Durian, the king of fruits.
Introductions: "Hi, I'm going to be a college senior this year." Sounds weird.
I'm not really a play-by-play account kind of guy, so here's just a bit of context to wrap your head around. Since our last correspondence, we were in Hanoi for three days and we just arrived in Nha Trang today with 2 clinics down and 6 to go. We had an off day yesterday to explore Hanoi. I used it mainly to walk around looking for cheap things to buy, namely knock-off things that are expensive in the USA. North Face backpack: $10. DVD box set of all the Disney movies ever made: $39. "Rollex" watch: $10. Being able to show off your fake wealth upon returning home: priceless.
This is probably a bad thing, but I've learned more about dentistry in the last 48 hours than I have in my 20 years of life. I'm not pulling teeth or anything like that, just helping out the dentists on duty. Unlike shadowing in the US, I can get all up in the patient's face to see what's going on and do things like mix amalgam, talk to the patients, and hand the dentist his instruments like you see in the movies. "Forceps. Mirror. SUCTION. I NEED SUCTION." Also, translating. Lots of translating. I think by the time this trip is over I will have learned all the different ways and accents with which to say, "Open your mouth" in Vietnamese.
Language, part deux: I feel oddly at peace with myself when talking to the Vietnamese dentists, doctors, and nurses here. There is something satisfying about being able to speak the language here, but that's not all of it. I think it has to do with the regions and different accents. All of the medical professionals are from Saigon / South Vietnam and so they have the same accent/dialect/tone as me. People in the North have a weird monotone-ish manner of speaking that is at once hard to understand yet strangely mesmerizing. Being able to talk to people from the South kind of makes me feel at home, as if I were talking to my grandma or aunt or uncle. Maybe it's familiarity, maybe it's the convenience. Whatever it is, I like it.
Mosquito Bites: I have mosquito bites. They itch. I scratch. They hurt. I made it through Africa scot-free, so here's to another 2 malaria-free weeks.
The Motherland: Also on this trip are several kids who were adopted from Vietnam by American families when they were only a few years old and are now returning to their birthplace at 11, 12, 13 years old. I wonder how it must feel to know that at one point in time they were living the same life as the orphans that they are here to serve. I think they're still absorbing everything about the country and are trying to process it. They're really funny kids to be around and remind me of my little cousins at home.
Srsly: "What's the best time to go to the dentist?" "At tooth-hurty!" Har har. I don't know how many times I've told that joke in the past week.
Breaking News: A hooker just walked into the hotel.
Yoink: Watching kids getting extractions is the funniest because they have know idea what's about to happen until they see the huge set of pliers flying towards them. It's interesting to see the different ways in which kids react. Some go for the old cry-as-loud-as-I-can tactic in hopes of scaring away the ten-fingered tooth bandit while others calmy resort to stalling for more time. "I need to pee." "I'm hungry." "I want some water." Nice try. Here have a local anesthetic instead.
King of Fruits: Brought durian into hotel, and bus, full of white people. Many were not pleased. Success. Wikipedia states: "The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust, and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks."
Pee-pee: It's perfectly acceptable for men to pee on the street here. They not exactly shy about doing their business. Picture this. A construction worker on top of a half-built steel frame building, at least 10 stories high. Decides he's too lazy to get down and whips out his member to rain urinary sweetness on those below. Exhibit B. A plane lands in Hanoi and the passengers are getting out of their seats and ready to file out of the plane. From the back of the aircraft a small voice cries out in Vietnamese, "Mom, I need to go pee." A little boy squats down in the middle of the aisle, at this point filled with people trying to filter out, and leans into an empty water bottle. No shame at all. I was lucky enough to witness both of these accounts firsthand. Also, picking your nose is not considered rude/disgusting. People here don't try to hide it. They're all up in their nose, looking like they could be conducting a nasal symphony of sorts. You flash them a weird look and they look back at you--finger up the nose still--like you're the weird one.
Fun fact: If you say "Leper Colony," for a split second people will be tricked into thinking you are referring to a colony of leprechauns. We're supposed to be setting up a clinic at one the day after tomorrow but alas, no. The government foils us again with their freedom-loathing bureaucracy.
Movin' on up: We've stayed at three hotels so far and each one has been progressively better than the last. Our first "hotel" had roaches in the shower, which was conveniently located next to the toilet, sans any physical separation. Our second hotel by comparison was heaven on earth, what with things like consistent air conditioning and a workable shower head. Right now are at the seemingly king of all king hotels in Nha Trang. At this rate, I predict we will be spending our last night in Vietnam in a penthouse suite on the 20th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Saigon (if one existed). Ironically, if you were to make a line graph labelled "Sanitation Level of Hotel" on the x-axis and "Workability of Facebook" on the y-axis, the graph would most definitely have a negative slope.
Breakfast at 0630 tomorrow. It's for the children.
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