retire and try to spend four months of the year in Montana (July, August, November, and December), four months in San Francisco (May, June, September, and October), and then January through April in Viet Nam, which is the best time to be in HCMC, and the worst time to be in either Montana or San Francisco.

I am intrigued by people's reasons for choosing a location to live.  I suspect most people stay where they were born (like most of my neighbors in Saigon) or go where friends and relatives beckon them with good jobs and support (Mexican immigrants in America).  Upon reaching retirement, many Americans have many options for relocating away from their former workplace.  How do they choose where to live?  I admire Virtual Doug for his version of retirement, and he is especially inspiring when speaking of his devotion to caring for his mother.

So what is it that attracts me back to Ho Chi Minh City?  Beyond the heat that I love, the friendliness of my neighbors, and the healthy food, I especially like the intensity of life and environment here.  And this is from a person who most enjoys his leisurely breakfast and coffee in the morning, a nap at lunchtime, another coffee hour at the cafe in the late afternoon, and beer on the roof terrace in the evening with dinner.

I get energy from being around lots of people (even though I can't talk with them), and HCMC is the perfect balance of high density population in a relatively safe environment.  The neighborhood is generally low-rise with an average of three levels.  But the lanes are narrow, and the doors and windows are open, so there is constant contact with people.  That also means that the neighborhood is very safe.

The intensity here is sensual -- many colors and angles and variety of visual experiences; many sounds including wonderful Vietnamese music (but yes, there is a downside sometimes); and fragrant smells from cooking that provides wonderful tastes.  Does this intensity of life arise out of the density or out of the local culture?  This is a question I hope to study over the next few months.

Back in San Francisco...

I am back in San Francisco for a month after 7 months in Ho Chi Minh City.  This being summertime, San Francisco is shrouded in fog until mid-day, and it is damp and cold.  Part of the big change in moving to HCMC was escaping to the heat, which I love after 30 years of the cold in San Francisco.

Another part of my personal burnout was my taking for granted the beauty and energy of San Francisco.  It has been good to move away for a year-and-a-half and then return to appreciate anew why San Francisco is such a special place, including its climate.  My neighborhood, Glen Park, has improved with two new restaurants opened in the village, with one replacing a seedy bar.  The undergrounding of utilities is finally completed on my street.

Downtown at lunchtime, the density of people rivals that of Ho Chi Minh City.  Of course the majority of the downtown workers don't live in San Francisco, but they add immensely to the energy of the city.  I noticed that the standard of dress has returned to suits and business casual rather than the jeans of the past few years.  In addition to being a financial center, San Francisco is the creative center for the adjacent Silicon Valley.  The blog capital of the world is here south of Market Street, which was made very clear when an afternoon power outage knocked the major blog services off the net for a couple of hours, including Technorati.

Returning to the USA is also a time to recharge my western tastes in food.  While in Saigon, we stick to Vietnamese or other Asian food, and we love the healthy fresh ingredients and tastes that characterize Vietnamese food.  But part of the antidote to burnout is to avoid staying in a rut for too long.  Although I don't miss western food while in Viet Nam, I do look forward to the return visits to the USA to do a change-up and give the VN food a break.  I keep a list of my favorite foods and restaurants, and I have been working my way down the list, starting with a western breakfast of pancakes, egss, and bacon, then a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, followed by pizza for dinner.  I will be moving on to hamburgers, steaks, cinnamon rolls, burritos and tacos.

This is also a good time to evaluate the antidote to burnout.  After a year-and-a-half in Ho Chi Minh City, the change has been very good for me, even if my business is not working out as hoped.  The key to change is to learn new things, which has been abundant for me as I learn more everyday about the real estate development business, building upon my 35-year career in architecture and project management.  I have also rekindled my old interests in urban design and planning, since Saigon is in the midst of a major rezoning and city vision project. I love living in HCMC.  What I am now learning, however, is the need for constant change-up between major changes.  It is important to "get out of town" regularly, eat varieties of food, and stay out of ruts.

This seems like common sense -- a prescription that everyone can follow, but I observe that people find it easier to stay in ruts.

For old nostalgic U.S. Navy C.E.C. officers only:

My blog service, Typepad, gives me information daily on how many page hits the blog receives the previous day.  In addition, I can also see what kinds of Google searches people have done to find the blog.  However, I cannot see who has made the searches.

