"Ahh you doctor"

When I was in Viet Nam in 2003 everyone asked where I was from (as they do now). This is how the conversation would go:

Vietnamese: "Where you from?"
Kath: "Denmark"
V: "Huh?" (looking very confused)
K: "Denmark"
V: "You no look Denmark"
K: "I'm adopted, I came to Denmark when I was a baby"
V: "You parents where from?"
K: "Denmark!"
V: "Huh?"
K: "I'm adopted"
V: "Ahh you doctor!" (smiling)
K: "Yes, yes I'm a dotcor" (sighing)

This time around I can show my little buisesscard from the embassy written in Vietnamese, they'll still look at me shake their heads and go... "ah Denmark?"
Marianne taught me how to say "Korean" in Vietnamese, and although I can't pronunce it perfectly it's still a much more satisfying answer to most Vietnamese than "Denmark". None of the ones I've met spoke Korean anyways (or at least I don't think they did - I've actually got no idea what Korean sounds like) and with the language barrier it's sometimes easier just to say Korean.

Sometimes they'll speak Vietnamese to me, but they mostly go: Japan? China and even Phillipines...

I actually found it much harder to explain to Westerns that I do not speak Vietnamese, my parents aren't Vietnamese and I don't speak any other Asian language. We were at a bar this weekend and this French guy asked me four times if I was sure I was from Denmark. After the 4th time I turned my back to him. I couldn't be bothered anymore.

I know some (or maybe even most) Westerns have difficulties telling some Asian features apart, and I do admit it can be hard, and I as Asian-looking am probably much more aware of the differences. And as far as I can tell myself, I could probably look Japanese, Southern Chinese and hopefully Korean : )
But the fact is - I'm Danish. Yes, my body's Asian, but my mind and my body language is Danish. I do not mean to give out in this post, I came to Asia, I knew I'd be asked over and over again - and I know people ask out of curiosity, but sometimes it can get really tirering to be questioned about you biological heritage each time you meet a person who doesn't know the term "adoptee" or doesn't want to accept that I'm not Asian of heart and mind.
I haven't been to Korea, I might go some day, but not in the near future. I'm not trying to renounce my Asian roots, I'm merely sharing my every day experiences of being an Asian-adoptee with a Western mind and heart in Vietnam.

PS: They adoption agency I was adopted through doesn't adopted from South Korea any more - they've become too wealthy, but Vietnam is actually one of the biggest countries where Danish couples adopt from now.

Hanoi pics

I mostly post my pictures on my Danish blog as it has most readers - I upload them to flickr as well, but I'll post some here so you won't get too bored...

Fast food fascination

A bit late, but better late than never, I have to comment on the fast food fascination there seem to be in Vietnam. From what I read in news papers and the like the same goes for many Asian countries.

As you might have read around the Hanoi/Vietnam blogspheare, KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken - an American fastfood chain recently opend a "restaurant" here in Hanoi. This is the first of it's kind in the capitol of Vietnam. Here's no McD or other international fast food chain!

So what does this mean and why are people so fascinated with the term fast food? In just about every restaurant here there's a sign saying fast food. Is fast food really something a nice looking restaurant would self itself by? So it seems. The term appeals to Westerners, but also to Vietnamese....
My guess is as good as any's - but I agree on what is stated in the comments on Vietnamese God's blog - what is happening here was the same thing that happend in the Western world in the 50-60's. I remember reading in Hillary Clinton's biography that her parents took the family to McD as a special treat. Fast food is/was some kind of status symbol. That was before obesity-research - before people realized how unhealthy this kind of food is.
In Hanoi the KFC is not placed in the touristy Old Quater. The market for Westerners wanting comfort food is of course there, but I think the target is Vietnamese middle class people. Here it is the new and growing middle class' who wants to signal their wealth and Western lifestyle by eating at KFC.

