My Expat Life

As I headed back towards my hotel after a day of roaming the Hanoi streets, I found myself stopping in at the few touristy shops that were open. One shop was a DVD, CD, books shop. There were two other girls in the shop and a girl manning the counter. As the two girls made their selection and went to pay, one of them said that she wanted a good deal because she was buying three. The girl at the counter said 110,000 dong. They countered with 50,000 d. Then a loud male voice came booming over a speaker. In very good English he said 100,000 dong.

It seems there was a camera set up in the corner, attached to a computer that was online, allowing the shop owner to bargain with the tourists from a different shop entirely. I wonder how many shops he watched at once.

The two girls really got into the bargaining with someone they couldn’t see, but could not get the man down below 90,000 dong.

After they left, I thought it might be fun just to see if I could get the same deal. So I took my three items to the counter. The girl said 105,000 dong. I looked up, smiled at the camera, and said they paid only 90,000. There was then some conversation in Vietnamese before the male voice said, “ok 90,000 dong”. He then asked if I was part of the same group, I replied no, but I’d overheard the negotiations. I then paid, smiled and waved goodbye.

I’m ready to go…

It’s been a really tough few weeks and I am ready for the break. Just one more day of work and then straight to the airport. I didn’t pay much attention to what I was putting in the bag. Hope I have what I need.

Just over 24 hours until Obama’s Inauguration.

AND……

Four days from now I’ll be flying up to Kuala Lumpur. I’m flying up Friday night after work so that I can sleep in a bit on Saturday morning before flying to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Sunday morning I’ll be picked up and transported to Halong Bay. I am on a three day, two night junk boat cruise. The excitement is overwhelming. When I first googled Halong Bay, all I had to do was look at a few pictures and I was sold.

After the cruise I am back in Hanoi for two more days. I will be there during Tet, the lunar new year celebration. It is supposed to be an interesting time to visit because everything slows down. Oh so very excited.

This trip will cap off my tour of the Indochina countries (depending on whether you count Myanmar, which I can’t go to anyway). Did I mention I am excited? Ok, sorry.

In 2007 I attended 3 weddings. Tonight I attended a wake. One more wedding and I’m a movie title. Singapore weddings are very different from western weddings. But the wake, other than some of the Buddhist traditions, really wasn’t all that different from what I am used to.

Four of us left work a little early to attend the wake for the father of one of our bosses. Upon arrival we paid our respects at the coffin by lighting an incense coil and adding it to a burner. There were two podium areas set up with Buddhas and offerings.

The rest of the wake was spent sitting at a table visiting with our boss and having his family trying to force food on us. “No we really don’t need anything” pleas were ignored and food was put in front of us anyway. The only time we got up was to give our “white gold” offering. In Singapore the traditional gift for both weddings and deaths is to give cash. And totally unlike in western tradition, the amount of money you give is recorded next to your name. Before arriving we checked with some colleagues that had attended the previous night and found that $50 seemed to be the appropriate amount to give.

Part way through the evening 3 buddhist priests/monks arrived. The family then gathered for prayer led by the monks. To the side of where everyone was gathered there was a metal trash bin with a fire burning. Part way through the prayers the family members got up from praying and took the numerous plates of food that were in front of the Buddha statue near the casket. The plates of food were put in the fire and the cups of milk poured onto the ground near the fire. I’d seen them prepare some of the plates earlier. There were at least 20+ plates that had been loaded with all kinds of different things. From my distance it appeared to be mostly sweets, but I’m sure there is some meaning behind everything that was on the plate. After the offerings the family went back to praying on the mats in front of the monks and other Buddha. At that point we decided it was a good time for us to leave.

A few weeks ago I read and was intrigued by an article about micro-giving. Much like micro-lending, the point is small sums of money adding up to do big things. With micro-giving, you ask people to give small donations, $1, $5, $10, etc. The key is getting a lot of people to give a little.

After a bit of research and in honour of my forthcoming birthday, I ask for your help in raising money to repair a water well. I’ve corresponded with a woman at Charity:Water and they will try to have my money go towards a well in Malawi. The picture on my giving page is a photo that I took in Mindanti, Malawi. A village that was having a water well built while I was visiting.

I was not sure that the page with Charity:Water would be ready in time so I started a giving page on my Facebook page. For those that gave money through Facebook, I’ve matched that donation in this project - doubling your effort.

http://www.charitywater.org/pages/lindaspage/ Small donations is all I ask

I wasn’t sure if my used $50 note would be acceptable to pay for the taxi fare, so I chose to use a $10 and $2 instead. Luckily I gave clear destination and made it safely to work.