The Prisoner of Azkapham

My mom booked us a trained ride from Saigon to Quang Ngai in central Nam. Julia and I thought, "awesome, we've always wanted to ride a train, see the country side, eat chocolate frogs." NOPE. When we arrived to the station, we repeated to ourselves, "This is NOT Hogwarts Express, this is NOT Hogwarts Express." It was more like Azkaban on wheels.



It smelled like urine/feces/oldman/uncieOro. OH also, we had to bunk with 1 strange old man who talked in his sleep. Did I mention there was a squat toilet?! Did you see the cot-like seating? How do you expect me to sleep on the fucking Midnight Meat Train?! Instead, I listened to a little more HP audiobook, but that got me sleepy so I switched over to The Moth and TAL reruns. I LOVE my stories. I especially love the sad stories. There is something beautifully humbling about the quiver in a person's voice as their heart breaks, even moreso when that break has never been healed. It sounds the same in every story regardless of the person, good or bad, strong or weak.

After 14 hours of dank dank, the bad kind, we finally arrived to meet my Uncle Hung, his wife, and Uncle Binh's wife. Depending on whether or not they are on your mom's or dad's side, you have to call them different titles. It gets really confusing so I am going to remain very general. They took us to their nice house in the middle of a large field of vegetation. Uncle Hung is a distributor of Nescafe so there were a bunch of trucks. In many Vietnamese homes, the work place is on the first level along with the kitchen, the second level is the living area, and the third level is the prayer room to honor the dead and a roof to dry clothes.

I'm thinking space for a back yard is limited especially in the city so upward expansion is the way to go. Also, restrooms don't have bath tubs. It's just a toilet, next to a shower head and everything is tile. There's a drain in the ground.
Here is a view of the surroundings:



Uncle Hung and his family, the little girl is also referred to as Boo.



During all my meetings, various family members made it appear that my mother has been telling them that I was planning on going back to school. You see, my mother is a very materialistic person. She likes to exaggerate about everything. If she says that we have a cousin who is a lawyer, he is actually taking his LSAT. If we have an uncle who is the CEO of a multibilllion dollar company, he is actually the owner of a grocery store. She has a skewed sense of success and image problems. I believe this is a combination of coming from a successful family in Vietnam to America where my parents found themselves living the life of luxury, and then falling from these unimaginable heights into their current state. The American value of greed has weighed heavily on her and my sisters and I have been chipping away at this for the last couple years as adults. The Pham children are proud people who find solace in the service of others. This has perplexed her. Anyways, my sister and I have had to get crunk on her multiple times this trip. It's especially hard to explain to her that I don't work to make money, I work to make change. No one else can do what I do. This got me thinking about the value of a person's life. If I can change one person's life, that is worth more than any amount of money. Therefore the value of life is priceless. The US took many lives from Africa during the slave trade. There have been many attempts to repay this with money. Unfortunately, many parts of Africa are still impoverished regardless of many many years of monetary help. Money can't help anyone if love and education are not offered as well. The value of a human life can never be understood if you've never truly helped someone. This is why I do this MOM!!! Well, she'll be fine in the end. My sisters and I will fix her back up before the white light takes her. Anyways, teaching is what I'm supposed to be doing. It's what I was meant to do. That sounds awfully religious of me, but lately, I've been kind of obsessed with faith, the Dalai Lama, Tong Lin, and nature of mind because of the Moth and speaking with mah besties. Go check out Jack Hannibal on the Moth.

OH, one thing that I'll def be taking away from this experience is this awesome bedding!

It's like a yoga mat, but it has larger segments that are polished or something. It's surprisingly comfortable because it remains cool at all times and conforms to your body in a way that doesn't ruin your back. I want it on mah bed!! It's definitely a halfway point between a mattress and THIS:

When I first saw this, I thought it was a low-standing dining room table or a queen-sized bench. One morning, I saw Uncle Huy sleeping on it. CRAZY. I just don't get it. Does he know how awesome a mattress feels?! Also, how does one make love on a slab of wood? Surely, you'd break a patella or two.

Today, I'm headed for shopping and eating in DaNang, some touristy spot in central Nam. A couple days after that, I'm getting on a plane to Hanoi. Hopefully, I'll be able to meet up with Mel's brother David up there. (There's mel's one shout out this post. Why is she my life?)
I will leave you with this last photo of the Pham talkin bout politics and conflict in the South China Sea regarding OIL!! Different country, same problems.