Workshop in Vinh City, Nghe An Province

So it has been a while, I will start my posting again this week.  So the last post I did was that I was going to a Vinh city to do a workshop.  Well I was a participant.  It was very interesting workshop. I learnt a lot about rice cultivation and rice production. I now know that it takes 140 give or take to produce rice.  Not bad at all. It’s only a few months. I actually thought it would take longer

I learn about presentation and also providing a participatory workshop.  This was interesting as I realize now that the culture here in this country is different from the one that I grew up in. therefore a different tactics need to be approach when holding a workshop. Nevertheless, people here seem to be very engaging so it should not be so different. 

The participants were very cool.  In this area the people are very lively. They love to sing.  And seeing that I was not there to hold a workshop, but only to be a spectator, I thought I would get away without singing. Well I was very wrong. I was put on a spot to sing many times. I only took two opportunities to sing.  They were children songs.  Those are the only songs that I know the words by heart.  Thanks to my wonderful niece. 

My translator was not the best of translators. This frustrated me a bit as I was there to learn what this Agriculture Extension Center did, the translator would listen to what the presenter said and then he would later summaries it and tells me. Also he picked and choose what he felt was important for me to hear.  For like four days I had to keep telling him to translate word for word what the facilitators were saying, and there was no such thing as what is important. That was up to me to decide.  Well I made him cry. I felt so bad.  But also very frustrated.  Our company only gets interns who have never done translating before. I find it completely useless if I have to work with someone who only summaries the points which they feel are important. 

By the end of the last day, he was translating word for word. He said he like it this way as he does not have to remember, but it is a bit hard for him to listen and also talk.  I pointed that this was how translating was. Additionally, this way he does not have to remember. Furthermore, I would be able to get all of the information. 

The food for the workshop was really really good. But I must say I ate three different foods/meats that I had never eaten before.  So brace yourself. I ate FROG, JELLYFISH, and EEL.  Hmm, I have to admit that the jellyfish was not so bad.  The eel and frog was a bit hard to swallow.  So why did I eat it you ask? Because here if people like you, they put food on your plate. As you know I am a very likeable person. So yes those were put on my plate.  Mind you I was a vegetarian up to this point. Since coming here I had become a vegetarian, but my diet was broken there.  After that I became a vegetarian again. 

Overall it was a good week of workshop. 

On your bottom left is frogs and bottom right is jellyfish salad

We took a 9pm train to Hanoi. When I was entering the train station, there was a woman at the gate who was collecting tickets, she grabbed my hair. Why! Do you ask? Because she just wants to see my hair. And to answer your question, no she did not ask to see my hair, she just grabbed it. Bloody hell. This pissed me off.  People grab me and my hair as if I am an object. You will hear more about this in blogs to come. 

But like I said, it was a nice workshop overall.  

I forgot to say that it is always a drinking feast during lunch. I knot know how they do it.