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Entries this day: Interviews Into_the_pool Today alan_and_Le_Ly_speeches transcribed_from_tape zzzzz Interviews 11:38am CST Friday 27 May 2005 We've been doing interviews today. We had "I am a noisy girl" Megumi "call me Megi Megi Megi or Meg" and then Yui "my English is French English;" they were both money. permalinkInto the pool 11:43am CST Friday 27 May 2005 I gooshed into the pool during our 45 minute break; that's one beautiful thing about PB; everything is close. I leave my room (3rd floor), go up one floor to the dining room. Go up one more to GET (*) Street (where we have our GET classes). Go up up to the top and the pool is right there. Towels are available next to the pool. We're on a cruise ship and I'm loving it! (*) GET = Global English/Espanol Training (sorry no tilde) Carissa is supposed to be here in 2 minutes so we can start our first student. permalinkToday 8:26pm CST Friday 27 May 2005 Busy busy day today, but got all the interviews done and sorted the pages afterward; I think the technique worked weller than it did last voyage; I'm glad for the wisdom of the seasoned voyagers... GET meeting and then Port Orientation for Da Nang Vietnam. We'll get to go on a tour led by Ley Ly Hayslip!!! She's a Vietnamese woman who wrote the book on which Heaven and Earth was based. (That's Oliver Stone's movie that we watched a couple nights ago.) Kicked the soccer ball around a bit with Shawn, Dave and Greg and a Japanese guy I've not met before. I played barefoot and got my nail bent back a bit, but it's all goood. Chowed dinner and now we are gathering for Alan Nelson and Ley Ly Hayslip's speech thing, which I intend to transcribe. permalinkalan and Le Ly speeches 8:34pm CST Friday 27 May 2005 Oh man Anette is hilarious!!!!!!! She was like "why do I need this (translation radio)?" And ten minutes later I thought of the perfect answer: "Cause Alan and Ley Ly will be speaking Japanese!!" I told her my perfect answer and we had a good laugh. Then she goes, "I know why it took you so long to think of that funny answer: someone had to translate it, but you didn't have one of these!!!" "I also want a transcription of that.." bang; already done. Le Ly Hayslip Good evening. I'm so nervous, so um my partner Alan was supposed to sing first, but he's so chicken now that I'm going to sing first and he will sing after me. So if I knew I would have to sing, I wouldn't have eaten first. I'm too full so maybe I won't have enough air to sing. I wrote this song for Heave and Earth movie. If you watch the movie, the actor who played me will sing the song for you, but she's not heere now, so I'll sing it for you. It's a very sad song about a girl who left the village because of the war. When she returned, everything was destroyed except the foundation of the house and athe coconut tree. Because she saw so much sadness from the war, she created the song to get all her feelings out. It's my story, but it's the whole ____ of Vietnam.8:58pm The book was much more powerful than the movie for Alan because ther was so much more detail in it. I wanted to meet her, but I didn't think that could ever happen. It's like a dream for me now to be sitting next to her now. (( questions are being asked in Japanese, but I'm not hearing the translations. From 1950 to 1954 was the war between Vietnam and France. (( I missed the rest of the answer; sorry )) LL from 1954 to 1963; the first ten years, even though we were very poor, it was a happy time for me working in the rice paddies with my family. But then when Alan came to visit my village in 1963; everything went upside down. Fom 1963 to 1970, my village became refugees, and I am one of the refugees. I left Vietnam in 1970 and have been back and forth since then to help Vietnam. AN in 1965; I joined the US Marine Corp. In June 1966 I was sent to the Vietnam war. During the time I was sent to the Vietnam war, I din't even know where Vietnam was. We Americans were told the Vietnamese people were figting for democracy and the communists were trying to take over their country. Some of you remember the propoganda of the domino theory that if one SE Asian country became Communist, all of them would be come Communist. But as an 18 year old, I had no idea of the history of Vietnam; I had no idea that the Vietnamese people had done nothing to the African American people; had not enslaved us, so we went and attacked the Vietnamese people. Because I was poor, because I was AA, I spent my whole 13 month tour in Vietnam in the jungle shooting and killing the people. So as we learnt after the Vietnam war, the Vietnam war was started on lies, just like the Iraqi war has been started on lies. Because of the lies of the American govt _____ Vietnamese lost their lives and _____ Americans lost their lives. 