The Vi-Mi District

Today we took our training outside of the classroom.

Our coaching groups (an AIT staff member is paired with one or two trainees) drove to the Vietnamese District (otherwise known as the Vi-Mi) and then walked around through the shops to talk with people of the Vietnamese culture. Our purpose there was to observe their culture, and specifically to ask questions about how religion plays a role in their lives. It was a very interesting outing, and my group learned a lot about Buddhism and its history in Vietnam. One girl in my group is from Canada, but she was born in China, so one particular shop owner eventually warmed up to her enabling her to ask him some detailed questions. We learned that there are several types of religion that overlap in Vietnam, Buddhism being the main one. According to this man (he was an acupuncture doctor) about 80% of the Vietnamese population is Buddhist, 10% Catholic, and 10% are other religions. He as well shared with us that religion is a very private subject amongst the Eastern cultures, so that is the reason why many were reluctant to talk with us. Knowing that, we were really grateful that he took the time to explain some of his culture to us. He also shared with us that aside from religion all other topics are open for discussion, and that people from the Western Culture tend to be surprised if they are asked direct questions about their salary, how much they spend on their house or car, and so forth.

One thing Crusade tries to focus on when crossing cultural boundaries is to really respect where other cultures come from. One staff member shared several stories about successes and failures in crossing cultural boundaries. Just as we would want other cultures to learn about our language, living, values, and such, other cultures do as well. One unique thing about our training is that not all of the ?trainees? are Americans. Two are Canadian, 2 are Korean, 1 is Taiwanese, and the remaining 6 are American. So, the interesting thing is that even though we come from different countries, the lesson still applies.

Thank you for your prayers. Our time here has been wonderful. Our language lessons begin next week, and upon arriving we did in fact learn that we will start learning German while here. One of the AIT staff lives next door to a German family, and the mom has graciously offered to be our language coach!