January 2, 2002
Kreft explores Vietnam cities, country, culture
Katie Kreft studies in country where her father fought war decades earlier
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From living and working in a Hmong village to roaring around Ho Chi Minh City on the back of a motorbike to touring the beautiful countryside, Katie Kreft has a lifetime of memories from her three months stay in Vietnam.
The Traverse City West High School graduate is now a junior studying biology at Carleton College in Minnesota. Always fascinated by Asia, with a father who fought in the Vietnam War, Kreft jumped at the chance to study in Vietnam last semester.
Through the Vermont-based School for International Training, she and ten other American students immersed themselves in Vietnam language, culture and history at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. Students stayed in a guest house and also spent time with a host family. They also took a three-week tour of the country and villages in northern Vietnam.
"This was one place I could afford to go and also what I wanted: language and travel," said Kreft, who is contemplating a career in medicine. "It is really a beautiful country."
Hours of lectures and classroom studies were augmented by real-life experiences: the program directors just gave each student a bicycle and a map of the city and said go.
Students did just that, navigating the city, shopping in open air markets, meeting and talking with many people who they met. They also met throngs of tourists from Australia, Japan, China and Europe along the way, who flock to the country because of its beauty and low cost.
"I felt safer there than anywhere I've been in the States, the only problem was maybe being pickpocketed or having my bike stolen," Kreft said, who kept in touch with her family mostly via the Internet. "You would pay some guy to watch your bike, about five cents, and they'd watch it all day long while you were in school. Otherwise it would get stolen."
Overall, Kreft came away with a deep impression of the hospitality and friendliness of the Vietnamese people. Complete strangers would talk to her, many wanting to practice their English, and others would invite her home to share a meal.
This was helpful as Kreft completed a semester-long study of traditional Vietnamese cuisine, writing down recipes and cooking methods. She even worked with a professional chef at one point and also documented the food eaten on holidays.
"I really got to see how people lived," Kreft said. "My host mother was worried when I left that I would have lost weight, she kept throwing more food into my rice bowl."
Even after the terrorist attacks of September 11, Kreft said the overall reaction of the Vietnamese was one of concern for the Americans. She and her fellow students found out about the events when a family member contacted one of them via cell phone. The call came just an hour after the attacks, when it was evening in Vietnam.
Kreft biked to the American Consulate to find out what was going on, but learned little there. So she and the other American students rented a room in a western style hotel and watched CNN that night.
"You didn't know what to think, being so far away, it made us all a little bit more detached," Kreft said, noting they had arrived in the country on September 6. "Our parents were worried but they realized we were safer there."
Safety was not a given for Kreft's father, Mike Kreft, when he served in Vietnam with the Army in 1971-72. Kreft is proud of his daughter's adventure and he believes that her semester there serves as a counterpoint to his experiences during wartime.
"It was a dramatically different world for her after, in rough terms, 30 years of peace," he said. "A generation of people have grown up without hearing gunfire in the background."
"I guess perhaps we lost the war, but everyone seems to be winning the peace, both sides."
Katie Kreft agreed that the war was not an issue with anyone she met, even when traveling in the northern part of the country. She said many name-brand companies are moving into the country and some areas of downtown Ho Chi Minh City have many buildings sporting the names of western companies. Supermarkets are just springing up here and there, the largest the size of a Tom's Food Market, but open air markets still abound.
"The Vietnamese have been conquered and dominated forever, the Chinese ruled them for 1,000 years and the French for 100," she noted. "They are just so happy to rule themselves now."
She did note that the people did lack freedom of movement, with a permit required even to move from the country to the city. The government also kept strict track of the student visitors and restricted where they could travel. Another downside to her visit was the poverty of the country and the heavy smog in the cities.
"Vietnam is one of the poorest countries and many people are migrating to the cities but they are not legally allowed to do so," she said. "A lot of people are begging in the street and there are a lot of street kids."
Looking at her pictures since her return, hearing her descriptions of the people, places and culture, Mike Kreft said there is timelessness about so much in Vietnam.
"So much has not changed, it looks very similar to my recollections of it, especially in the countryside," he said. "It is a very poor country, so they have not had very dramatic changes. But changes are coming and the rate is increasing, that is reflected in my daughter's experience there."