Field trip part 2: The Manor

When I saw photos of the Manor in the newspaper long time ago, I thought it would be fantastic to live in such luxurious place, I thought no one could ever complain about living there, it was nearly perfect.

Then I totally changed my mind when I went through the main gate of the Manor successfully. Unlike other folks, my group (Trinity, Phuong Hang and I) had no troubles with the security guards. We went in group of 3 and entered the area inside easily, no exclusion, no questions from these security guys. They stared at us for a moment and turned away quickly, I guess they thought we were actually living here. Then we walked slowly through different areas. The Manor is like a big desert within the noisy, chaotic and messy Hanoi though it has shops, clinic, cafeteria and offices. They look dull and mysterious as no one wandering around apart from we unexpected visitors. The most crowded place I found was the Garden, a shopping mall which allows people to come in without asking for permission or certification or whatever the Manor's security guard could think of. However, we were not allowed to take picture and the security guard told us "It's the rule". Personally I think such rule doesn't make sense, it's a public place and no cameras are available???

It's no doubt that the Manor is for rich people, those who could afford an endless list of fee and expensive services. Even though the Manor is in Hanoi, I find nothing related to local or traditional culture, everything is Westernized and they're strange to me.

Plan for my next 4 months

It's necessary to make a plan, I know that but somehow making a plan seems useless to me, partly because I hardly follow any rules and the other thing has to do with my laziness. I used to have many very specific plans for my studying, working, etc and I did finish some very first stages. But despite those efforts, I finally decide that it would be better if I simply set goal and try my best to achieve it, then no need to have a detailed plan.

OK, I'll try to make plan and stick to it this time, maybe I'll change my mind later on. Well, did I tell everybody that I'm very mutable?

1. My first priority is studying, of course, and the ultimate goal is passing all the exams with high grades. It seems to be too ambitious but that's what "goal" means, right? This semester's gonna be really hard, my timetable is full already, a lot of readings, quizzes, assignments are waiting for me. There is the time when I take a look at all those school stuffs and ask myself how I'm gonna finish them on time. Anyway, that's a must to do, I have no choice. Then I'll:

1. Try to read all materials that professors give me before classes
2. Try to understand (at least some parts)
3. Update information about social life, economics, politics, etc
   
4. Take careful note
5. Make a to-do list each week and stick to it
6. Deal with the "productivity killers" such as: lack of focus, procrastination and laziness
   

2. I've given up Yoga for a long time and now I want to practice it again. Last summer, I attended Yoga class frequently and my health was in good condition, but now it starts to against me. I'll try to meditate also, there is a meditation class that I intended to take part in this summer but I failed to organize my timetable. If I still can not make it through in the next 4 months, I'll ask the monk in the Zen monastery for the instruction, he said he would teach me in 2 hours or less. Hope that I can meditate at home.

3. I'll try to balance the amount of time spent on studying and hanging out with family and friends. As I always fail to manage my time budget, it's gonna be a difficult task.

4. I'll try my best to stick to the above plan.

Just wait and see how I'm gonna do it.

Field trip part 1: Friendship village

Just look at the bright face of this little child, isn't her smile beautiful?


Her name is Huyen Thu, 5 years old and she's even more beautiful than many other children that I've seen. Her eyes are brilliant and sparkling, her smile is so gorgeous that I just couldn't take my eyes off. I just fell in love with her at the very first sight. You may think that I exaggerate somewhat and that children are all cute, lovely and adorable, but I'm impressed because she's the victim of Agent Orange (AO), the deadly toxic that I've heard about thousand times before. I even saw a lot of photos of defected bodies or faces of those who are seriously affected by AO. Frankly, they can't be called "bodies" or "faces" because every human features are all messed up and disabled in some ways ( I don't mean any discrimination). That's why I was surprised when I saw this little girl coming toward me with such a glittering face and offering me her candy.

