All I want for Christmas…

Many people have been asking me two things:
1) What do you want for Christmas?

2) I want to help, what can I do?

I want to give a good answer to both, so here it is:  The only thing I want for Christmas is for you to help the school I am working at.  The problem, however, is that I have not quite narrowed down how to do this yet.  Chris and I have been working for weeks with the community trying to figure out what is of the most need and how to go about obtaining it.  This is a long annoying process that we are still working on.

So in short, I want you to save that love and generosity until I can tell you exactly what I want!

I’m Thankful…

Thanksgiving always reminds me of standing around with my family taking turns saying what we are thankful for. I won’t be standing in that circle this year, so I thought I’d share through my virtual circle of friends and family here. I’ve always felt extremely grateful for people and things in my life, but being in Rwanda has blown all these things into an extreme, exaggerated view of how fortunate I really am.

I am thankful for my family.

After effects of the 1994 civil war/genocide combined with a lower standard of living has left many Rwandans without family. It is not uncommon for me to talk with someone younger than me who has lost one or both parents, or numerous siblings. If a person reaches age 45 here, they are considered to have lived a full life, and if they die it is not out of the ordinary. I love my parents and brother very much, and the thought of being without them now (or when I was growing up) is not something I have ever really contemplated until now. Thinking about this makes me extra thankful for them and my entire extended family.

I am thankful for my education.

Throughout my entire education I worked very hard, reading, studying and practicing to do my best to get good grades. Never, however, did I dig in a field for the privilege of going to school, or have to ask a person from a foreign country to pay my elementary school tuition. The Rwandan government is beginning to provide public education, but it is still limited. Therefore, children must pay for all their schooling, and often their parents (if they are still alive) do not have money to help with these costs. The result is the students working or begging for money to study. Furthermore, many bright students will never make it to university, solely for financial reasons. Many people who graduate from secondary school can get a decent job in their field, save for years, and will never have enough to begin paying university tuition. I have had a world-class education handed to me, and for this I am grateful.

I am thankful for my friends.

Because being away from them makes me really appreciate them in my life!

I am thankful for security.

While money isn’t happiness, it makes life a little more comfortable. If I am sick, I will get the money to be treated and when I am hungry I will have money to eat some food.  I have become very aware that for many people in this world, these common luxuries are not the case.  The other day the lady who maintains our house was in my room and I realized that I had more loose change sitting on my desk than she would earn that week.  My meager $50 monthly stipend is more than a majority of the employees in the center earn every month, and they must support their families.  I have never in my life been worried if I would eat dinner, or if my parents would make enough money to take me to the hospital if I was sick.

I am thankful for beer.

Because, well, who isn’t?  Although even this brings up an interesting point.  A large Primus beer costs 600 Rwandan Franc (just over $1).  Yes, this is cheap -- for me.  However, many workers I know earn 1000 Franc a day.  Yes, its easy to say, then, that beer shouldn’t be a priority in their spending, which I may agree, but it brings me back to being thankful that I am in a position in society to enjoy such things.  After all, the only reason that I get to enjoy Primus and the farm worker does not is because I was born in the right country with the right family.

I am thankful for opportunity.

As I have alluded to, being a white, American man from a middle class family has afforded me so many things in life.  A loving family, education and security, to name a few.  This privilege stares me in the face every single day in Rwanda.  Every time I go to work, put change in my pocket, drink a beer or ride a bus I cannot escape this feeling of privilege.  I do not feel guilty… most of the time.  I pray that through my recognition of this privilege, appreciation of all it has afforded me and through some service to those who have so little, I can be comfortable living in my white, American, male, middle-class world.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I want to visualize it"

This is a request I got in an email recently and I thought it would make for a good blog post, so here's my best attempt! See the last post for more pictures.

The Centre de Jeunes is a big place. We are on the edge of Gatenga, which is the name for the part of Kigali in which we live (actually we are on the border of Gatenga and Kickucuro, but call it Gatenga). We have 27 acres of land, shared between the school, playground, farm and living quarters for priests, students and volunteers.

To get to the center from the eenter of the city is about a ten minute drive down a good, paved road. As you reach Rwandex, one of Rwanda’s biggest industrial areas in Kigali, you turn down a red dirt road towards our center. Immediately things change from the paved-road industrial world, to that of developing Africa. A large machine/mechanic operation is right outside our walls and often time we must navigate parked semis to get to our front gate.

(You can actually see the center on Google Maps. Search Kigali and when you get to the page it is clear where the city center is. Follow the road Boulevard de l’OUA southeast out of the city center. Zoom in and you will be able to see Rwandex labeled on the map. To the Southeast of Rwandex is a large Green space. That is where I am! Another post might try to explain this is detail more later)

As you walk in the front gate, you walk into a red dirt-road circle driveway with a statue of Don Bosco and the building where the Salesians live directly in behind Donny B. Here live two priests, Fr. Frans, the director, and semi-retired Jean Paul from Canada, more on them later. This is also where I eat most of the time, so I spend a lot of time in this building.