Sometimes, reviewing these Google searches gives me ideas for topics to cover.  Some of these items are very particular to some shared experience the searcher and I may have had.  Lately, there have been several searches for "OICC" and "Dang Duc Sieu".  There are not many people in the world that would have interest in searching on those terms.  Those terms are common primarily to those of us who served with the U.S. Navy Officer in Charge of Construction, Republic of Vietnam, back in the late 60s and early 70s.  Dang Duc Sieu was the old name of the one-block-long street on which the small hotel was located that housed our 50-or-so naval Civil Engineer Corps officers.

The office building of OICC-RVN was located at 176 Hai Ba Trung Street in downtown Saigon.  OICC had many American and Vietnamese civilian employees.

The building is still located there, in use as an office building for a state-owned Vietnamese company.

Since OICC-RVN was the contracting officer for the cost-plus construction contract with the huge contracting consortium RMK-BRJ, many old RMK senior staff will also be familiar with this building.

Đường (Street) Dang Duc Sieu is now named Đường (Street) Nam Quốc Cang.

This is that street today as viewed from the west on Bùi Thi Xuân Street.  I cannot remember what the name of this street used to be.  The OICC hotel was located mid-block on the right hand (south) side of the street.

The opposite street on the east was called Võ Tánh Street, but is now called Nguyễn Trãi Street.  This photo is taken from Nguyễn Trãi Street viewed west on old Dang Duc Sieu Street.

The hotel would be on the left side in this photo.

This was the hotel in 1972, featuring grenade screens and a generator out in front behind the green sandbags.

My friend and blog reader emem, who worked in another building on this street until recently,  tells me that this hotel was torn down several years ago and replaced with the building shown in the center of the following photograph (not the building with the "KOOL" sign).

The more I look at this photo, however, the more I believe that it is possible that the building was remodeled.  The height is the same, and you can see the old roof-top restaurant and deck at the top of the building.

Here is a view of the houses across the street in 1972:

And here is the house across the street today:

The modernist house that was located to the left of the French colonial villa has either been rebuilt or substantially remodeled.

This was the view in 1972 to the west end of Dang Duc Sieu from the rooftop of the hotel.

This is the view today at the end of Dang Duc Sieu:

The new eight to ten-story buildings along the street and at the end of the street are typical of the new construction in Ho Chi Minh City over the past decade in District 1 neighborhoods.

This neighborhood is located south of downtown (downtown defined as the City Hall area at the west end of Nguyễn Huê Blvd. where it intersects with Lê Lợi Blvd.)  As shown in this photograph taken in 1972 from the hotel rooftop with a telephoto lens,

a railroad yard with the old terminal at the end stretched to the Bến Thành market.  This area is now a long park called 23 September Park, bordered on the right by Phạm Ngũ Lão Street, which is now the center for cheap "backpacker" hotels.

In this photo taken in 1972 just to the left of the previous photo, a water tower, church, and rounded apartment building are shown.

All of those structure still exist, as shown in this photograph taken by my friend emem a couple of years ago.

The new checkered building is Zen Plaza, a retail shopping center.

The Church was on Võ Tánh Street, now renamed as Nguyễn Trãi Street.  This is the modern view of this street at the intersection of the old Dang Duc Sieu Street.

The new high-rise building at the end of old Dang Duc Sieu is a 13 or 14-story building, and is emblematic of the changes occurring throughout Ho Chi Minh City.

Back in Ho Chi Minh City

We are back in Viet Nam -- have been for 10 days now.  I am very happy to be back in HCMC, where I am much more relaxed.  It is not that I wasn't happy at home -- I was just itching to get back to Viet Nam and get my daily fix of intensive sensory stimulation.

San Francisco was cold as usual, and our hundred-year-old house is too drafty.  The cold goes to my bones.  In HCMC, I love the heat.  Actually it isn't that hot at this time in HCMC -- 80s every day instead of 90s, and a cooling breeze in the afternoon and evening.

I haven't been in the mood to contribute to the blog lately, though.  Although I am happy to be back in Viet Nam, I am unhappy about the slow pace of our real estate development business growth.  My three American partners came back to HCMC at the same time, and we have been very busy.  But the business is not yet paying off.

Real estate development to me is a form of gambling.  But I would prefer not to be gambling.  I am sure most developers would say that their skills and good judgments lift their activities beyond gambling.  But our American skills seem to have less impact here for us here in Viet Nam, and our judgments have seen mixed results.  Actually there haven't been any results.  We are back to square-one in appraising potential properties and uses at this time.

