Life at CSIP

Warning, this is a long one!

I'm going to attempt to sum up some of the funnier moments I've had volunteering at my NGO over the past week and a half. I work at an organization called CSIP (the acronym doesn’t translate to an English phrase), whose mission is to promote the social entrepreneurship movement in Vietnam and to provide both financial and logistical support to social entrepreneurs. Some examples of the social entrepreneurs they sponsor: A woman who formed a center to help disabled people learn how to produce and market aroma therapy pillows so that they will ideally become self-sufficient, a man who set up libraries in distant villages to promote literacy, a woman started a battery recycling plant to reduce acid waste that often leads to birth defects and pollution in the country.

The entire organization is run by four woman, a full-time Vietnamese intern, a few other Vietnamese volunteers, and now myself for a short period of time. The organization is very impressive, the women work incredibly hard and are very professional. They have frequent meetings with me to review my work and make sure everyone is on the same page. Right now my tasks include A LOT of editing of English documents, creating powerpoints (referred to only as ppts here), and writing their first English newsletter. Later they plan to have me assist in writing a fundraising proposal.

I spend a lot of time with Huong, a 22 year-old Vietnamese intern. She is very sweet, and usually ends up practically sitting on my lap and draping herself all over me, as personal space is often a foreign concept in Vietnam. Also, female and male friends show a lot of physical affection, which isn’t necessarily rare for girls in the states, but it is pretty shocking to see heterosexual males holding hands, hugging frequently, and playing with each others hair.

Lunch time at work always brings much amusement. They have a “buffet”, where everyone brings in a cooked Vietnamese dish and then everyone shares. They are very proud of their buffet and were excited to incorporate me. They quickly realized I would not be able to cook much of anything they would like to eat, so I go downstairs to the supermarket in the building and buy meat and rice to contribute. The first time they would not let me go alone, so Huong held my hand and carted me around the grocery store like I had never seen one before, ordering everything for me and counting out my money.

Lan is my supervisor, she is very cute and very blunt. At lunch Lan has two main goals: one, to not eat too much because (“she get fat easy”) and two, to make Huong eat as much as possible. Huong is easily the smallest 22 year old I’ve ever met. I don’t think she is over 4’10, her feet are SO TINY, and today I found out that she is 40 kilograms, which is 88lbs. She is trying to gain weight and everyone in the office forces her to finish all of her rice and eat as much meat as possible… which is still probably a fifth of what I could pack away at one meal. I’m sure she thinks I am a huge fatty.

On my first day of lunch, they had a fruit that looked like a small tangerine. I asked what they were called, which launched a huge debate. A woman named Twi insisted they were called Happy Fruits, but everyone else scoffed at her. They finally decided to use Google Translate, which came up with the answer ‘Citrus Fruit’. After everyone looked to me for confirmation, I tried to explain that it was indeed a citrus fruit, such as an orange or lemon, but that it was not named that. However the minute I said that it was like an orange, they excitedly yelled YES! LIKE ORANGE! This is a citrus fruit! After much back and forth I had unintentionally convinced them that the fruits official English name was a citrus fruit. They all wrote it down in their notebook to remember, and almost daily they point to the fruit, say look citrus fruit! and look at me excitedly for approval, which I cannot help but give. I sadly have started a fruit name myth.

Also when the Vietnamese eat, they chew and smack their lips SO loudly. It is a sign that they are enjoying their food. It gets somewhat annoying, but mostly I feel bad because I cannot bring myself to act the same and show that I like their food. I smile a lot and give thumbs up while eating though, so I hope that this is enough of a gesture. I am also always offered the opportunity to take a nap after lunch on the company couches, but no one else ever does this so I never do either. And a few times a day they ask me if I want a drink, and I always say water, and they always give me boiling hot water, even though there is a cold water faucet…

And finally I want to talk a little more about Huong, because she is hilarious. First, she is a gigantic soccer fan, and a diehard supporter of the English premier league team Manchester United. She checks scores frequently and was very upset to hear that I support Liverpool (I had no choice dating Matt).

Then last week I was sick with a fever and missed two days, and while I was gone she texted and e-mailed me frequently to make sure I was alright. When I returned to the office she had bought me two chocolate bars as a welcome back gift, so so cute.

Later in the week she had me edit a powerpoint she made in English, and below is a picture that she used for a section about a social entrepreneur that started a suicide prevention center…

Last Friday, she randomly started to beg me to sing for her. I could never bring myself to do this in general, let alone in a quiet office setting with everyone listening to me. I asked her to sing for me, but she insisted she was a bad singer. I told her yes same with me! but she did not believe me and informed me that my voice was very sweet, but I still refused. Later that day she friended me on Facebook, and I saw that it was her birthday… Sidenote, in Vietnam they do not celebrate individual birthdays, because they all turn a year older during the Chinese New Year. I would not have known it was her birthday except for Facebook. Upon me saying happy birthday, she begged me to sing her Happy Birthday, which I narrowly avoided by playing her a youtube clip of Alvin and the Chipmunks singing Happy Birthday. She liked it a lot, mostly because the Vietnamese love cute little animals doing weird things.

