Goodbye Long!

One of the hardest parts of living abroad is that friends come and go. Out of all my close friends from last year only a couple are left in this city. Sadly, that number is about to drop again. My good friend Long is leaving Hanoi today.

Long leaving is personally sad for me. However, Long's departure is actually a huge loss for all of Hanoi. More than anyone else I have met here in the last couple of years, Long is the nucleus of the Hanoi expat world. In Hanoi we don't play six degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon. We play six degrees of separation to Long. It seems that every single person in this city either knows Long or has a friend who does.

As I've written on my blog once or twice before, the best thing I can say about someone is that they're a good guy. Long is great guy. Since I met Long, I've never heard him say a bad thing about anyone. How many people can you say that about? I guess Long can find the good in everyone...which is probably why he has so many friends in Hanoi.

Good luck back in Australia, Long!

Dengue Fever

I was too nervous to blog about this when it happened but I'll blog about it now:

One night when I was in Japan, I skyped with Huyen and she didn't look so good. She said that her head was hurting and actually started to cry while we were on Skype. I was extremely worried and encouraged her to call her sister and to go to the hospital. Huyen is as tough as they come and seeing her cry I knew something was wrong. There's nothing worse than being far from someone and feeling totally useless when they are sick.

Huyen went to the doctor and got diagnosed with "Petechial Fever" from a mosquito. She ended up having to take ten days off and go for IV drips ever day. The first few days were really scary and I started to look into flights back to Vietnam. Luckily Huyen rebounded and soon got better. I had never heard of "Petechial Fever" and did some research online and emailed some doctor friends. There was very little online except for talk about a rash that occurs during the fever. Well, after some more research I asked Huyen if she had Dengue Fever. Huyen looked at me on Skype and said that's exactly what she had. Apparently she had looked up her illness in a dictionary and it had two translations. The first was Petechial and the second was Dengue. As soon as I learned that she had Dengue I started to freak out. I don't know too much about Dengue but I know it is really painful and potentially fatal. I emailed my mother's cousin Herb who was a US Army doctor in Southeast Asia for many years. He emailed me right back and told me that Dengue is often called "Break Bone Fever." Herb told me that he had Dengue twice and wasn't embarrassed to admit that it brought him to tears because of the immense pain.

This was a few months ago and Huyen is now back to 100%. However, dealing with Dengue was very scary and something that most people outside of Southeast Asia have not heard of. Unfortunately that might now be changing because Dengue has been spreading outside of this region. My sister emailed me this article in Newsweek:

Dengue Fever Could Be Next Public-Health Threat

Andrew Bast

Last Spring the threat of swine flu sparked a panic: the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, universities and drug companies kicked into overdrive to develop new vaccines, and governments raced to stop the virus's spread. Meanwhile, another global public-health threat proliferated virtually ignored: dengue fever, a potentially lethal mosquito-borne disease traditionally found mostly in Central America and Southeast Asia.

The numbers on dengue's expansion are staggering. While the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that H1N1 had killed 11,749 people as of December 2009, the WHO reports that "explosive outbreaks" of dengue hospitalized half a million people last year. Forty years ago, the disease struck only nine countries; it is now endemic in more than 100. And it's not just a disease of the poor south. Dengue has spread into a large swath of the U.S. (39 states) and has climbed to the second most common illness that European travelers bring home. If global warming continues and the mosquito's habitat spreads, more than half the world's population will be at risk, according to the Sydney-based Lowy Institute. While London, New York, and Beijing pour millions into warding off swine flu, dengue's scourge--and spread--continues. It may not threaten to shut down the global economy, but it's a growing killer that deserves some attention of its own.

Universal Health Insurance

Congratulations Scott Brown on winning the Massachusetts senate seat and most likely fucking over universal health care.

In a case of perfect timing, today I had to go to the hospital with Huyen. Huyen woke up this morning and had a big cyst-like bump under the skin on her neck. I immediately freaked out and told her we had to go get her checked out at the hospital.

I've written about Vietnamese hospitals before and told about how crowded they are. The hospital we went to today was packed but in the span of less than two hours, Huyen was able to see two doctors and have blood work and a biopsy done. I'm happy to report that the thing under Huyen's skin is benign.

Vietnam has universal health care. The hospitals might be dirty but at least anybody can come into the hospital and get treatment without having to mortgage their house.

I try to keep my blog from being too political but I just felt like today was a great example of why America needs to look itself in the mirror from time to time. There is no doubt that if you have money in America you can get the best treatment for any condition. However, for those who don't have the most money, you're screwed when you don't have good health insurance.

I'm not saying that the Health Care Bill is perfect. In fact, I think it is too compromised because way too many Democrats sold out. However, what I am saying is that today I saw dozens of poor people at the hospital in Hanoi who got treatment and only had to pay a minimal fee. In America, that doesn't happen and now won't happen for probably a much longer time.

Hanoi Gyms

There are a few levels of gyms in Hanoi.

Level 1: You have your basic, dirt cheap Vietnamese gym. These places resemble American prison gyms but not nearly as nice. These gyms cost about $10 a month to join and are usually open from 5-7 AM and 3-9 PM. These gyms usually have ten shirtless dudes standing around every free weight, waiting for their turn to lift it for thirty seconds.

