Vietnam Study Tour

All you did was sightsee and eat!

It has been a very exciting, and reflective, time here, stateside. Naturally, social media is alive with photos that my colleagues have uploaded to their Facebook profiles, and we have been asked to complete a post-tour reflection/survey. People unrelated to the tour—unrelated to MSU, in many cases—have many questions. I think that, much like our typical greetings (i.e., “How are you?”), few people really want a response when they ask, “How was your trip?” so I suspect we’re both happy that my response to their “how was your trip?” is mostly “It was hot, but amazing. Great food, beautiful country, wonderful people, very interesting culture. And I learned a TON.” 

But usually, we move on after that. It is likely just as well, since less than a week home, I’m not sure what my lifelong takeaways will be.  Obviously, the technical visits were very interesting, and very informative, and I continue to be amazed to think about the pressures and opportunities that the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) places on individual schools at all levels. I sense both a percieved paralysis on the part of individual schools and their teachers, but I also sense a creative resistance, innovative ways to cope and explore despite stringent expectations and regulations. In that sense, it is a system that appears to be very much one way, a single way, even. But it is also hugely multi-faceted and decentralized in another way, in the ways that individual campuses create for themselves solutions to problems that have ben both posed to them by MoET, and identified by themselves as points of concern. 

But here’s the thing: at this stage in my reflection, I am noticing that the technical visits engaged me on an intellectual level but that as I slide back into my life, it was the more visceral experiences that really stick out for me, and hint at ways in which these new experiences have imprinted on me, as a person. 

For example, I can say that the heat of Vietnam has, at least temporarily, changed my attitude toward warm weather: It was sunny and 92 degrees Fahrenheit in MI, and I never once even really felt hot, even as my friends and family were positively wilting. 

I have noticed how reverting to my more typical American diet has made me feel: much less fish, much more dairy, for example. Fish can be pricey here, and certainly seafood (even shrimp) is beyond my budget, but I will say that I miss eating more fish and such, and less bread…I also miss having those delicious meals prepared for me. 

These may seem like really boring, basic observations, sadly low on hierarchy of needs (food and climate control, apparently). But the truth is they are the most “real” right now, not only for me, but with the people in my life who at least care enough to ask “how was your trip?” When they joke that “It seems like all you did was sightsee and eat!” I remind them that “No one wants to hear about the many hours a day I spent in a conference room!” And no one will notice that my thinking about education reform is different: but they did notice more visceral changes: that I got sun, that I’m not complaining about the sun, that I’m drinking less Diet Coke and more water than I did (for now, Justina. For now).  

This soon after the tour, there are ways in which I am different, and they go beyond what I know. 

~Julie

Home!

Eight of us arrived home Monday, after 30 plus hours of traveling from Ho Chi Minh City. Others are going on to visits home or to other places in Southeast Asia and will be joining us later in the summer or fall. Madhur’s spouse graciously provided a number of us with transport home, thus avoiding another two hours on yet another bus. Thanks to them for the generous offer. The ride provided a wonderful opportunity for further conversations with Siddharth about education in Southeast Asia, as well as furhter reflections on international travel.

I suspect at least some of us will be taking a little while to figure out what continent we are on, but look for post-tour reflections and pics in the days ahead. -JD

Our Return

We are, indeed, on our way home, with a several hour layover in Tokyo before boarding a plane for the U.S. Eight of us left our hotel, and six others who are staying on for varying lengths of time, about 7:30 last night. Our departing flight to Tokyo was at 11:40 and only partially full, so it gave us an opportunity to spread out a little.

Sunday was another fascinating day, with a visit to Can Gio, another rural district east of Ho Chi Minh City province, and bordering the East Sea. It is the location of the Rung Sac, the mangrove forest and another location of the Viet Cong. Among other things, they shelled parts of the American base in Saigon from this location, about 60 kilometers from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. 

