A New Perspective

Well, it’s my last day in Phan Thiet before leaving to go back to Ho Chi Minh City Thursday morning.  The good news is I was able to come into the college today, unfortunately, I was struck with a stomach virus which kept me hotel bound for a few days.  The lesson here is make sure you bring medication to quickly combat your illness, I’m thankful I went to the travel clinic before I left as these meds certainly came in handy!

The city is bustling, everyone in Vietnam is getting ready for Tết, or Vietnamese New Year.  It is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture "Feast of the First Morning of the First Day".  Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by making and buying new clothes, cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. These food includes bánh chưng (a traditional rice cake which is made from glutinous rice, mung beans and pork and is wrapped in a beautiful leaf – see picture), bánh dày (another type of rice cake filled with Vietnamese sausage), dried young bamboo soup (canh măng), and sticky rice. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year, ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop.  The whole city pretty much shuts down and everyone spends time with family – family is the most important thing here with relatives travelling from all over to cram into houses for a 3 day visit.

 

I have seen many weddings as well as it’s considered a very lucky time of year to get married, everyone is so young and they celebrate weddings any time of day – morning, noon and evening.  The brides are very beautiful and they have large wedding parties.  It’s funny to see people dressed up arriving on their motorbikes!  Women do not let the sun touch their skin, they wear what look like long gardening gloves, face masks and leg covers if they are wearing a skirt.  They aim to keep their skin as white as milk and do not like it if they tan even a little … funny, I’ve been trying my whole entire life to get tanned (not with much success I might add).

It’s been quite a trip, the challenge of helping to design a restaurant was not something I had expected to have to complete for my mandate.  However, I jumped into it and presented the college with 6 different ideas and I’m happy to say that they chose one.  I’m sad I won’t be here for the opening but I will be anxious to get some pictures to see how close it comes to my original recommendation.  I’ve recommended a ‘Cupcake Shop’ style restaurant.  The main target audiences are tourists, locals and students.  Sweets are very big in South Vietnam, unlike North Vietnam, and there is no spot close to this end of the strip with a bakery.  Also, adopting the cupcake style allows them to have something unique (which they wanted) as well as give people the ability to ‘take-way’ (we call it take-out).  I went with my gut – everyone loves cupcakes (maybe one day they’ll even have gluten free but I didn’t go down this road some of you will be happy to know).

I’ve met so many wonderful people in Vietnam, they truly are a very special and caring people.  There are a lot of very successful women working at the college too in very important jobs.  They travel to many local cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh to help improve the educational system and are also working hard to establish partnerships and government grants to improve the country’s opportunities.   I have also met some incredibly interesting long-term volunteers and learned about programs like Fullbright Scholarships based in the United States (is also in Canada too).  These volunteers come to Vietnam to assist in teaching English with the hope to foster greater knowledge about the American culture and vise-versa.  They only pick the smartest scholars for this and I’ve been very lucky to meet a lady who at 25 served on the Obama campaign, is now volunteering in Vietnam for 8 months and has her sights set on an interesting future.  Wonder what she’ll have accomplished by 40!   It’s been very rewarding to meet new and different people like this and has opened up my eyes to see the world a little differently. 

 

 

 

Did I mention that I now drink coffee...very carefully

Back in Canada I never, ever drink coffee, I could never get used to the bitter taste.  I've been introduced to Vietnamese coffee and I have to say it's fantastic!  Ok, I am not a coffee drinker so what would I know but I'm assured by many volunteers from Canada and the US that there is nothing like it.  In fact, Vietnam was the second largest coffee exporter in 2012 next to Brazil.

There's more....see this cute little dude...he makes Weasel Coffee.  The Special Taste of Weasel Coffee is apparently one of the best coffees in the world and it's found in Vietnam.  You will be surprised at how it's produced.

Wild weasels run around the coffee plantations, eat the best and ripest coffee cherries and then after some time, leave their droppings around with the coffee beans relatively undigested and intact. However, the enzymatic process that happens inside their stomachs give the undigested coffee beans a rather earthy, chocolaty flavor when roasted and ground. This unique, distinctive taste is priced by coffee connoisseur who pay heavily for this special type of coffee. With only around 700 kg of weasel coffee harvested per year in Indonesia and Vietnam, not only does it command a premium price, it also becomes a symbol of stature and power. In fact, the weasel coffee is commonly given as a token to visiting heads o states and dignitaries visiting Vietnam.

