Joining the fray

We have our bicycles now so have joined the crazy traffic. It is less crazy here than in the city but left turns are still pretty nervewracking. The rules of the road are generally followed, as in most people drive on the correct side if the road and travel in the correct direction. There are a couple traffic lights which are obeyed. The bikes are pretty old school with no gears and a handy basket in the front but they do the job. The land is so flat here so biking is pretty leisurely and a bit cooler than walking as you get a breeze.

As we continue further with our interviews we are definitely seeing the cultural differences in work patterns come out. Vietnamese people generally break for a siesta in the afternoon and schools and businesses generally accomodate this. As Canadians we have a bit more of the go go go attitude, so it has been a learning process working out agreeable schedules with everyone. My group has now done three interviews with parents and they have been really interesting. They are conducted in Vietnamese but one if our partners writes down the answers in English for us to follow along. I have started to notice a few recurring themes in our responses and am interested to see if the patterns continue. Parents have a lot of influence on their children in Vietnamese cultures do I understand how their perceptions of the labour market affect their children's educational path and where they work.

One of the issues I have heard from community members as well as in some if the literature is the large number of students that enrol in business and social sciences even when the demand for these jobs is not high. Vocational training and technical sciences are in higher demand but these programs are more expensive to develop and don't seem to be promoted as much. Gender issues are interesting too as they are not as blatant here as other countries I have been. Several of the students we work with say there are no problems, but they are there if you dig. Women are expected to get married and run a household making it harder to obtain advanced degrees which seem pretty necessary for management jobs here. They are also less likely to move up as they are (and are expected to be) shyer and less assertive. As a result they are often limited to administrative roles. Upon graduation most students, but especially women, are expected to stay close to home even though job opportunities are more numerous in other areas.

Besides working on the project I have had lots of time to eat, explore, and shop. Yesterday a few of us girls had dresses ordered from the tailor and ordering food without vietnamese students us always a risky adventure. I know the word for both chicken and beef so at the very least I know what animal I am eating...although not always which part. The cow stomach on my plate at one meal was not eaten, but instead became an anatomy lecture for the other students there. Fifty cent beers do make everything better and most of the food is pretty delicious.