Unlike the tunnels from Saturday, however, this location was all above ground, on bamboo walkways and floors elevated about the swampy, crocodile infested waters. While sheltered from the sun due to the tall trees that populated this area, it was still incredibly warm, and we all sweated profusely, largely due, I suppose, to the humidity. We arrived via “canoes,” which are in fact longer, more slender versions of our powered motorboats. We had a bit of a hot-dog operator, who navigated the infinite tributaries that lace this area to bring us to the Viet Cong camp. Despite the nature of the visit, we found it quite fun, after we were able to relaxed and no longer feel we would be overturned or thrown out of the boat. At one level, it felt like we were being kidnapped by Deliverance type folks (wholly in my fantasies and bearing little to no resemblance to who actually operated our boat) and being taken back into the deep, dark recesses of the swamp. Still, the visit was yet another sobering reflection of the Vietnam War. Hope to post some pics later when we arrive home.

We arrive in Detroit Monday about 2:30. The study tour was another really interesting experience for me. I was looking at and experiencing it from multiple perspectives: as a faculty-led internationalizing experience for graduate students, as a sort of pilgrimage, as a student of Vietnamese higher education, as one interested in contributing to capacity building processes in the country, and as a tourist. I will need some time to sort all this out. Still,  I will be quite glad to be home. jd

Tokyo, Japan

And the adventure continues! Travel day!!!!

Cu Chi Tunnels

Most of my life, I have felt as a fairly average sized woman…that is until today. Waddling my way thru the Cu Chi tunnels, I realize my enormity in comparison to the people who fascinatingly survived in a world under ground. My shoulders brushing the walls on both sides and my knees scraping the ground underneath, I silently prayed that Dr. Dirkx would not stop up ahead leaving me wedged in between the stone, stuffy warm air, and no light at all. For those who know me, spiders only briefly entered my mind as I had just witnessed a huge one right outside the entrance :). A multilayered cobweb like system, the tunnels span over 200 kilometers. The patience and dedication required to build such a structure is unimaginable. I can only imagine the memories of children or anyone who survived who lived underground for those years. I was impressed by the creativity in creating the traps and weapons. It is a bit uncomfortable to think what this creativity was for, however, I can understand survival.

From the video at the beginning of the tour to the end, I was surprised at the nature of the information presented. Surprise is not the correct word as I expected it, just didn’t realize quite the extreme it would be relayed. Americans were referred to as devils ( Julie, please insert the quote as I can’t remember exactly) and the brutality of the Americans was described using interesting language.

A very eye opening day and experience, followed by the War Remnants Museum.

Active Learning, Indeed

Each time I cross the street in these busy cities, I am amazed that I make it across safely. But there are two realities here: one, I am big, white, and very noticeable…and two, there is a chaotic, but sophisticated, way of moving in such cities that keep people, surprisingly, safe.  You may recall that before our trip, someone posted a video of a person crossing the street, and it is highly accurate. 

It occurred to me that if I were designing a course here in HCMC—perhaps a study abroad course, or if faculty members here had the flexibility to do it in Vietnam—you could build a hugely interdisciplinary course around studying the crossing behavior. 

Physics and math courses could explore the movement of bodies in space, paths and trajectories, and rates of speed. For example, “What is the optimum speed and stride length to cross a 50 foot crosswalk at a ninety-degree intersection with 400 motorbikes traveling at a speed of 35 MPH” (yes, I used MPH, and not KmPH, which is really American-centric. But you get the idea). 

Social Scientists could explore the informal body-language cues that pedestrians and motorists alike use to communicate their intentions regard to movement, speed, and intended destination.  Also, you could study the reaction of passersby in the (albeit rare)  event of an accident. 

The questions, and answers, could fill an entire curriculum. Honestly, as with all good social phenomenon (I suppose), you could approach the event of crossing the street in HCMC from any numerous angles, and as a site of inquiry, Vietnamese students could explore truly interdisciplnary questions and discover fascinating information. This kind of hands-on learning, rooted in a common phenomenon, would be a rich resource of critical thinking and response.

Getting IRB approval might be another question, but I’ll leave that up to someone else…