Everyday we seem to be dealt a new hand, even if the previous day's hand of cards has not yet been fully played out.  Some days the cards bring us what appears to be bright prospects -- the next day the hand of cards mysteriously changes and we lose.  Most of what we wager and lose is precious time.  It is a good thing we don't have any money to wager, or it might be much worse.  Our job at this point is to get other people to wager the money, or the land.  And that is where the cards constantly change.  Over time, we should hone our skills and knowledge of doing business in Viet Nam, but it is clear that we have a long ways to go to lift ourselves above the common playing table.

We do seem to have picked some better playing teammates at this time, though, so we hope we have increased our odds.  As soon as good results happen (achieving issuance of an investment license on a project), then I will let you know and try to pass on some of the lessons learned.  Of course, the investment license just increases the stakes and risks substantially.

Real gambling is actually our biggest problem is at this time.  There have been indications that the Vietnamese national government will eventually issue several gambling licenses to real estate developers aligned with gaming operators and land owners.  [No one actually owns land in Viet Nam -- one owns the right to use land].  No one seems to be able to agree on how many licenses will be issued, or when, or where.  Our prospective lenders and land owners for resort projects are wanting to chase the big prizes, so we have had to turn resort projects into larger casino projects.  This has diverted precious attention from less risky potential projects.  But the prizes for the winners are going to be substantial, so we have caught the gambling bug and are thoroughly addicted at this time.

On a more worthwhile note, it is good to see Virtual-Doug back in Hue and blogging daily with fresh insights and beautiful photographs.  He is here in Viet Nam for a month or so to visit his ailing friend (a friend indeed to many).

Missing Christmas in Việt Nam

While Americans debate celebation of Christmas versus generic holidays, the Vietnamese unabashedly celebrate Christmas as a national holiday.  In my observation, Vietnamese love parties and celebrations, in addition to being avid consumerists.  They also love to sing, and Christmas carols provide many opportunities to sing in this season.  Although statistics (81% non-religious??) indicate otherwise, Vietnamese are also highly spiritual or religious (at least in the south where I live).  Therefore Christmas provides a wonderful opportunity to display their strong sense of design and community.

OK -- plenty of gross generalizations made here to ponder.  Better to go to two sources that graphically and articulately  show the response of Vietnamese to Christmas:

charvey in vietnam dislays his conclusion that Vietnamese love Christmas with many photos of a Christian worship service that he attended with his Vietnamese friends.

the final Word in Saigon presents several quality photographs of Christmas decorations around TP. Hồ Chí Minh.  In my opinion, these decorations far surpass in design quality and quantity most of the decorations I see around the USA, including downtown San Francisco. 

Thank you to Chris and Jon for offering their on-the-spot observations for those of us that went home for Christmas.

Mixing blogs....

I have been struggling lately with the idea of starting a second blog to focus on design and business issues in Vietnam.  Conventional blog management wisdom says that one should focus on a niche market and build up brand identity.  Noodlepie was the prime example of this type, focusing almost solely on Sai Gon street food and drink.  Pieman rarely if ever posted personal information on his blog.  Of course his success rode largely, in my opinion, on his lively writing style, which is its own niche.

Many expat blogs in Viet Nam are personal chronicles or observations of life in Viet Nam, which is another niche market.  Those looking for information on expat life in Ho Chi Minh City will surely find it in blogs like Charvey in Vietnam and It's the Final Word.

I have tried to make my own blog my means of communication about life in HCMC to my relatives and friends back in the USA, and I would like to continue towards that goal.  Along the way, I hope I also contribute some different perspectives on Vietnamese culture and society.

At this point in my expat life though, I have much more to say about design and business in Vietnam.  But I cannot find the time and energy to feed two beasts at the same time.  So I am going to start breaking the rules by mixing business and design issues with Vietnamese cultural and societal issues.  Hang in with me while I sort out how to please two constituencies in one blog.

Response to life in Viet Nam

Chris Harvey at Charvey in Vietnam reminds us of the secret to successful life anywhere, but especially while living in a different country and culture than one's home town.  It seems obvious but we too often forget that our own attitudes toward people reflect back to us in how those folks respond to us.  His Aunt Jackie had the best comment with the universal truth to " Treat others the way you wish to be treated."  This is an important reading for all of us living as expats in countries like Viẹt Nam.

