How to Have Clothes Tailored in Vietnam

If you plan on visiting Vietnam and are interested in having clothes made, then this short guide is for you.

Why I'll Stop Doing International Volunteer Trips

I'm not writing anything that hasn't already been written before. Articles like "The Problem With Little White Girls, Boys and Voluntourism" and TED Talks like "How to Kill your Charity" all explore some of the very same challenges with volunteering abroad that I'm going to share through my own experiences.

I want to add my voice to the chorus of those who encourage you to give more thoughtful consideration when presented with the opportunity to volunteer abroad.

Một kỷ niệm đẹp: Ăn Tết ở Việt Nam

Tháng Một năm 2014, Thuỳ nói là chúng tôi sẽ về quê để ăn Tết với gia đình Thuỳ. Tôi đồng ý ngay. Thứ nhất, tôi thích gia đình Thuỳ và muốn gặp lại họ. Thứ hai, tôi biết là việc về quê ăn Tết là một phong tục Việt Nam ít người nước ngoài có được cơ hội như vậy. Tuy nhiên, tôi đã không biết là kinh nghiệm ăn Tết với gia đình vợ sẽ làm tôi thay đổi suy nghĩ về Tết và văn hoá VN.

Thuy Is Going to W. Africa, Here's the News

If you're reading this, then Thuy has decided that the possibility of her going to West Africa to volunteer for Partners In Health to help with their Ebola response has become real enough to share with everyone.

About two months ago, Thuy applied and was quickly accepted into PIH. She will be joining a deployment of doctors who will travel to Sierra Leone to, among other things, treat patients affected with Ebola and train local staff in proper Ebola treatment procedures.

She departed for training in Boston on Tuesday, January 20. The week after she will fly to Sierra Leone to work on the ground with PIH.

Thuy's Flying Solo

Written: Wednesday, December 17, 2014

I had a formal screening interview with a recruiter from PIH yesterday (Tuesday).

Long story short, I need more experience working in these kinds of emergency medical relief situations before they'll consider bringing me on board. Sucks, but understandable.

Thuy will be flying to West Africa alone.

Thuy's Formal Offer to W. Africa: Preparations and Paperwork

Written: Thursday, December 4, 2014

Shortly after Thuy received a call from PIH informing her that they want her on their team of doctors that will travel to West Africa to treat those infected with Ebola, PIH sent her an email (see below) with a formal offer and a few attachments with files that she would have to promptly fill out and return to PIH.

As far as I've been told, she is supposed to leave on January 5. We're already about a month away from this new adventure.

Thuy Receives Offer to Join Partners in Health in Fighting Ebola in W. Africa

Written: Monday, December 1, 2014

Thuy recently completed two rounds of phone interviews with Partners in Health as part of her application to become a member of the PIH team of doctors that will travel to West Africa to assist those afflicted with Ebola.

If you're reading this, then you can probably guess the outcome.

Thuy Applies to Partners in Health

Written: Tuesday, November 25, 2014

When I rejoined my wife, Thuy, back in Seattle after finishing my own leg of our combined humanitarian trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines, we both agreed that we wanted to do more humanitarian work abroad.

Around that time I was coming home in August, Ebola was quickly becoming, if not already a mainstay headline in the media. Around October, Thuy and I made the rather easy decision to find a way to get involved in the Ebola stricken countries in Africa.

Muay Thai Training at Muay Saigon - Part 2: First Day

On the evening of Tuesday, March 11, only a few days after our return from the Vietnamese Houston Medical Mission, we packed the training gear we brought from home, boarded a taxi, and made our way to our first class with Muay Saigon.

Muay Thai Training at Muay Saigon - Part 1: Discovery

The moment we decided that we were moving to Vietnam for an extended period of time, I drafted a mental list of all of the things that I wanted to do while in the country.

One of these things was practice Muay Thai.

Lá thư của người "mẹ nuôi": "Trẻ em Campuchia được sách và đồ tập võ mới"

Trước khi về Mỹ, tôi đã có một cơ hội rất thú vị, đó là được giúp các trẻ Việt Nam và Campuchia mà tôi đã dạy võ tự vệ trong suốt 10 tháng tôi sống ở VN. Mục đích của tôi là quyên góp tiền để mua học cụ, sách đọc giải trí, đồ tập võ tự vệ và chi phí đi lại (đi xem phim, chơi ở công viên nước, v.v.). Trong ba tuần chiến dịch quyên góp được thực hiện, các bạn và gia đình tôi đã đóng góp $3,770 (vượt quá chỉ tiêu $2,000 chỉ trong hai ngày).

Tuần trước, người "mẹ nuôi" các em ở Campuchia đã viết hai lá thư (bên dưới) để cho tôi biết họ đã dùng tiền như thế nào.

Sống trong tiếng Việt

Vừa về Seattle được một tháng, các bạn hỏi tôi nhớ những gì nhất ở Việt Nam. Tôi thường trả lời là tôi nhớ nhiều, chẳng hạn như bạn bè, những đứa trẻ mà tôi đã dạy võ tự vệ, cộng đồng Salsa, món ăn Việt Nam, thậm chí là giao thông phức tạp. Khi giải thích về những thứ này, thì các bạn có thể hình dung và biết được. Tuy nhiên, có một điều cá nhân về kinh nghiệm sống ở Việt Nam vừa khó giải thích vừa khó hình dung.

Đó là việc học và nói tiếng Việt hàng ngày là một hoạt động thử thách trí não.

Tả Phời, Lào Cai: Delivering Tết Gifts to an Ethnic Mountain Tribe

On January 22, 2014, Thuy and I joined a group of missionaries on a three-day, two-night trip to the northeastern city of Lào Cai, in Lào Cai province (so nice they named it twice).

