Cultural Exchange

Our overall welcome from the Vietnamese people has been extremely warm. We receive random hellos and smiles by all we meet or even cross in passing on the street, or by bike and foot. At a cultural exchange with a local school yesterday afternoon, our welcome to this country became quite elaborate and was more than our group expected.

This wonderful opportunity to participate in a cultural exchange, was with students at the English Education Department, formerly a branch of local Hue University and currently an independent school. We were told prior to our getting here that we should prepare a program that would be representative of our “American” culture. For a while we were stumped…but thank goodness for the creative minds of this group that help make things come together. Group participants Caroline Cole, Tara Duffy, and Chris Anderson put together the program that consisted of a description of where we come from, a mock Birthday Party, and a music piece about the different kinds of music in America.

Early Saturday morning two of our participants (Caroline and Tara) were shipped off with Nhi (our interpreter) to meet with the English Education Department representative. They were to go over the program for the cultural exchange. When Caroline and Tara returned, they met with the group and debriefed us about the meeting. The overall gyst was there are potentially five hundred students that were invited to attend the exchange, and they want us to dance, sing, and plan something that would be interactive with the students. In addition to these things the Vietnamese students would be sharing Hue specialties with us and performing traditional songs and dances.

Our group wanted to be as prepared as possible for all of this, so after throwing around a bunch of ideas about how we really could capture “American” culture through song and dance and still remain politically correct to our own likings, came up with something good. Finally we decided that we would sing as a sample from our culture “This Land is My Land”, with some hand choreography. You would think that a group of college students and two staff members would be irritated about singing with hand gestures in front of strangers. Or maybe not even irritated, but they would feel very childish. You would think. The opposite actually happened and the group really loved the singing part of the program.

When we arrived at the school there was no more than fifty students there; much less then anticipated. Slowly the room began to fill and before we began there were at least one hundred and fifty students present. We began to mingle with the students and teachers and fit ourselves into seats scattered around the room amongst the local students.

Once they introduced themselves to us and shared some specialties with us (which consisted of strange puddings, gelatins, and soups with things we could not identify in the US) we were asked to begin our introductions for the group and where we come from. At first some members of our group (the Vermonters) described our country, particularly our state, Vermont. And in order to truly convey Vermont you must talk about the weather! Prior to departure from the states this piece was put together, so we were well prepared with everything a Vermonter might wear on a day that it was 30 below. So we long johns, snow pants, boots, scarf, mittens, ski mask, hat, and of course snow goggles, to Vietnam. We thought it would be interactive enough to ask a Vietnamese student to come up and volunteer so we might dress them in our typical winter attire. This is practically a health hazard considering the current sweltering heat. Nevertheless, we did dress a very shy and unusually tall Vietnamese student, crossing our fingers hoping that she wouldn’t have a heat stroke during the whole process. The students laughed and clapped the whole time we were dressing her. Tess, one of our participants, gave a brief description in the microphone about the piece of clothing that we were putting on her and then would explain why we would wear it in Vermont.

Next on the program was a skit of a typical Birthday Party. We intended the birthday party to display some kind of general American tradition. We prepared by getting a cake a local bakery, bringing candles, birthday hats, balloons, and last but not least "Pin the tail on the donkey"! This piece also was prepared for before departure, so the only thing that we had to get while here in Vietnam was the cake. Turned out that Nhi, a new friend and one of our interpreters, was present in the crowd and we knew it was actually her birthday that day. So, we asked her to be part of our Birthday skit. Only she had no idea that we would be displaying a party “American style” for her Birthday. We sent her out of the room with a participant as we hastily decorated the stage and passed out candy and noise makers to the students and explained to them when she comes back in the room that we would all scream "Happy Birthday" and then we would display to them what we do at a traditional birthday party in the US.

When Nhi returned to the room blindfolded, we all yelled "Happy Birthday!" Our group began singing Happy Birthday and guided her in how to blow out the candles on the cake. Next, we made a toast to the birthday girl, and then played pin the tail on the donkey. The students cheered and laughed at all of us.

The students then showed us what a traditional Vietnamese Wedding looks like, with its’ extravagant costumes and ceremonial nature. It was extremely beautiful and from an audience perspective you could tell the students were shy and bashful to act out such an intimate ceremony. There was much blushing and giggling as they performed this piece. We encouraged them with clapping and big smiles.

Shortly after the wedding, a group of young student girls performed a traditional conical hat dance to traditional music. They were dressed in pure white traditional dresses while holding weaved conical hats and moving their hats in slow sweet motions to the music playing. We were amazed at the gracefulness and beauty of the young girls. And I think it is safe to say that most of us were beginning to feel nervous about our “This Land is my Land, This Land is Your Land” piece.

Our last offering at the cultural exchange was our music piece. Caroline had made an American mix on CD’s prior to coming so it seemed proper that we should explain the different music genres in America (especially the ones on the mix CD) and dance to them as most Americans would using the mix CD music. This was hilarious. We covered everything from Steppenwolf to Jackson Five. And our silly dancing received much laughter from the audience. A funny moment I particularly remember was a few times during the dance sequences I would turn around and look out and see that in the middle of the floor-- 5-10 feet away from the other group members-- was Jill (who is 31) dancing crazy while the Vietnamese students just stared and laughed. It was priceless.

Right after that we moved into our song, “This Land is my Land…” Interestingly enough this was the piece that group knew the best and seemed to entertain the students the most. While was sang three verses of the song and did choreographed hand gestures to them, the students listened intently, which reinforced the emphasis on our silly hand motions and the volume of our voices.

One of our few male participants, Chris, then announced that he would be singing a traditional song not from our country, but from their country. The students shrieked in excitement (it is extremely polite and cute to the Vietnamese when you attempt to speak their language). Chris went to it…we were so proud of him. He sang a duet with Nhi in Vietnamese and the students had expressions of flattery all over their faces.

We ended the exchange with a Vietnamese folk dance. They demonstrated it for us and we watched a few times before being asked to join right in. By the end of the afternoon we were all dripping in sweat, American and Vietnamese! And we all had smiles from ear to ear. We were grateful to interact with the local students and share parts of our culture with one another. It is always beneficial for our group to be working with the very people we are trying to serve, regardless of the circumstances. This Break Away trip is about serving these people in whatever way we can, and this week it began with trying understand one another through culture, so that we might have a firm grasp on who the people are wom we desire to serve so much.