My Job!

One important reason I love living in Saigon is because of my job at Habitat for Humanity as Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager. Habitat in Vietnam provides: microfinance loans for people to repair, build homes and/or access clean water and sanitation solutions; educates people on sanitation, hygiene, financial management and low cost building and repair techniques; advocates for human rights; provides school scholarships and vocational training, among other things. The best experience I've had working for Habitat was carrying out a baseline survey in 138 villages, in Kien Giang province, to assess the clean water and sanitation needs for an upcoming information, education and communication project funded by the UK government via DFID. I love the people I work with, they are all fun and interesting and I have an awesome supervisor! The atmosphere in the office is also really nice; its set in a home and upstairs, where I work, we walk around barefoot all day to avoid spreading dirt from our shoes around. Something else I love about our office is that whenever a new person begins working with us, or whenever a person leaves the organization, or whenever there is a holiday like, "International Women's Day", we usually have snacks and drinks and inevitably end up singing 80's love songs together as a group though the words aren't always clear- no I am not joking... So since I began working at



Some of the survey team members

Habitat in Dec. of 2008, I've probably sang about 20 love songs from the 80's with my colleagues. Good times... Right now we are preparing for the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project where volunteers from all over the world, and the Carters, will build 30 homes in one week for poverty stricken farmers and fishermen in Hai Duong province. To read more about the project click here:
h ttp://www.hfhi.org/jcwp/2009/vietnam_site.aspx

I love my job!




Shoes at the bottom of the stairs, half the staff walks around barefoot!

The Lotus Flower

The Lotus is one our favorite flowers; in Vietnam we are lucky to be surrounded by thousands of them everyday in restaurants, office buildings, on the streets and at home. H usually picks up lotuses from the market every other weekend. They cost $1.50 for per 2 dozen and last for a week. The lotus is the national flower of Vietnam and India. It is also called the ‘flower of the dawn’ and many myths, poems and songs are written about the lotus. In Vietnam, it is a symbol of purity, commitment and optimism for the future and its seeds, leaves and tubers are edible. Many restaurants serve lotus tea as soon as you walk in the door and lotus salads are excellent! The most common colors of lotuses found in Vietnam are pink then white. The bulbs also come in 2 shapes, vertical and pointed such as in the photo and a round shape. The pink lotus is considered the "supreme lotus" in Buddhism and is the flower Buddha is found sitting on in several representations.

Red Velvet Cake & other American baked goodies...

After several discussions over the past 9 months about how much we miss our favorite red velvet cake in NYC, Cake Man Raven's, we decided to take control of this repetitive issue of malaise by contacting a local bakery, Harvest Baking, in Saigon to ask them to make one for us. Harvest Baking was started by two Americans from San Francisco and they train local disadvantaged Vietnamese youth how to bake and work in the booming service industry. Even though the southern classic red velvet wasn't on the menu, we were confident Harvest could whip one up for us due to the fact that one of owners is a former pasty chef and because all of the other baked goods we've tried, such as their brownies and sugar cookies, have been excellent. When we made the request the owners were a bit surprised and said it wasn't on the menu because most people don't know what it is but he cheerfully agreed and we had our red velvet cake within a matter of days. As soon as it was delivered, H contacted me at work and we decided we couldn't wait until after 6pm to try it so we decided to meet at home for lunch to try a piece. Needless to say, the cake was amazing! I was a little skeptical when I saw fresh coconut flakes sprinkled on top- a very Vietnamese touch- since that isn't typically seen on a red velvet. However, the nice subtle flavor went perfectly with the cake. It's nice to know when we miss our American comfort foods, we can usually find them a phone call or a block or two away :)