Pictures pictures pictures

Pictures are always a fun way to show our lives here, so I'm going to post pictures I've taken throughout my stay in Hanoi, with a few anecdotes accompanying them.

A few weekends ago we took a weekend trip to the national park Cuc Phuong. We were told we needed to take a bus to a city called Ninh Binh, and from there take a taxi into Cuc Phuong. But like most of our travel adventures in SE Asia, when we got to the bus station, a local person negotiated with bus drivers on our behalf, and suddenly we were on a bus that would drop us off in Cuc Phuong for about $1 extra USD ($5 total). In this sense, traveling in Asia is much easier than in Europe. Everyone knows someone who can arrange transportation or tours for you, and everything is negotiable. This combined with the fact that almost everything is affordable (for example, we arranged for a private boat from Cambodia through the Mekong Delta to Vietnam for six hours for about $15 USD each), you can really travel whichever way you want, at whatever time you want, with however many people you want. Advertised times, prices and destinations are almost always able to be changed with persuasion.

So after riding on the bus packed with locals, we arrived at the edge of Cuc Phuong. There was no transport to speak of where we were dropped off, so we made about a 2k trek to the nearest tourist office through a wide dirt rode surrounded by forest. See below:



I fell pretty far behind at this point, my backpack strap broke and I spent a significant amount of time fishing out my camera so that all of you great readers wouldn't miss this exciting road.

After we arrived at the tourist office and arranged for our hotel, we took a tour through a nearby primate rescue center. The center is run by a German, and he saves monkeys that would otherwise not survive poaching or deforestation. I love animals and these monkeys were very interesting, so I took about a billion pictures of them. I limited them to six for the blog, which was very difficult.

This guy was the coolest. I couldn't really capture it through pictures, but he would swing with his huge arms from one branch to another, making such big leaps that he seemed to be flying mid-air for a few seconds before grabbing hold of another trunk. He moved all over his gigantic cage like this almost constantly, and after watching him for ten minutes I seriously considered changing the animal I would be if I could transform into one (it's a dolphin, not too creative but it is what it is).

The faces on these monkeys were very human like, sort of creepy.

Cutest baby ever.

On his own for a bit.

Back in the arms of his momma.

Below is part of the complex that we stayed at. We were literally in the middle of nowhere in a forest, it was very beautiful and really nice to get out of the loud, smog-filled city of Hanoi for the weekend.

During our trip we went on a hike through the surrounding forest, and below are pictures from the hike and from inside a cave that we explored.

Some cool butterflies i stumbled upon.

Below are pictures we took on our ride back from Cuc Phuong to Hanoi.

The countryside in Vietnam is never disappointing, and one day I hope to come back to Vietnam and spend my time motorbiking through it.

Odd encounters. Of all the weird things we've eaten, seen and experienced, I've probably captured about 1% of it on camera. Below are just a few examples of how different daily life can be.

We ate some pigeon on the street. Tasted like the dark meat of chicken, and it had very little meat on it.
My friend Jenny with the pigeon head.

Leaf juice. Exactly what you think it is, and tastes exactly how you think it would.We were given it while we were waiting to have a spa/massage treatment. $10 for two hours, plus free food and leaf juice, not too bad.

If you've ever wondered what driving school vehicles look like in Vietnam, see above (you're welcome to all those people dying to know) . In Vietnam, the government places a 200 - 300% tax on cars, in order to discourage purchasing cars and therefore avoid impossible traffic jams and more importantly, avoid investing in public infrastructure to remedy this potential problem. So whoever is taking this driving lesson is very rich, or plans to be rich enough in a few years to afford a car. Vietnam does have plans to create a metro in Hanoi, but it will probably be several decades before it is near completion. There are no plans that I know of to widen or repair roads.

There are little fires everywhere in this country, and it is usually either slash and burn for crops, or burning garbage to get rid of it. I can't imagine the latter is good for the environment, but the trash system is very rudimentary here so I think it is often for lack of better options.

We saw these during a boat ride in Hoi An, they are fish nets that are lowered into the water.

Karaoke. Vietnamese (and many other Asians) LOVE Karaoke. They sing their hearts out and sometimes battle for the microphone. In Vietnam you rent out a Karaoke room, where you are brought drinks and food and can pick all of the songs you want to sing. Featured on the left of this picture is our good friend Nam, the first night we went out with him.

All of us at Karaoke.

And over the past few weeks I've had two sleepovers with Huong, where we watched Tangled, A Cinderella Story, and lots and lots of Friends episodes. Her mother cooked for us:
We had a hot pot filled with chicken broth and potatoes, and we added greens, mushrooms and beef and cooked it in the water. Then we could take out what we wanted and put it in a small bowl filled with noodles (on the bottom left of the picture) We also had spring roles, and an oil based sauce with chilis to put over the noodles. Sooo good.

