Xin chao from Vietnam

Xin chao! That is how we say "Hi" in Vietnam. It sounds like "sin chow."
Vietnam is a fascinating country. It suffered from war for hundreds of years including the war with the United States. Now the country is at peace and a wonderful place to visit. The largest city in the south is called Ho Chi Minh City. It used to be called Saigon but when peace came they renamed the city after the first president of the country, Ho Chi Minh. At the War Remnants Museum we saw photographs that made us very sad but we liked all the pictures made by students celebrating peace. There was a whole room of peace pictures plus a peace statue.

Walking back to our hotel we saw students getting out of school. Their parents pick them up on a motorbike. A new rule required them to wear a helmet. Also people often wear a facemask if they have a cold or are riding a motorbike. They don’t like to breathe the fumes.

We love Vietnamese food so we took a cooking lesson. Our guide, Ms. Phan showed us fruits and vegetables that they have in Vietnam. Some we had never seen before. She explained that most kitchens have a special place for the Three Kitchen Gods. These gods see everything that takes place and once a year report to the Jade Emperor in Heaven. On that day the Kitchen Gods are offered the best food and are presented with gifts. We made a whole meal and liked everything but especially the Sweet Green Bean Soup with Seaweed. It is a dessert and delicious. It can be served hot or poured over crushed ice. Sometimes looks and names can be deceiving.

We visited the city of Dalat which is different than most of Vietnam’s cities. It is located at 5000 feet so it is not hot and humid like most of the cities in the southern part of the country. The higher the elevation the cooler the weather. Another interesting fact is that it was never bombed during the war. There are many interesting things to see and do in Dalat. We took a long cable car ride to a mountaintop where there is a Buddhist monastery where people enjoy dressing up like royalty of years ago. The cable car went high over the forest that looked like the evergreen forests in America. Another fun experience was getting down to see the beautiful waterfalls. We sat is something like a sled attached to rails that curved first one way then the other making for a roller coaster-like ride to the bottom. It was exciting. Luckily we could use the brakes so we didn’t scare ourselves by going to fast. The waterfalls are beautiful so it was easy to understand why a local legend says it is where the fairies from heaven came to bath. Going back up on the coaster wasn’t as exciting but it was sure better than the 15-minute climb up the steps.

Our favorite building is called The Crazy House. It looks like Dr. Seuss created it. There are unexpected twists and turns. One part looks like giant tree roots have grown over it. The creator included a huge giraffe in one area and spider in another. It is a fun place to visit and it is not finished. We would like to return to see what else the architect creates.
The world is so interesting. Don’t you think so?

Visiting Guam "Where America Meets the Day"

Guam is an island in the Pacific and it is a territory of the United States so the people like to say it is where "America greets the day." Look on the map and you will see that it is near the International Date Line. The International Date Line is an imaginary line where the date changes by 24 hours. If you were standing on the line and it was 10 in the morning on Monday, then stepped over the line to the west it would be 10 in the morning on Tuesday. However, the line goes through the water so that is doesn’t go through any land. Guam is the first American property to the west of the line so it where "America greets the day." Guam looks very American with malls and fast food places.

Our friend Ezequiel and his mother, Cindy, volunteered to take us on a morning tour of the island. Along with their friend, Jackie, we set out to explore the island.

Our first stop was Gef Pago Chamorro Cultural Village, a living museum of thatched huts featuring activities associated with the daily lives of the Chamorro, the native people of the Mariana archipelago. There were demonstrations on cooking, rope making, and basket weaving. Tony, the guide, explained that the coconut tree is the "tree of life" and showed us how easy it is to open a coconut. Various parts of the coconut palm are used for clothing, food, shelter, beauty aids, and as fuel. He went on to explain, "Coconut milk is so pure that it was used to sterilize surgical instruments during WW II." We even got to ride a carabao, the native water buffalo.

Ferdinand Magellan was the leader of the first voyage that sailed around the world. His voyage stopped in Guam. When the voyage landed in Guam in the spring of 1521 they had not seen land for 100 day. The sailors were sick or dying and the food was gone or spoiled. The men helped themselves to food they had never seen before like coconuts, sweet potatoes and bananas (which they thought were some sort of fig). They later sailed on and reached the Philippines where Magellan was killed. Guam became part of the Spanish Empire, like the land in the Southern part of the United States from Florida to California. From the Spanish Fort, Nuestra senora de la Soledad, we had a panoramic view. Forts were always built so they could see if any enemy were coming.

Guam was became part of the United States in 1898. During WWII the Japanese occupied the country. When the war ended Guam was again part of United States. We stopped a WW II site where there is statue of several men from Guam who participated heroic acts during WW II. One of the men preserved in bronze is Jackie’s father, who after killing an enemy soldier, and donning his uniform, was able to gain entry to the enemy camp and blow it up.

One morning we visited Ezequiel’s school, Tamuning Elementary School, do a program on schools around the world. It was multi-cultural week at his school. We did a power point program on the many schools we have visited around the world. The schools buildings may be different and the students may speak different languages, but they all learn to read and write. And, they all like to play with their friends after school and enjoy holidays. After our presentations we were invited to the auditorium to see a nature presentation by Miss Cheryl from the Guam Department of Agriculture. The high point was seeing the flightless Ko’ Ko’ bird. There are only about 100 in captivity. She also showed us the brown tree snake. It is rather harmless to people but has killed nearly all of the native bird population on an island. The snake has no natural predators on the island. Before introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam had 12 species of native forest birds. We hope the students learned something from us because we learned a lot from our visit to Guam.