May increase morbidity and mortality.

Before we went to Quảng Trị, Alyce (our program leader) warned us about bodies in the water, land mines in the jungle, hidden police in the streets, mosquitoes in the fields, cockroaches in the shower, and snakes in the food. As it turns out, most of those things are true, but none of them threatened us. Hundreds of people died in the river during the Vietnam War, remaining landmines are a minor threat, Juan-Pablo met an "English teacher" who turned out to be a policeman, mosquitoes occasionally feasted on our uncovered legs, cockroaches definitely made appearances in our bathrooms, and some people eat snakes ("Snake is good!" exclaims May upon reading this).


--Side note--
The lady who cooks lunch for us (aka The Lunch Lady) has a python in a cage in her backyard. Two days ago, there was a live chicken in the cage. Yesterday, there was a dead chicken and a dead rat in the cage. Today, there was just a python.
--            --


The first night with our new roommates in HCMC, Khai (Joey's roommate, from the Mekong Delta, 2nd year student at Foreign Trade University--FTU--in HCMC) asked us if we wanted to go to a coffee shop where he was meeting some friends from California. We all went and ended up at this sick coffee shop outside of downtown Saigon in a room chock full of FTU students and American college students who were apparently creating an English club. The power went off when we got there, so we lit candles all along the table, and I discussed morals with Kathy, 2 of our roommates, a Vietnamese-American graduate of George Mason University, a Vietnamese housewife, and a random FTU student.


They explained to me the importance of kids obeying their parents. I told them about the great variability in parenting styles and the tendency to encourage independence and self-sufficiency. Neither method seems necessarily superior. People in America and Vietnam are very happy. They grow up, function normally, and contribute to society in some way. It made me think of a talk I had with May (my new roommate, born in the South to avoid the 2 child per family law, raised near Hà Nội, moved to HCMC at age 5, 3rd year econ major at FTU, favorite month: May) earlier that day. I made fun of her for not wanting to hurt people's eyes by leaving a scab uncovered, and then again for not wanting to torture others by singing karaoke. I told her she should have more confidence and do what she wants to do instead of worrying about others, but she said she cares what others think. In the States, that would be considered a bad thing 95% of the time, but here, it seems to be a matter of being considerate. In a society that is hesitant to voice personal opinions out of consideration for the group on the whole, it is more important for individuals to be in tune with what others are thinking and feeling. May said, "Well, if I care about them, why shouldn't I care what they think?" It makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.


On our last day in HCMC, we found The Market. We'd been looking for a local market with local prices, not tourist prices, and Tri finally brought us to this heavenly place. Unfortunately, my feet are too big for Vietnamese sizes. They have the cutest flats here. Only $2.50 a pair. The coolest thing I saw there were huge vats of coagulated duck blood. It's light purple and the consistency of smooth guacamole. My first thought was that is was some kind of mashed eggplant. Guess again.


Last Saturday, we came to beautiful Bến Tre. The accommodations are super nice compared to what else we've had, despite the live spiders (now frozen) in the refrigerator.


When we went to Bến Tre, Alyce gave us a similar warning shpiel to that of Quảng Trị. We have to wear bright orange shirts at all times, in case people don't notice that we're white. We look like inmates. They had the same arrangement last year, and one night the police came at 4 in the morning to check and see if all the students were really sleeping at their hotel. When we asked Alyce why they had done it, she said, "Maybe they heard a rumor that you guys escaped." ....Escaped what, exactly? Basically the local government just likes to know where we are at all times. They plan our weekend activities for us and sometimes follow us home from work. Alyce also informed us that the province is famous for being a Communist hot spot. Finally, she told us we'd have our commute along the biggest highway in Việt Nam. Her words: "I really recommend you wear your helmets, because once you get hit by a truck, it becomes kind of dangerous."


One of the things that is threatening us here are the mosquitoes. We are covered in bites from them and no-see-ums. Our malaria meds are also killing us, though. All the students who are still on them are getting stomachaches, so the other day we spent about an hour trying to diagnose Kathy's symptoms on Mayo Clinic and good old wikipedia. We discovered that the medications a Vietnamese doctor gave her "may increase morbidity and mortality" if she didn't have bronchitis, which she didn't. I'm not sure whether that's more or less helpful than the last time Kathy called International SOS and ended up chatting with an old woman in Singapore about her toes.