Over the past ten months here in TP. Hồ Chí Minh, I have been surprised how laid back I have become about what would be perceived in San Francisco immediately as rude behavior.  It isn't really rude behavior or arrogance.  There are just so many more people here in constricted space, so someone is more likely to cross you in unexpected ways.  But I rarely see bad intent in those actions -- more likely it is not paying attention, and we all suffer that at times.

The Golden Rule works both ways.  I am sure my change in response is a reflection of the general friendliness and "live and let-live" philosophy of Vietnamese people around me.

Inter-generational celebrating

I have said before that the future of Việt Nam is in the good hands of its young people.  This group of young people confirms my faith that Vietnamese youth have the motivation and intelligence to carry through the modernization of the economy started by Việt Nam's current generation of leaders.

I enjoy the fellowship of these young people.  In exchange for leading this group in speaking English (not teaching, just conversation practice), they help disabuse me of inaccurate perceptions I may have gained about Vietnamese culture or society.  We talk primarily about business topics, though, and they help me to understand the basics of Vietnamese business practices.  Going around the table clockwise from the left, Hui is a software design engineer for a Japanese company, Hùng was an information technology technician for a Taiwanese company manufacturing for Nike in Vietnam, Sammy is a production planner for the same company, and Hao is an accountant for a Vietnamese trading company.  I am the old guy whose 60th birthday they are celebrating in this Vietnamese restaurant.  They all speak English fairly well -- they seek to improve their vocabulary and listening skills to help them advance in their careers.

Hùng has a new visa to emigrate to Canada to help care for his grandmother there.  Many Vietnamese young people tell me they would love an opportunity to emigrate to Canada, the USA, or Australia, especially for educational opportunities.  I try to tell them that the best opportunities are here right now in Việt Nam.  But I can understand the desire for new experiences and perspectives -- that is why I came to Việt Nam at a rather inopportune time in its history thirty-four years ago.

Thanks to wife Hiền for organizing this surprise birthday party, and thanks to these good friends for their fellowship and gifts.

Looking for expat bloggers who pose at experts...

The "A Rice Cracker?" posting here three weeks ago engendered ongoing contributions of comments regarding these fairly controversial issues.  Chris of the blog Charvey in Vietnam came in a little late yestersday, though, and posed a challenge to antagonists to present evidence of expat bloggers felt to be presumptiously posing as experts in a foreign location or culture.  Since this is an important direction in this thread of issues, I want to elevate it out of the relative obscurity of the comments to that posting and bring it forth in this posting where others might more easily see it and respond.  Here is the challenge:

Ok, so I've read this comment thread as well as the posts and comments in several (but not all) other blogs. I'm still confused though.

There's a lot of talk about how some small number of expat bloggers claim to be absolute experts on Vietnamese society. Obviously that's bunk. But I haven't seen one citation of this phenomenon. Could someone point to a representative post make the "expert" claim and then makes an erroneous generalization? [emphasis added by layered]  It would be good to get an unfiltered read on what all the fuss is about.

Thanks,
Chris
Posted by: charvey | 24 September 2006 at 12:44 AM

Chris, the practical point I think I learned from this exchange is that the problem is generally one of omission -- one doesn't at the outset qualify one's position to offer viewpoints of a culture not his own. In addition, bloggers (especially travel bloggers) tend to make generalizations that may not apply to an entire country or culture. I am constantly having to remind myself that the remainder of Viet Nam and Vietnamese may well be quite a bit different from what I observe in HCMC. You have lived in Washington, DC, and I in San Francisco. I think we both know that we cannot characterize America or Americans based on our experiences in those two cities.

There was an interesting interview of the noodlepie blogger in the blog Shortcut a few days ago, wherein Graham Holliday ("pieman" of noodlepie) states "I feel I have gained a real insight into the country and the people, both the good and bad. I don't think I wasted my time there. It's been educational in many ways. And of course, I learned MASSES about the food." I believe him because I know he lived in Viet Nam (both HCMC and Hanoi) for 8 to 9 years. But I am sure there are many Asians (my wife included) who might say that it would be impossible for a caucasian to ever understand an Asian culture, including its food.
-- Mel
Posted by: layered | 24 September 2006 at 09:58 PM

I couldn't disagree with you more, Mel. Although I have not lived in every city in America, I *can* make characterizations of America and Americans based on my experiences living there nearly all my life.