Lào Cai borders China. When I say "borders," I mean we can literally see into China from the front of our hotel.

We had many reasons for visiting Lào Cai. One of these reasons involved visiting and delivering Tết (Lunar New Year) gifts to the members of an ethnic mountain tribe in Tả Phời, a small village just outside of Lào Cai city.

This was one of the most memorable experiences of our overall stay in Vietnam. Below is a photo diary of our trip.

What "Vietnamese People Are Friendly" Can Actually Mean

There are many reasons why foreigners love living in Vietnam. You'll hear explanations such as "Vietnam has a comparatively low cost of living," "It's easy to find a job as an English teacher and live comfortably," "Vietnam is very entrepreneurial," and "Vietnamese people are very friendly."

I want to explore that last reason, the friendliness of the Vietnamese people, on a deeper and more personal level.

I believe that this local friendliness that a foreigner living in Vietnam will experience can become an unexpected and addictive boost to their ego.

Thus begins the story of why living in Vietnam was an absolute psychological upper for me.

Vietnamese Discriminating Against...Vietnamese?

During the three months of living alone in Vietnam, I had more time to get better acquainted with my Vietnamese friends. As such, I got multiple views into what living in Vietnam is like from their local perspective.

One topic that seemed to incite irritation and frustration was the workplace preferential treatment towards non-Vietnamese in general and Anglo-Saxon foreigners in particular. While this type of treatment may not be the norm across the country, it's a reality that some of my Vietnamese friends have encountered at some point in their professional career, or continue to face in their current job.

The following paraphrased anecdotes will give you an idea on what this kind of preferential treatment looks like.

Phụ nữ ơi! Hãy tập võ tự vệ!

Mỗi nước có một số liệu riêng, nhưng một bài của UN Women Australia cho rằng 1/3 phụ nữ có thể gặp phải bạo lực trong cuộc sống của mình, và 1/5 phụ nữ là nạn nhân bạo lực tình dục trong cuộc sống. Cứ cho là 20% là số liệu miêu tả thế giới. Nếu người ta sử dụng số liệu này để miêu tả Việt Nam, thì điều này có nghĩa là chừng 9.2 triệu phụ nữ Việt Nam là nạn nhân của bạo lực tình dục.
Theo ý kiến tôi thì số liệu này sẽ không giảm xuống tự nhiên.

Chính vì vậy mà tôi xin viết về bốn lý do tại sao phụ nữ nên tập võ tự vệ.

Difficulties Foreigners Face Studying Vietnamese in Saigon

The following is an English version of an essay I wrote in Vietnamese entitled "Những khó khăn người nước ngoài gặp phải khi học tiếng Việt ở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh."

This will obviously read differently from my regular posts, in that this is a structured essay and not a narrative hastily reorganized into something coherent and semi-intelligible.

Nevertheless, this was still fun to write (in both languages) because I could finally reflect on and relay some of my experiences with learning Vietnamese in three completely different places, the University of Washington (GO DAWGS!), Ha Noi, and Saigon. For those studying Vietnamese, perhaps this will resonate with or even help you in your studies. For everyone else, I hope that you'll enjoy this nuanced glimpse into the life of someone studying Vietnamese.

Lastly, I realize talking about regional Vietnamese accents can actually be a touchy subject. Southerners call northerners "bắc kỳ," and northerns call southerners "nam kỳ." No one agrees on what is considered to be "standard Vietnamese" -- although I will argue in a future post that there is no such thing as a standard Vietnamese accent. Many people do seem to agree, however, that NO ONE can understand people from the central region (sorry Huế peeps, much love).

Basically, note that these are my personal observations only. I'll gladly welcome your comments telling me that I'm right or wrong, but please refrain from -- and I can't believe I'm typing this... -- putting down regional accents or engaging in debates about which accent is better, more correct, etc.

Những khó khăn người nước ngoài gặp phải khi học Tiếng Việt ở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Tôi viết bài này để chia sẻ kinh nghiệm về việc học tiếng Việt ở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (và cũng để tập viết bài bằng tiếng Việt). Nếu bạn có ý kiến về nội dung của bài này thì xin chia sẻ ở comment section ở dưới. Nếu bạn thấy lỗi chính tả hay nghĩ tôi có thể viết gì đó hay hơn thì xin gửi message riêng cho tôi. Tôi đã sửa bài này với cô giáo hai lần trước khi post trên đây, hy vọng không có lỗi :)

Cảm ơn các bạn!

How to Renew Your Passport Entry Permit Stamp

Around the second week of June I remembered that my three-month permit stamp in my passport was going to expire at the end of the month. To get a new stamp, I was planning to leave the country for a couple of days; I would get a new three-month stamp on my way back into Vietnam.

Brian, a fellow expat friend and co-founder of Saigoneer (check out the website, it's a fantastic glimpse into life and culture Saigon) and his wife, Chau, clued me in on another method to getting a permit stamp, one that wouldn't require me to spend time and money leaving the country.

Life in a Homogenous Country: White = Native Speaker

A boss to his employee, an English teacher from the UK: "Well, you look a little young to be teaching [English to] adults. But, you're Caucasian, so that's good."

Having spent eight months in HCMC, I thought I'd share a few of the more unique and potentially awkward experiences that come with being a non-white foreigner living in a homogeneous country such as Vietnam. Many of these experiences revolve around the racial dynamics, divides, and biases among locals, white foreigners, and non-white foreigners.

These types of issues aren't easy to discuss. However, I strongly feel that they are worth bringing up, as each discussion helps us inch closer towards a better and more mutual understanding of one another beyond the biases and stereotypes we've accumulated since childhood.

In this particular instance, I'm exploring the automatic relationship drawn between being a white foreigner and being a native English speaker.