Phan Thiet - Mui Ne

I've been having a great time in Mui Ne, a pretty decent compensation for every shit that happened to me in Nha Trang. I actually took more pictures this time and I kinda realized that I could still really enjoy that. Pictures of just scenery bore the hell outta me but as long as there are people I know in it, myself included, taking pictures can still be fun. I kind of regret not having taken many in Danang and Hue, the two places I've met the best people so far. :(

Anyways, here come a few pics I took for the sake of introducing Phan Thiet / Mui Ne a little.

I'm staying at a resort in Mui Ne, which is a village about 35km away from the city Phan Thiet of Binh Thuan province. Mui Ne means 'a (terrestrial) peak to hide' because Mui Ne lies directly next to the Pacific Ocean which is anything but pacific, and everytime a storm comes, people hide (Vietnamese: Né) behind this terrestrial peak that protrudes into the ocean like a pincer (Vietnamese: Mũi).

People in Mui Ne (and pretty much Phan Thiet too) live on fishing. Here's a picture of the fishing village.

Robbed

I finally found people to hang out with today, two really nice girls 2 years older than me who are trainees at the travel company I booked. I was going to meet them tonight, riding a Xich Lo when I was robbed of my backpack by two people on a motorbike.


Anyways I don't really want to explain the situation. I just want to gather the to-dos when robbed so that I can act more adequately next time. I swear next time they won't get away that easily.

1- Scream the shit out of yourself. And I really mean it. Gain attention of bystanders, maybe there's someone who can help.
2- While chasing them robbers, try to remember as much detail as possible - most importantly their vehicle registration plate.
3- If you travel by Xich Lo, make sure the Xich Lo guy doesn't escape. Mine disappeared as fast as he could. He's most certainly the robber's accomplice.
4- Don't rely on the police.


And some things I need to take note of:

1- Don't ever let loose of your bags in Vietnam.
2- Cut down on going around all on your own, especially at night. I mean I won't stop doing it completely, I know myself too well, but I'll try to cut down on it. T_T
3- Trust no one.


I'm pissed but I know the robbers are even more pissed because my backpack has nothing of value for them. I just hate that I lost my Sherlock Holmes book. I wasn't done reading! T_T But on the bright side, there's a first for everything, and my first time being robbed is a lucky case, considering that I lost nothing important.

My cam was in the backpack at first but then I took it out and held it in my hands. Poor thing was dropped when I got robbed and the battery fell out of the main housing. I was worried that was the kill but no, even though it has now even more scars (than after my sister dropped it on the streets last time), it still works. I love my cam. T_T

Nha Trang hates me. I think now it's kind of mutual.

Me in Nha Trang - A Desperate Situation

Nha Trang is amazing but my situation sucks so bad!

I join tours with the intention of meeting new people and making friends, it worked super well in Hue but Nha Trang is a completely different case :(. In Hue I travelled in a group of 38 people, in Nha Trang, my group has... 7 peeps including me.

There are two grandparents who are DNers but have lived in the States for 30 years. At first when I talked to them I thought they were cool, and I mean like I can click with elders too, I wasn't having any problem with that. But then the grandpa turned out to be really really annoying. He gives me the impression that he thinks he's something better than others because he lives in the States. He likes me probably because I'm from Germany. But others? He talks ill about them behind their backs. And then he comes to me and tells me everything he thinks when I'm not even interested! It's really starting to piss me off! If you wanna judge people, leave me out of it please, thank you. T_T But the grandma is like super nice. She barely talks. Probably because her husband already talks enough for the both of them.

Then there are the two newlyweds from the North who are super nice too. I get along great with the two of them but like you know, they are newlyweds, they travel in a group but they do want their private time too. I totally get it. And the guy has to leave in like three days to continue his studies in Korea (Annoying Grandpa totally judging him because he didn't make it to the States but 'only' got a scholarship to Korea), so yeah...

