Yo, Tokyo!

This is my first picture in Japan. Do you see those black boxes above the seats? They are the reason I took the picture. Let me set the scene: I had just arrived in Japan an hour before and was riding the Narita Airport Express Train to Tokyo. I had an assigned seat but decided to sit behind it because someones luggage was placed in front of my assigned chair. Both seats were open behind where I was supposed to sit so sat down and began to stare out the window, enjoying my first views of Japan. Well, about two minutes went by before a train worker walked into the train holding a fancy gadget in his hand. The gadget apparently had received a signal that someone was sitting in a reserved seat who shouldn't have been. The worker came to check my ticket and potentially charge me more money for not sitting in the unreserved car. I showed the train worker my ticket and all was okay.

So why am I writing this as my first blog about Japan? Because, well, Japan is soooo much more advanced than Vietnam. I knew this coming in but BAM it struck me right away with everything. In Vietnam, two weeks ago, I snuck into a train compartment we weren't supposed to be in. After getting caught -- by chance since Huyen's sister asked the guy a question! -- we just had to give the guy a couple dollars and he let us stay. Such is clearly not the case in Japan.

This is going to be an interesting three months!

A Bright Shining Lie

Based on LH from KY's recommendation, I recently read A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan.

The book won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for a reason -- it was unbelievable. I use the word unbelievable for two reasons. First, Sheehan's writing is spectacular. Whenever a non-fiction book is a page turner you know the author is a good writer. The book had such a compelling narrative that one could easily mistake it for fiction. The second reason I say the book was unbelievable is because it is mind boggling to read about the absolutely insane policies/rationales/strategies of the US government and military leading up to and during the Vietnam War. As an American, I like to hope that our country knows what it is doing especially when it puts people's lives at risk. This book paints a picture that couldn't be farther from that hope.

Grass Skiing & Grass Sledding

(PICTURE: Grass Sledding)
I'm gonna shock you with something: It doesn't snow much in Vietnam.

You might be saying to yourself, "I didn't think it ever snowed." Well, I thought that too when I first got here but supposedly it has snowed in Sapa. However, that's clearly not the norm.

As a skiier, I wish there was more snow. Luckily though the Vietnamese are quite innovative and don't let the lack of snow stop them from skiing. Recently Huyen and I went to a resort with grass skiing and grass sledding. The "hill" for skiing was about twice the size of a speed bump so we decided just to go sledding. Check out the video of grass skiers and a grass sledder. The music you'll hear was what was pumping out of the stereo systems at the resort:

More Signs I've Put On Weight

(PICTURE: Look at that gut! Maybe I should wear bigger shirts.)
Not to keep harping on this but I'm getting chubby!

Three times in My Tho I had to get off an elevator because it started to beep. THREE TIMES!!!

Also the Habitat people asked me what shirt size I am. I told them large. They gave me an extra large. It was a hint that my shirts are perhaps getting a tad too tight.

Finally, as of writing this, I got my fourth flat tire on Huyen's motorbike. That's four flat tires in a month and a half. Do you know how many flat tires I had TOTAL last year? 3 ...yup, the same amount of times the elevator told me to get off because I was gonna break it.

Two Reasons To Donate To Habitat For Humanity

Here's two reasons why building a house for a needy family is totally worth the time and expense:
(PICTURE: The children who will be living in the house I helped build last week.)

My Habitat team finished working on the house and they sent me this picture:
It is pretty amazing that two weeks ago there was nothing but dirt where this house was. That's pretty cool.

Habitat For Humanity: Day 3

By the third morning all of us had blisters on our thumbs. An average person would have called in sick with such an ailment, but this crew was not average by any means. We pushed forward and continued to build the house.

Day 3 was all about laying brick. Everyone was given a tutorial on how to lay brick and then was put to work. The homeowner, who I've mentioned is a real life construction worker, was at least five times faster at laying brick then the rest of us. His rows of bricks also looked a lot neater than the rest of ours.

(PICTURE: Thy, my main habitat contact and Than, our habitat foreman.)

Right before lunch two local officials came to the site and presented me with a certificate and a letter. The certificate is from The Tien Giang Union Of Friendship Organizations and is for "Building the house for the poor people." The letter says, "Dear Benjamin August, on behalf of the Tien Giang Union of Friendship organizations. I would like to express heartfelt thanks for your recent contributation of time to the volunteer building house in My Tho City from September 13rd to September 24th* 2009.
Together with another volunteer you offered helpful and exciting hours of building house for poor people. We are grateful for energy, enthusiasm and dedication you bring to your role as a volunteer.
Once again, thank you very much for your efforts and contribution of time for the Tien Giang Union of friendship organizations to help make our community better and better."

Although the certificate says I built till the 24th, I actually only built till the 16th. This is the same certificate everyone else got who built to the 24th. It's like I got a diploma after freshman year in college!

It was really hard to leave the build after just a few days. In 72 hours we had made so much progress on the house and I wish I could have stayed till the end. However, it just wasn't in the cards this time with my schedule. The experience though was absolutely fantastic. Working with great people for such a great cause is rewarding to say the least. I'm hoping that next year when I'm back in Vietnam I'll be able to organize a team build with people living in Hanoi.

I'd like to just say thanks again to the team at Habitat For Humanity for being extremely helpful and organized. I'd also like to thank Thomas and Elizabeth, the team leaders, and all the other members of the team, for letting me join their build. Finally, I'd like to once again thank the 70+ people who donated money towards the upcoming building of our house. Thanks again!

Habitat For Humanity: Day 2

(PICTURE: The heaviest load Marla had to wheelbarrow.)

I woke up on the second morning feeling pain in approximately 29 different places. The most irritating place though was the heat rash that I had on my right bicep. I showed Katie, the designated medic from my group, the rash and she brought me over to see Marilyn, the medic from the other group/real life nurse. Marilyn bandaged up my bicep and I was good to go...despite being mocked by a few people for having inadvertently shown off my totally awesome bicep.

There was a lot to be done on the second day:
- Removing the wood planks from the foundation.

(PICTURE: Me doing basically nothing as Katie crow-barred the hell out of the wood planks. My sleeve is rolled up because Marla, a Harvard graduate from both undergrad and business school, told me that it would help my irritation. She said it was the way girl lacrosse players wear their uniforms. You can't argue with that.)

- Building columns...which meant more cement making.
(PICTURE: Ian and Sheila were doing 99.9% of the lifting on this one.)

- Bending rebar. Don't feel bad if you don't know what rebar is. I had no clue prior to this build. Click on the link to read about it. Basically it is the meal put inside columns to help strengthen the columns.

- Removing nails from wood.

- Sanding wood.

- Filling in the foundation with dirt.

- Pounding the dirt to make the foundation stronger.

(PICTURE: A dirt pounding tool.)

- Putting up scaffolding.

(PICTURE: The end of Day 2. Progress is being made!)

The one problem with the build was that we were building during rainy season. It rained for a little while on the first day and then just down-poured on the second day. Here's a little video of the rain coming down on the family's old house as well as some shots of our site: