This day in Vietnam started with a lecture on Buddhism. We covered the origins of the religion, the philosophy of Buddhism, and then how the practice came to dominate Vietnam. This lecture was fairly interesting as it covered Buddism in Asia and how the history of Vietnam led it to be influenced by the Chinese tradition of Buddism called Mahyana. Vietnam is different from its Southeast Asian neighbors in that it is a Mahayana country whereas Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand practice Theravada. This all was new information to me so it was quite interesting. This lecture was also less difficult to follow than the language classes, which saved some stress. After this lecture, we were treated to another lunch of local Vietnamese food and an afternoon visit to the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. Although I did not get to experience the War Remnants Museum (which I have been told was fantastic). Today is the day I finally got sick.
The tropical weather and time of year we visited have consistently been picking people from the group. We have had very few days where everyone was present and not a single person was complaining about feeling ill. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this country or how we have gone about this trip, but I think the difference in climate is just getting people inevitably ill (hence the title). My illness came as an eye infection which I stoically ignored throughout the morning until it became too annoying and I decided that I should get checked out while on the bus ride to the museum. I’m not even the first person who got an eye infection this trip, so the process for getting me checked out was fairly well understood. I had to call the travel insurance, wait on hold lines and transfers, plead my case that I had to be checked out tonight, and then finally got an appointment. Normally, the travel insurance sends people to the American international clinic, but they were full, so I had to go to the Japan/New Zealand/Korea international clinic. Honestly, they were pretty good. The magazines in the lobby were in Korean, but I still understood their coverage of the Masters golf tournament. Professor Banerjee and Stephanie Spirk were both helpful in getting me treatment. Prof Banerjee accompanied me to the clinic, which was quite reassuring. Eventually, I got checked out and diagnosed with an eye infection, prescribed antibiotic drops, and sent on my way. The only problem facing me now is that I only brought contacts and forgot my prescription glasses. Calling Pittsburgh for my prescription and then wandering around Ho Chi Minh to get a pair of glasses made will most likely be the topic of my blog post tomorrow. I doubt that I will recover enough for our day trip to the Mekong Delta. I’m not that upset because as soon as my classmates started dropping like flies I knew that I was inevitably going to catch something on this trip.
