Khai Tri

This picture was taken at the Khai Tri school in Long Xuyen, Vietnam, in June 2007. The Khai Tri school was one place we visited while learning about social service agencies in Vietnam. The Khai Tri school is an orphanage, so the children either have no parents or have been abandoned, and they live at the school. These are some of the kids that lived at the school. They took my camera and started taking pictures of each other. It was really cute.

Most of the details about the school are blurry in my mind, because it has been about a year and a half since I was there, and I haven't talked about it very much. A much better resource would be Chi, an MSW student at WVU. Before she came to study social work at WVU, she got a degree in English from An Giang University and volunteered at the Khai Tri school. (Quick fact about An Giang University-in June 2007 it became the first school in Vietnam to offer a graduate certification in Vietnam, partnering with WVU. I believe WVU is now working with 7 universities in Vietnam to build a social work program for the country.)

Dragon fruit

This post will be dedicated to one of the most awesome fruits ever: DRAGON FRUIT. The Vietnamese name for Dragon fruit is Thanh Long, which we were told translates to "scales of the dragon." Looking at the skin of the fruit, I think its pretty easy to see how it got it's name.

Taste-wise, I'd say that dragon fruit resembles a kiwi, but better. The inside of the fruit is a translucent white with black seeds, and it pretty much melts in your mouth.

I haven't had dragon fruit in quite a while now, and I have no idea where to get it in the States...but if you ever see it, grab it and try it. It will definitely be worth it!

A memory from Taiwan

I don't know what set it off today, but I was thinking about ridiculous things that happened this summer while I was studying Chinese in Taipei. And when I think of ridiculous, one person came to mind so quickly that it was slightly frightening. I'm talking about Richie. Richie is the big kid in the picture up here. I'll give you a little bit of a background on him.

Richie and I lived in the International House together the fall semester of 2005. And he was absolutely insane. He was one of the founders of Bad Boys Inc., whose big task of the semester was to build a home for a homeless cat that always wandered into our house when the door didn't close quickly enough. Absolute sweetheart.
Then he moved away.
Then he came back! But I didn't know. I didn't really need to know. It was just one of those things. We later found out he'd been in New York, for whatever reason.
Then the fall semester of 2007 rolled around, and I walked into my Chinese 101 class. I did not know a single soul. But there was this kid that looked really familiar. Then he turned out to be in my section, and when I heard him talk, I knew who it was. It was Richie. But I didn't think he recognized me, so I didn't want to say anything. I can be like that.
That lasted for the whole school year. I never said anything, and neither did he, so I assumed he'd not realized who I was. Then on an extremely early morning, the group of us going to Taiwan were sitting around the Pittsburgh airport, and Richie said, "Did you live in the International House?" I replied, "Yeah, I thought you just didn't recognize me so I didn't say anything before." And that was that, we became friends. To make a long story short, I love this kid, even though he just decided to move to Chicago like 3 days after we got back from Taiwan. But now, on to the memory that I wanted to talk about.

You can't really tell what's going on in this picture. Allow me to tell this short, but humorous, tale. In the foreground is Paul. Paul is also awesome, but Paul knew to stay out of the conversation going on in the background. So Paul isn't in the story.
Richie is the taller one, and the shorter guy is Qin laoshi, our Chinese teacher at Ming Chuan University, Jihe campus. Somehow (only some higher being knows how) the Korean and the Taiwanese man got into a conversation about which ways different ethnicity's eyes slant. If there was a video, you could see the passion that was involved in this discussion. They were marking on the dry erase board every which way, with both wanting to be right about the slanting of the eyes. I don't remember who won, but I feel Richie came out on top, because he wouldn't quit until he won, whether he was right or wrong in this situation. All I know now is that when I can't tell if someone is Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I don't feel so bad, because Richie and Qin laoshi had a hard time too.

I'm sorry if this story was anti-climatic, but the humor in the situation can not be recaptured. For anyone who was there though, don't you love Richie?

Sophea started it for me

If you know me, what is about to come next will not surprise you. I L*O*V*E Southeast Asia. I love the scenery, I love the languages, I love the food, and I love the people. I love just about anything that has to do with Southeast Asia, honestly. So, about a year ago I saw an ad in BUST magazine for this awesome bag, called the Sophea's Handbag, from Global Sister Goods.

This website is awesome. If you sit down some days and think about how you could help a woman somewhere else on the planet to make a better life and think that its out of your reach, you're wrong. Global Sister Goods is a friend of fair trade, so the women who create the goods on the site are paid a fair price for their labor...which might possibly be better pay than they'd get in other jobs. So...check out the site.

http://www.globalsistergoods.com/

Cambodia!

This picture was taken at one of the most awesome spots on the planet-Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Angkor Wat is the main tourist attraction in Cambodia, and is displayed in the center of the country's flag. If you want to do business or work in Cambodia, this is the place to visit-people will always ask you if you've been to Angkor Wat. The Khmer people are very proud of this temple complex.

Even with this beautiful temple complex, news focusing on Cambodia isn't very pretty. Most recently, news articles focusing on tribunals for ex-Khmer Rouge leaders have been the buzz on the BBC news site, as well as the rape and trafficking risks for women. If you don't know about these issues, I'd recommend going over to www.bbc.co.uk right now.



How about a few facts on Cambodia?
-The language spoken is Khmer, not Cambodian.
-The name of the Cambodian people is also Khmer, but this refers only to ethnic Khmers, not everyone in the country.
-Cambodia was colonized by France.
-The main religion in Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism.
-The capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh.
-The 2008 census puts Cambodia's population at 13,388,910.
-The head of police for Phnom Penh has previously been denied U.S. visas.

Remember that risk of rape and trafficking mentioned earlier? This girl is at a NGO in Siem Reap learning a valuable skill, weaving, that will help her make a living and help to keep her away from sex work...the scarves at this place were beautiful. I'll get back with the name of this place.