VINACOSH stands for the Vietnamese Committee on Smoking and Health. It is the government organization that conducts all tobacco control efforts in the country and it is where I work everyday. It is a very small organization with only 6 employees, but they are amazing people. Yesterday, there was a Vietnamese tradition of cleansing the body of "insects" - for lack of a better translation. The way this is properly done is to ingest a rice dice that has fermented for a while. Imagine eating rum cake with a noticeable amount of alcohol first thing before work and you'll get the picture.
The entire VINACOSH office is probably double the size of my apartment so it's a wonder that they even found a desk for me. Also pictured here is Huong (b).
From left to right is Huong (a) the media communications officer, my main working partner, and Huong (c). That's right, with a staff of 6, VINACOSH employs 3 Huongs :) I am told the name means fragrance.
For lunch, we will either go out to eat, or one of the women will cook in the office. Let me tell you that it's very difficult to get work done with the aroma of pan-fried pork wandering the office 30 minutes before lunch time. But the best part of working here is that I get to eat traditional Vietnamese food every day.
And what lunch would be complete without a dish of Rambutan.
A Vietnamese fruit of which I have no words to describe other than that it is sweet. I am told it is similar to a lychee also spelled litchi. But since I have not eaten a lychee I have no reference.
The people I work with are simply amazing. They are so eager to please and to practice their English with a real American. I taught them the proper pronunciation of the words "valley" and "pine tree" both of which they are convinced are very difficult to say. Personally I have trouble with the word "ngon" which sounds like "non" but not exactly.
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