Scott + Audrey in Viet Nam: Big, white guy

Friday, June 24, 2011

9:41 AM (Vietnam Time)

Yesterday, Scott and I met with Dr. Man Nguyen to determine our schedule for the next few weeks and to introduce us to the staff at the Kien Giang General Hospital. He took us out to breakfast at Hai Au Restaurant. The funny thing about meals here in Vietnam is that breakfast, lunch, and dinner are basically all the same meal because you eat the same types of food. I can have hu tieu, a kind of soup, for breakfast or for dinner. That’s what I had. The broth was beautiful, but the noodles were different from what I was used to in the States. Scott’s first bowl of hu tieu in Saigon had the large, flat, and white noodles I was used to. This one had small, flat glass noodles. The broth was made aromatic with chives and lime. I don't know how anyone could eat the food here and not like it.

We sat for an hour with Dr. Man talking about the stroke study and learning some Vietnamese. He went over accent marks with us and the sounds. Though I am familiar with the Vietnamese sounds, I now understand what Scott means when he says some words sound exactly the same even though they mean different things. I had a lot of trouble pronouncing the word for “chin.” To me, it sounded like the word for "orange." I also learned some medical Vietnamese; how to say brain, cerebrum, cerebellum, brainstem, stroke, brachium, and forearm among others. The restaurant sits right along the water where the ocean flows into a river toward the city. The water is brown and and moving leaves indicate that the current is moving water inland. The sky remains cloudy during this rainy season. I am hoping to see some blue sky during this trip. I think it would make everything more vibrant. I want to see the true colors of Vietnam.

After breakfast, Dr. Man took us on a tour of the hospital and introduced us to the physicians will be working with. The hospital is in an older building with open-air hallways. It has 1,200 beds but over 1,500 patients at a time. People from all over Kien Giang Province come to this hospital, not just people from Rach Gia. The hallways were crowded with people lying on gourneys and sitting on the floor. Dr. Man showed us all the major departments: neonatology, oncology, hematology, orthopedics, trauma, neurology, and the ICU. We met Dr. Man’s wife who works in neonatology, and she speaks French, so Scott was able to communicate with her. The hospital was different from what I was used to. It was also much larger once inside than from looking at the outside. We were welcomed with smiles from the physicians we were introduced to. The nurses and doctors were dressed in white scrubs in contrast to the blues and greens of the scrubs in the United States. Scott and I could tell that Dr. Man was respected by his staff. He was greeted with smiles and enthusiasm.

After the tour, the three of us sat down to make a schedule for the next 4 – 5 weeks. The goal is to interview about 5 stroke patients a day with the Vietnamese questionnaire that Scott created. We will mainly be interviewing patients or their families in the neurology, ICU, ER, and cardiology wards. Scott and I will be working from 9 am to 4/5 pm with a lunch break from 12 pm – 1pm. After we get out, we will be analyzing the data. Dr. Man also wants me to help teach the NIH Stroke Scale in English to the nurses next week. He knows and is trained in it in Vietnamese and will be my translator. Our meeting ended with Dr. Man's giving us some good recommendations for food around here.

Dr. Man and Audrey

PVNF Volunteers

Dr. Man took us to a restaurant called Lau Mam Bac Lieu, and he ordered a feast for us: lau chua, tom, and ca kho (hotpot, shrimp, and catfish simmered in a clay pot). We had a hotpot of boiling sour broth, which was made sour by the pineapples that had been soaking in it. Just like every other Vietnamese dish, they really know how to do savory. It was savory and sour and abosultely heavenly. They brought a plate of rau thom (aromatic herbs) that would evenutally be thrown and cooked in the boiling broth. The waiter then brought out a plate of long, thin, and silver fish with the heads cut off and threw it in the pot. He then held the pot cover down tight because the fish were still alive and kicking and swirming, and he didn’t want them to fly out! It was crazy. I really wanted a picture of the uncooked fish, but they threw it in before we could do anything. Slowly, they brought out the shrimp and simmered catfish and two big plates of rice and noodles. Dr. Man left at this point to eat lunch with his family. We were really grateful to him for coming all this way with us just to order us the right food. Then, we feasted. I don’t think Scott and I said a word to each other while the steam blew in our faces and as we sweated our way through the entire meal. People were staring at us, probably thinking, “What is a big, white guy doing in Rach Gia?” and “Why do they have so much food?” Little do they know that I have the appetite of a grown man.

Frog (Credit: Audrey)

The fish was difficult to eat. I had to work too hard to avoid the bones to get to the meat. I gave up after two fish. Scott kept going and must have eaten most of it. During this process, we were throwing rau thom into the pot, letting them turn green and eating them. I don’t even know what their names were, but they smelled so good. An explosion of flavor in your mouth. We even ate flowers. They were bright pink flowers that we put in the pot, which immediately turned a bright purple. Once they changed colors, we could eat them. They were nutty. Scott and I ate everything. We definitely eat like Americans.

Scott has been really good about learning Vietnamese and has been really enthusiastic about speaking it to the locals. He’s not shy about it, and I think they really appreciate it because they always smile or laugh. I am hoping they are laughing with and not at us. Scott ordered us two bottled waters and even knew how to get the check for us. I was very impressed! He always has his camera on him, so he even knows how to ask “May I take a picture?” Let me tell you, it is not an easy task to learn Vietnamese, but Scott is definitely taking on the challenge.

-Audrey

See the rest of our full-size photos here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbauer810/sets/72157627011360334/with/5855972348/