58000 US this truly was a tragedy of the Vietnam war. Question: You said you fought for 13 months in Vietnam, then as you said, the Vietnam war was very wrong. How do the US people feel when you came back to the US. How did peple think about you. AN When I returned back to US after Vietnam; at first peole supported the war, but then as the years went on people began to realize it was a great mistake. And one of the things that upset me badly after the Vietnam war, the average American, including my family members didn't know that every moment every day Vietnamese people were dying. When I returned home from the war, I wanted to tell my friends about the truth of the war, but I was suffering from a disease called Ppost Traumatic STress Disorder, so I coudl not. When I was in the Vietnam war, in the jungle, I only wanted to return home alive, but when I got home, I was so unhappy that I wished many times that I had been killed. It always seemd to me that the US people dinot care how many Vietnamese people were killed; it was only when American troops came back dead that the opinion of the war changed. It wa during this time that I hated my country and hated myself. Q: IThe Americans didn't care how many people were killed in the war, but Le Ly married a LL The Vietnamese called it the American war. We fought it for Vietnamese independence in our country.We fought 100 years agains teh French and Japanese. We wanted to rebuild for our families and were not looking for another war with the US. My familie was a revolutionary famly. We thought it shuld be wone country, not divided between North and South. The war caused 2,000,000 Vietnamese casualties, 3,000,000 wounded and 300,000 MIA. People like myself in the countryside had no idea why the Americans wanted to destroy our villages, rape our woemn and torture our men. After 1970s I married an American and moved to the US. The culture shock was one thing, but the most shocking was that the Americans saw Vietnamese as not human, as gookes, as something that did not deserve to live. Everytime the news showed Vietnamese killed Americans, my American families looked at me and said "what a shame that gooks killed our people; we should go over there and kill all the gooks and in the war." Everytime they saw the Vietnamese killing other Vietnamese, they said "It's so shameful that you are killing each ohter." So the average US citizen had no idea why the US was in Vietnam, what they were fighting for, and why they were killing Vietnam. The Vietnam were only defending ourselves; it doesn't make any sense. That is why I had to write the books to explain to the American people what we had to do to survive the war. Questions: Americans called Vietnam gooks; the Americans made up the name Viet Cong; we don't know about the communists. We only knew we were fighting against people who were invading our country and brainwashing us with something we don't understand. So now from what they talked about, they don' t know why the Us was in Vietnam. The US sent 2,000,000 soldiers, but they didn't know why they were there; they just wanted to If I were you, Le Ly, and my family and friends were killed, how can you have this dialgogue with Alan and think about the future? Budda teaches that if we forgive our enemy and bring him into your livfe as your best friend, that is the only way to solve the problem. We believe we are the vitime; we did not ask American for war. The US came and built up their own bad karma. We can only love them and forgive them for what they are and did. AN: I agree with you completely: I remember in Vietnam asking my commander how can we tell the good Vietnamese from those who are communist? Our commanders told us that when we attacked the villages; if the people run, then they are communists and we should shoot them. One thing that you should know about American is that it's a very racist country. The only true Americans are white. And we should remember the history because during the Korean war, they were not defeated, and they did not win. But n the Vietnam war, the US was defeated by little brown peole with no nuclear weapons and no huge artillery; it was too much for the Americans to accept. And the war that American took to Vietnamese people had a very strong sense of religion: the Christians against the Buddhists. You say the Americans are Christian, and the Vietnamese were Buddhist; something challenge to Buddhist; this is an irony the US tried to fight the British; Le Ly said he forgive the because she is Buddist Alan, do you feel guilty? When I first came home forom Vietnam, of couse I felt guilty, soldiers are trined to kill other soldiers, but in Vietnam, we killed more eldery, children, women, sick peopee old people, hospitals,; it really showed the US government attitude toward the Vietnamese people. It was amazing to me how I was tricked and fooled into thinking the Vietnamese peole were my enemies. So more than feeling uilty, I was angry at myself and my governemtn for their cruel polies and destroying other peoples homes and property. And so as i thik back on when i came home, there was a gret feelin of guilt and regret; a great feeling of pan that I was kiling my brothers and sisters. And for me the challenge was to forgive myself. And once I was able to come to grips and forgive myself, I knew I had to work to tell the story of my Vietnam experience. So on behalf on all the Vietnamese people who died and cannot tell their stories; it is all our soldiers' duty to share the story and hopefully we can learn that war and violence will never bring us peace. I have talked to many veterans who were so sick ; they were homeless and useless. the Vietnamese were the ones