I also disagree with what seems to be the fundamental thrust of this thread -- that anyone living in another culture (i.e. western expats in Asia) cannot really get a sense for that culture.

The Graham Holliday quote you cite is utterly innocuous: "I feel I have gained a real insight into the country and the people, both the good and bad." I don't see him claiming to understand everything about Vietnam. He's saying that he "feels like" he has made "real insight" into the culture. And why shouldn't he? He lived there for 8 years!

Regarding whether it's impossible for a westerner ever to "understand" Asian culture (or an Asian to "understand" western culture) depends on how you define "understand." If you define it as "have identical thoughts and beliefs as a native" (a crazy high bar) then perhaps understanding is in fact impossible. If you define it as "getting a good sense for, learning the reasons behind certain customs, adopting local mannerisms (for example here in Vietnam, receiving a card with both hands) then yes, understanding is quite readily available with some effort.

Of course, a stranger in a strange land should think twice before making sweeping generalizations and presenting them as absolute truth. But I don't think we need to pour on massive disclaimers before rendering an opinion. As long as an opinion is presented as such, I just don't see a problem.

I enjoy reading raw, unvarnished opinions and impressions of bloggers of all stripes and nationalities. Keep those posts coming!

Posted by: charvey | 24 September 2006 at 11:16 PM

Chris, OK, I agree with you that the Graham Holliday quotation is innocuous -- maybe not "utterly", but at least "fairly". My concern is for others who will disagree on principle that a non-Asian cannot possibly begin to really understand Asian culture. I agree with you that we need to hear from these people, if there are any -- I may be overly concerned.

I shouldn't use locations like Washington, DC, then as an example of a place different from the remainder of the USA since I have not lived there (although I have visited my older daughter who lives and works there several times). But I know that as one who lived in San Francisco for over thirty years, I find it hard sometimes to understand the remainder of America and Americans. It takes travel to other places (like my annual trips home to Montana) to remind me how interestingly different San Francisco and its citizens are from mainstream America. The point is, I have to remind myself of this difference and seek out ways to better understand America, whether that be more diverse media and blog sources, or bettter yet, travel and discussions.

Chris, since we're kind of hidden here in this old thread of comments, I am going to copy our latest discussion to a posting today, in the hopes of drawing a response to your original challenge to cite some specific blog examples of expat experts.
thanks,
-- Mel
Posted by: layered | 25 September 2006 at 12:23 PM

Meeting the future of Việt Nam....

Back on 2 September, I wrote about my frustrations in not having friends here in Việt Nam to communicate with.  I received some very supportive comments to that posting that I appreciated very much.  However, I obviously had to be the one to take action and find a way to develop some conversation partners.

Charvey had the best suggestion, seconded by Jon Hoff -- attend the "English Conversation Hour" at 8:00 a.m. at the large youth center in downtown Saigon.  So I did today -- there were 500 Vietnamese young people there (plus a few older citizens), and me, the one non-Vietnamese person there.  There was no leader -- everyone just distributed themselves into conversation-sized groups and started in.  The conversation "hour" lasted until 11:00 a.m., though, which is a lot of talking.  I wish there had been some mechanism to encourage the shifting of participants every half-hour or so -- there was some shifting in of new people into and out of our group, but I spoke with many people in our group the entire three hours.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed this gathering very much.

These young people seem to take the importance of learning English very seriously.  Many of them told me that speaking English fluently was imperative for advancement in their careers.  It certainly takes a great deal of motivation to give up three or four hours on a Sunday morning to come in and work hard trying to speak a second language.  Most of them said they come every Sunday even though the conversation topics are somewhat limited to what people can ask, and are therefore repeated over and over.  Many of the students came from living places far out in the outer reaches of HCMC (there is a large university in Thủ Dức, a suburb of Sài Gòn, but still within the city limits of TP. Hồ Chí Minh.)

Although this group of Vietnamese is probably not representative of the population as a whole (being mostly university students), they impressed me for the future of Việt Nam.  They were lively and gutsy individuals and weren't shy about jumping into the conversations.

I am sure there will be some good friendships developing with some of these young people.  I am looking forward to working hard to earn their friendship.  Some said they will help me to learn Vietnamese, too -- I need all the help I can earn.

Looking to global voices beyond my postings...

