Out in the Rice Paddy

A few weeks ago, I joined a group of other ex-pats for a field trip out to the Hanoi University of Agriculture campus for a lesson in all things related to rice in Vietnam. We started with a great presentation (complemented with samples of rice plants at various stages of growth) by a professor. And then, our geeky hunger for Wikipedia-like lists of facts and anecdotes satisfied, we were led out under blazing sun and in thick humidity to the fields to plant, transplant, harvest, thresh, and separate rice. Click here to see about 20 photos of us pretending to work like the millions of Vietnamese farm workers--a significant fraction of whom are women--who work mostly by hand to make their country a net exporter of rice.

Vietnamese Time Machine

One way I practice Vietnamese is forcing taxicab drivers into small talk which must make any ride with me seem like an eternity. But these guys are one of my main gateways to general cultural education. So, imagine how surprised I was when cab drivers consistently told me that, by arriving in Vietnam, I was one year older.

Apparently, because all good things start during lunar new year (Tet) festivities, everyone adds a notch at the beginning of the (lunar) year, instead of at their actual anniversary of birth. Several drivers from the countryside didn't even know their (solar) calendar date of birth (though, they assured me, their mothers had remembered the month and year). Some drivers didn't even know their age, but rather talked about age by using birth year instead.