 

Enjoy your morning coffee everyone.

 

Xin chào

Similar Yet Different

Another week has flown by in Phan Thiet.  While there are many, many differences there are many similarities.  Like young kids for instance… I participated in an English Club with most of the students ranging in age from 17-20.  When asked what comes to mind when they think of Canada?  Yes, you guessed it….Justin Beiber.  The token male in the group saved the day and said ‘the red leaf’, I proudly displayed my Ottawa picture book and was able to take the conversation in whole different direction.  Truthfully, I couldn’t remember any Just Beiber lyrics so this was my next best option.

There are over 3000 students that attend this college in either 2 or 3 year programs with over 200 Faculty.  The school has four faculties:  Economics & Technology; Tourism & Culture; Foreign Language and Pedagogy (yes, I had to come to Vietnam to find out what this is…you can look it up too!).  As I’ve said, I’m working in the Tourism & Culture Faculty.  I had no idea what’s behind all of the services we receive (and expect) on a daily basis in a hotel when travelling.  You can even take an extra course at some colleges to learn how to make up to 100 designs of animals and iconic decorations out of towels – this is all very serious where attention to detail is primary for exceptional SERVICE.  They follow The Ritz Carleton brand promise (Ladies & Gentleman, Serving Ladies and Gentleman).

Phan Thiet is a coastal and active city with just under 400,000 people.  People drive motorcycles, mopeds and electric bikes, very rarely do they drive cars (mostly because they cannot afford to).  You can see an entire family or 4 or 5 with groceries on one motorbike (no kidding).  Traffic comes at you in all directions, they drive on both sides of the streets to cross into lanes and earmark turns … it’s all very confusing.  I just close my eyes.  While riding with a colleague, her motor bike blew a tire on a busy street and low and behold right there on the corner was a tire shop, it was fixed in 15 minutes and cost 80,000 Viet Dong (about $4.00).  It’s got me thinking that maybe I’ll get a Vespa when I get home, or maybe not.

Other differences include squatting toilets but I'll leave that one to your imaginations.

I’m preparing for a big meeting with the Vice Rector this afternoon where she wants to see some ideas I have for the branding of their upcoming restaurant.  Wow, this is almost as scary as presenting branding ideas to Mike (sorry Mike, couldn’t resist)!  I’m using all of my experience from the past few years and am thankful for the brand project because it’s all fresh in my head.   The only thing I’m missing is a wonderful and fantastic team to support me.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.  Fingers crossed!

Xin chào, Sheila

Sheila Is Really In Vietnam!

Left Ottawa at 7:30 a.m. January 10^th and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HMC) Sunday, January 11^th after 24 hours of flying (not counting the stop overs between Ottawa-Vancouver-Korea-HMC).  Before now, the longest flight I had taken was 10 hours.

1^st meeting Monday a.m. in HMC with my WUSC contact (Ngoc) who is extremely welcoming.  She took us to a coffee shop to give us an orientation.  Interestingly there is another woman here from Canada (UBC) and we were also joined by an Ottawa U student who is completing a 3 month volunteer program through WUSC called ‘Students Without Boarders’.  We all work on separate assignments.

HMC is an all out ASSAULT on your senses including the #’s of people, smells, extremes – from the very rich (Christian Louboutain shop (for you Teresa)) to the very, very poor street handlers on the same block  – there are over 7.5 million people in this city.  You are never alone!

Traffic like I have never experienced before, the art of crossing the street should be an extreme Olympic sport.  Actually, I did see someone get hit so you have to be very careful.

I accompanied the Dean of the college I will be working with in Phan Thiet (Binh Thuan Community College BTCC)) to the well-known Saigon Tourism College in HMC to observe their training programs, bar and restaurant on campus.  It was truly incredible to see how this school was organized and its efficiencies and attention to quality (which is their differentiating factor as compared to many other schools).  They train students to work in all aspects of a hotel operation - when you are taking Reception Management you have to stand for your 3 hour classes in order to prepare you for when you are in the real workplace.  I had trouble after 20 minutes!

