Xin chào mọi người, 大家好, and hello!
It has been yet another wonderful week here in the Vietnam Mission. Work was pretty productive this past week which made time fly. I don't really have many crazy stories to report as of now. Therefore, I am going to dedicate the majority of this email to answering common questions people have asked me about serving in Vietnam. Before that however, we can do a small weekly recap!
P-Day Fun:
Last P-Day our district met up at a mall to have some Texas Chicken (think of Raising Canes. Was pretty good) and then did... a horror escape room. It was really fun and not scary.
When the actor came out the first time to scare us, one of the Elders yelled "I don't speak Vietnamese" in Vietnamese. We couldn't tell if the actor was trying to play her part in doing a creepy laugh, or if she was genuinely trying to hold in her laughter. After that, the ghost never showed back up to try and scare us. We think she had a lunch break. Creepy ghost girl has gotta eat, I guess. (Elder Tolley and I were probably the most ghostly people in the room anyways, so it's fine). Unfortunately, we did not solve the escape room, but we were close.
After we were released from the escape room we celebrated our defeat with some Dairy Queen at the mall. We will be returning to the escape room today to attempt a different room!
Zone Conference:
The next day we had zone conference which focused on improving our finding efforts. We got a lot of great guidance and training in how we can be more effective and efficient in our work.
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QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS IN VIETNAM
Please remember - I have only been here for two months. I still have so much to learn about the culture, history, and other aspects of the country/people. Furthermore, my experience has only been here in Southern Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh. I am just sharing my experience and the observations I have made so far! :)
Question #1: What is Vietnam like?
I get this question asked a lot, so I will do my best in answering it. Despite the country being pretty small, Vietnam still has an amazing amount of diversity. Although I still have yet to visit pretty much anywhere else in Vietnam, seeing pictures and hearing from others, it is clear Vietnam has a lot of variety.
Vietnam has a long and extensive international history. It has had various phases dating back to ancient Chinese history, to modern French imperialism. Ho Chi Minh is full of museums and other historical sites to visit for travel. Throughout Saigon/Ho Chi Minh at least, you can see these various different historical values everywhere. This is especially seen in the architecture throughout Ho Chi Minh. Some buildings remind me a lot of the ancient style I saw while visiting in Beijing, while some of the more modern and narrow buildings remind me of the winding alleyways in Paris.
The development of the city in Ho Chi Minh is pretty interesting. It is certainly what some may call a "developing" city. Certain areas and districts are full of older homes and broken roads needing repair. The center of wealth and expansion is currently in the Thảo Điền area where I previously served. This is where the large "Landmark 81" building and various other high-middle class income housing is built. You can find massive malls here and other large foreign companies/brands in this area. Many international embassies and consulates are in this area, along with all the foreigners.
Most of the foreigners however live on the outskirts of Thảo Điền, where there is more land. This is where the homes - not apartment buildings or skinny houses - I mean homes are. Gated communities with homes with a garage, multi-story, homes. Many of the foreigners I have met here are usually expat workers from countries in Europe such as France and Germany. Vietnam is a popular destination for travel for Europeans.
In southern Vietnam, it is consistently a nice 93-98 degree F day with a good amount of humidity. On your bike/scooter with the wind it can cool down, but when the sun comes out you can certainly feel it. The air is relatively clean here - there have certainly been some smoggy days. When the clouds roll in, everything gets trapped and can get quite brown/grey. I have yet to experience any rain - but I have heard it is fun :).
Question #2: What is the food like?
The food is delicious. Honestly, I haven't had a meal or food that I couldn't finish because it tasted bad. (Knock on wood for me). The fruit and vegetables are usually pretty fresh, especially when going to the market. The meat can be super fresh too! How fresh? Like- you choose the chicken you want and they kill it in front of you fresh! Market meat is still something I am not too keen on trying - the food health codes could be a little bit better.
I still try to avoid the organs. I am, however, getting better with seafood. Many of the seafood places here have good sauces and seasonings to go with the food, which helps reduce the fishy flavor I'm not a huge fan of.
On a typical day I usually eat a lot of soups and phở. They come out with a big bowl of phở along with a variety of different vegetables you can put in it. There is usually meat (typical beef or chicken) with noodles and broth. I'm still trying to figure out who thought "Man, you know what sounds really good right now on a 98 degree day? Some boiling hot soup!". The meat can be really good but sometimes a bit disappointing. Usually it comes in big chunks, with the bones still in them which makes them larger than they really appear. After biting and fighting the meat you are usually left with a pretty decent size of bone. Still good - just small.
For desserts and treats we can usually go to an ice cream shop, bakery, or - a smoothie shop. Sinh Tố! They are wonderful but extremely unhealthy. I try to pretend that when I get my favorite type of smoothie - avocado smoothie - that I am making a healthy decision. It is hard to ignore when they pour a ton of condensed milk, sugar, and more sweet milk into the smoothie though. Oh well, when in Vietnam!
Another nice thing about the food is the pricing. For reference, $1 = 24,000 VND. The smoothies I like are 25k, coming out to just a tiny bit over a dollar. Good phở and other meals can range from 30k - 50k for lunches and dinner. For the Big Mac Economic Index, one Big Mac here in Vietnam is 99k. I can get an ice cream cone for 10k at mixue. A Coca Cola from a little convenience shop is around 9k, while an entire bottle of coke can be around 15k-28k. For some reason, Pepsi is cheaper than Coke.
Question #3: How do you get around?
Bikes. Bikes. Bikes. Everything is just far enough and close enough that you could walk it but don't want to - but it is too close to ride the bus or call a Grab (Vietnam Uber). The bus is pretty slow because they have to fight the rest of traffic. It is only 7k to ride the bus though, which is nice. Not great for trying to get change, but it works.
The taxi ride we take for exchanges which takes about 20 min and is 12km (7.5miles) away is around 120k or around $5.
There is a large highway and other big streets here in Saigon. They are usually split between lanes with cars and scooters on the larger roads but all mesh into one once you get onto the smaller streets. The Grab drivers can be pretty frustrating to ride next to sometimes because they will occasionally need to make a 4 point U-turn, which when sideways, takes up the enter street and stops all traffic. Then no one can move and everyone lays on the horns.
Most of the time we are probably going 10-25mph. Crashing would certainly hurt, but hopefully not be serious because we wear helmets. I just try to avoid the buses and oil tanker trucks. I have seen only a few accidents so far with other people - usually not too serious.
Our mission is split into two main areas - the capital city Hanoi and the southern Ho Chi Minh. You can get transferred to either. If so, you go by plane! Pretty unique.
Question #4: What is your living situation? We are pretty spoiled here in my opinion. Our apartments are well furnished and comfortable. We have air conditioning and washing in the apartments. No dryers, but we do have big drying racks which is completely fine.
The beds are comfortable and we sleep in totally not Dior knock-off comforter sheets. I currently live in an apartment meant for a quad of Elders, but it is only me and my companion here. Meaning, we each get our own bathroom and closets haha. Bathrooms are nice here but you don't typically use toilet paper. There is a water gun that is attached to the toilet that shoots high pressure water (think bidet). We have a nice kitchen, decent couch, and lots of reptiles in our apartment to keep us warm at night with their cold blood.
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I'll keep answering some questions in a future email - but this is getting pretty long and I could talk forever. Once again, I am still learning so much about Vietnam and these are just my still very naïve and basic observations. In my next email I can talk more about the people and culture I have experienced so far.
I invite you to read 2 Nephi 26:24 from the Book of Mormon! That was a nice scripture for me to read this week.
Love you,
Anh Cả Reynolds
Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KXNEyuJ6epdKQtAq6
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