1.) Many of the students at the local high school have decent English listening skills, but they are totally out of practice in terms of dialogue. It is clear that they have been taught only with repetition, and they haven't practiced using the language in context. It seems very silly to learn a language but not be able to speak it. The street children at the Home of Affection seem to be much better at actually using their English skills, even though they have had much less education. I guess kids who grow up on the street don't really have shyness as an option.

2.) Coming to Vietnam has made me realize that I had previously overestimated the importance of physical infrastructure in international development. You get used to differences in the physical infrastructure quickly. Yes, I sleep on a small, hard mattress on the floor, but I have gotten used to it, and I am sleeping better than I did back at Harvard. The kids at the elementary school will tell their teacher that they have to urinate, and then they go outside and pee in the street because their school has no plumbing. When you see it happen, it doesn't seem like as much of a problem as it sounds when you read about from in America. It just seems like one of many cultural differences to adapt to.

haha, don't worry though, my house has plumbing... though it is different than the plumbing I am used to, I won't be peeing on the streets anytime soon

3.) Now that I am done with the book about building schools in Pakistan, I have just started reading the Bhagavad Gita.

From Wikipedia:

"The content of the Gita is the conversation between Krishna and Arjuna taking place on the battlefield before the start of the Kurukshetra war. Responding to Arjuna's confusion and moral dilemma, Krishna explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and prince and elaborates on different Yogic and Vedantic philosophies, with examples and analogies. This has led to the Gita often being described as a concise guide to Hindu philosophy and also as a practical, self-contained guide to life. Other noted experts have described it as a lighthouse of eternal wisdom that has the ability to inspire any man or woman to supreme accomplishment and enlightenment.

I was never really that interested in Hinduism. I think I was prejudiced against it because it is polytheistic, like most of the other earliest religions (like the religions of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt). I used to think about religion as being the human invented answer to questions that we cannot yet answer. It makes sense that polytheistic religions arose first because many gods and goddesses were needed to explain all of the physical phenomena that we observed.

I guess I am realizing now the Hinduism has many characteristics that the other polytheistic religions did not have, which allows it to have continuing relevance in a world with scientific explanations for the daily occurrences of the world.

Also, I think that the Western world is familiar with some Hindu concepts but mistakenly assumes them to be Buddhist. For example, the concept of Atman, or the oneness of all creation, is a Hindu concept, not a Buddhist one.

Actually, I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about Eastern religions in the West. I think that a very interesting paper could be written about these misperceptions (which were often created by early scholars of Eastern Religion) and what this says about Western society, what we are looking for foreign religions to provide us, what kinds of things we feel to be missing in our own society. If anyone from my high school who took AP English with Mrs. Mather is reading this, think back to our summer reading - Myths to Live By. I wish Joseph Campbell had written about this subject.

Ok, well, I've rambled about eastern religions enough for one blog post, but from now on, I will probably be including a quote from the Bhagavad Gita in my daily blog.