Taking a road to the right leads you past one of the professional school buildings on your right, where students study building (carpentry, bricklaying, electicity, etc) and secretarial skills. On the left is the small church, with outside seating because it is always full on Sunday mornings, and a small computer lab where Chris spends most of his time in the school year.

Continuing down the road you approach the farm and playground. I haven’t measured, but I think we have almost as much playground space as farmland. The “micro-garden” consists of maybe a one-acre plot where we have a vegetable garden, green house, seed bed, offices and a small area dedicated to teaching seminars to locals about how to maintain their own kitchen gardens. Continuing down the hill (literally sloping down) is the main field where we currently grow corn, and the marsh. The marsh probably takes up at least one qarter to one third of our total land, and it is a constant battle with water on the farm. In the dry season we struggle to water our plants and in the wet season can’t get the water out of the corn.

The back side of the center consists of the Foyer, where about 125 students live during the academic year. This large building is next to the “other side” of the school, which consists of agricultural studies and metal-working. Past the Foyer is the small center within our center where the pre-novitates live, work, study and pray. There are 11 pre-novitates from Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi in the very preliminary stages of studying to become religious. They are young guys who are passionate about many of the same things I am, and some even speak English, so they are great to hang around with.

And behind the pre-noviates, past the bananna trees and about a 10 minute walk from the front gate is my home on the very back side of the center. It is an old house for nuns, and could be described better as a dormotory than a house, with each having an individual room down a long corridor. I have a concrete floor, a bed, a desk and a cusioned chair that I stole from our “living room.”

The entire center is surrounded by an eight foot high brick wall topped with barbed wire and throrny vines. We do have a back gate, thankfully, and just down the road is “Agents Bar” where I can occasionally be found on a Friday night eating Brouchette (goat meat on a kaboob stick) and grilled plaintains with a 73 cl Primus beer.

This is a panorama from the watertower behind my house. The metal roof on the bottom is my house and this is a shot looking over the banannas and marsh.

more pictures

The boys working in one of the many bananna crops.


The playground. We have three basketball courts, three volleyball courts (two concrete, one grass), two small soccer pitches and one full size soccer pitch.

An aerial view of the center from the water tower behind the community. Out of the picture on the left is the foyer. The buildings you can see on the left are some class rooms and the metal shop. The building below is one of the places we keep the pigs and the ponds are for raising fish. You can also see one of our small vegetable garden below and some bananna trees on top of the photo. The large green area is non-aereable land and out of the picture top left is my house!

This is the path I walk to and from work and meals every day. Not a bad commute!


We have a "back door" gate that allows us to leave the center by our house. This is the road right outside our back door.

My Address

A couple people have asked for my address, so here it is:

Mitchell Lincoln
Centre de Jeune - Gatenga
B.P. 468
Kigali - Rwanda

Chris received a package from his mother yesterday and it took exactly one month to arrive. My dad sent something about three weeks ago and I haven't received it yet, so take this how you will! I think mail works, its just painfully slow!

I'm headed back to the lake this weekend (with our contract guarenteeing the price we demanded), so I'm excited to go see the waterfall. And Mom, I promise not to go to the DRC this time.

Mitchell and Hannah's adventure weekend

Last week, myself and four of my friends wanted to get out of Kigali for the weekend. We heard that a Nyngue National Park was pretty cool and made plans to go. However, after lodging, transportation and general interest fell through, all that remained was my friend Hannah and I and no destination. While I wanted to go to town and get on the first bus we saw, regardless of destination, Hannah was a bit more sensible and picked a destination: Ruhengeri, in the Northwest of Rwanda.

With backpacks and travel guides ready, we departed Saturday morning. It immediately started raining and with Hannah forgetting her rain jacket, it seemed maybe the travel gods were plotting against us. However, after we got to the city center and were soaking wet sitting on a bus bound for Ruhengeri, we got a break and sat next to a student who we knew in Kigali who lived at the Imbabazi Orphanage and was going home and invited us to join him. The Imbabazi Orphanage has a cool backstory, and is detailed in the book Land of A Thousand Hills by an American, Rosemond Carr, who moved to Rwanda and spent her whole life here. Coincidently, I was just finishing the book and was excited to see the place I had been reading about. When we reached Ruhengeri, in true adventure fashion, looked around and decided we would not stay there and changed buses with our friend.