The value of any blog often lies in the comments available at the end of each posting.  It is the interaction between blog author and readers in the form of reader comments that amplifies and clarifies the author's ideas expressed in the blog posting.

The posting below on "A Rice Cracker?" is a prime example.  Click on the Comments button at the bottom of the posting and you will find 13 comments that offer far more than than the original transfer of ideas I expressed in the posting itself.  Many of these commenters have much more developed ideas than I have about this subject, and many of them write much better than I do.

This is why I love writing and reading blogs so much -- I especially respect and enjoy good writing and insightful ideas, even though I struggle at both myself.

For a moment in time here online, I have met some new friends with ideas to compare with mine.  Even though we may not meet again online for a long time, they have helped me to clarify my ideas, and I have learned a little bit about them, although it is such a small sampling that there is no way to picture these new friends accurately at all.  It helps to point the way, though, to their blogs where a better but still fuzzy picture begins to emerge about a person.

As more and more foreigners (both tourists and expats) flood into and multiply in Viet Nam over the next few years, these topics will become even more important.  Many of these new foreigners will be insensitive to the Vietnamese society and people, which will lead to misunderstandings and resentments.  Therefore discussions like this might help a little bit in providing resources to tourists and expats as they prepare to travel through or live and work in Viet Nam.  Mark just published an article on the Harvard Law School blog Global Voices (Vietnam page) that summarized  for us the sensitivity and humility foreigners bloggers should consider in observing and writing about Vietnamese life.

I give thanks to Mark for writing his article and for him and all of the commenters on my posting below for enriching our understanding of these ideas and for the beauty and intelligence of their writing.

A Rice Cracker?

D. has posted a provocative thread of ideas on his blog VA to VN entitled "Everyone's an expert" (5 September 2006).  He points us to the website Ethnically Incorrect Daughter, published by what he describes as a "conflicted Vietnamese adoptee."  He writes,

"One of her posts spoke about how some ex-pats return from a stint abroad with a greater sense of "understanding" of the foreign culture than they truly have obtained. It was a riff off of this post from What Happened to Your Hair? These two posts stirred within me a latent impression of a few of the expat discussions on blogs and forums. It seems everyone thinks they're an expert - be it from two weeks or two years in a foreign land, all the while living high on the hog......It's wholly presumptuous to think that you've done anything other than scratching the surface of a culture and a society when you don't (1) speak the language (2) look like a local - even a fat V.K. doesn't cut it - and (3) earn a living like everyone else. It's great that you've used your passport, it's great that you've learned to order beer in a foreign language. But, for god sakes, realize that hundreds of thousands of other people have done this - they're called immigrants. They just don't blog about it."

D.'s link to the posting on the blog What Happened to Your Hair? is entitled "The Rice Cracker" on 26 August 2006, written by Kev Minh of Seattle -- here is an excerpt:

"What is it with white American males who travel to a foreign country and come back presuming they "know" a whole culture? Are we to believe that these men are outfitted with an osmosis/camouflage gene that allows them to travel to a foreign country and soak up its essence and blend into the native surroundings in order to fraternize with the locals? Then, they return home, book and movie deal already in hand, to write and speak extensively about their exotic adventures and proclaim their expertise in the field? Of course, I'm being facetious, but do notice that I am denigrating a certain annoying characterstic called "White privilege". In the White privilege paradigm the tendency is to speak one's mind as if it were the bible-truth, without reservation or qualification, and convince oneself that apologies and concessions are for weaklings."

Well, that thread of ideas has certainly caused me to reflect on my own motivations and identity as an American blogger writing about my observations in Viet Nam.  Here's my starting point:
1.  I am a white American male.
2.  I have been in Viet Nam now for seven months, but have not yet returned to America, so that makes me an expat at this time.
3.  I don't speak the Vietnamese language or any language other than English, but I am currently trying hard to learn Vietnamese.  It appears that this is going to take a very long time, but my current intentions are to live in Viet Nam for a long time.  In the meantime, I can definitely order beer (bia) in the Vietnamese language.
4.  I definitely don't look like a local, but I have made a choice to live among locals rather than the expat areas of Ho Chi Minh City.  My Chinese-Vietnamese wife looks like a local, but the locals recognize her easily (I don't know how) as a Việt Kiều (an overseas or returned Vietnamese).
5.  We do and don't earn money like the locals -- there are many Vietnamese real estate developers in this rather closed market here, and we are trying to compete or work with them.  Typically, developers work for nothing until an income stream from their projects comes online.  For us, it appears that this will be several years from now if all the risk factors fall my firm's way.  In the meantime, we live off savings.  Therefore we try to live at the same economic level of our Vietnamese neighbors.
6.  I don't have a book or movie deal in hand, but I do enjoy publishing my experiences and observations in my blog.

