Living abroad (part II)

I was extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in Vietnam. I had the opportunity to truly experience another culture. Although simply living there wouldn't have done too much for me.

I took the time to build friendships (with co-workers and neighbors), to learn the language and to immerse myself in the culture. By the end of time there, I could speak Vietnamese pretty well. I could even fool locals for a couple minutes upon meeting them for the first time! (In fact, based on comments made to me in both France and Vietnam about my speaking abilities, I've concluded that I can really nail an accent.)

While I was there, there were lots of things that I learned (like getting mugged isn't fun and sticking your hand in electrified water is scary), but the overarching theme to my experience:

1) people are the same around the world (people tend to want to find love, have children and give their children a better life... better opportunity... than they had).
2) governments are different (governments are where the problems are. governments, not the governed, start wars).

I don't recall trying to start too many conversations about the war though. Most of those conversations came about during normal conversations with my Vietnamese friends. Surprising to me, the war wasn't discussed too much by local people.

Tim White