This week we began the interview process for Project Kiem An and I was present for our first interview with a friend of Lena's sister Nhi who is a refrigerator manufacturing plant manager. It was a very interesting interview despite the rather uninteresting title of our interviewee. He deals with many different kinds of suppliers and has to meet deadlines, and is in charge of many people (some much older and with higher degrees of education) though he is only a year out of college.
I think the interview went really well, we managed to keep our interviewee relaxed (as he had met a few of us before) and talking most of the time. We actually had to consciously stop and tell him to eat his food occasionally because he would be constantly talking. I heard a few of the kinds of questions that one is not supposed to ask, including from myself, but it did not seem to mater in this situation. Maybe next time we should be more careful.
I'm sad I couldn't attend the second interview because of scheduling conflicts, but he is a friend of one of our group members and is an MC. Another newly developing career in Vietnam. I hope it went well!
But to reflect on my entire experience so far, it has been fabulous. I have been able to get out of my room and even out of Hanoi, two things I was afraid I would not be able to accomplish without the class/program. And even though my service learning project and HANU course are not exactly what I had thought they would be, I am equally as glad I am participating in those. I came to Vietnam in order to meet people whom I would never meet otherwise in my life and to see what I could learn from them, and vice versa. So far I have learned a LOT from the kids I work with at Thanh Xuan Peace Village, even though we can't really speak; and I have learned much from the few but always interesting questions that are asked in my Globalization class. But this is not to say that every day has been easy or even fun. I have had very difficult days where I actually have wished I was at home, but then I usually come home or talk to someone here about anything really, and I start to remember why I came to Hanoi and Vietnam. Some of these more confused occasions come when we go somewhere with a lot of cultural meaning to the Vietnamese students in our group, and they have a sort of connection that I can't have, or feel guilty for trying to look at. I feel awful about being a tourist sometimes, because that is basically what I am, and even worse about being a foreigner. One such occasion was our visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum where I saw families and older women very dressed up, going to visit a very influential man/possibly idol in their lives, and here I am just looking. I like to think I have a personal connection as well because I have been waiting to do many of these things my whole life, but it is simply not the same and sometimes I feel guilty.
But before I get too wrapped up in the negative, I remind myself that I am here for a purpose and that is valid enough for me. I have had wonderful, life-changing experiences while here and cannot wait for tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. I love Vietnam, with all its idiosyncrasies and people and twists and turns.
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