Beach Trip

On our 4^th day in Vietnam, Mike came back from traveling with his family and joined Jane and I on our trip to a local beach.  We knew that there were better beaches further away, but since I had a trip with one of my professors the next day, this was the closest and easiest option.  We took a hydrofoil (a really fast ferry) there for about an hour and 20 minutes.  When we got there we took a cab to a hotel and figured we would go on the beach in front of it.  When we saw the ocean water, we all sort of agreed we would rather just swim in the hotel pool.  So, we paid $2 and spent the day lounging by the pool on these old, wooden chairs that had an occasional rusty nail sticking out of them.  (Luckily, I got my tetanus shot before this trip… possibly more than once by accident.)

While we were sitting there, we heard someone say, “Hello there.”  We turned around and saw a young Vietnamese boy who was sitting next to the pool with another kid and an older man.  We said hello back, but he was already putting his face in the water.  A little while later, while we were in the pool, he came over and said, “What is your name?”  We started talking to him and learned that he lives in Canada now but grew up in Vietnam and spends weeks out of the year in Vietnam visiting his mom’s family.  The boy with him was his cousin Hin and the man with him was his grandfather.  Hin spoke a little bit of English but the grandfather spoke none.  We ended up hanging out with them all day.  Since Kevin was the only one who spoke English, he translated for his grandfather and some of his other family members who we met later.  We asked them questions about their family and about Vietnam.  (Sometimes I think Kevin made up his own answers and never really asked his family what I told him to say.)

It is always interesting when we try to explain to people what we are doing on SAS, especially kids.  However, Kevin seemed to get it pretty well.  When I told him what we are doing, he shook his head and said, “You guys are so lucky.”  I was amazed at this response because it seemed so mature, coming from an 8-year-old.  He also said, “You should be on TV or something because you are going around the world and that’s so cool… Someday I want to go on a boat around the world.”  In the middle of my conversation with Kevin, we were interrupted by Hin saying, “I love you so much.”  I turned my head and saw him standing right next to me in the pool, just inches away from my face, smiling.  Despite the fact that Hin looked older than Kevin and seemed to know just as much English, I quickly realized that Hin was very good at mimicking words and phrases but didn’t fully grasp the meaning of them.  (For example, knowing whether or not it is appropriate to tell someone you love them within the first few minutes of meeting them.)

Kevin and Hin continued to make us laugh for the rest of the day, particularly when we tried to interview them for our Global Studies project on sustainability.  When we started asking Kevin questions about the environment and recycling, he would say one thing and then completely contradict himself in his next answer.  I don’t think he really knew what we were asking him so he sort of just said what he thought we wanted to hear and completely made his answers up.  Then we tried to interview Hin.  (This is the point that I realized Hin hardly knew any English.)  With every question we asked, he would scratch his head, looking really anxious, almost like he was going to give us a really profound response, but then he would just look at us with a blank stare.  After a few questions, we realized Hin had not even the slightest clue as to anything we were saying.  So I decided to change the subject and ask, “Do you like Lady Gaga?”  Out of nowhere, Hin’s face lit up.  For the next 3 minutes, we just stood there in amazement while he sang (on key) every word of the song “Bad Romance” with Broadway-like hand gestures and facial expressions.  He also knew Hung Up by Madonna.  (Watch out American Idol!)

Even though we didn’t exactly get answers for our Global Studies project, we have some great memories (and videos) of two really awesome kids.  Kevin asked me to teach him how to swim, Hin sang all day, and their family shared Vietnamese snacks with us.  Kevin’s family also invited us to their house for dinner the next day.  I had my trip but Mike and Jane went.  It was funny because all we had was their address but we had no idea where it was or how long it would take to get there, so Mike and Jane weren’t even sure they would find it.  But thankfully they did and said they had a great time.  Throughout my traveling, I’ve realized that in the end it really doesn’t matter where you go (a grimy beach), but it’s the people you meet that make it so special.