who helped the soldiers who were not welcome in their own country. (!!!) The government had no use for them anymore. But for he Americans it's very different. Vietnam is still an open painful wound for America. That is why we countinue to have war; that's why we continue to destroy other peples countries, because we have not learned the lesson from Vietnam. LL not only Buddhist, bu we thought from our childhood that we are very poor and we just wanted to live in our own family of human kinda an accept people into our family. It's not just Buddism, but Daosim, and Confuscianism and our family thought the same tthing. Alsofor onver 4000 years of culture; though we were poor and at war, we had wisom very deep. We have culture. American has no culture but hot dogs and how to make money. We serve our motherland, and that is the difference. As Vietnamese we fought for our cost and our motherland and our ancestors graveyards. We fought against those who sold weapsons to make profits and become wealthy due to tehe war in Vietnam. For the next two days you will see the Vietnam people are very friendly, and have no hatred; we are innocent and. the guilt and shame is punishment enough; we are able to move on and not cry about it. I agree wholehearted ly as an American citizen. I've always felt I had to prove I was an American; we have to prove our citizenship eery day, along with Vietnamese American, Chinese American.. My name is alan Nelson, but Nelson is not really my last name. Nelson is the name of the slave owners who owned my ancestors. I didn't realize the importance of this until I gave a lecture in Okinawa. The Okinawan children started to cry when they heard this. When I asked m interpretor why they were crying; in Okinawans worship their ancestors, so if you don't know your last name, how can you worship your ancestors? One of the reasons I enjoy coming to Japan is that here you have a long old culture; must longer than in America. In America we don't have a culture. Our culture is cheeseburgers and guns. But I also want to tell you there are hundreds of thousands of Americans like me who will fight for democrcay and have sensitivity to others who are not like us. We try to folow the examle f men like MLKJr; who changed A without guns and violence; he changed A with something called nonviolence. So as an An, I cam very embarassed, but I cannot run away, and I will never give up on that promise. As a Vietnamese living in A for 25 years, A is a good country for opportunity. It gave me a voice and a name. It is good for people who are looking for a change; who want to do somethinf ro this world. Because the US is so big, they don't have to travel out of their country; the Mexicans and Asians are moving in and Americans will be the minority. That is the price they pay for their injustice. Some Asian countries cannot reconcile; what is missing? In 1986 I went back to Vietnam. In those days there was no relationship between Vietnam and US . That is why I had to stand up. Thought I was condemned by both sides; I had to try had to build the briges between the two nations.After the books came out in 1989 , I established a nonprofit organization to develop a dialog between Vietnam and American. It's now the 10 year anniversary that Vn and US have had relations. I think that when countries have a war, it's like a husband and wife. It's often the children who bring them back together. But the parents have to be humble to make love and support each other again. That is what needs to be done in many countries around the world. AN: I agree; I think reconciliation is the first step toward justice. I norder to reconcile with a country or former enemy, you must be honest and truthful about he crimes you have committed. You must list each thing you did; each village that was destroyed; each person that was killed. Each person deserves reconciliation; no matter the cost; the freedom and peace and trust is worth the price. As an American Marine; I worked for the government. I did their work, and I do not trust the government. But I do trust the people of the world. It's imperitave that the American citizens insit the government gives full compensation to everytone who has been hurt in prior wars. So we have to realize our governments do a lot of communicateing, and we must do a lot of communicating. I had a young student ask me how I could play with Vietnam chilfren when they were my enemies. But I had learnt at that point the Vietnamese people were not my enemies. The US government awas my enemy to brainwash me and send me wehre I did not belong; I have felt more frienship with the Vietnamese where there is no racism. So it's very important that the citizens of Japan be the voices of the comfort women. It is the Aerican's duty to raise our voices to speak for those were were hurt my agent orang enad insist eht government pays for its wroings. LL: The US fought in Vietnam between Christian and Buddhist. Now US is fighting in Iraq between Christian and Muslim. Why not step in earlier this time to stop the Americans fighting in Iraq before 2,000,000 Iraqi are killed. What's going on in Iraq now is the same as in Vietnam in 1960. I think the US people see the history repeating itself. due to the Us. It could happen