We got on a bus heading for Gisenyi and halfway there stopped in the middle of the road to leave the bus for the much more exciting motorcycle ride down a terrible dirt road, but ascending and desending the hills and looking out over the Rwandan landscape in the shadow of the giant volcanoes that are the Northwest boundary of Rwanda. While it was cool to see the orphanage and meet the very friendly Americans who worked there (Mrs. Carr died a couple years ago), the most impressive part of this was simply its location and great views of the country side.
Before dark we jumped back on a moto and by a stroke of good fortune were able to flag down one of the last busses headed West towards Ginsenyi, where we found cheap lodging and a place to eat on the beach of Lake Kivu.

Sunday consisted of relaxing on the beach all morning, which was amazing. It was a little too cool to swim, which I was actually happy about the relief from the heat, and I spent the morning laying in the shade watching the waves come on shore. While this was great, I can only sit still for a little bit, and the close proximity of Goma was calling to me.

Goma is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was the place where thousands of refugees fled during the Rwandan genocide. As a long result of this, it has continued to be a place of conflict both within the DRC and with its Rwandan neighbor. The history is long and complicated, but quite fascinating to learn about if you are interested. There is also the most active volcano in Africa on the outskirts of town which erupted in 2002, taking out half the town. Today it still smokes all day and glows at night.


Because of the secuirty issues, we were told by a couple people not to go to Goma. I think these warnings just made it more appealing, so we decided to go. After waiting in line for one hour, bribing two Congolese officials and paying $40 a piece, we got into Goma... and were kind of disappointed. It was cool to walk on the lava rock from the eruption and see the reconstruction and the smoking volcano, but other than that Goma wasn't much more than a gray, drury town with too many United Nations trucks driving around. We were there two hours and crossed back and found a bus back to Ruhengeri.

The next morning we headed north from Ruhengeri to visit Lake Burera, and the accompanying Rusumo Falls. After another bus ride followed by moto, we arrived at a small house with a boat on the water and told the drivers to stop and let us off. It was a boat tour operation, and the manager seemed very happy to see us, it was out of the way and I don't think they get much business. After arguing over a price for one hour, it began to rain so both sides gave up and we sat inside and drank tea, looking out over the lake, whose banks are formed by an impressive collection of hills, giving it a unique, jagged appearance.

After the rain we decided to walk back to the main road to catch a bus back to Kigali. To do this we walked through some very rural areas and with the lake on our left and volcanoes on our right, my visions of amazing African landscapes were fulfilled.

Monday night we arrived back in Kigali, mentally rested and physically exhausted. On Tuesday I was back to work, clearing brush with a Machette in the morning and playing rugby with the Rwanda National Team in the afternoon. Yes, Africa is good this week.



This is Hannah walkin with our escorts back from the lake. In the rural areas "Muzungos" are fairly rare and they love to walk with you, touch, stare and say "good morning" regardless of the time of day,
This is me negotiating prices with the boat operators. We were drawing in the sand and doing math arguing about what a fair price is. Because i have been here for a two months, I have a pretty good idea what fair prices are, and what a decent wage is. When people try to rip me off because I am white I get a little irritated and while in reality we are often bartering over small sums of money (in this case a difference of about $12) I think my stubbornness plays a bigger role than my wallet.
Smoking Mount Nyiragongo, the most active volcano in Africa (in Goma).
A view of Lake Kivu and some of the hills of Rwanda.
Hannah, Gaudi and myself at the orphanage with the beautiful gardens maintained there.

Finals Week!

Sorry for the delay in posting. We had a slight problem with our electricity recently which killed our wireless modem. Fortunately for me, nothing of mine was damaged, but my friends in the office next door were not so fortunate.

Anyway, right now we are in “exams” period for the students. It reminds me of finals week in college, where everything stops, except testing. I remember during my last finals week sitting in Gage Union watching a man wash windows. I thought to myself, wow, I’m done studying and ready to just work. Well, here I am, with everyone else studying I am the one happily working away.

The big news for the past couple weeks was a trip to Gitarama, the second largest city in Rwanda (even though I didn’t even know it until after I left). Later that week was the first plowing of our corn field and apparently being from Iowa qualifies me as the expert in plowing and all tractor operations, so I happily plowed along, getting a sense of satisfaction from my work. My dad reminded me that I do indeed come from a long line of farmers and this is to be expected. Last week we actually got out of the center a little bit and went to the 2^nd annual Mutzig Beer Fest, which was a nice change of pace from our full, busy days at the center.

We’ve been to the Embassy two times now to watch football and its glorious. We hang out with about 5 or 6 other American guys and watch football. It’s a simple pleasure, but I do love it. Last weekend we even bought some ground beef and made hambergers!

I have posted some pictures below. I have many more, and hope to take many more, but until I get more reliable internet I won’t be able to get them online.

