So it's time to say goodbye... I've always hated goodbye's and this one really hurts.
It's been an amazing ride. During the last 6 months I've met some really nice people, led a very comfortable life, travelled in Asia and gotten to know Vietnam better. In short I've been happy living in Vietnam.
It'll be quite an adjustment to cross a street without 100s of motos coming right at me, to do my own laundry, cook and clean again, to enjoy the sound of silence, to study, to be exposed to temperatures under 15c and to pay 13 USD for mojito! I'm not quite sure I'm actually ready to leave, but nonetheless I am leaving.
I've seen how Vietnam's rapid development is changing everyday life in Hanoi. New shops pop up by the day, traffick is getting worse (as more people can afford a moto), KFC has opened two "restaurants" in Hanoi and soon you'll probably see McD, Starbukcs and Pizza Hut opening. It's globalisation people say, it's the way development works, when it works! Maybe they're right. I hope the development strategy will included preserving Vietnamese culture and traditions. I hope Hanoi doesn't turn into Singapore, which in my view has lost so much of its' Asian spirit. I hope the distribuation of the new wealth is not as unequal as it in China. I hope Vietnam is able to cope with the development.
I don't know whether I'll blog from my next destination, but I can reveal I'm going back to Scandinavia, but I'm not going home. If I do decide to do another blog on my Northern adventures I'll be sure to put a link on this one. It's going to be my 4th country besides Denmark since the summer of 2002 and I'm slowly beginning to feel more like a world citizen, which is good I suppose. One of my friends asked me whether I thought moving around from country to country in the pace I've done is hard - I don't think moving to a new country or adjusting to its' pace is that hard, but saying goodbye always is...
But it is the life that I've chosen to lead at the moment (some say once you're on the track you never get off it again), and I feel very privileged that I'm able to live this way.
I'd like to say thanks to the 15 somewhat readers a day that actually have tuned into this discount version of my blog (the Danish one getting the funny stories and the best pics). I hope you've enjoyed my Vietnam adventure as much as I have.
Goodbye Vietnam, I hope I'll recognize you when I see you again
Sunday, January 14, 2007
6 months in Asia
Tran Phu, UM, Pho,Lemon juice, Solace, Shopping, Bun cha, Little Hanoi, Teitur, "Xe om, em oi?", Tailor, Hanoi Taxi, Dragonfly, Ipa Nima Party, Spring rolls, Tiger Temple, Fruit shake, Foot massage, Bangkok, Traffick, Balcony Bar, Champagne brunch, Hoan Kiem, Sentimental journey, E-mails, Kuala Lumpur, Moto rides, Country side, Development, HAU, Hong Kong, Dim sum, Bia Hoi, Noise, Cultural differences, Christmas dinner, Markets, Bobby Chinn, Star ferry ride, Beijing, Humidity, Being Asian, Being European, Loosing my accent, Boat trip on South China Sea, Pollution, Nhuong our lovely maid, Graditude, Never cooking, Blog, Adventure, Puku, Sunday outings, Singapore, Friends, Rice with soy-sauce, Green Tangerine, Impatience, "Sorryyyy", Communism, Air con, Hoi An, Typhoon, Fresh Fruit, Hanoi Opera, Missing, Coca Cola, Happiness, La Place Café, Anh Khanh, Beautiful Beach, Highlands' Coffeee, Explaining myself, Embassy, Travelling, Female Power, Phu Quoc, Tiny dogs, Life in the streets, "Danskere på taget", Luna, Street food, Modernization, Rats on the roof, Waiting, Reckless transportation, Purchase power, Cocktails, Building sites, Reading books, Halida, Beauty, Cakes, Cofe, Squat toilets, Being ripped off, Handicraft, Caught in the middle, Bicycle guy in the street, Sushi, Rude people, Airports, Expat, West Lake, Uncle Ho, Luxury, Poverty, Contrast
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Personal record
Since end of June 2006 - 31st of December 2006 I've been on 21 different planes going to/from and within 7 different countries. That's a personal record!
Monday, January 08, 2007
The sound of silence
The other morning in bed feeling a wee bit hungover I thought to myself that Vietnam was really growing on me. Yes, I know it might not be the most obivious thought a Saturday morning feeling a bit sick, but the thought came to me 'cause I wasn't annoyed by the salesmen and women shouting in the alley outside or house even though the woke me up a good few hours too early for me to sleep my high alchohol level away. It sort of felt homey that they were shouting whatever it is they shout.