here in Japan; someone like Bush can do a lot of damage. It's been 30 years since the Vietnam war ended, but it is still not over; people are killed by mines and agent orange even to this day. Question from audience. Having listened to your story; I realize the tragedy. Japan actually made money from the war; it hursts my heart. What do Vietnam people think of Japanese people What was Japans role in Vietnam war. In WW2, Japan invaded SE Asian counties, so sme people feel the anti Japese education has been propogated in Asia; is there any anti US US education? Le Ly's family is Buddist, so you are educated about Buddism, so Mr Nelson, what do you Nelson think about religion I'm concerned about the future, specifically Article Nine, when you were in Vietnam, you were leading an idea of communism; it's not Article Nine, but we are losing Japanese culture. Why can't a women be emporer, but I am concerned about changing the constitution; what can we do to resist the govt short of rebelling: how do we keep Article Nine. LL: Vietnamese think Japanese were very cruel to them, but there is no feeling past that. LL China had tried to invade Vietnam for 1000 years. France for 100 years. the Us as just another war. We were poor, but we kne we loved our motherland. We could not protest except via non violence. AN: I think religion plays a big part and is being manipulated by the media and George Bush. In the US now we have Right Wing Christians who support GWB's policies. This is not different than Muslims who believe the same thing. In many ways both of our religions have been stolen from us by right wing fanatics. So if we research very carefully we se Islam and d Christianity are religions of peace. It's important that we take back our religions from these fanatics. This is one of the reasons I consider myself a Chritian Muslim Buddihst. the reality is that there is no difference bwetween GWB, Hussein and Bin Laden; they all believe in war. We can't wait until a milion peple are killed. Not only as A' and J's; we have to take a stand as people in the orld. We must put war in the museums where it belongs. As I travel around as the Christian, I know the procedures to pray properly in mosques and temples. God is everywhere, no matter what the religion. We must stand up now to save the lives of Iraqi and Afghan people. We must send a message to our govt that we will not support war anymore. How can we protect Article Nine? I thought if man can send a man to the moon, why can't we solve the problems on earth? We people have the right to accept or reject govt policy. If we citizens should demand change. We do not have freedom and a well educated system in Vietnam. In Japan, you are well educated and are able to stand up for what is right for your people. AN: I think it's going to be hard work for Japanese people . I think Japanese peple must start educating their friends and neighbors; you need a national movement to sent a message to the Diet. It's not just Article Nine for you; it is for everyone on the planet. It is futureistic and we need to do away with war and violence.. permalinktranscribed from tape 12:50am ICT Saturday 28 May 2005 11:00am JST Friday 27 May 2005 It's beautiful; nice hard breeze and super sunny with a few clouds and everyone is out by the pool. We just had some interviews and for the last two students I wrote "money" cause they were money. I'm about to jump in the pool; awrigh. 11:30am Had big fun in the pool; floating around all in the sloshing water like "whoohoooooo" with all the waves waving around cause it was a wave pool with the waves. great fun! Tossed the Pooh pool ball around with a man and woman in the pool. great fun! Submerged my GPS and found that it couldn't receive a signal from underwater, though it is submergeable. 3pm We're in a sorting meeting now. Wrote a postcard to Captain Su and kicked the soccer ball around with Shawn. The sorting meeting is where we basically have 170 student files and need to sort them in order of ability. The basic technique is/was to use a bubble sort given 13 sets of 12 sorted pages. Take the top and bottom couple from each set and compare them to the adjacent sets. Two people are working on each set at a time. It worked pretty well. Almost certainly as well as anything I could come up with. I imagined a merge sort, bringing together one sorted set of 12 pages at a time. 5:08pm We just finished the sorting. Nat(alie) is finishing some final cleansing in the office and I'm encouraging her to not work so hard. We've all done great work today, and it's really great to have such a great team! 7:09pm Gonna go kick the soccer ball around with Shawn and some peeps. Just had a GET meeting. I've confirmed that I'm really good at visual learning and being distracted during audio learning. I'm a bit behind in typing up these typings. 1:03am ICT Saturday 28 May 2005 But now I am caught up. permalinkzzzzz 1:04am ICT Saturday 28 May 2005 Time for bed. Gotta brush my teef and... maybe write a postcard. I'm choosing to not take my computer tomorrow, but I will take my tape recorder, and maybe video recorder, and definitely camera. Now I've decided to bring my waterproof camera case just in case. Going to write some postcards now. permalinkprev day next day |