Advisory: Customs & Taboos

My first day of teaching is Wednesday, and I am a little bit freaking out. Having never taught kids before, especially kids with no english abilities whatsoever, it is a daunting prospect and I fully expect to have a few 'oh shit now what do I do?' moments. On the plus side, this will make for some excellent blog posts. Everyone enjoys the mishaps of a clueless foreigner traipsing about a random country making a fool of herself.

As part of my young learners and teaching induction, I was given a huge coursepack (in college terms) with all kinds of info in it. It is appropriately named "Apollo Induction Guide for New Teachers". My current favorite part is the section on Vietnamese Cultural Customs and Taboos. A few gems from the list:

-apparently picking your nose is totally socially acceptable in VN. Makes me super happy about shaking hands with new acquaintances. However, don't even think about picking your teeth in public, as THAT is considered obscene. One must be polite and cover their mouth while using a toothpick.

-Vietnamese women 'rarely drink or smoke'. As a western woman, I am advised to not do either of these things in front of 'certain people', as it may 'lower my status in their eyes'. Now, I have seen a good deal of women drinking and smoking around here, but then again I have been running with a more Bohemian crowd these days. I've heard similar things from other people, though in my experience it hasn't been a big deal. Oh, gender roles and stereotypes. truly one of my favorite topics to get on my high horse about, so get excited for a long and ranting post about this sometime soon. So many things to look forward to!

-Ho Chi Minh is a national hero, so we are advised to either show respect or avoid the topic completely. As I have not done much research on him as an individual, I opt for the latter for now.

-'Don't photograph military installations'. Pretty straightforward. It is also a taboo to photograph ethnic groups without permission. I'm not really sure which ethnic groups they are talking about, and it seems to me that everyone is in some sort of ethnic group, but then that's probably just me being a pain in the ass.

-crossing your fingers is a very offensive gesture here. Luckily, though, the same is not true for the middle finger.

-It is completely acceptable to ask relative strangers super personal info, like their age, etc. This one is actually true, as I have had several conversations with people I barely know about weight. A new friend named Hoa spent our second meeting discussing her sister's weight in terms of her being 'big' (turns out she is about my height and weighs around 130lb; when I told her what I weigh, she put on a shocked face and said 'but you look so small!').

I think a lot of these rules are from more traditional times. These days, with the younger generations being bombarded with all manner of cultural jewels from the US (KFC, the Disney Channel, the Bachelor, Facebook when it works, and of course some extremely bad pop music), the rules are less strict.

One last Vietnam custom, one with the most bizarre consequences:
Children's heads are seen as sacred, and are not to be touched. Don't pat kids on the head, or let them wear helmets on motorbikes. True story-everyone here rides motorbikes instead of cars (reasoning being that there are no cars manufactured in VN, and the import tax is 200%, so motorbikes are practical), and I have seen families of 4 routinely riding one motorbike together. Once an individual is 18, they are required to wear a helmet on a motorbike. Youngsters under 18 have no such law, due to the sacred nature of little heads. It makes perfect sense to me. It's like 'survival of the most sacred heads'- those that are less sacred are weeded out by closed head injuries due to motorbike accidents. Or, you could think of it as sacrificial.