My Lai Massacre

I am educating myself about the Mi Lai massacre, one of the many atrocities that the U.S soldiers committed. To see this place was so moving to me and I remembered the massacres in El Salvador, the worst in a town call El Mosote where 1000 civilians were assassinated including babies. Only one woman survived to give her testimony of the horrific massacre. In the museum display, I read that 17 pregnant women were killed, and many children and old people among the five hundred and four. At the same time I was moved when I read about several Americans who burned themselves to death to express their opposition to the goverment. Only a few people survived the My Lai massacre which was stopped by two American helicopter crew.

I walked around the village and thought how terrifying it must have been for the people who lived here that day, March 16, 1968. I was shaking,trembling and thinking that I was once was in a civil war and it was horrible. I thought a lot about the people who died here and thought about my first husband and all my relatives, classmates, and friends who were killed in El Salvador. I empathize with the people of Vietnam because I know how it is to experience a war. War is hell and we should work together towards peace in the world so we won't have another American war. I took a course at San Francisco State University called "Genocide." We discussed the Holocaust and why it happened and that we should work together for peace and make a better world. We had another war in Iraq and now the Palestinian and Israel war. What about the massacre in Darfur? it seems like it never ends, I feel sometimes depressed about the wars but I know we have the obligation to speak out against them.

QUANG NGAI, AND HOI AN

In Quang Nai province, central Vetnam, we went to My Khe, a quiet village on the coast, My Khe has only two hotels. A two star hotel and a minus two hotel which are located by white sandy beach. Unfortunately, the white sandy beach is not clean which is sad and we couldn't enjoy it because there was too, much garbage on the beach. We did love the view all the way from Da Lat to Quang Nhai with so many green mountains, rice paddies, and rivers. It was such a beautiful sight. On the other hand, we were upset the way our driver drove, he was fighting with another bus driver over the passengers. Both of them kept passing each other and driving very fast that for a moment I thought our driver was going to crash against another truck. It was a very stressful drive, but we made it after two hours and half. We got to QUANG NGAI, but the supposedly nice hotel was full so we went to another hotel which had two cabins. We rented one, but it was funky and smelled bad, and it was hot. It was like a torture to be in this place, well for ten dollars what can we expect.

Now we are in HOI AN, which is an interesting place to see. Of course I do not enjoy the noise from so many night clubs. The music is loud and I can hear from my hotel the motorcycles honking and passing by. I don't think, I am enjoying this place with so many stores and so many tourists.

Visiting a child care center in Vietnam

This morning my husband and I went to visit a child care center which was located in the countryside. I introduced myself to the principal who at the beginning didn't want me to look at the center, but after I showed her my City College ID, then it was o.k. She took me to see a classroom where the children were singing already with their teachers. The center has 250 children. I observed that the health conditions were excellent; the classrooms were neat, orderly and the floors were super clean. All the children must take their shoes off before going inside the classroom and greet the teacher. Each child has his own cup to drink milk or juice. The children seem to be well-adjusted and they seem to be secure about themselves.

War and Cu Chi Tunneles and Museun

When we were in Ho Chi Min City we visited the Cu Chi tunnels and a museum; these two historical sites made me cry. I can imagine what the Vietcong went through. I didn't have the courage to go inside a tunnel because I am claustrophobic to the dark and besides the entrance was too small for me anyways. Maybe that was an excuse for me not to go in. I am amazed how well organized the guerillas were. The tunnels had three floors. The top floor contained guns, the second one was to protect the ill people, and third one was to protect from the bombing and to dig a well to have fresh water since the water from the Saigon river was poisoned with Agent Orange. It is interesting that the American army base was so close to these tunnels, but the Americans didn't know. The tunnels were well covered with grass and other trees. Guerilla women would go before dawn to get rubber from the rubber trees so they could make excellent rubber sandals to be able to walk in the mud and jungle. They also made sandals from used tires.

The war museum is in the heart of Ho CHi Min City. The museum documents the atrocities and crimes that the Americans and their allies caused to the civilian population. I was so moved and cried in silence when I saw the skulls of tortured people with nails still on the head, and some others had nails on their teeth of people who were tortured in the prisons. What a brutal and inhuman treatment of human beings. When I was looking and reading the documentation about the war here in Vietnam, it reminded me 0f the civil war in El Salvador.I remember all my classmates from the university who disappeared and the dead and torture corpses that appeared on the streets of my town. A flashback of these horrific crimes came to my mind, I know what it is to go through a civil war. I am upset that I was studying in a private high school and our teachers never mentioned anything about the war in Vietnam. I do empatize with the people of Vietnam, I can imagine what they went through.

Hell of a Hike

We just came back from a strenuous hike on the Lang Bian mountain, it was very difficult. This mountain has five volcanic peaks ranging in altitude from 2100m to 2400m. It took us 2 hours and half to make it to the top. I almost gave up because my legs were shaken and I felt dizzy. I wanted to get to the top. Finally, we reached the top about 12:30 pm. The view was spectacular and fantastic with so many peaks and mountains around. Half a century ago these mountains were populated with wild oxen, deer, boar, elephants, rhinoceros and tigers. The top half of the mountain still has lush foliage. Twenty minutes before reaching the top is the most difficult part,it gets slippery and steep.
On the way back unfortunately, I was really tired and I wasn't paying attention and fell down. I got tripped on a big vine, and I got hurt really bad. But I was able to hike back to the village.

Visiting an Early Childhood Center

My husband and I visited an Early Childhood Center owned by the government. The children, aged from three to five years old, were happy to see me and immediately recognized that I was a stranger and greeted saying hello, hello. They asked their teacher which language I could speak. I told them English and Spanish. I showed the principal my identification and a teacher who could speak English translated for us. I was introduced to the students and they were happy and sang a song for me and then I sang for them. The interaction was warm. Even without the language, I was able to made then follow me doing some exercises. I sang the numbers in English and other songs. Some of them were able to sing with me and others tried. I was surprised that they weren't shy and willing to do the activities.

The principal, a woman, was friendly and showed me the three classrooms where the children were. The ratio is 30 students and one teacher. The students behaved good and follow directions. Of course, I was thinking that the students don't have other children who speak a different language like in the United States. Parents do not have to pay anything for the care. I enjoyed seeing the children with their uniforms and getting in line without any trouble. I think that it would be nice if the children that I work with in the U.S. wore uniforms to avoid so much competition concerning who wears the fashionable clothes and shoes that the big corporations push to make money without thinking that many parents don't have enough money to buy expensive items for their children.

Cobras and Pythons

In Mi Tho we went to visit the snake farm where they produce an antivenom medicine against cobra bites. The minute I stepped in the farm, I felt the presence of the cobras it was a beautiful farm whith mango trees and palm trees and some other wild plants. We saw hundreds of outdoor cages all around the part where the cobras were. We started to look at the different kinds of pythons. Some pythons were huge and long, but for the size of the reptiles the cages were too small. I was impressed with the different colors of pythons. Some were black and brown others were the color of the mud. The cobras got ready to attack if we got too close. Their head became wide and its stands his head. Some of the cobras had in their cages frogs and rats to eat. The cobras differ in color too, the black cobras were so shiny and had big scales. When leaving the farm we saw the big bottles of cobra whisky supposedly good for the health and other beliefs that the Vietnamese have.
I was told by the clerk in our hotel,to be careful when walking in the countryside because we could see them. He told me that cobras are eaten and are a very exquisite delicacy and people prefer to eat the skin because it is very tasty.