I could hardly believe that she's like those defected people that I saw on TV, disabled body and mental illness. However, I have to say she's affected somewhat, though not seriously like the ones I've seen before, maybe she's the least serious case. Then, I have a vision that she will not end up with being useless and waiting day after day for her lifetime to pass. When I saw her writing Japanese alphabet, I was shock. She's 5 years old, affected by deadly AO and she learnt how to write those characters so quickly. As far as I'm concerned, there was a volunteer group from Japan came to Friendship Village for about 1 month, maybe Thu has learnt the alphabet from them. Though she simply recalls the characters and writes them down unconsciously, she's still amazing.

I have to say sorry because I spent too much time talking about Huyen Thu. I was so impressed by her that I stayed with her most of the time while my classmates strolling around and exploring other places. Of course there are many children living in the village, they're all cute, lovely and special in their own ways. They smiled all the time, some of them were very generous when they gave me pictures that they drew by themselves. I did have wonderful time being around them and started missing them, especially Thu, right after I left this village.

There is only one thing that I wonder, the director of the village said that those children were allowed to stay there 2 or 3 years. After that, they will come back to their houses and start supporting family. It's gonna be a good way to educate and train as many children as possible. However, for a small child like Huyen Thu, after 3 or even 4 years, she's not old enough to learn necessary skills to earn her living. Whether sending Thu back to family is good for her or not, I still can't find the satisfactory answer, though.

Just some random things abt me

My name is Dang Thanh Tam, it means "pure heart" or "pure soul" in Vietnamese. I'm the 5th child in my family and the last one also. My parents and my siblings were extremely busy and always stayed far away from home when I was a little girl. There was the time that I desperately long for a younger brother or sister who would never leave me alone in the house because of his/her own business. I've never blamed my parents and siblings for that but deep inside, I felt lonely throughout my childhood. The only friend I had at this time was the girl living next door who is 1 year older than me. She took care of me, she stopped other classmates from bullying me, she shared with me almost everything that she had. Without her, I could not overcome my depressed childhood. Frankly, I owe her a lot.

I attended primary school one year earlier because I didn't want to be separated from her. Unfortunately, our friendship ended when we were in 8th grade and it's the thing I regret most. A true friend is hard to find, after such a long time do I realize this truth and the price I pay for it is extremely high.

I went through primary, secondary and high school step by step, really enjoyed them all. I think I'm a lucky person and whether I'm up, down or somewhere in between, I'm proud of myself today.

I have strong belief in Buddhism. I visit pagoda whenever I'm down or not in a good mood. There's always something that lifts me up when I see Buddha statue in pagoda or even in a small temple. I don't know what "something" is, but I stick to the habit of visiting pagoda once or twice a month to refresh my mind and escape from the chaotic life for a while. That's a good therapy to avoid stress.

I've tried some part-time jobs before but I want to focus on my studying this semester so I'm unemployed now. The class with UC students is a real challenge for me, hope I will do my best and achieve something after all.

Christopher Nolan - I simply learn a lot from him

I have to admit that I've never read any articles in The Economist Magazine, especially the obituary. Thinking about the death of other people, even the strangers, makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable. But reading an obituary is a good way to review the whole life of a person. Somehow, I gradually get acquainted with the idea of getting to know a stranger by reading his/her obituary. That's weird, actually.

I have seen a very uplifting video of the handicapped man named Nick Vujicic and I simply admire those who could overcome their own adversities and live the fullest of life, like Nick Vujicic and Christopher Nolan.

Christy is the one whose both arms and legs have been disabled from birth and I'm astonished at the fact that he could manage to live his own life happily without causing much troubles to other people around him. His limbs were of no use and he couldn't talk, whenever he tried to say something, all came out of his mouth were the “dull looks, dribbles and senseless sounds”. But somehow, he overcame it all. Although it took him 15 minutes to write one word, he could manage to write a novel named "The Banyan Tree". Besides, he wrote many poems as well as writings and won competitions. I'm impressed by his ambition to "best his body and get them out". In the world where many talents are wasted, I really appreciate his courage and spirit. He's a good model, both for the handicapped and ordinary people like me.