Live, Laugh, Love =): Halfway through Vietnam! Time is just flying by!

Hello everyone! This week has gone by so quickly! It is so hard to believe that I am already half way through my stay in Vietnam with only two weeks left. This past week seem to have some of the busiest days; I have been told , your professors they only get busier. We typically start off at 830 and end at about 5 each day with guest speakers, site visits, class with our professors and now even an additional Vietnamese language class. So far I have only picked up on a few phrases in words. Much of the Vietnamese language is comprised of a series of tines that are very hard for me to even hear the difference let alone speak and pronounce them correctly!:) I am definitely trying hard though.

Park near my house!:)

Our primary topic of this week was agent orange. Agent orange is what was sprayed by American soil des all across Vietnam during the war. The purpose of this was to kill off all vegetation so the US could plan and strategize their attack. The effects of agent orange has caused much debate in both the United States and in Vietnam. Although the evidence cannot be proven strong in the court cases there have been so many people through generations that have had many mental or physical deformities from these toxins. This week we went to the Peace Village which provides an altered education for the many differing needs of the children affected. Definitely. A very eye opening experience as there are so many different perspectives on the causes if these conditions. Definitely very sad to see so many children affected.

Later in the week we focused a lot of class time on non-biomedical medicine, also known as traditional medicine here in Vietnam. It was so interesting to learn all about the groundings and creation of traditional medicine. We also visited the Hanoi medical university hospital where we were able to see the actual treatment of certain ailments through the use or traditional medicine; SO interesting!

Traditional medicine

We ended the week with a few guest lectures and classes on the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in Vietnam. HIV is one of the big public health issues for Vietnam! We learned about methadone clinics for drug addicts that hope to eventually reduce the risk of needle exchange therefore decreasing the prevalence of HIV cases. There is still a far way to come as well as in the United States. We had the privilege to actually meet people apart of a support group that all have HIV. The stories were so touching as many of them are completely isolated from the rest of their family members; some even have separate sides of the house to live in without ever being allowed to cross sides. Education about the transmission of HIV is still not fully understood in many areas. Interestingly enough one of the questions that was asked to us was in reference to the high cost of HIV treatment in the United States for people without insurance. In Vietnam the cost of treatment is free and much of the international funding to subsidize the cost is from the United States. Definitely a topic I am very interested in.

We finished off the week on a weekend getaway at Ha Long Bay! Located about four aways from Hanoi; it is a major tourist attraction for Vietnam, having over 1,000 gorgeous islands. My group went on a two day one night boat cruise that was absolutely amazing! The views were phenomenal. It was so great to be able to get away from the very congested city of Hanoi for the weekend. We went sea kayaking, hiked a mountain and even were able to walk through a cave. It was such a wonderful experience to just be with my group of 30 students and really be able to relax and just have fun!