It’s the middle of my second week in Quang Tri, and even though we only have 6 hours of obligations per day, I have absolutely no free time. In the mornings, we wake up at 5:20 AM to head to the worksite. We finish work at 10:30 AM, take a quick shower, get lunch at 11:15AM, nap until 1:30, lesson plan until 2:40, then teach from 3:00 to 4:30. Evenings consist of eating dinner, doing laundry, playing soccer, playing cards, and hanging out with Trinh, my roommate—we bond over singing American songs and talking about celebrities.
It’s a schedule that keeps us focused and busy; it enables us to notice the little differences between Quang Tri and America through conversations with our students and our roommates. Trinh and I discussed differences between Vietnamese and American standards of attractiveness—I found it interesting that the Vietnamese are very foreigner-focused; for example, they value guys who look like K-pop stars and girls who look European. I talk about superheroes and athletes with my students—they always love when we have similar interests. Hien (my supervisor) and I exchange jokes and riddles at the worksite, and she teaches me snippets of Vietnamese history when we’re biking if she gets the chance.
While I love these conversations, I did not anticipate the language barrier that would come with them. I can’t ask my students much beyond yes-or-no questions, so it’s difficult to have more meaningful conversations. The same holds for some of the Vietnamese roommates—I know it’s clearly easier for them to speak Vietnamese to one another, so I sometimes avoid joining their group hangouts or conversations, because they should get a break from speaking English. While this is of course natural, it does pose somewhat of an obstacle to forming closer relationships.
There are other clear cultural differences as well. First, Vietnamese people are slightly more blunt—my students have no problem calling a little girl in my class “fat,” though she is clearly uncomfortable. Second, I do see a more focused, driven attitude from Americans when a task is facing us, whether it be construction or planning a trip, while the Vietnamese are more relaxed and comfortable. Service here in general—in printing stores, restaurants, and markets—is a lot less personable (the language barrier probably emphasizes this, but I still think it is a fair observation). They don’t say “thank you” and “sorry” nearly as much as we do—in fact, saying those things can be perceived as weird.
I think these all point to the fact that the Vietnamese people are offended much less often than Americans are—if Americans have bad service at a restaurant, or someone doesn’t say “thank you” when we hold the door open, we’re left with a sour taste in our mouths, we threaten to sue, or we blame Obama. In Vietnam, they brush it off.
This was a bit of a shock coming in to Quang Tri—I had envisioned the town as a very small, rural community, with an emphasis on the community. In America, one of the things that I think most builds community is personable communication between strangers; for example, I love going to restaurants in small towns because the waiters’ personalities always provide insight into the culture of that town. In Vietnam, these personable interactions are few and far between, given the language barrier and the culture—why does someone need to be extremely friendly and give you food? Therefore, I will have to find other ways to interact and integrate more with the community outside of what I am used to in the weeks to come.
It’s a schedule that keeps us focused and busy; it enables us to notice the little differences between Quang Tri and America through conversations with our students and our roommates. Trinh and I discussed differences between Vietnamese and American standards of attractiveness—I found it interesting that the Vietnamese are very foreigner-focused; for example, they value guys who look like K-pop stars and girls who look European. I talk about superheroes and athletes with my students—they always love when we have similar interests. Hien (my supervisor) and I exchange jokes and riddles at the worksite, and she teaches me snippets of Vietnamese history when we’re biking if she gets the chance.
While I love these conversations, I did not anticipate the language barrier that would come with them. I can’t ask my students much beyond yes-or-no questions, so it’s difficult to have more meaningful conversations. The same holds for some of the Vietnamese roommates—I know it’s clearly easier for them to speak Vietnamese to one another, so I sometimes avoid joining their group hangouts or conversations, because they should get a break from speaking English. While this is of course natural, it does pose somewhat of an obstacle to forming closer relationships.
There are other clear cultural differences as well. First, Vietnamese people are slightly more blunt—my students have no problem calling a little girl in my class “fat,” though she is clearly uncomfortable. Second, I do see a more focused, driven attitude from Americans when a task is facing us, whether it be construction or planning a trip, while the Vietnamese are more relaxed and comfortable. Service here in general—in printing stores, restaurants, and markets—is a lot less personable (the language barrier probably emphasizes this, but I still think it is a fair observation). They don’t say “thank you” and “sorry” nearly as much as we do—in fact, saying those things can be perceived as weird.
I think these all point to the fact that the Vietnamese people are offended much less often than Americans are—if Americans have bad service at a restaurant, or someone doesn’t say “thank you” when we hold the door open, we’re left with a sour taste in our mouths, we threaten to sue, or we blame Obama. In Vietnam, they brush it off.
This was a bit of a shock coming in to Quang Tri—I had envisioned the town as a very small, rural community, with an emphasis on the community. In America, one of the things that I think most builds community is personable communication between strangers; for example, I love going to restaurants in small towns because the waiters’ personalities always provide insight into the culture of that town. In Vietnam, these personable interactions are few and far between, given the language barrier and the culture—why does someone need to be extremely friendly and give you food? Therefore, I will have to find other ways to interact and integrate more with the community outside of what I am used to in the weeks to come.