Last week a noise guy came to the embassy to measure the noise level. As the embassy is located right next to a big street with lots of motos and cars it wasn't surprising that the noise level in the front offices hit the same level as in a factory hall!
But I don't notice it anymore. The colleague I share office with has 3 phones and they're ringing most of the day. She'll be on one with the two others ringing. I don't even think about it anymore! Vietnamese have a more relaxed relationship with their mobile phones. They'll gladly keep them ringing when in a meeting or on the other line. Sometimes it's like they're enjoying their ringtones before answering. Back home it's almost embarrasing how much noise a ringing phone can make in a class room or at a meeting. In my previous workplaces there have been rules phones are to be switched off during work hours. Here it seems the rule is almost opposite. Noise is a natural part of my Vietnamese world.
I remember the first weekend I went back to my parents when I was at boarding school. Suddenly all the sounds I grew up with was infamiliar to me and I couldn't sleep. My boarding school was in the country side and silence was the only thing you could hear at night. Back home with my parents the city sounds souded louder than ever...
It's funny how you can adjust your perception of what is normal to whatever environment you're living in...
Last week a noise guy came to the embassy to measure the noise level. As the embassy is located right next to a big street with lots of motos and cars it wasn't surprising that the noise level in the front offices hit the same level as in a factory hall!
But I don't notice it anymore. The colleague I share office with has 3 phones and they're ringing most of the day. She'll be on one with the two others ringing. I don't even think about it anymore! Vietnamese have a more relaxed relationship with their mobile phones. They'll gladly keep them ringing when in a meeting or on the other line. Sometimes it's like they're enjoying their ringtones before answering. Back home it's almost embarrasing how much noise a ringing phone can make in a class room or at a meeting. In my previous workplaces there have been rules phones are to be switched off during work hours. Here it seems the rule is almost opposite. Noise is a natural part of my Vietnamese world.
I remember the first weekend I went back to my parents when I was at boarding school. Suddenly all the sounds I grew up with was infamiliar to me and I couldn't sleep. My boarding school was in the country side and silence was the only thing you could hear at night. Back home with my parents the city sounds souded louder than ever...
It's funny how you can adjust your perception of what is normal to whatever environment you're living in...
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Friday, January 05, 2007
Being a Danish Korean
Before living in Vietnam I’ve always felt weird whenever associated with Asian culture and values. Other bloggers have blogged about how they when people wrongly assumed they were Chinese or Japanese in the US. I guess their experience is somewhat different to mine as most of them are Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) and when people wrongly take them for another nationality they’re labelled as belonging to another culture than the one they’re rooted into.
In Denmark most people assume I’m Chinese. I’ve always thought that was rather natural, since China is the world’s most populated nation, but it also made me think how little people know about adoption and where Asians in Denmark actually come from. American friends in Vietnam have asked me about “Asian community in Denmark”, but to my knowledge there are no Asian hoods in Danish cities as most non-Caucasian are from the Middle East or Africa. Where I’m from there are some Vietnamese (without having any statistical background I’d say maybe 100-200), but an Asian community as “China Town” or “Little Saigon” does not exist. Even though Denmark has huge integration problems compared to many other countries it is a fairly homogenous society. I know Danish readers might not agree, but my main subject in this post is not integration of immigrants, but me, the Danish Korean adoptee, currently living in Vietnam, and my view of being an Danish Asian in Denmark and in Asia :)
As far as I know most Asians in Denmark my age group (twenty-something) are in fact children (most of them girls) adopted from Korea. How many? One of the Danish adoption agencies state that from 1970-2005 3118 Korean babies where brought to Denmark to grow up. As there are two major agencies in DK and it’s bloody hard to adopt (lengthy application process and lots of tests) I’d guess the total numbers is roughly 5000 out of a population of 5.5 million people.
I used to be somewhat offended by the assumption that I was Chinese and I always wondered why, since I perceive myself as Danish it shouldn’t really matter whether people label me as being Japanese, Chinese or Korean, but it does. Because even though I, as a Korean adoptee who came to Denmark barely three months old, have no emotional connection to Korean culture or society, I nonetheless am Korean by blood.
