We have multiple reminders daily that we're living in third world conditions. Electricity getting cut every other day until nighttime. Ubiquitous garbage dumps. Seeing far more huts and shacks than houses. Unpaved roads are the rule not the exception. How far a dollar goes. Young kids aggressively peddling lottery tickets.
No running water. Flies and mosquitoes galore. Mopeds, not cars, rule the streets.
Kids without shoes. Elderly people missing more teeth than they still have. People with nothing to do than sit under a canopy outside to "escape" the heat and talk with neighbors who also have nothing to do. Being in a country where 2/3's of people are underweight, not overweight. Doing laundry, and just about everything else for that matter, by hand.
I'd have to say though that,for two months at least, I think the pros outweigh all the cons I just listed. Vyda's relatives are extremely nice, humble, bright people.
As beneficiaries of first world living we're wont to complain about "problems" that the overwhelming majority of people living in third world conditions would LOVE to have. We forget that when you take into consideration that India and China make up one third of the world's population that third world living is still probably closer to the global rule, rather than the exception.
The sad irony is that often those who have the most are the least appreciative, mainly because we can always identify those who have more. I think that exercise in reverse, namely, identifying those who have less, even far less, is far more beneficial.
I hope this summer burns into me everything I have to be grateful for. The things those of us blessed with first world living conditions habitually take for granted are the very objects of envy and dreams of those fated to third world living.
Monday, May 24, 2010
I don't think it's real gold. But it still was lavish. No disrespect in any way, shape or form intended to Buddhism or Buddhists (I know whenever you preface a sentence like that your reader is expecting the worst...........) but I couldn't help wondering how many decent houses for the countless people living in huts and shacks here could have been built from the money used to build this ornate temple. Ostentatious displays of wealth don't sit well with me in first world countries, let alone third world ones................
Ryosei with Vyda's Mom's Younger Sister and her oldest daughter
One thing I really like about Asian languages: they have specific words for every type of relative you could imagine! Romance languages fall way short in that department.
Arielle with Vyda's Mom's Younger Brother's Wife
The beach was dirty. Unacceptably dirty. So we outlawed swimming for Arielle. But at least it still had ocean breezes. And when you're sweltering in a Vietnam summer, coolness and liquids are your main priorities.
Conditions where I don't mind standing under a pink Hello Kity umbrella
1. When I start to wonder if life on Mercury might be cooler
2. When I'm in Southeast Asia since the people here, undoubtedly due to their poverty, are refreshingly "out of fashion."
Groundbreaking for a local Buddhist temple
Arielle, admittedly looking a little frumpy, with the first and third daughter of Vyda's Mom's younger sister.
Arrival
How we were greeted--and whom we were greeted by--when we emerged from the Airport in Ho Chi Minh City
Pictures from beginning of summer vacation in Vietnam/Cambodia
Year one of my Korean Master's Flagship Program mercifully ended May 12th. We're all ecstatic that's behind us and deservedly enjoying our two months in southeast Asia with Vyda's relatives. Hopefully the pics tell the story sufficiently. With no further ado,
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