Scott + Audrey in Viet Nam: City life

July 4, 2011

11:25 PM (Vietnam Time)

Today was productive. It was our first day working with our new translators who live in Rach Gia and are taking English classes here. We met them at Hai Au Restaurant at 7:15 AM and had breakfast. During this time, we went over English words and practiced with them so that their pronunciation can improve. We are doing this in exchange for their time at the hospital with us, and we are happy to do it.

The morning was packed. We had 2 patients in the neurology ward, one of whom we were able to interview. After neurology, we went up to the ICU, where there were many patients for us. I was like a madwoman running from room to room, trying to manage our translators and administer the NIHSS. I am slowly staring to feel more comfortable at the hospital, and it helps when I am more busy. Sometimes when I look around in all the rooms, I do feel some of my initial fear because of all the patients lying around. However, having my own patients and my own agenda helps to distract me from my fear and discomfort. Our translators did a great job of interviewing family members, and Scott worked on managing everyone, since he created the study. I am teaching Scott how to administer the NIHSS, so that we can get more patients done at a time.

For lunch, we took our 3 translators out to a place they introduced to us. We had khanh chua (sour soup), fish grilled in tomatoes, and bitter melon with eggs. The restaurant was a hole-in-the-wall with a woman getting her nails painted in the front, but the food was tasty and delicious. The fish was especially meaty and soft. Scott didn’t like the bitter melons too much because as their name suggests, they are extremely bitter. Even though I have had them at home, the bitter taste is difficult to get used to. Regardless, we will be going back there.

We interviewed one more patient for the day and got to head home early since the departments had no more stroke patients for us. After a two-hour long nap, Scott and I were ready to hit the city with Ngan and Tien. The lady who cares for the guesthouse is letting us borrow her bicycle while we are here, so Scott and I have been using it to get to work. We call it a “two-er”, since we both sit on it. Scott pedals, and I sit on the back. We are both giants in Vietnam, so I can only imagine how we both look sitting on it. The bicycle is dwarfed underneath us. Scott has to pedal with his knees pointing out to the sides. If not, they will hit the handle bars with each rotation. Scott and I look more like frogs on a bike than anything else. We are definitely a site to see on a bike, and we get laughs and giggles when we pass by the locals. Tien and Ngan come and pick us up on their “two-er” bicycle, and we explore the city by bike. They take us to jewlery stores and the supermarket to find a mask. In Vietnam, everyone wears masks on their face when they are outside. It is a bit intimidating at first because you wonder why they are doing that. People with masks look scary. Scott and I found out on our own. Every time we go into the city, whether in Saigon or here in Rach Gia, we always come back with a sore throat. We think that all the pollution from the motorbikes hurts the respiratory tract a bit. Ngan confirmed this with us and said that people also wear the masks to protect themselves from the sun.

Street food while sitting at mini tables

After the supermarket, we went to Yumi Coffee, a coffee shop in Khu Lan Bien which is a popular area next to the water and where many of our favorite restaurants are. There is a coffee culture here. Everyone goes to coffee shops to hang around, drink freshly brewed iced tea, iced coffee, or wonderful tropical smoothies. Scott and I do this everyday. We have our second English lesson with Ngan and Tien here. We go over new and old words and help them with their pronunciation. After coffee, we head to dinner and get our first experience with street food. Scott and I have been a little wary of eating street food, since our stomachs have been on-and-off upset the whole time we have been here, but we figure why not. This is how they eat here. We have bot and nui chien, which is basically sticky flour fried with short yellow noodles all bound together with eggs and topped with a sweet soy sauce. It was delicious, and 6 plates only cost $3.50. During dinner, Ngan and Tien’s classmate comes out to say hi and is very excited to speak English with us. All the students at the college who are learning English love to sit and talk with foreigners since it is their only chance to practice what they have learned. Many of the students want to get jobs as tourguides or receptionists in big cities or at vacation destinations like Phu Quoc Island where English is required to communicate with tourists. We get to see so much more of the city and the life here when we have locals taking care of us like Ngan and Tien.

-Audrey

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