I’ve earlier blogged about how tired I am of explaining who and what I am since apparently everything comes down to the colour of your skin and some people almost are offended when I persist on claiming my European (cultural) roots. It’s like I’m abandoning my Asian roots. I’m not – I just never realised I had any besides my looks. But one thing I’ve learned during the past 6 months in Vietnam is being in a group of purely Asian people (who might all have grown up in the Western world), but before coming here I’d never been in a group of all Asian. And I think to some extent I didn’t want to be in an Asian group in Denmark because I was afraid I would be taken for an immigrant (no, I don’t think there something wrong with being an immigrant, but the fact is I’m not one in the typical sense of the word). During my years I don’t know how many people who’ve said to me – “I don’t even think of you as not being white”. To them it was a compliment and I can understand the meaning of that sentence, but somehow there’s also an insult in the words; being white means included, not being white means being excluded. I’m adopted, I’m Asian, but they see me as included.
Here in Vietnam I’ve made Viet Kieu friends, and no to be honest I have not made many purely local friends. But hanging out with Viet Kieus have given me the opportunity to be in group of people looking like me with almond eyes and black shiny hair (or greasy if you use wax). Living in Vietnam has been very different from my previous travels in Asia, in many ways I blend into everyday life ‘cause of my looks and many ways I don’t ‘cause of my Western upbringing. Yesterday sitting in a bar with all Asians, I realised that I felt quite comfortable with me being Asian, them being Asian – I did not feel I had to try to be “more Danish” so that people wouldn’t think I was Asian born and bred. I didn’t even care. I don’t know whether I’ll feel the same when in Denmark again, but I hope so.
Being comfortable in your skin is alpha and omega for allowing yourself to be whoever you are. Being an Asian adoptee in Denmark will probably always bring up some issues, because no matter how much you’re upbringing is Danish, you’re looks and biological roots are not. I don’t have the same cultural roots vested in a “home country” that Viet Kieus have. I cannot go to Korea to find “my roots” in the same way (if at all) since the culture I would meet there would not be one I’d find familiar in any way or identify with. I don’t speak the slightest Korean and I have no desire to learn, but I’ve come to learn that I am in fact Korean, I’ve even been told by American Koreans that I act Korean. I think it always bothered me to be labelled Chinese, because I knew I should take some pride my Korean DNA. Living in Asia has taught me a lot about myself regarding my Asian appearance, the pros and the cons. It has taught me to be proud of my Korean heritage – the heritage that I’ve also claimed I didn’t have. My Korean heritage is my Asian looks and even though it is not WHO I am since you cannot and should not boil an identity down to looks, it is the first thing people do when the meet you. I will always be Danish of heart and mind, but I’m only now learning to be Korean as well : )
In Denmark most people assume I’m Chinese. I’ve always thought that was rather natural, since China is the world’s most populated nation, but it also made me think how little people know about adoption and where Asians in Denmark actually come from. American friends in Vietnam have asked me about “Asian community in Denmark”, but to my knowledge there are no Asian hoods in Danish cities as most non-Caucasian are from the Middle East or Africa. Where I’m from there are some Vietnamese (without having any statistical background I’d say maybe 100-200), but an Asian community as “China Town” or “Little Saigon” does not exist. Even though Denmark has huge integration problems compared to many other countries it is a fairly homogenous society. I know Danish readers might not agree, but my main subject in this post is not integration of immigrants, but me, the Danish Korean adoptee, currently living in Vietnam, and my view of being an Danish Asian in Denmark and in Asia :)
As far as I know most Asians in Denmark my age group (twenty-something) are in fact children (most of them girls) adopted from Korea. How many? One of the Danish adoption agencies state that from 1970-2005 3118 Korean babies where brought to Denmark to grow up. As there are two major agencies in DK and it’s bloody hard to adopt (lengthy application process and lots of tests) I’d guess the total numbers is roughly 5000 out of a population of 5.5 million people.
I used to be somewhat offended by the assumption that I was Chinese and I always wondered why, since I perceive myself as Danish it shouldn’t really matter whether people label me as being Japanese, Chinese or Korean, but it does. Because even though I, as a Korean adoptee who came to Denmark barely three months old, have no emotional connection to Korean culture or society, I nonetheless am Korean by blood.
