Vietnam Airforce Museum, Vietnam Vo Dich and other updates

I've really been lazy about updating this thing, and even though I seriously despise making resolutions because I never follow through perhaps mine should be to write more. We'll see.

About two weeks ago Ryan and I decided to explore the city on his motorbike and we stumbled upon the Air Force museum. The grounds were filled with equipment and planes used during the wars with the United States and Cambodia.












The museum itself was filled with photos of accomplished pilots and civilians who help to defend Vietnam during the war with France and the US. What I found quite stumbling were the glass display boxes filled with artifacts taken from US pilots who were shot down. But also displayed on a large board, was a troubling a quote made by Air Force General Curtis LeMay,
[Northern Vietnam has] got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression, or we’re going to bomb them back into the stone age. And we would shove them back into the Stone Age with Air power or Naval power—not with ground forces.

I suddenly felt ashamed of my country. That quote in itself is barbaric. I still don't understand why we were there. What was the point? What did we really accomplish?

Before I came to Vietnam people asked me, "Don't they hate us there?" On the contrary and much to my own surprise, there isn't any animosity towards Americans here. In fact, many people love the United States. Many don't agree with our current foreign policies, but neither do a lot of Americans.

Later that evening Vietnam won the ASEAN soccer championship with Thailand. The streets were flooded with people on their motorbikes waving their flags shouting "Vietnam Vo Dich!", "Victory Vietnam!" Ryan and I bought a few flags and drove through the streets doing the same. I found it ironic that just earlier that day we were at the Air Force museum which boasted of their victory in the war with the United States, and here the two of us were shouting praise of their triumph alongside these people. You can see some video here that I took that night while riding on the back of the motorbike.

Admittedly, it was exhilarating to be in the midst of their national pride. I've neither seen nor felt the same sort of nationalism among Americans.

In other news, I've sent out my graduate applications to the School of International Training and Portland State University. It's definitely a relief to have finally finished both of those.

Between January 24th and February 8th, over our Tet holiday (the Vietnamese New Year), Ryan and I will be taking a trip to Malaysia and Singapore! I'm so excited about this. Even though we just took a vacation two months ago to Phu Quoc I'm definitely ready for another one...especially since Hanoi has been so cold lately (yes Northern Vietnam, apparently, gets cold in the winter....who knew).