No this ain't Lake Merritt!
When I arrived at the airport in Hanoi, I could not find Hang the woman who was coming to pick me up from the Womens Union. Apparently she had been looking for me for a long time but because I looked "so Vietnamese," she didn't think I was Claire Tran. When I visited the different chapters of the women's union in Thai Binh Province and Hay Doung Province they thought that I was a staff member of the Central Womens Union office in Hanoi. So they were very surprised to see me.
I remember now that this also happened to me when I went to study Spanish in Guatemala! When I arrived at the language school they thought that I was Guatamalteca, a new Spanish teacher. They called my host family to ask why Claire Tran has not arrived at the school yet.
When I began my first working day in Vietnam, Ming Y (who I spoke of in my last blog, "Spoiling the Enemy") said that I should feel very comfortable here because everyone looks like me. Growing up in Nebraska at my school there were only about 3 Vietnamese students- my cousin, me and another boy. I once pretended to be a foreign exchange student because I knew that I could get away with it. My father said of the first time coming back to Vietnam that he wanted to go back and live there, because even though he now has US citizenship, to "American" people he will always be Vietnamese, he will never be equal. He also felt more confident and good looking. Well the confident and good looking part isn't really happening for me just yet, I been singing "Lately" by Stevie Wonder every morning.
After that conversation with Ming Y, I returned to my hotel and the first thing that the concierge said to me was, "Are you from Mexico?" This really threw me off. First of all, when I'm in the United States most people guess that I'm Filipina. I'm not talking about just white people. No one guesses right. I wondered how many Mexicans visit Vietnam? I was happy that I look Mexican but does that mean I don't look Vietnamese? I have to admit I was surprised that he thought I was from Mexico. Apparently though they show Mexican films from TV so people know more about Mexico in Vietnam. Yah for Mexican film! But what do they know about Mexicans - "Y Tu Mama Tambien"?! But the craziest thing is that the last time I was in D.F. (Mexico City) there was not one theater showing a film made in Mexico. Even the Art House did not have one film from Mexico, they were showing French films!
It can be a good thing to blend with everyone else. I never want to look like or act like a tourist where ever I go. I'm not generally not seen as prey for people selling souvenirs and other hussles. However looking Vietnamese almost got me turned away at the presidential palace where I got to meet with former Vice President Truong My Hoa (this woman is bad ass and I will tell the whole story in a future blog).
At the gate, my interpreter said to the guard that Claire Tran has a meeting with Madame My Hoa. The guard looked in the car and asked, "Where is Claire Tran?"I Did Not Expect Shakira
Many things remind me of Mexico. Tuyen Quang province where Ho Chi Minh went underground and the location of the first National Congress after Independence from the French is so beautiful and reminds me of Zapatista territory in Chiapas. Only they don't need a sign that says "liberated zone" because the whole country is a liberated zone. I will have to blog more about this province later.
Today I'm being hosted by the Hanoi Friendship organization. I am being hosted and I pretty much do whatever people plan for me to do. I know that people put a lot of time and work into organizing trips like these having organized many student trips myself, but honestly I am not that interested in learning about French Architecture in Vietnam. I can appreciate the architecture when I walk by it but i do not need to go to a seminar of architects to appreciate. Also, I'm not really into gushing over how great the architecture is especially when it reminds me of French Colonization which is not a pretty thing. I wasn't really expecting it to be a part of my trip. But the people are nice and generous and I don't want to offend them so I go along with it.
At the beginning of the presentation though there is a straight booty shaking dance by teenage girls. Straight outta Oakland! But they happen to be dancing to Shakira -- ah, straight outta Columbia?? And they are not shy about the fact that they are shakin' it in front of a much older generation of architects. I however am embarrassed when they do the drop and pop move I only bust out when I've had to much to drink. By the way, I have discovered that the uniform for architects is to have very stylish glasses.
Spanish Language in Vietnam- No Manches!
I would like to report that I speak Spanish very well in Vietnam. Only no one speaks Spanish here. I can think of everything I want to say in Vietnamese in Spanish and sometime I accidentally say it out-loud. Though my friends never hear me speak Spanish because it is one of the things I am shy about, I do know enough to have some short conversation with people when I travel. I can speak enough to get around Mexico by myself. I even understand sometimes when people are speaking about me in Spanish but think that I won't understand. So watch yourself.
Sometimes I can even think of what I want to say in French. I have not spoken French since I lived in Nebraska over 12 years ago! I took 4 years of French in school and I started to minor in French. My father thought it would be good because he speaks French, but i cannot understand French with a Vietnamese accent. Maybe i can only understand French with a mid-western accent! Scary. When my father moved to the South (in the United States) he could not understand southern Vietnamese people speaking English and they couldn't understand his mid-west Vietnamese English. Too many accents thrown together.
It makes me very sad to not be able to speak my language. It is not as if it was a choice. My father did not speak to me in Vietnamese. I grew up in a very racist area and he thought it was better for me (or perhaps safer) to try to blend in. Obviously, my skin is brown, there is no blending that unless you want me to be a Michael Jackson look a like.
I don't expect everyone to translate for me every word while I'm here and I am picking up little phrases in Vietnamese here and there. Often I find myself daydreaming like I did when I was a kid while everyone is talking, laughing, and telling stories at the dinner table but I can't understand a word. Sometimes I feel very privileged to be mixed- - to get to know many cultures, languages, communities and to sort of be a part of them and other time I just feel lost and alone, sad that I can't quite connect to at least one group of people, like I don't quite fit anywhere.