Then there's this mother-daughter pair from the South who joined us late. Daughter - not talking at all and not smiling much. Mother - talking too much, laughing too loudly. I can't really talk to either of them. :((

And you know what's worse? Annoying Grandpa is fascinated by Big-mouthed Mother. She kind of thinks poorly of him but he's completely oblivious to it. He talked to her so much that his wife started to get jealous. Omgah I could totally see it on her face. At one point, she was suddenly super quiet and her eyes were staring daggers at Big-mouthed Mother... I really got the chills.

Now the grandma is not saying a word anymore. The grandpa and Big-mouthed Mother keep talking with each other, the daughter doesn't talk much per se, the two newlyweds talk amongst themselves and me, I'm the only one crying inside. T____T

Our group joined others to visit the islands today, we were over 40 overall. I was so happy at first, but then it turned out that the others were mainly Russians, who don't speak a word English! WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD.

I tried talking to a thirty-something guy who sat next to me on the boat in the very beginning. He's legit a non-English-speaker. Just shrugged at me and smiled politely before turning back to his camera. I was like okayyyy, next try. I kept a lookout and spotted three young guys travelling together, one of them quite handsome actually. I was like yes, check! The next time we went on the boat, I made sure to sit next to them. Then I picked up the convo with the guy who sat the nearest to me.

"You guys are all from Russia?"

"Yes." The guy nodded and smiled at me.

I was like HOLY SHIT ENGLISH!

"How long have you been in Nha Trang?"

He made a gesture that he didn't get it.

"Oh, do you speak English?"

"Not much," he laughed and pointed at his handsome friend. "He speaks English very well."

I was like 'ohhhh, I can live with that too!' :)). But then it turned out Handsome's 'very good English' didn't exceed 5 sentences either -_- We talked about Nha Trang and Moscow a little before they went back to Russian and me, I went back to crying inside. T_T

Then there were like those two twenty-something Vietnamese girls who were all lovey-dovey together - definitely a couple. They both looked very girly but everyone can see who wears the pants in the relationship. That one girl always opened the door for the other, put her arm around her girlfriend's shoulder and offered her shoulder for the other to lean on and stuff. I personally think she looks prettier than her girlfriend, in a very feminine way, but yeah, we know not all lesbians are butch.

Anyways, I tried talking to them too, of course. At first everyone was all nice and such, but then... I don't even know how it happened. =((

We were walking around to feed monkeys and I bumped into them. The girl-in-the-relationship girl smiled at me and I, being just myself, gave her an all-teeth smile back. Like come on, I was happy I finally found someone I could exchange more than 5 sentences with! I don't know what the manlier girl thought but she was suddenly staring at me, looking not amused at all. Then she pulled her girlfriend away from me.

I was totally baffled and didn't really understand until it suddenly got to me sometime later. The manlier one was jealous! Holy shit do I really look like I want something from your girl?!

Later when we went back to the boat, I went in early and sat in an empty row. The two of them followed me in and the girlier one pointed at the seat next to me and smiled. I smiled back and slid over to make place for them, but then the other just pulled her girlfriend away without even looking at me, saying loud and clear, "Let's sit over there!"

I mean like, come on! I didn't mean to hit on your girl! Do you have to be that possessive?! It's weird since you let her wear a cap that says 'SL*T'. I'm just saying.

Sigh.

I always thought making friends is the easiest thing when you just like smiling and are social enough. Guess I thought wrong.

Or I'm just having extremely bad luck here in Nha Trang.

T_T

Một vài suy nghĩ lúc rảnh rỗi về đất nước mình

Ngẫm nghĩ lại mình thấy ở Việt Nam, muốn sống sót được thì con người phải có những tố chất sau:

1- Không được lơ ngơ
2- Không được quá hiền
3- Không được quá thật thà

Đấy là để sống sót thôi, chứ nếu muốn có thành công thì mình lại phải cần thêm nhiều yếu tố "sống khéo" khác nữa. Nói chung thế cũng đã là khó rồi...

