Vietnamese culture

Finially got our info pack with all the details for the up coming trip to Vietnam- starting to get excited. Here's the list of cultural considerations considered inportant for us to know about:

- Pale skin is highly regarded in Vietnam, especially by women, so don't expect to see a lot of skimpy outfits, esp. outside Ho Chi Minh city and more people in full head to toe dress with umbrellas. As a result both women and men should not wear high cut shorts. Long, baggy shorts are acceptable to local people and we advise women to wear lightweight skirts or trousers.

- Tops that expose the shoulders and stomachs are similarly unacceptable whilst outside HCMC or on public area.

- Nudity is totally unacceptable. Please wear a one-piece swimsuit and a sarong when bathing in any public area.

- For cultural reasons Vietnamese people are offended by being touched on the head.

- Similarly never direct the soles of your feet at a person or religious shrine.

- When entering any Vietnamese home, monastery or tample, always remove your shoes.

- Appearance is everything so even the very poor will try and impress with elaborate gifts and gestures. Please do not encourage this as a lot of the time it will be a show of pride and may expect you to do more in return. For the same reasons politeness and manner are doubbly important- always smile and be pleasant.

- Overt public displays of affection should be avoided.

- Expect to be offered hundreds of business cards.

- women typically do lots of hard work but have little say in decisions. Please do not judge locals on Western standards, as this is typical throughout asia.

- do not leave chopsticks vertically in your food. This is a sign of the dead and is totally inappropriate.

- Begging is a harsh reality of life in developing countries but it is something that the Vietnamese believe must not be encouraged, esp by the Westerners who do not understand the occasions when it is appropriate. Although it is hard to reason, giving money to street beggars must be avoided. (how tough is this one- understand, but these people obviously need help- or they wouldn't 'stoop so low' to beg...hmmm)


We're also not encouraged to give money donations while over there- instead games for the kids is suggested (shows how money isn't the answer to everything!!! and cause more probs).
On that- does anyone know of a any type of ball that can be deflated and can be inflated without needing a pump?

More on the G man :)

-For a Hindu, karma is the hand dealt to him at birth from the celestrial pack of cards- his fixed destiny. Dharma is his religious and moral duty to play the hand in the best possible way- his free will. The point of the card game is salvation- to free the atman from the bondage of the body or matter, through a cycle of death and reincarnation, and to reunite it with God...... The essential teaching is that one should do one's duty irrespective of reward or punishment, pleasure or pain, gain or loss, victory or defeat, life or death, that the highest action is that which has the least regard for results or consequences, and that any action is better than no action.

-Gandhi began extolling the Buddha's love of all creatures, compared with Christ's love of man only.


Prob Gandhi's biggest idea was that of non-violence in all situations possiblly best explained by this account: Suddenly at a word of command, scores of native policemen rushed upon the advancing marchers and rained blows on their heads with their steel-shod lathis. Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows. They went down like ten-pins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whack of the clubs on unprotected skulls. The waiting crowd of marchers groaned and sucked in their breath in sympathetic pain at every blow....They marched steadily, with heads up. There was no fight, no struggle, the marchers simply walked forward till struck down.

Dilemas

I have 1 free movie ticket: do I go see Borat (prob very immature and stupid and so will make me laugh) or Catch a fire (true-ish story about south Africa and apartheid so will prob make me think).

And thats my Dilema of the week- ah holidays! :)

But if anyone has seen either and can give me a run down or wants to go see one- and help me make up my mind- let me know.

Jiggle for Jesus

My all time, number one hit song for pre-schoolers offically made it's debut last sunday. The idea came to me in a dream and Jesus was singing along while jiggleing along...... nah thats a lie don't really remember where the inspiration came from other than pre-schoolers needed to be able to sing it and actions are always good at that age- and jiggleling is a big hit- and I'm sure Jesus would like everyone doing somethingenjoyable just for him.

The single should be in all good retail stores on Monday :) My career as a pop ideal for kids can only go up from here!!

Thoughts on Gandhi

Just some of my current personal thoughts on some of the points of the last Gandhi post.

-Like the way Gandhi tryed to lead and teach by example and actions- even if it meant doing the most dirty job for the 'lowest' of people considered the untouchables.

- Ganhdi's life of poverty required a lot of funding from big business men- when does comitting to a life of complete poverty not pay off and burden society more???