Also, if anyone knows how to get episodes of The Office from a non-US IP address I would be eternally grateful!

GO HAWKS!

Some Pictures

This is Chris, Pascal and I with a bunch of random Rwandan kids in front of some rural landscape. We visited Gitarama and stopped to take some photos and the kids (who live outside the city and aren't used to "muzungos" came running)
Every Saturday morning the kids who live in the center come to work on the farm for a couple hours. It is my job to assign tasks and supervise so last week I took 40 students and cleaned a drainage canal - I almost called Mike Rove of "Dirty Jobs."
A seed bed in our "micro=garden"
Our center is reknowned across the city for its acrobats and other performers. Here is one practicing.
Ah yes, me and one of my tractors, plowing along. This one has a cab with a radio that get "Voice of America" so I was plowing and rocking out!

p.s. if you are reading this on facebook you might not see the pictures. visit: www.wanderingkohawk.blogspot.com

My illegal border crossing and the United States Marines

While it makes for a good title, these two instances were not related, but both decent stories.
The first is a funny one. The volunteer who worked on the farm before I arrived returned to Kigali last week after traveling East Africa. Its a long story about running out of money and getting back to Rwanda, but he owed a man money at the Tanzanian border, so I agreed to take the bus with him to keep him company. When we arrived after our four-hour "bus" ride (more of a large van) we could not find the man, and decided that he was probably across the border. We went to the offical on the Rwandan side of the bridge, smiled big, played dumb and asked if we could see the waterfall from the bridge (I didn't even have my passport). He obliged, we walked across the bridge and just kep going, only to discover that our man was in fact on the Rwandan side of the border. As soon as we discovered this, the offical came charging across the bridge and up the hill to inform us that we did not have permission to be in Tanzania and we needed to return immediately. We smiled big, played dumb and came back, with him telling us facts about the waterfall and the border. Not that great of a story, but I thought it was kind of fun.

Wednesday night we went to the US embassy because we heard the Marines had parties there every Wednesday. We arrived, and after going though security, still a little skeptical, showed up and sure enough, there was a party! It was held in the Marines' house and while there weren't as many Americans there as we hoped for, the Marines were pretty cool guys and I think Sunday Chris and I are going to visit again to watch some football. Yes I'm still loving Rwanda, but very excited to have some American friends and American Football (tired of international football - soccer).

I'm also writing this as I know all my friends and family are tailgating in Iowa City, and of course because I'm in Rwanda the Hawkeyes are going to be good this year. Alas, I'm following as closely as I can and will have to put all my sports efforts into coaching my basketball team which might actually get started this week.

Jeans, Cows and French

Becuase of the Holoday Monday, we got the afternoon off and finally took the bus into the City Center to explore it ourselves. We have been there a couple times, but it was always dark and in a car with someone else driving. Being in a place and not understanding the layout makes me feel uncomfortable, so after 4 or 5 hours of buses and walking and bartering with a vendor for a pair of jeans for work, I think I finally feel comfortable in that small part of Kigali.

The big news on the farm this week was the cow that jumped into the canal/creek. The canal has pretty steep sides and it took us over an hour of coaxing, proding and yelling to move the cow to a place where it could manage to get back to the herd for grazing. The whole time all I could think about was how much people, ways of life and even farming are similar, on the other side of the world.

And finally, I started a French class this week. On the site there are a group of pre-noviates (those in the preliminary stages of studying for the priesthood). Half of them are from Uganda and speak English, while the other half are from Rwanda and Brundi and speak French. So the Ugandans are learning French and I was invited to join their class. Unfortunately, they have been studying for six months and are way ahead of me, so I was really excited about taking the class, but now feel overwhelmed. I'm still trying to study on my own, but its coming slowly and I'm a bit lazy.

On that note, I'm going to go try some French!

The rain hath cometh

Rainy season has officially begun here in Rwanda. This means a couple things... First of all, and most importantly, it cools off a little bit after the rain. I actually had to get my fleece out tonight to sit outside and I'm not upset about that at all. The days generally reach the mid-80s which isn't terrible, but if I'm working, the proximity of the sun can make it quite hot. Secondly, it means it is time to plant on the farm. I'll be spending the next week running the farm's walk behind tiller to till where the students have hoed (by hand) the couple acres we will be using to plant corn this season. Finally, it means the red dust that has been habitually in the air and all over everything I own may subside.