Nếu không muốn lơ ngơ thì phải ra ngoài va chạm nhiều, muốn không quá hiền hay thật thà thì lại là một chuyện khác vì nó liên quan nhiều đến bản chất, tính cách của con người hơn. Với lại "không hiền" thế nào để không phải là đanh đá quá? "Không quá thật thà" bao nhiêu để không trở thành đồ đểu cáng?

Mình cũng không biết có phải do mình không quen sống ở VN không mà mình thấy nó khó.

Hôm nọ đi từ đường Trần Huy Liệu đến rạp chiếu phim Quốc Gia mình và đứa em họ nhảy lên cái taxi Phù Đổng, chú tài xế không bật đồng hồ nên mình nhắc. Ấy thế mà chú ý cứ nhùng nhằng không chịu, bảo đi đoạn ngắn thôi nên chú ý không cần bật đồng hồ, lấy cỡ 30k thôi là rẻ rồi. Mình cũng không chịu, tại kiểu thấy ng ta không quang minh chính đại là mình nghi ngay rồi, nên lằng nhằng thêm một lúc thì ông kia dừng xe để hai đứa xuống, thêm câu "Keo kiệt thì thôi bắt xe ôm đi nhé, trời mưa cho chết!"

Chẹp, có cần thiết vậy không?

Cuối cùng mình bắt cái taxi khác, đi mất 13k mà rồi mình làm tròn lên 15k.

May là mình không quá ngơ, cũng chẳng quá hiền. Nhưng chú kia thì có vẻ hơi làm quá cái phần "không thật thà".

Lại một chuyện nữa là cái chuyện mình vẫn kêu ca muổn thuở, đò là tại sao người Việt mình tiết kiệm nụ cười quá. Vào quán cafe hay những chỗ dịch vụ, mình lúc nào cũng toe toét cười mà nhân viên thì dặn mãi cười cũng không ra. Vậy là sao? Cả vào bệnh viện, phòng khám thì nhất là Y tá, mình cảm giác họ muốn ra oai hay sao í mà giọng luôn rất chỉ đạo, lạnh băng không cảm xúc.

Nhưng không phải người Việt mình không thân thiện, trái lại ý, mình thấy dân mình cực kì xởi lởi. Chỉ là lúc đầu thì ai cũng phải "lạnh" với nhau đã, điều đấy như thành thói quen rồi ấy. Đến khi quen thân nhau hơn thì mọi người với nhau vui thôi rồi. Cái này thì mình đã có đc một trải nghiệm rất rõ rệt.

Ra phòng khám của ông, lúc đầu không ai biết mình là ai, mấy chị Y tá thực hiện y chang cái luật "ra oai". Thậm chí đến lúc ông khám xong rồi, bảo cháu vào trong nhà để mấy chị tiêm cho thì cũng có mấy chị không biết mình là cháu ông, vẫn cứ cư xử thế. Mình hỏi mấy câu kiểu "Em ngồi đây được không ạ?", "Em tiêm thuốc gì ấy chị nhỉ?" thì mấy chị ấy hoặc là trả lời lí nhí không ai nghe ra, hoặc là ignore mình luôn không thèm nói. Đến lúc vỡ lẽ mình là cháu ông, lại cũng học Y, được ông quý (hehe) thì thái độ thay đổi 180°. :P Vui vẻ hỏi han chơi đùa với em, lại còn chọc ngoáy nhau làm như thân lắm rồi í.

Lúc ấy mình mới ngẫm ra, người Việt mình kiểu "không hơi đâu quan tâm đến người lạ", nhưng nếu là người có quan hệ gì đó với mình thì mọi ng lại niềm nở hơn, hỏi han nhiều hơn. Vậy nên lính mới nếu đến chỗ nào không quen biết thì luốn khá bị cái áp lực "chứng tỏ bản thân" đè nặng, nhất là bản thân cũng chỉ được yên ổn khi mình "chứng tỏ" đủ để mọi người nể, không hành mình cái kiểu "ma cũ bắt nạt ma mới", nhưng cũng chỉ được vừa đủ để không khiên ai phải ghen ghét, đố kị.

