Head swirling with memory

Being in Hanoi again for a second field school, I am finding my head is swirling with memories - of the city, the museums, the people and the process of the field school itself. I'm really struck with how memory - as an individual ability, as well as a social/collective/cultural thing - is so essential to the two primary activities we're doing here. That is, learning and travelling. I'm finding that I'm experiencing the city in a very different way this year. It's no longer entirely new, chaotic and overwhelming to me. I recognise places, words, habits, behaviours, sounds, smells, tastes. It makes me feel more secure and the sense of familiarity means that I'm able to experience the city in a more comfortable and pleasurable way. I'm more open to it, which increases my potential for understanding. Memory has a very strong connection to our sense of 'being in the world'- ontological security if you like. I think the personal sense of ease we can get through remembering has parallels with collective memory and discussions we've had about how memory is essential to collective well-being and cultural resilience. Memory and learning are also inextricably connected, as we know from our times tables in primary school! But why do I find it so difficult to remember Vietnamese words! Why is my memory so defective when it come to these new sounds? It makes me realise that memory and cognition are incredibly complex processes and we are thinking about them on so many different levels and in multiple contexts during this field school. One thing I do recall from last year is that talking and thinking about it gets easier. Over the two weeks we will develop a shared language, shared reference points and things we all remember (!) that will enable us to develop our thinking about the many fascinating ideas we are exploring together.