In other non-weather news, I have discovered that I am now the resident basketball expert at the center. I've tried explaining to them many times that they must have me confused with someone else who is actually good at basketball, but they insist, constantly making references to me and the NBA (in French, so that's really all I understand when they talk amongst each other about it). Today after church we went to the national stadium with a Salesian from a different school to watch a game that some of his students were playing in. There was supposed to be an American coach or scout or something there, but he didn't show so we just caught the last two minutes of the game before one of the coaches came over to me and invited me to play on his team. (Note:The first thing I saw when I walked in was a very tall, very large black man drop step dunk while drawing a foul, so I was a little intimidated) I managed to answer very evasively and maybe after playing for a few months and getting what little shot I have back I'll consider. Of every sport I'm interested in, I never thought it would be basketball that would bring me the most attention!

Anyway, tomorrow is the end of Ramadan, so its a holday here in Kigali (even though only 5% of the population is Muslim) so we're going to try to get into the city and explore a little bit. We've been too focused on working that other than a couple restaurants and bars, we haven't had much time to get out and see things, so hopefully tomorrow will be the day!

A year of change

Yesterday was my birthday, and as I looked back over the last year I realized what a crazy year it has been, in the best of ways. One year ago I was still at Coe, concerned with writing papers, managing finances of the Student Senate and going out with my friends every Thursday night. Now here I am in Rwanda, concerned with making sure the cows are fed, I make time to talk with orphans and finding a little bit of time to read and sleep.
I think I've come to a little bit of normalcy after my first week. During the week I spend my day on the farm and in the classroom. I drive the tractor while the students and workers load it with whatever the job is for the day. Sometimes I go to class with the Agronomer/teacher, Manani, to help him teach English as well. The highlight of every day, however, is at 4:00 when all the students (and hundreds of other kids) show up on the athletic fields to play football (soccer), basketball and volleyball. Chris and I go out every day and love to just hang out, talk with the kids in their broken English and get a few games in. Then at night we say the rosary with the studetns who board at the school, eat dinner and try to study French before falling asleep. Its only been a week, but I'm happy (those of you who know about culture shock, I'm still in the honeymoon phase).
We went to the embassy this week to register (only to find out we had to come back the next day, and then to find out we had to do it online). It was nice to visit though, and talk with some Americans. The US embassy is the biggest and most fortified in town, and ironically, I observed this on September 11, while our flag was at half staff. Anyway, we are registered and now begin the annoying process of getting our visa from the Rwandan government.
Oh and last night the German couple that works on our site took us out to an Indian resturaunt downtown for my birthday which was amazing (better than our typical beans and rice!)
Anyway, its football time!

Sprint to Rwanda

Hello everyone!
I have finally made it to Kigali! As my title suggests, it did involve quite a bit of running through airports (my plane in Moline broke and messed up my whole day) but we arrived Thursday night and I finally collected all my luggage last night and am getting settled in.
"De Centre de Juene" is the site where I will be working and living this year. It is one of the Salesian sites located in Kigali, specifically in the district of Gatenga. It is a large compound, about 27 acres and has a vocational school where the students learn trades from cooking, to clothes-making or carpentry and metal working. The site also contains a working farm complete with growing some vegetables and goats, cows, pigs, geese and rabbits. The priests learned I was from Iowa and immediately showed me some work that needed to be done using the tractor. We're not sure exactly what we'll be doing yet, but I'm sure it will involve my two skills that they are aware of, English and farming, neither of which I think I'm particularly good at.
Speaking of language, the common language among everyone is French, which I am frantically trying to pick up. Luckily there are some Germans living next to us, who don't work with us but are on the same site and speak French and English, so we have some friends, along with some priests we are getting to know pretty well. The othere language is Kirywanda, which every Rwandan speaks (and mass in Kirywanda this morning was a little different from mass I went to last week in Iowa City). Many people know a little English, but I'm feeling my "American-ness" with my lack of language skills.
We have just been mostly relaxing and getting oriented with the site and venturing into town with the Germans the last couple days, but work starts tomorrow, whatever "work" happens to be.
I hope to post again soon, but our internet connection is not in the building we live and is extrememely slow, so it may not be as easy to use the internet as I originally hoped.

Also, on a very important note, I know many people were concerned about the beer situation, and they have beer, so you can rest at night knowing that I'm not cut off from drinking for a whole year.

But alas, I must finish this post before my computer dies (I'm having charger issues with the different electricity). Farewell!

Life Update

Hey all. In case you haven't heard, yes I did survive the trip home from Vietnam (Mo).

I'm currently in the process of packing up and getting ready for my next adventure: Rwanda.

I'm going to Rwanda as a "Salesian Lay Missioner" to serve children. The Salesians are the second largest order of Catholic priests in the world, and follow the charism of their founder, St. John Bosco, to minister to needy children around the world. The more I learn about the Salesians and Don Bosco, the more excited I am to join in thier work. (More info about my program at http://salesianlaymissioners.org/)

Currently I am waiting to hear back from my contact in Kigali, Rwanda as to when we should arrive. Chris (the other American I am going with) and I are hoping to leave around August 25th and are simply waiting for the ok, but in the meantime are preparing the best we can for departure.