Có nghĩa là sau này nếu muốn làm gì được ở Việt Nam thì mình cần phải thực hiện được một thứ rất quan trọng: đó là nuôi dưỡng những mối quan hệ với bạn bè Việt. Dù sau này mình có thể thành công ở Đức đến đâu đi chăng nữa, nếu không có sẵn những mối quan hệ tốt ở Việt Nam thì mình rất khó có thể làm nên trò trống gì. (Dĩ nhiên là nói thế này không có nghĩa là mình chỉ giữ quan hệ vì mình "cần" quan hệ sau này... Cũng phải quý bạn bè thì mình mới liên lạc vs bọn nó chứ ^^)

Nhưng quan hệ thôi cũng chẳng đủ. Một là nuôi dưỡng quan hệ tốt khi mà mình ở xa thì cũng khá khó, hai là cũng chính vì ở xa mà mình không thể có được tất cả những mối quan hệ cần thiết cho những "hoài bão" của mình. Vậy nên mình đã ngẫm ra việc thứ hai cũng rất quan trọng mà mình cần, đó là: tiền. (Nó sẽ kèm theo rất nhiều cái "không thật thà", nhưng ở Việt Nam, mình thật sự nghĩ nếu không vậy thì rất rất khó thành công. Cái khó và cái quan trọng vẫn luôn là "bao nhiêu cho đủ" và "không được đánh mất bản thân"...)

À vâng. Cái này thì mình cũng chưa biết là nên như thế nào thì mới đạt được.

Nhưng mà tóm lại là lần nào về Việt Nam mình cũng ngẫm ra được vài thứ, ngẫm thêm cỡ chục lần nữa biết đâu mình sẽ tìm ra được giải pháp gì đấy.

There's just one thing I'm always sure about: that Vietnam will always be included in my future. I can't break this connection I always feel towards my homecountry.

Vậy nên Việt Nam ơi, chờ nhé. :)

More About my Internship

Okay before we come to the main topic, there's this little story I wanna tell.

I've been sick for like a week now, and yesterday I visited my grandpa Chuong's doctor's office to get some meds. He's known for handling flu and the like very fast but it's no surprise since he always immediately uses antibiotics and applies them i.v. (intravenous).

Funny thing was that I was allergic to the antibiotic I received. At first my skin became red but I wasn't really alarmed, then it began to itch and a nurse called my grandpa then. He gave me something to inject intramuscular. The nurse wanted to do it ventrogluteal but because I've heard too many things about it being done wrong resulting in the injury of the superior gluteal or ischiadic nerve, I convinced her to inject it into my arm. She was all like, "But if we do it there it will hurt a lot!" but I didn't think so, sis. I'm no sissy, thank you~ [-X

Talking about luck that I stayed after the antibiotic injection and my allergy was immediately treated, though. As crazy as I may sound right now, it was interesting to experience an allergic attack, hehe. When the itching became quite uncomfortable, I really did get those symptoms of feeling really hot, especially in my hands and feet. Had I waited longer, I would've probably gotten an anaphylactic shock. At least then I wouldn't be laughing as much anymore, lol.

I'm probably getting a drip today. Grandpa says he'll heal my allergy too, since I do get those random skin rashes quite often.

---------

But yeah, what today's post is actually for is the further introduction of what I've seen at the Children's hospital. First of all, a picture of the main building:

The first time I saw it I was like, "What? Is this an apartment complex or a hospital?" I mean it's not like Vietnam doesn't have any nicely built buildings, just look at the countless shopping malls and you'll know. Behind this main building is a huge construction area where another tall building should stand one day, but according to people who have lived there a lot longer than me, for the past ten months or so, that new building didn't grow one bit in height. So why is the city pouring more money into shopping malls like this huge new Vincom center on Nguyen Trai street, when we already have a dozen, with a half being way too empty for any shop to survive in it? (Just look at Big C The Garden, Hanoi-ers).