-mind, body and spirit in harmony is prob something we should all aim for

- having been at uni the last 4yrs- apart from gaining the nessecary degree to be able to do the job and skills- think the most I've learnt is more life stuff- eg. patience, discpline, working under pressure and to a timetable etc. (def not any better at spelling- but abreviating big words I can now do!!) which is all stuff that diff life experiences can also teach- uni was just my journey for the last 4yrs and however much longer.

-the political quote I'm still not sure about- but it stands out. But where he was there was a lot of injustice towards Indians...... I don't feel that motivation? other than masters students not eligable for student travel concession cards- and living in zone 3!

-profits really a humans to! They just see things diff- clearly? - and aim to live it out.

- I sometimes think that the things that really bug us/ fire us up- a the areas of our greatest weaknesses- maybe its just so obvious to us that we can't help but make it a personal issue to work on!? The things that get me fired up are prob the stuff that I struggle with and the things that get others worked up/ motivated I'm generally fine with. Gandhi had what he saw as a 'weakness'to sex chosing it over religious duties and from then on he saw celibacy as nessecary to spiritual growth- but thats just one of my theories on life so feel free to disagree!

There's still half the book to go so prob more posts to look forward to!!:)
(I'm now offically a nerd- using my hols to read books:S)

Eating for the poor

A bunch of resturants and wineries are tacking donations for homeless people and the farmers doing it tough so check out- www.streetsmartaustralia.org

For those who live around me- Bar Bosh at Knox is listed!

Gandhi

Been reading a book on Gandhi at the moment and I'll post some of the stuff I've found interesting so far.

- ' The ashram was on the edge of the williage of Segaon, which was just a few mud-and-bamboo huts with a primitive communal well. There were no shops worthy of the name, and no amenities of any kind. Most of the villagers were untouchables, and every last one was a victim of chronic malaria, chronic dysentery or chronic malnutrition. Not even the children had enough energy to brush away the flies that settled on them. Who but Gandhi would have thought of trying to teach these willagers anything? One of my earlist memories of Gandhi is seeing him trudge along the tracks sweeping up the excrement that the villagers had left around like dogs, even by the well. that was his way of setting an example, of teaching the villagesthe most elementary lesson of all'.

- He studied and actively practiced all the major religions at once- saw God as bigger than any one and Jesus and Buddha were mentor figures- but I wounder what he thought of Jesus claims to Son of God.

- 'Keeping Gandhi living in poverty is an expensive business'

- 'He said what he believed and put into practice what he said, so his mind, spirit and body were in harmony'.

- 'Didn't like the idea of his Granddaughter getting a degree saying that she should instead become his secutary'- in the time of feminism this didn't go down so well. Was his thinking in some areas backwards or advanced?

- ' To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot affod to keep ou of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means'- Gandhi "the story of my experiments with truth".

- Reading about his childhood is also interesting- really was just a normal cheaky kid- bit of a non-sporty 'nerd' who wasn't any good at school- 1 diff was his honesty to the point that he would not only own up to the wrong stuff but doubed all his friends and familily into it as well.
One time he and his cousins stole gold status from a temple to play with- and he owned up and doubed the cousins who's idea it was.

- 'Married at 12 (and had 'relations' before this) Gandhi seems to have been a jealous and imperios young husband. "Refusal to speak to one another thus became the order of the day with us, married children".

- 'Gandhi never forgot what he called his "double shame"- leaving his father when he knew that his father might die at any moment, and making love to his wife when he knew that Hinduism forbade intercourse with a pregnant woman. The baby died soon after it was born, and he felt that he was justly punished'. - He later live in comple celibacy and even told a couple who were asking for a marriage blessing ' to live as brother and sister'.

You know your on hols when ...... ya spend almost a whole day in front of the TV

What a nice way to spend my first day of holidays to just bum around watching the Ashes- with both lunchon and tea breaks included!!

Sooner or later God withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. God leaves us to stand up on our own legs- to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that we a growing into the sort of people God wants us to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which pleases Him best. He wants us to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with our stumbles. - C. S. Lewis

Woo Hoo, U2

I'm so lucky sometimes and the u2 concert I was at last sun night was as great as expected.