To me KFC isn't even comfort food as we don't have it the city where I live. But I'm no saint - I do like fast food especially if I'm hung over! And I prop pop by McD to have a bigmac and some fries when I go to Bangkok in October - long live fast food ; )

Oh btw have a look at Preya's blog - I thought it was rather funny

Vietnamese Construction

So this morning when I got out bed something was dripping on my laptop! I live on the 1st floor of a 4 storey house. I have no idea why, but there's some sort of opening in the roof, it's build in two levels and inbetween there's a space where the rain can get in! I have no idea what the point of this is, but if anyone knows please fill me in!
You're probably wondering howcome it was raining on my desk, since I live on the first floor - well, in the floor of the second floor there's a "window" where you can look all the way up to the roof - probably build in to let some more light into the room. But there are little cracks around the egdes of the window that allow a rather large amount of water to run through. I panicked and tried to dry the keybord the best I could and when I went to work, I put the computer infront of a fan going at full speed. Fortunately as you might have guessed, it still works : )
I've moved now the desk with computer and everything else away from the window.
The combination of the roof construction and the rainy season isn't good!

Sushi craving

Somehow the blog have become very food-related. This post will be no exception!
Sushi is one of my favorite treats and yesterday I felt like I deserved a nice Sunday lunch. So I caught a xe om to Asahi Sushi located at Ba Trieu St just south of the Hoan Kiem lake. I hadn't been there before, but was quite surprised by the very modern style resturant.

I'm a sucker for sushi on conveyor belts! It doesn't even matter how hungry I am - the concept of delicious raw fish moving around on little plates just waiting for me to eat it draws me into the restaurant each time I'm near one. There's something satisfying judging each plate of sushi with your eyes as it moves around infront of your nose, carefully picking out the specific plate that looks the best. It's like being a kid in a candy store - only this time it's actually healthy food. God, I love sushi!

Well as for the sushi itself, I don't think the fish was quite as fresh as the Sheraton sushi, but it was still good. They wouldn't allow me to take pictures, but I'll def return to this restaurant next time my stomach craves sushi, and I might be able to take a sneak photo.

eating out, Vietnamese style

Not every day is brunch at Sheraton : )
I've been trying out some street kitchens as well. Last night we went out for a late dinner and couldn't be bothered to walk very far - so we went down our local "food street". We orded 3x chicken noodle soup, 3 breads and one mixed soup - or so we thought! First a plate of chips arrived - then 2x fried noodles with chicken + one chicken soup (without noodles). My dish never came and eventually I pointed at the black soup with chicken the lady sitting behind me ate and I got my dinner. The soup was delicious although I have no idea what I ate.

Last week we tried another street kitchen close to the embassy. The food was displayed in plates at a counter and loads of people were sitting at little tables. Many people eating at the same place seems to be a good sign of good food. I had some semi-spicy meatballs that tasted amazing (I hope it wasn't dog meat), some rice and some kind of vegetable I've we def don't have in Denmark. When we asked to pay a girl came to the table with a book and wrote 4000. We tried to asked whether 4000 was for each of us or each dish, but she didn't seem to understand - then she wrote another 0 and took the 50.000 bill one of my fellow trainees was holding. We couldn't help feeling a bit stupid as we could see all of the other bills in the book were only 4 digits. Oh well, still dirt cheap :)

Sheraton Brunch

One of the other embassy trainees turned 25 today and to celebrate we all went to Shearaton Hotel at the West Lake about 10 min. from Hanoi city centre. We'd been told there was an exellent brunch - and we weren't dissapointed!
Never in my life have I seen so much food! At first we felt a bit weird about it, knowing that people just outside the door would be able to feed an entire family for a week or more with the 23 USD the champagne-brunch cost pr. person. We decided to make the best of the experience although it felt rather absurd to be surrounded by luxury and waiters on every hand.
As the word "champagne-brunch" indicates the food orgie came with champagne, beer and wine ad libithum. This is the first morning ever I've started with champagne and sushi : )
I can't even remember all the different things on the buffet, but I'll show you a few pics of the amazing desserts so you'll get an impression.




I don't remember ever eating so much and it's certainly not something I would want to do every day - but if you can put aside the crazy circumstances (being in a luxury hotel in Vietnam) it was a cool experience and the food was amazing.....