I’ve earlier blogged about how tired I am of explaining who and what I am since apparently everything comes down to the colour of your skin and some people almost are offended when I persist on claiming my European (cultural) roots. It’s like I’m abandoning my Asian roots. I’m not – I just never realised I had any besides my looks. But one thing I’ve learned during the past 6 months in Vietnam is being in a group of purely Asian people (who might all have grown up in the Western world), but before coming here I’d never been in a group of all Asian. And I think to some extent I didn’t want to be in an Asian group in Denmark because I was afraid I would be taken for an immigrant (no, I don’t think there something wrong with being an immigrant, but the fact is I’m not one in the typical sense of the word). During my years I don’t know how many people who’ve said to me – “I don’t even think of you as not being white”. To them it was a compliment and I can understand the meaning of that sentence, but somehow there’s also an insult in the words; being white means included, not being white means being excluded. I’m adopted, I’m Asian, but they see me as included.
Here in Vietnam I’ve made Viet Kieu friends, and no to be honest I have not made many purely local friends. But hanging out with Viet Kieus have given me the opportunity to be in group of people looking like me with almond eyes and black shiny hair (or greasy if you use wax). Living in Vietnam has been very different from my previous travels in Asia, in many ways I blend into everyday life ‘cause of my looks and many ways I don’t ‘cause of my Western upbringing. Yesterday sitting in a bar with all Asians, I realised that I felt quite comfortable with me being Asian, them being Asian – I did not feel I had to try to be “more Danish” so that people wouldn’t think I was Asian born and bred. I didn’t even care. I don’t know whether I’ll feel the same when in Denmark again, but I hope so.
Being comfortable in your skin is alpha and omega for allowing yourself to be whoever you are. Being an Asian adoptee in Denmark will probably always bring up some issues, because no matter how much you’re upbringing is Danish, you’re looks and biological roots are not. I don’t have the same cultural roots vested in a “home country” that Viet Kieus have. I cannot go to Korea to find “my roots” in the same way (if at all) since the culture I would meet there would not be one I’d find familiar in any way or identify with. I don’t speak the slightest Korean and I have no desire to learn, but I’ve come to learn that I am in fact Korean, I’ve even been told by American Koreans that I act Korean. I think it always bothered me to be labelled Chinese, because I knew I should take some pride my Korean DNA. Living in Asia has taught me a lot about myself regarding my Asian appearance, the pros and the cons. It has taught me to be proud of my Korean heritage – the heritage that I’ve also claimed I didn’t have. My Korean heritage is my Asian looks and even though it is not WHO I am since you cannot and should not boil an identity down to looks, it is the first thing people do when the meet you. I will always be Danish of heart and mind, but I’m only now learning to be Korean as well : )
Monday, January 01, 2007
Speed wedding
A couple of weeks ago I went to my first Viet-wedding. It was one of my co-workers who was gettig married and I'd asked her a ton of questions regarding the wedding, so I was pretty excited to go even though my other co-workers warned me that Vietnamese weddings were not fun at all.
Well, it was def rather different from a Danish wedding. The bride and the grooms' guests sat in two differenct sections of the room, I counted somewhat 400 seats so it was quite a big wedding.
While people were eating the ceremony with the rings being exchange took place and some family members gave a perfomance. After that the happy couple went around greeting the tables, everyone ate and chatted and around 45 minutes after arrival the first table of 20 people got up and left. I stayed approx 1½ hour and our table was one of the last to leave!
So no, my first Vietnamese wedding couldn't excatly be described as "fun", but I still thought it was fun to see how everything went about.
Well, it was def rather different from a Danish wedding. The bride and the grooms' guests sat in two differenct sections of the room, I counted somewhat 400 seats so it was quite a big wedding.While people were eating the ceremony with the rings being exchange took place and some family members gave a perfomance. After that the happy couple went around greeting the tables, everyone ate and chatted and around 45 minutes after arrival the first table of 20 people got up and left. I stayed approx 1½ hour and our table was one of the last to leave!
So no, my first Vietnamese wedding couldn't excatly be described as "fun", but I still thought it was fun to see how everything went about.
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