As soon as I know more I'll let you know.
Update: my email address is now mitchelljlincoln@gmail.com

Winding Down

We're back in Saigon, and now preparing to leave. We've had a couple busy days since my last post, traveling back South and spending two days in the Mekong Delta. The Delta was pretty cool, and definitely the rural Vietnam I expected, with lots of water, channels, rain and jungles (The stuff of Rambo and Apocalypse Now). We spent more time on boats than busses, which was a nice change, and got to see a very different side of Vietnam.

This will probably be my last post from Vietnam, because we are leaving in about 14 hours (3:45 a.m. local time). I am scheduled to be back in Cedar Rapids on June 3rd by 6:00 p.m. Central Time, at which point I might try to drive home to DeWitt, or find a place to crash if I'm too jet-lagged. We shall see.

I need to get running, however, we have an appointment at the Consulate, which I've very excited for. See everyone soon!

On to Hoi An

Well we survived the rest of Hue and the DMZ and have arrived safely at our next destination: Hoi An.

Our DMZ tour was quite amazing. Our tour guide was a South Vietnamese man who had worked with the US Army during the war and had reached the rank of 2nd Lt. doing reconnaissance work for the Americans. Needless to say, this gentleman had a very different take on the war than the rest of the government-propaganda we had been reading in museums and on other tours. After the war our guide had attempted to escape Vietnam by boat (like 1 Million other Vietnamese) but he was captured and sent to a communist "reeducation camp."

The main highlight of the tour was the tunnel village, where the villagers just above the 17th parallel smuggled supplies from Soviet ships onto land safely, just above the dividing line where the US military was not on the ground. There were miles of tunnels, three different "levels" or depths some reaching 25 meters below ground, family rooms, wells, ventilation and even an operation room. It was dark, slippery and cramped, and I still have a bump where I hit my head, but people lived in these tunnels for years to escape American bombs (the bomb craters are all over the compound) and it was pretty amazing to see people's dedication displayed in these dark tunnels.

We also met our Vietnamese teacher-friend, Quy, for a beer. We went to his modest house to see it so we know where we can stay next time we are in Vietnam. We then went to his neighbor's house to get a case of beer and sat outside his house on the street by the river in plastic chairs drinking cheap beer, playing badminton with his nieces and nephews and smoking bad Vietnamese cigarettes. I think that is the closest we've been to the real Vietnam yet.

Our trip from Hue to Hoi An was a little different, as we were on a train. The train tracks wind through the mountains and along the coast to show some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Jungle-covered mountains run right into long sandy beaches that lead right into beautiful blue water. There are also more rock out-croppings off the shore along the entire coast that are the cherry on top. The other Vietnamese on the train didn't seem to notice the scenery, but they certainly noticed the white-skinned Americans jumping seats and leaning on top of each other to get a better view.

Hoi An is a nice little tourist place on the coast. It has been forgotten about since about the mid-19th century, which means its architecture is classic and beautiful, and neither side saw it as a valuable asset during the war, preserving it unscathed. There are a ton of white people (mostly Australian and European) spilling out of the town's resorts into the markets and tourist restaurants. They also have a big clothing industry here, so of course I had to get two shirts tailored to go with my tailored suit that I got in Hue. Yesterday afternoon a couple of us went to the beach, about 10 minutes away by motorbike, to soak it up. It felt just as pretty as it looked, and we basked in the glory of the South East Asia sun and tried to contemplate how this is considered a class.

Today I took an optional day trip to My Lai (Pronounced "Me Lie"), the village where American soldiers went on a four-hour rampage in 1968, killing somewhere around 200 people, mostly women and children. I haven't quite collected my thoughts on this experience yet, except to say it was moving, and eye-opening to see what my country, and what men in general can do during times of war. I'm still mulling it over, but need to get next door for a game of pool before we head back to the beach for the afternoon!

