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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“So many thoughts, so little space or ability to articulate.” |
The purpose of my trip to Can Tho was to attend the dinner recognizing the death of my grandmother; What I actually took away was in my opinion a bit more grim.
I make my trip to Can Tho in a Mercedes Mini-Bus, air conditoned and comfortable. I arrive to this city with 2 real options on a place to stay. An open aired house in the city with bugs, or a house along the one of a million tributaries enclosed in a mass of wildlife and trees, with bugs. As you can see, bugs is the common theme here, and I chose the house in the city.
My comfort aside, I spent the mass amount of my time conversing with my uncles, diving deep into the house my grandfather built. The House of Phan, one of the wealthiest families in Can Tho, before the Vietnam War tore it to the ground. Only remnants remain, within the families who made it to the USA. I learned a great deal about how important family is to the Vietnamese psyche, and how unimportant it is to us now.
This leads me to suggest that we (David, Tim, Stephanie, Hiep, Tracy, Hieu, Lisa, Hau, myself, Anna, and Amy) are threatening to tear it down even furthur towards nonexistence. What can I possibly say? Who is gonna step up and hold it together? I secretly hope its not me.
My uncle #5, a good man. A lot of somber moments. Visiting the graves of my dead grandparents, seeing the conditions some of my family live in, and between me not having the heart to translate a letter, written in English, from US immigration, to his detailing the attempts by the new government to remove my family from any sort of status, what could I possibly say?
He is so hopeful of coming to America, not for himself (hes 62?) but for his grandchildren and my cousins. I now hope for them too. I probably don't deserve to be this privilaged, but what could I possibly say?
So many thoughts, so little space or ability to articulate. I wish I could tell you more, but I am going to leave that for another day and time. I didn't take many pictures, because I forgot to charge my camera, so I leave you with a couple webcam shots I just took of myself, and some of the littles ones who I now hold so dear.
Linh
previous travel blog entry
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