Was in the seats at the back which meant we were a fair way back but had a full view of everything and prob the best sound quality- but I wouldn't have minded where we were, was just happy to be there! Good in the end that we didn't get the general admin tickets cos my friend ended up being over 8 month pregnent which was unknow at the time of purchas.

We got there to be one of the first people there with seat tickets thanks to Damo freaking out about getting there late or something happening on the way and made us all get maccas drive through so we wouldn't have to stop to eat.

People around us were pritty funny to- had a family with 2 young teenaged girls in front of me who also had tickets to some offical u2 after party- the mum at 1 girl sat for most of the concert and they left the concert early- who does that?!?

Also down from us was this girl that kept pushing past us to get in and out about every 20min to get drinks and bunch of druk guys making rude and at times inappropriately funny comments back at everything Bono said and booed everytime anyone sat down. But the funniest would be the guy who spent the whole in steps next to Damo (who regreted insisting sitting on the edge) and was more energetic than Bono going crazy with air guitar and drums and just everything you could imagine. During 'Sunday bloody Sunday' he grabed Damo and while shaking him said 'it's sunday!!!'. very entertianing!

The concert it's self was fantastic though- good how they gave 'Sunday bloody sunday' a more contextual and relavant meaning for the time and place- but still think it's orginal meaning does more for me personaly having a family back in Ireland still caught up in the drama and the bad vibes I'd get back there if I marry a Catholic.

But best of all they played 'where the streets have no name' - I'm eternally happy, and if I'm ever cranky at you just remind me of that and all will be forgotten!! :)

The Plan

The plan to get me into the whole bike riding thing-

Mon- 'Body attack' 6:30pm at the gym
Tues- studio cycle 9:15am at the gym
Wed- 'body attack' 5:30pm at the gym
Thurs- body step 9:15am at the gym and when I finish teaching for the year boxing at 7:30pm at the gym.

Fri, sat and sun days off for the gym but am also going to start getting on an actual bike building up to riding 4 days straight in the middle of summer- which still won't be as Vietnam because I will still be spending the night in my own comfy bed.

So thats it- anyone up for a bike ride let me know and feel free to hold me accountable or have a go at me for being lazy- when you find out how bad I'm doing at sticking to the plan.

There's always something to look forward to.....

This won't be a post of high quality substance due to the fact that I'm in the middle of writting a liturature review on Dementia, which is turning out to be a most painful experience and making me rather cranky at times- so honestly I'd avoid me for a week! But if you want to know anything about Dementia, now is the time to ask me.

But the main reason for this post is for me to spend some time dwelling on what I'm really looking forward to
- U2- less than a week now, and although its a shame I have a massive assignment and exam the 2 days after,I'm completely excited in true crazy music fan- I spent I night in the Knox city car park, style. Almost more exciting when you work your butt of/ go through crap to get something you want- fully prepared to volunteer as a 'waste management' (don't even know what exactly that means) person at a music festival this year... and how much sweater will those tickets smell after that job!!

- The Ashes!! missed my cricket and spending a relaxed day watching or seeing it on the big screen at work- encouraging the kids to drink more so I'd have an excuse to go into the bar area and fill up the jugs, or hanging around after work with the boys.

- There is a Simpons movie coming out- am mildly concerned that it will be crap, but the Simpsons are never crap so I hope it will carry through its brilliance to the cinema medium. and over an hour wroth of Homer can't be bad.

- Bithday parties and Chrissy!!! means pressie shopping and making- which I honestly enjoy more that getting, although moneys a bit tight at the moment- just means I have to be more creative! Parties are fun to- nothing better than just bumming around with friends.

- Vietnam- although feeling a bit mixed about this one at the moment, being the others first time overseas their more concerned with culture shock, I've already seen some horrible stuff in diff countries (and here to!!) , experienced incredable heat/ humidity and pollution in Bangkok- (to the point that you could look straight at a big dark red circle in the sky and it was the sun). I am much more worried that I'm going to lose it over the bike riding because I would rather hike for a month than ride a bike for a day and their expecting me to ride for four days...... I see a hissy fit on the way! Na, I'm very determined to take up the challenge and do this thing as painful as I'm sure its going to be.

- And finally SUMMER!!! I love it hot, the beach, the sun, swimming, holidays, wearing thongs without comments like 'aren't you cold' because I wear thongs all year round.


Ah, feeling a lot better now...:)