BLOG: VIETNAM

Friday, June 29, 2007

Meeting and eating with my new colleagues

I don't think I have ever received as warm a welcome as I did on my first day at my new Vietnamese firm. My arrival caused quite a stir. Lemur-like, everyone popped up from behind their cubicle walls keen to meet me and learn about my background. While they were able to learn my name in about 5 seconds flat, I struggled to master theirs. I am still struggling.

Vietnamese is a difficult language, full of throaty 'ng' and 'nh' sounds as well as 6 different tones, including one that sounds like "nuh-uh". There are some very common names in Vietnamese, meaning that out of an office of 20 odd people there are 3 men called "Duc" (pronounced "Dook"), 2 women called "Huong", another 2 called "Thuy" (pronounced "Twee") and 3 called "Van" (pronounced "Vin"). In order to differentiate between people, first and second names are used. For example, the "Duc"s are "Hoang Duc", "Anh Duc" (pronounced "Ang Dook") and "Tran Duc" (pronounced "Chan Dook"). Oh the confusion! As people's names are pronounced totally differently from how we would pronounce them in English, I often find that I am familiar with someone's name in writing, but not when its spoken. Luckily my new colleagues are very forgiving when I ask them to remind me of their name and how to pronounce it. You can't be shy about such things here!

My new firm is approximately 50:50 men and women, with the majority of them holding a local bachelors and a foreign masters degree. Foreign study is considered valuable by the firm, as the majority of their clients are foreign investors. However, instead of the typical pyramid partnership structure, there are equal numbers of senior and junior staff, with all of the junior lawyers being women. I'm not sure why this is, but I suspect that, similarly to home, the majority of law graduates are female and the firm has had real difficulty recruiting and retaining lawyers.

All of the senior staff are married with children, while all of the junior staff are single. As family and marriage is seen as very important here, one of the hotly contested subjects at lunch is who is next to be married.

Speaking of lunch, I have to say that lunch is the one thing that I find particularly strange. Officially lunch is from 12.00pm to 1.30pm, although it actually seems to go until 2pm. Except for the partners, the whole firm goes out to a local "restaurant" together for a cooked lunch. I say "restaurant" because it's actually someone's house. We usually eat on the 5th floor of the house, in someone's bedroom - with a bed and all. As there's no lift, in the stifling Hanoi heat and humidity I'm usually in a rolling sweat by the time we sit down on the mini plastic stools at the mini plastic tables, knees around our necks, and eat our rice based lunch. If the "restaurant" is particularly crowded and there are not enough tables, we sit on the bed frame (the occupant doesn't have a mattress) and eat our meal picnic style. Needless to say, it's very difficult to manage wearing a suit and heels while sweating profusely. I've consequently given up wearing a suit unless absolutely necessary. In addition, I can't help feel that I'm invading someone's privacy by finding the oddity of it all very humorous.

I can't say that I love every single of the 15 or so dishes presented to us at lunch (I particularly dislike the steamed tongue), but the rice and the vegies are very tasty. I am amazed at the sheer amount of rice that my colleagues devour in a sitting - 5 or so people will eat a 4 litre ice cream tub's worth of steamed rice. Good value considering the meal only costs $1 AUD per person.

After lunch everyone heads back to the office for a sleep. All of the office lights are turned off and everyone has a nap either in their chair with their heads down on their desks or they find a quiet spot in the office and stretch out on the floor underneath a blanket. Initially I was taken aback by it, especially when I had to step over sleeping colleagues to get to my desk. I've never been a snoozer, so all my colleagues think I'm strange as I choose to keep working or keep abreast of Australian news during that time. Now that I've been with the firm for a few weeks, I'm not only getting used to seeing all of my colleagues asleep at their desks but I'm also perfecting my night vision.

So, next time you tuck into a sandwich while sitting at your illuminated desk reading the newspaper on line, think of me sitting on a bed frame in 40 degree heat, turning down steamed tongue and then reading the same newspaper as you… but in the dark. [Have Your Say]

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