I left HMC on Wednesday where 6 of us drove in a very cramped van to Phan Thiet.  It was a 4 hour drive through many small towns where market after market exposed everything from live to not-so-live roosters/chickens, raw meat, fresh fruit, textiles, hardware and just about anything was sold from open stalls.  We weaved in and out of traffic (did I mention there are no signals??), dodged massive pot holes and managed to get into the new city in one piece (my stomach might have been two inches higher by the time I exited the van…).

Today I went to BTCC for the first time for a briefing meeting to flesh out my mandate.  Many of my contacts cannot speak English so this will be a significant challenge.  I’ve been asked to sort out what style of cuisine and personality should be for their new restaurant and bar.  They’ve suggested that I go speak to the approximately 200+ restaurants in the area to get some ideas…..and I thought rebranding MD was a challenge!  Maybe I can enjoy some squid teeth along the way which is a town speciality.  I have to say I’ve certainly had to stretch my palette and am learning to greatly appreciate a completely new culture.  Trying to learn a bit of Vietnamese but there are 6 tones to each word and each have a different meaning…so I ordered my ‘grandmother’ (bà) the other night instead of ‘beef’ (bò) as they are similar spelling (oops).

Stay tuned!  Xin chào.

p.s. For the many of you who really want to know…my hair has been quite controlled in the humidity. 

Getting Ready For Vietnam

It's hard to believe that I'm leaving on January 10, 2015, to work at Binh Thuan Community College (BTCC)  in Phan Thiet City, Vietnam.  It started with a decision 'I want to grow' 'I want to try something daring' so I applied for Leave For Change (L4C) and started an unstoppable journey.   L4C is a Uniterra - WUSC & CECI Program.  L4C is a corporate volunteering initiative that enables employees from participating organizations to complete a volunteer assignment in a developing country. Employers invest in the development of their human resources and demonstrate leadership in corporate social responsibility. Employees put their knowledge and skills to work in an international development project, expand their personal and professional horizons and acquire a deeper understanding of broader global issues.

Those at MD who completed the L4C program before me were right, it was so exciting to go through the steps of the application process that even if you were not selected there was always next time and you learned so much through the process that you already felt a little different.  I'm blessed that I was chosen and I want to thank my company MD Financial Management - a top employer!

Fast-forward, it's less than one month from my departure and now it's very real.  I've received my full mandate which will be to help build marketing capacity at the college within the Faculty of Tourism.   You see BTCC is going to open a restaurant and bar as job-training centers and business activity at the college in February. (Similar to what Algonquin College offers in Ottawa).  I will be helping to develop a marketing and promotional strategy for this restaurant and bar; developing a plan for opening ceremonies; and, providing guidelines of how to implement it in the future.  Just a few small things over a 4 week period. 

Stepping back, I think I can do this....I will do this.  I've written marketing plans, actioned them and worked with teams to implement...for sure I have.  BUT, have I had to do this in a language I cannot speak with a translator at my side, in a completely different culture and in a foreign country?  Nope, and this will be the welcomed and interesting new challenge.

Did you know that Vietnam's population is over 90 Million people as compared to Canada's 35 Million?  What's more, it's about a third the size of Ontario (keep in mind Ontario has just over 13 Million people).  I'm told it's like walking downtown on Canada Day everyday that's how I'm visualizing the amount of people!  I'm also told that I will have the biggest hair in the city...apparently the humidity is wicked!  I must remember to pack my hair tamer!

I've got my shots (Hep A & B, Tetanus and I opted for Rabies just to be safe).  I've been given my food and water precautions....however, I'm told that Vietnam has some of the most wonderful food in the world.  The city I will be in exports 'Fish Sauce' to the rest of the world so I'm sure the seafood is excellent.

Someone once said to me 'You don't have to leave to change' and they are right but what fun is there in that!  Stay tuned and I hope you follow my journey, I promise not to make my future posts so dry.

Xin chào (Goodbye in Vietnamese).