Dodging the Breaststrokers

While I was in China last summer one of my favorite things to de-stress was to go swimming. I love to swim laps and I'm a pretty good swimmer. Most people don't know that I would be a professional swimming instructor for the rest of my life if I didn't have to look like a prune all day! Anyway, we all have those days where in some aspect in our lives we feel like we are drowning. I'll be honest I've been a little overwhelmed lately. So I decided to go swimming.

Behind the Reunification Palace in central Saigon is a 50 meter outdoor pool. I paid my 10,000 dong, (about $0.60) changed, and jumped into the pool. Ah. There is one lane line going half way down the pool and everyone swims around it in a circle. If you've ever gone swimming in Asia you know that all Asians do the breaststroke. However, this can be treacherous if you're trying to pass one or two or three of them because you can get some good swift kicks in the side. But I did my thing and felt the stress just starting to flow out of me. I didn't mind the dirt on the bottom of the pool. My goggles kept fogging up so I couldn't really see much anyway! I didn't mind the men smoking by the pool. I didn't mind the weird lady floating around with her floaties on. I just let the water take the stress away.

At the end of my swim I noticed that there was a swimming lesson going on! They had put floaties on all of the little children's arms and then proceeded to tell them to jump into the deep end! Shocking! Safety first? I think not. I was highly amused though and after most jumped sucessfully I started to rethink my theories of swimming lessons. Sometime I do just want to throw the buggers into the deep end!

Anyway back to my original thought... In a world where I can't speak the language very well (okay who am I kidding- I really can't speak the language), where I'm just trying to navigate my new job, and I'm learning how to provide for myself in a new Asian city, it was good to be able to do something familiar and something that I'm good at. In the future when someone asks me for advice about how to cope with a new situation I will tell them to do something that they are good at.

My friend Pam Davis had the best advice ever for living overseas for an extended amount of time. She said, "Be nice to yourself." This was said after her year in Guam and the Island of Chuke. She is my hero when it comes to living abroad!!

In other news I'll be in the US in a few days for my Christmas break. I can't wait to see my twin sister and everyone else!! Give me a call-- I'll have the same number.

Site Visits

One of the great things about being a fellow is that I can go out to the field with the technical staff to see different projects. Here are a few pictures!!

District 10 Outpatient Clinic (OPC). We went out to see if we could do a renovation (see other posts).

The staff from USAID invited me to go to a grand opening of another OPC. I'm glad I didn't have to make any speeches but I did have to stand up and be recognized as representing CDC. This is one of those moments that was a little sureal because I've always wanted to work overseas with CDC and here I am...

Then I went with Dr. Son, the care and treatment Project Officer to an AIDS hospital that used to be an 06 center. It was 5 hours away but well worth the trip. You can't see the bars in this picture but there were huge bars on each of the doors, a remnant of the 06 center that it used to be. It was interesting to see the progression of illness throughout each residence area. Some were still recovering drug addicts and some were dying of AIDS. Either way it is a sobering picture of what heroine does to people. Today I went to the closest 06 center to Ho Chi Minh City. The 06 centers were created as a sort of "rehab" place for IDU (injection drug users). I'm actually not sure how many are in Vietnam but most of them do not look like this. The residents are taken off the streets and put in these facilities for 2-5 years. Imagine putting a huge high risk group in a concentrated area-- according to the Project Officer the prevalence of HIV among these men is 40-60%. While I have a really hard time believing it is that high none the less it is significant si nce the prevelance in Vietnam is only 0.5%.

In the US when we think about HIV/AIDS we mostly think about Africa and/or associate the disease with risk groups such as MSM (men who have sex with men) , CSW (comercial sex workers), and other people who engage in risky sexual behaviours. Well here in Vietnam the largest at risk population is by far the IDU. But it's tricky... and I'll leave it at that for right now!

Pumpkin Soup

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I get to spend it will ALL of my family. When I decided to take the job in Vietnam the hardest part of my decision was being away for Thanksgiving. So I knew I had to do something special. So Kate, the fellow in Hanoi, and I decided to go to the beach. She was so gracious to fly down to Ho Chi Minh City and then we took a 4.5 hour bus to Mui Ne.

We were upgraded to a villa with a private swimming pool for the 3 nights and 4 days that we were there! It was super relaxing. When we woke up we heard the sound of the waves and not motorbikes! The air was sweet with oxygen, something I appreciated since I live in Saigon.

We actually did get to have some pumpkin soup on Thanksgiving, which was the closest thing to any traditional food that we found. But I enjoyed my veggies and noodles!!

I woke up early on Sunday to get a view of the sun rising over the Pacific Ocean. I think sunrises and sunsets remind me of God's generosity and creativity.


Some Vietnamese guys who found out we could speak a little Vietnamese. I think they are used to seeing a bunch of German tourists who can barely speak English let alone Vietnamese!!


This is the view from the spa where we got our 60 minute body massage. The sound of the ocean just makes it so relaxing!!