I definitely feel that I have achieved some understanding of the circumstances and culture of Vietnamese life, and I enjoy offering my observations for the possible benefit of those who will follow me in the coming investment rush to Viet Nam.  But the longer I am here, the more I realize how much more I have to experience and learn.  I have come to understand that it would be presumptuous to think that I have done anything other than scratch the surface of the Vietnamese culture and society.  But I want to try to understand as much as I can.  My real fascination with Việt Nam is its people and their friendliness, and with their culture and approach to life.  There is much for me to learn here.

So do I stand on "White privilege"?  Preya raised a similar question last March in her blog Dreaming of Hanoi.  My answer then, as it is now:

"If one grants that a westerner's base motives for going overseas are at heart a search for validation of western culture over other cultures (even if this is mostly subconscious to us), then the opposite might be gained in the course of living in an overseas culture -- we learn things about other peoples and their cultures that open new perspectives and appreciations for us.  What we learn strikes out what we thought we knew or hoped we would find.  Ideally, the new balances out the old preconceptions.  I am not saying this is true for everyone who visits overseas cultures, but I am striving to make it true for me."

Yes, I do tend to offer my experiences and observations on my blog without enough reference to "reservation or qualification".  I assume too often that most readers will read my "about" and "essential" postings to understand my privileged background and put my postings in the context of that background and current stated intentions.

But I think Sume of the blog Ethnically Incorrect Daughter has a good solution -- she wrote in a comment to Kev Minh's posting: "Why not take them head on, pick their opinions apart, point out the flaws and show them for the experts they're NOT? At the very least, make it known that their's is not the only opinion out there."

I might not like it, but I hope I would learn from the experience of others challenging the gross generalizations to which I know I am prone.  I hope that these challenges would come from Vietnamese people themselves.  I attempt to ask questions and try out my ideas on the Vietnamese around me, but they too reflect a limited cross-section of the population and culture.  I am sure I could learn a lot about Vietnamese life and culture from reading Vietnamese blogs if I could read Vietnamese.

As for immigrants not blogging about their experiences, I suspect there are some that do.  We need to find them so that we can better understand what they think about their adopted land and people, and thus we learn about ourselves as we meet them.

The limitations of "going Vietnamese"....

When we moved here to Ho Chi Minh City seven months ago, we found a house to rent in a Vietnamese neighborhood half-way between downtown Saigon and the international airport.  This neighborhood is not on the list of fashionable places for expats to live, nor is it in an area frequented by backpackers or travelers.  We didn't select this neighborhood because there was an absence of expats or foreigners in the neighborhood -- we did like the idea of living among Vietnamese on the level of the Vietnamese economy rather than the much more expensive expat-level economy.

We have certainly enjoyed living in this neighborhood, and we are learning a lot about Vietnamese daily life.  I especially enjoy the breakfast soup stand down the hẻm (lane), and the cafés in the afternoon.  Hien enjoys the close-by open-air market, the food vendors walking by the door everyday, and the inexpensive hair and nail salons.  Since none of these services or shops see many foreigners, there is no need to have English speakers on staff.

But I have been feeling uneasy lately, and it has taken me some time to figure out why.  I think that I have now realized that I am missing close friends and conversations.

We have plenty of friends around the neighborhood, but I can't communicate with any of them.  I can sense the level of frustration in the breakfast soup vendor every morning that we can't communicate with each other, and I would love to be able to chat with the other regulars at the soup stand.  I can sense that there are some very interesting banter and conversations, but that is as far as I can go.

The same frustration applies at the cafés.  Vietnamese are very sociable people and gather in the cafés in groups to relax and converse.  I go there by myself and can't strike up a conversation with anyone close by like I used to do back home.

Even in business, I deal solely with Vietnamese business people, so Hien has to do the translation.  This works fine for business, but is a barrier to social interaction.

I know there are solutions to this angst -- I need to redouble my efforts to learn Vietnamese, but it is becoming even clearer that this is going to take a long time.  I also need to break out of the neighborhood once in a while and head down to areas and cafés frequented by expats and make some new friends.