Level 2: Hotel gyms. There are many hotels that offer gym memberships. The problems with these gyms is twofold: 1) They're expensive 2) You have to go to a hotel to work out. There aren't too many hotel gyms I've been to in my life that make me shout out, "This gym is awesome!" Certainly there are none that I've been to that are worth paying over $100 a month for.

Level 3: The recently opened super nice gym in Vincom Tower. This gym has everything including a lap pool and a $200 a month price tag.

After scouting out a whole bunch of gyms, I finally found a "western style" gym called Actilife. I joined for the year for about $400. The price is pretty low because I joined for off-peak hours which means I have to work out before 2pm every day. The gym has been pretty good so far but there have been a few reminders that I'm still at a Vietnamese gym:

Reminder 1: The other morning a guy was smoking a cigarette in the locker room. In defense of the gym, there is a no smoking policy in the gym. In defense of the guy smoking, he's Vietnamese so he thinks he can smoke anywhere.

Reminder 2: There was a guy running on the treadmill completely shirtless. Men love being shirtless in Vietnam. Eventually I'll have a post about guys who take their shirts off at bia hoi restaurants. It's always one of my favorite things.

Reminder 3: The other morning I showed up at 7AM and all the lights were off. I thought I had come too early but actually the power was just out. I asked the staff when it would come back on and they told me 3pm. I worked out by candle light.

Have I Mentioned How Much I Hate Karaoke?

This video is the most fun I've ever had doing karaoke in Vietnam for a few reasons:



1. It was an English song so I actually understood what was being BOOMED into my ears a billion decibels too loudly.

2. The room was smoke-free. Thirty minutes later the Vietnamese boys would be puffing away on cigarettes.

3. This took place in the first hour. I always say I can stand karaoke for an hour. After an hour I want to shoot myself.

4. It was just Huyen and me in the room (actually it was just me and then Huyen walked in) since we were the first ones to show up. Having an empty room allows you to be extra stupid. We were actually slow dancing while singing some cheesy romantic song when her first friend came into the room.

I'm pretty sure if there is a hell and I end up going there, I'm going to be spending all eternity in a Vietnamese karaoke room. Seriously, I f@*&^%g hate Vietnamese karaoke.

Please add to my resolutions from a few days ago: I will karaoke as little as possible this year.

Changes of Biblical Proportions

Ryan and I lived a one minute walk to Dong Da Lake. Dong Da lake is one of the biggest lakes in Hanoi. You may recall me talking about the lake during the floods last year because fish from the lake were swimming in front of our house. Anyway, here's a picture of what the lake looks like:

Actually, let me take that back. That was a picture of what the lake looked like. I drove by the lake the other day and it was gone. Yes, gone. The whole lake was drained. Here's a picture I took from the only part of the lake that didn't have a huge barrier around it (I'm assuming this is where the tractors and cranes enter from):

Huyen thinks that the city is cleaning the lake but I'm not so sure. I wouldn't put it past Hanoi to be using this giant area as a place to put more tall buildings which seems to be the M.O. these days. One of my favorite things about Hanoi are the lakes all around the city. If in the name of development, Hanoi starts draining these one by one, this place is going to quickly lose its charm.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make a resolution and usually quickly forget it. However, I figure if I post my resolutions on my blog I'll have to follow through with them. So here they are for the whole world to see:

1. Learn Vietnamese -- It is embarrassing how bad I am at Vietnamese. When I first came I took some classes but then become lazy figuring, "Hey, I'm only here for six months and this definitely isn't something I'll need in the future." Frankly I want to learn Vietnamese so I can talk to Huyen's family more. It's about time that I didn't need Huyen to translate, "It's good to see you."

2. Use less plastic -- This is something we all can do. The fact is that we all use way too much plastic whether it be water bottles or plastic bags. This year I will always bring a bag with me to the supermarket and I will buy as few plastic bottles as possible. Before I left Japan I bought this stainless steel thermos:

I've already refilled it about 100 times between traveling around Japan and since coming back to Vietnam. Not only is drinking out of metal healthier than plastic but it is also good for the environment. Lets say for arguments sake that in the last month I've used 10 less plastic bottles because of this thermos. Well, if just Americans over 18 years of age did that over the last month we would have used TWO BILLION less bottles. Wrap your head around that. That's one month. Two billion bottles! Lets all use less plastic...


3. Open my own English school in Hanoi. Yes, this sounds like a huge goal but in reality I'm just renting a classroom and hoping to get at least thirty motivated students to teach. Don't get me wrong, this is a HUGE undertaking. However, I'm confident that I'll be able to teach a great curriculum of my choosing and get faster results for students than at any of the language schools here in Hanoi. There will be A LOT more on this coming up in the next few weeks. All I can say now though is that classes will start on March 1st for teens and adults. By the way, if any readers are in Hanoi and interested you can email me for information: [REDACTED]

4. See my family at least two times.

5. See my family with Huyen by my side. Hopefully this year we can get her a visa.

6. Keep exercising and living a healthy lifestyle. Since August I have lost nearly twenty pounds and plan to stay fit for all of 2010. Perhaps I'll eventually be able to run a marathon with my sister.

Good luck to me and everyone else who has lofty resolutions for 2010!