When in Hue

So we left our comfortable little place in Ha Noi and set off for Hue, and we actually went to the right airport terminal this time too. Hue is Vietnam's Imperial City, where the Emperors ruled before French colonization. There are some amazing ancient ruin in and around the city, centered around the Emperor's palace, the Citadel, which is within walking distance of our hotel.
Yesterday after touring the Citadel we rented bikes to explore the city. While riding on bikes with our badminton equipment, Andrew made friends with a Vietnamese couple, one of who was a high school English teacher. He wanted to practice his English so he invited us for a beer, then dinner, and then karaoke. It was a great night, hanging out with "real" Vietnamese people at places only the locals go. They also took us to the best tailor in town so we could get measured for a suit, which we picked up today (at a fraction of the cost of a U.S. tailored suit).
We've also got a swimming pool at our hotel, which, paired with a bottle of whiskey or a case of beer, makes for a great nightcap from our long, hot days in the sun.
Today we took a boat tour up the Perfume River to see the burial grounds of some former emperors. We eventually got up into the jungle where the heat was pretty unbearable, but the buildings were absolutely amazing.
Tomorrow we are going to come back to the 20th Century and check out the DMZ, where North Vietnamese troops built elaborate tunnel systems to avoid American bombing in the war.
I also think we are going back to hang out with our new Vietnamese friends tomorrow night. There is a slight language barrier, so we're not exactly sure what we are doing, maybe going to the beach, maybe going to their home for dinner... We're not sure, but whatever it is, we're going to take our latest motto for the trip and embrace whatever comes out way... "When in Hue..."

World Cup Hanoi

I don't have much time before dinner (Korean tonight!) but just wanted to make a quick post.
Today we went to sing karaoke with some Vietnamese students then met up with another group to play some football (soccer) with some Vietnamese and Chinese guys, who we then hung out with and drank some green tea with. It was the best day of the trip by far.

Tomorrow we leave Hanoi, sadly. We are going to Hue, which is more rural, so I might disappear from the internet for a while, we'll see what it looks like. If I have time later I'll try to post some pictures, but its our last night in Hanoi so we're going out with a bang!

Still having a great time and missing everyone at home!

A few random pics

This is the entrance to the Temple of Literature. A temple dedicated to Confucian ideas and scholarship.
This is me in front of Ho Chi Minh's Masoleum. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us take camera's in (I tried). I guess 'ol Ho is so photogenic after being dead for so long.
Thats Scott and Charlie Kayaking in Halong Bay. We went through this little cave and found such a cool little area completely surrounded by giant outcroppings of rock, it was a little paradise. When we got through, all I heard was Scott yelling 'Narnia!'
Andrew, me and Scott enjoying a beer on Hang Bac Street. Yes, we are literally sitting on the street.
A relatively mild snapshot of Hanoi traffic.

Nature and History

We've done a couple of cool things the last couple days.
Naturally the food will come first:
We met up with a couple friends who just graduated from Coe who live in Hanoi, Ming and Mahn. They took us to their favorite restaurant where we just sat and ordered dish after dish of food and shared until we were content, about two and a half hours later. We ate some traditional normal Vietnamese food, but also branched out and ate some crazy stuff that even they hadn't tried: Crickets, Horse, Crocodile and drank some "corn water." We then went to another rooftop bar (this one overlooking the lake where John McCain got shot down while flying a bombing run) and being still a little dehydrated from our night of drinking before (its almost impossible to get rehydrated in the heat and humidity) I had a juice smmothie, which was amazing because the tropical friut is always in season here, and always very fresh.

Another day we took a day-trip to Halong Bay, a can't miss for tourists to Vietnam. We took a quite long, uncomfortable and scary bus ride to the bay, but the payoff was amazing. We ate some fresh seafood on board (Andrew even bought us a fresh Snail from some of the local fisherman), went kayaking in the probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen and took a walking tour of some caves. I'd try to describe to you how beautiful this place was, and I took a ton of pictures, but words and pictures just can't do it. We then had some delicious Indian food and were exhausted from a great day of sun and the ocean and went to bed early.

Today we got back on the history track and visited Ho Chi Minh's Mosaleum. Ho has been dead for over 30 years now, so seeing that old of a body looks a a little strange, but its kind of neat to see the man I have read so much about, and frankly, become very interested in. Yesterday was his birthday, but unfortunately we were on the bay and didn't get to stay in the city to see the celebration. I'm trying to compare him to a figure most people would recognize but I think he's probably a mix between Lennin and George Washington. A communist and a nationalist, he is idolized all over the country like Lennin with posters, money and in every magazine and door I open, although he was humble and a visionary leader like Washington. A very interesting man that I want to learn more about, especially after seeing his masaleum and his home this morning.

After seeing Ho Ming and Mahn took us to another Vietnamese buffet that was, again, amazing. I feel like all I write about on here is food, but its competing for my favorite part of this trip so far. After that we went to the Hoa Boa Prision, or the "Hanoi Hilton" as it is known in the U.S. This is a prision the French built to hold political prisioners during its time in power, then the Vietnamese took over and housed American POWs during the war. This is where John McCain was held and tortured for six years (they still have his flight suit on display). This was another frustrating dispay of propoganda, as the Vietnamese who were held there under the French were, of course, tourtured and treated very badly, but the Americans were treated with the most respect and held under the best conditions... oh well, such is a communist government, I suppose.

I'm off to our second class meeting of the trip to discuss one of the books we are reading and then to one of the city's best French restaurants... more food!