And last Huong story for now… I came into work today and she had bought me two trinkets just because. The first one is a “replication of a famous Vietnamese folk singer” and the second is a Tiger. In Vietnam being born in 1987 means that you are the year of the cat (im the year of the rabbit according to China), but they were all out of cat figurines so she bought me a tiger instead. The best part of the gift was the bag she gave it to me in, which says “Sweet Heart present for you” all over it. I attached both of them to the zipper on my jacket. Now I need to think of something to get her, hopefully I can come up with something good.

Next time… my triumphs and (mostly) failures commuting to work, along with some terrible Vietnamese jokes.

Quick summary

Hello!! This is my first blog post ever! I have been finding it pretty difficult to write about any of my travels while actually traveling, but I really hope I can get in the habit of updating this thing every once and awhile.

I spent January 18th - February 14th traveling through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is somewhat impossible to sum it all up here but here are some highlights:

• $2 Thai massages
• Riding elephants through jungles, feeding baby tigers milk, hugging baby monkeys
• Getting caught in a torrential down pour in a 50 year old wood boat with only a tiny tarp to shield us from the rain that felt like hail
• Going to one of the infamous half moon parties on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand and getting painted with black light paint
• An epic private taxi ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, which included a stop at a rural Cambodian new years party and the most ridiculous driving I've ever experienced.
• Spending the biggest night of the Tet holiday (Vietnamese new year, lasts around two weeks) in Saigon and being able to (kind of) watch a fireworks show
• Overnight train from the Thai peninsula to Bangkok
• Spending 3 whole weeks with my favorite people in the cheapest, coolest places ever

After our trip around Southeast Asia we arrived in Hanoi on Valentines Day, which was a hilarious introduction to the city. We spent most of the night around Hoan Kiem lake (main lake in the city), watching couple after couple pass by holding hands and giggling and often donning valentines day balloons and other corny gifts. Lauren, Jenny and I must have looked lonely because a guy took pity on us and gave us two valentines day balloons, which, by the way, randomly said happy birthday on them . I was not handed one and a few minutes later he came running back to give me one as well, very cute.

The next day we were driven to our volunteer dormitory, which we were told was 17 km outside the city center. The drive took about 40 minutes because of the insane traffic in Hanoi. The traffic here is like nothing I've ever experienced, and honestly I don't think anyone could really understand it without physically seeing it themselves. Basically 90% of the vehicles on the roads here are motorbikes. They all wear colorful, bizarre helmets and a face mask because of all the dust on the road. And there are a billion of them. We decided the best way to describe how the motorbikes, few cars and taxis and roaring buses and trucks navigate the roads is probably 'organized chaos'. There is really only one rule, which is the smaller you are the less right of way you have. Thus trucks and buses rule the road and fly by, while motorbikes and cars are expected to dodge out of the way, and always seem to at the last second. Its a sea of motorbikes, being parted and shaped by anything bigger than them, as well as the occasion pothole or chicken coop that fell into the road. Roundabouts are also pretty incredible because everyone just merges, there is not a marked exit or entry point, all of sudden you're just in a swarming circle. Also vehicles have been known to drive the wrong way on the highway. Including a taxi while we were in it.

Crossing the road is also absurd, there are very few traffic lights, so as a pedestrian you are expected to slowly and steadily walk across the street, expecting all motorbikes to part around you while you are responsible for yielding to all cars. Its better to just look straight ahead, its not fun watching 50 motorbikes headed straight for you.

Alright back to our volunteer dorm. When we first arrived we were a little concerned, we were dropped off on a dirt road in front of an old and mostly abandoned metal factory, with not much else surrounding us. The actual dorm was filled with people, and we quickly settled in as we got to know all of our dorm mates. We all get along very well, most of the volunteers are girls around my age, so sometimes it does feel like camp, especially because we have bunk beds and mealtimes.

Our first week most people got to go see their volunteer placement, but my NGO was on-site at a few of the projects they sponsor, so I had the week off. The volunteer organization filled up our days with tours, including one to a silk village and to the museum of ethnology. The silk village was good for cheap silk but there wasnt much else to see. The museum was really interesting, it featured all the different types of houses and tools of ethnic groups in Vietnam, and had an outside area with replicas of the houses that we could walk through.

During the week we went out to dinner with a Vietnamese guy named Nam, who I was put in contact with by my friend Sam from Wisconsin who studied abroad in Vietnam. Nam is very nice and friendly and we met up with him during the weekend as well and were able to meet all of his friends.

Next blog post will cover my experiences at my NGO this week, which has been great! And very funny.