But I really want to meet some Vietnamese who are comfortable speaking English in social settings.  I have met several young people on the street who want to practice their English skills.  I will be thinking about ways now to put a group together to accomplish these mutual objectives.

The social dinner....

Whenever I have dinner with a Vietnamese group, I always think of the very articulate words of Mark in the now inactive blog Six Months in Hanoi.  Mark wrote eloquently about social groups here and here in Viet Nam, and although he qualified his comments as being limited to his experience with gay groups, I have found in my experience (and questioning of Vietnamese) that they apply to the general run of Viet Nam groups (but not including business groups) as well.  I encourage you to click on to his words, because they offer a rare explanation for Vietnamese social groups and behavior.

Our Vietnamese-American business partner arrives back in Saigon every six weeks or so for a couple of weeks, and always begins the tour with a dinner at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant across from the hotel in District 3 where he always stays.  I have met some of the people of his group a few times now, but there are often new people as well as those who couldn't be there.  The dinner usually starts with only half of the group or so, and others drift in over the early evening.

As Mark relates in his blog piece, Vietnamese do not make introductions of new friends as they arrive.  I have made it my job to ask questions to find out who the newcomers are, and that helps me to make some participation in the banter.

They are a lively group, and the banter goes back and forth in Vietnamese.  Of course, I have no way to fit in.  Occasionally my wife will translate a few words in between laughs.  I am frustrated by the inability to communicate (but they try out a few words in English on me once in a while).  I still have a good time watching their facial expressions and gestures.  And I definitely enjoy the great Vietnamese food.

They are interesting people -- one is an attorney that publishes a law journal and has a construction contractor's license as well, and another has a PhD. from Harvard.  Another designs and crafts beautiful modernist jewelry.  All have several side business lines, such as partnerships in automobile franchises.

The highlight of the dinner is usually a hot-pot of soup in which various noodles, vegetables, and meats are fondued.  Here the men takes charge of serving the bowls of soup.

Meanwhile, there is a house electric piano player accompanying a series of Vietnamese singers.  However, they allow patrons to sing a few, and one of our friends has an incredibly beautiful voice.

The band works for tips from the dinner tables.  10,000 Vietnamese dong notes are wrapped around the stem of roses supplied in vases on the tables by the restaurant.  One of the bolder of our table partners takes responsibility to deliver the rose to the singer.

Business relationships

Our real estate development work has seriously impacted our time to write blog postings over the past couple of weeks.  When our U.S. business partners are in Viet Nam as they have been these days, there is a whirlwind of meetings and trips to view potential project sites.  A substantial amount of time is necessary here in Viet Nam to build and maintain relationships.  The hard part is figuring out who to select for a relationship, and can they perform as they say they can.  To some degree, connections to government officials here are very important to get to meet the right person who can increase the chances of a faster approval of projects.  I haven't come to grips yet with the amount of cronyism here on the part of government officials and local developers.  I am trying to formulate both a business position as well as a personal ethical position so we can remain in the game without compromising our integrity as American developers.  We want to survive based on the extra value we can provide.  I will try to let you know how this evolves over time.

Language frustration...

I am growing increasingly frustrated at my inability to speak Vietnamese.  I want to be a sociable person in my neighborhood, but I haven't gotten past "Hello, how are you" yet.  Vietnamese people are very sociable people -- they love to talk.  They seem to value witty and poetic people, and the conversations lead constantly to laughter.  I would love to participate, but by the time my wife translates, the conversation has moved along -- sort of a "you had to be there" feeling.

When you can't maintain conversations, you don't make friends easily, which is killing me here.  Nevertheless, we have made a few friends, but my wife has to sustain the relationship.  The only respect I get is for eating everything that is put in front of me -- that has to be my contribution to sustaining relationships, and that has been effective for now.  But this is definitely not satisfying for me.  I want to pick people's brains.

Some people seem to pick up languages easily, but I am not one of them.  My wife speaks five dialects of Chinese as well as Vietnamese (with a Chinese accent) and of course English.  As she hears or reads a word she has not seen before, she commits it to her vocabulary immediately.  Nothing sticks for me.  I took a year of Latin in high school, as well as two years of French.  Nothing remains, and I got D grades in those courses while getting As and Bs in everything else.  I took a couple of years of Cantonese and a year of Chinese Mandarin, and nothing stuck with those languages either.

But I am now determined t