Ha Noi!

SO after a short day in Saigon, we jumped back on a plane yesterday and flew north to Hanoi (we're eventually working our way south and will end up back in Saigon). We took multiple cabs and my cab went to the wrong terminal and we almost missed our flight, but eventually got to the right place. It was fairly terrifying when we figured out we were in the wrong place and the first three people we talked to didn't speak English.

Ha Noi is great, one of my guide books said if Saigon is New York, then Hanoi is Boston. Not quite the booming industry and Westernism that exists in Saigon, but more of an intimate Eastern feel. The streets are bustling and busy here in a whole new way. The sidewalks turn into store fronts every day with people running their own businesses out the front of they very small storefront/home that spills out into the street. So to add to the mix of crazy motor-bikes, "cyclos", trucks and occasional car, we now add regular pedestrians to the mix. We sat on a rooftop bar last night at a busy intersection just to watch the traffic, we're fascinated.

As soon as we got into town yesterday we did a quick tour, went to an island pagoda (temple) and then the professors turned us loose. The four guys broke off and immediately found "Little Hanoi"a great little Vietnamese resturaunt chain for some more amazing food. We then walked a little more, did some shopping at the weekend night market and had a few drinks at a rooftop bar by the lake to watch the sunset over the city. We then ventured back out and found a little street corner where we literally sat in a plastic chair on the street and had some locally made beer out of a shady keg for 3000 Dong a glass (17,000 Dong = $1). We then decided to eat again (we're eating our way across Vietnam) and wandered out of the tourist area and found another place where we sat on the street and cooked our own food at our table with a plate and burner. Scott and Andrew are both not feeling well today, but I think it was worth it (because I didn't get sick, of course). The night ended with meeting up with the girls at a bar where we got free shisha (hookah) and stayed up way to late.

Today we got up and did a lot of walking. We walked to the temple to literature, which is over a thousand years old, and dedicated to Confucian principles of scholarship. We then went to West Lake (the place where John McCain crash landed on a bombing run during the war) and a couple other museums that I had pretty much lost interest in after a long day walking in the heat and humidity.

The highlight of the day was definitely meeting up with Ming and Mahn (two Vietnamese students who just graduated from Coe). They took us to a great resturaunt where we hung out for over two hours trying as many things as we could think of (crickets, crocodile, horse and corn water to name a few). Then it was back to 0ne of the city's many rooftop bars for some awesome fruit juice with the ever-prevelant fresh fruits that are all over this country.

Anyway, I'm having a great time, love this country and have already spent way too much money enjoying it. Tomorrow we're going to Halong Bay and leaving at 7:45 so I need to get to bed!

Someday I'm going to try to get some pictures up to...

Good Morning Vietnam!

I have arrived safely in Vietnam! It took somewhere in the ballpark of 36 hours of travel to get here but I have arrived and am very well (after adjusting to the 12 hour time change that is).

Right now we are in Saigon (offically renamed Ho Chi Minh City after 1975 when the North Vietnamese Communists captured the city.) Because our trip is based mostly on the American War here, today we visited the Independence Palace that was the home of the South Vietnamese Government until it fell in 75 when the Communists crashed through the front gate with tanks. We then visited the "War Remnants Museum." Coming from a liberal, Western Democracy made this propoganda-filled museum a little tough to swallow (the first section entitled "War Crimes of the Occupation - meaning the Americans) but I guess its all part of learning the culture.

Today we also ate Pho, a traditional dish consisting mostly of broth, rice noodles, vegetables and chicken. It was amazing! We also rode in a bicycle "ricket" which is a bicycle with a cart on the front of it for passengers. I'm pretty sure we got ripped off, as we paid 100,000 Dong (around $5) but its ok, because it was a great experience.

The traffic here is crazy and I've already almost been hit by a scooter (by far the most popular form of transportation) a car and a truck, but pedestrians wandering into the streets is a common thing, and the drivers, crazy as they may be, are pretty alert.

I think I'm sunburned already, despite my 45 SPF, and its as hot and humid as I expected it to be, but so far the novelty of a completely different culture, political system and being halfway around the world has me captivated. Unfortunately I forgot my cable to upload any pictures today, but hopefully soon I'll try to get some. Tonight we're off to eat at a nice French resturaunt (the French were the original colonizers of Vietnam, so some of their culture remains) and then in the morning we're getting on another plane and heading North to Hanoi!

Feel free to make some comments on here, I don't have a whole lot of access to internet, but would love to hear from you!

Getting Ready

Hey all. I'm sitting in my kitchen in DeWitt right now, taking care of last minute things before departing on Thursday. I won't waste much space with this first post, but just wanted to say hi, and welcome!