UCHANU: Cultural and International Exchange

The last few days have been filled with a lot of interesting intercultural and international exchanges. Now, of course, every day I experience here is filled with these exchanges, BUT I think they were particularly striking to me the last few days. On Sunday we all experienced the last day of the 1000 Years of Hanoi Thang Long celebration. Some of us were excited to see the festivities, and others were just happy that the week long event—and associated traffic, bus problems, etc.—was over. On Sunday, I found myself, and Khương’s relatives and friends, watching the Thang Long parade on TV. I was struck by the organization and control of the people involved, and the repetition of group after group of people marching. At one point, I jokingly pointed to the screen and said it was boring. I then randomly found myself thinking about the San Francisco Gay Pride and deciding that it would be interesting to at least show Khương some clips from past parades on youtube (which I learned today is pronounced “youtubee” here). What followed was the somewhat strange experience of watching pride parade participants dancing, wearing crazy costumes, and holding signs about who they are and what they stand for while hearing the “Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh” song in the background and comparing the two parades and the parts of the world where they took place. First of all, it was crazy to be showing someone something totally different from anything they’d ever seen before, and to see their reactions to the experience. It’s still crazy to me how the internet can expose people to so many things going on all over the world. Secondly, it was interesting to talk about somewhat broader cultural differences (generalizations) that the comparisons inspired.
Also, this experience, plus others, such as showing Khương some Austin Powers clips, reminded me that I am not just being affected by my experience here, but my presence here is affecting other people as well. It's interesting to think that I am in some ways representing America to the people I come in contact with here. This is funny to me, because I always think about all the cultural, political, and ideological differences in America. I know that I have to remember that Vietnam is a much more diverse place than I will ever really be able to understand during my time here. Instead of making generalizations, I want to make an even greater effort to keep my eyes open to the diversity in lifestyles, beliefs, power, perspectives, etc. that is all around me.