The past few weeks I've been teaching a two hour class at a gifted high school in the area. I will talk about that experience next time!

Communicating

As a part of our volunteer fee, we were provided with two Vietnamese lessons to give us an overview of the language. Ten minutes in I had a headache and intense look of frustration plastered on my face as I struggled to imitate the sounds that our teacher was asking us to repeat back to her.

The very first thing we were taught were the different 'a' sounds. There are three different 'a's in the alphabet, and these three different 'a's can have five different accents, six if you count the sound you make if there is no accent at all. The three A's are:

a â ă

The five accents are (shown on the a we use):

ã ạ ả á à

These accents can also be added to the second two 'a's in the alphabet, for example the letter â with the five accents looks like this:

ấ ẫ, ầ, ậ ẩ

So in total, there are 18 different kinds of 'a's. Our first lesson involved pronouncing the word 'ba' with five different 'a' accents (bã bạ bả bá bà). To the trained Vietnamese ear, these sounds are all very distinguishable from each other and present little problem. So, when our teacher quickly read us the five 'ba's, she expected us to repeat them all back to her. The problem however, was that to westerners, she sounded like this: Bah bah bah baaah bah. After straining my hearing and having her repeat herself many times, I could hear slight differences in a few, but not enough difference to remember, and certainly not enough to imitate myself. This presents a problem (no pun intended...lame), as these 'ba's all have very different meanings. For example, one of them means grandmother. Another means rat poison.

Vietnamese is a monosyllabic, tonal language. Every word, as you might guess, is only one syllable (Vietnam is Việt Nam). It is tonal in the sense that many words are almost sung, and different pitches and intonations indicate different letters, words and phrases. So you need to have a good ear for pitch. If you are one of those people who can't sing along to a song for the life of you, I'm sorry to report that you will never learn Vietnamese. That includes my brother, sorry bud.

I have better luck with phrases (v. lone words), simply because if you are saying multiple words a Vietnamese person can more easily guess what you are trying to say. There are also few things most foreigners know how to say, so they can guess that way as well.

Saying hello is Xin chào. (Seen chow), this one seemed pretty easy, but apparently if you pronounce it incorrectly you could be saying 'give me rice' instead of hi.

If you're wondering why their language is not comprised of typical Asian characters, it's because of colonialism. The French adapted their language from characters to a roman alphabet in the 1950's I think. I'm not sure of the exact decade because most Vietnamese I ask don't know for sure either. Most of them cannot read their traditional alphabet.

Through our lessons we also learned that to ask how you are doing, Vietnamese will ask 'have you eaten yet?'. I love this, as most of my happiness revolves around how hungry I am. Not that it matters much, because I can't remember the phrase and no one thinks to say it to me. Also, they will ask 'where are you going', which is more rhetorical, and is the equivalent of our 'what's up.' It doesn't really require an answer and is just a way to say hi.

Although the language is very difficult, I believe if i made a serious effort (which I have not), that I could get by and eventually achieve proficiency. Knowing this makes it more frustrating to not communicate. There are several occasions everyday that I strongly wish for subtitles so that I can appreciate a funny situation, or know what people are saying about me.

Everyday I ride the elevator at work, and almost every time I can tell that they are talking about me. I've ridden it multiple times with Huong, so after one particularly obvious elevator talk session on the topic of myself, I asked her what they were talking about all the time. She said they always say that I am very beautiful. In normal circumstances this would be a great compliment, but here, if you are white, you are very beautiful. I don't feel like delving into this subject right now, mostly because explaining will inevitably make me sound as though I think I am ridiculously good looking, but here all of my friends and I get told we are beautiful and so lovely on a constant basis. Okay actually one side story cause this is funny:

In America when there is a phenomenon, or some pattern that is not easily explained, we (and by we I am mostly thinking of my mother) use the phrase 'must be something in the water.' The Vietnamese have a similar phrase, and when something surprises them or is unusually good or bad, they say 'what did you eat to become so smart/stupid/weird etc'. On my first day of commuting to work, I was accompanied by a Vietnamese girl who works for my volunteer organization. While we were waiting for the bus, a local man came up to her and asked her to translate for him so he could talk to me. He asked me what I ate to become so beautiful, and he asked multiple times. The girl, named Chau, explained what the phrase meant, and I laughed and smiled (my go to reaction for almost every situation), and said Cảm ơn (thank you, pronounced come on). He kept repeating his question and eagerly awaiting an answer. Chau turned to me and was said "oh no i dont think he joking, he really think you eat something! He crazy, we go now." If I could have answered him in Vietnamese, I would have said cheese, only because there is none in this country and I would love to eat some right now.

The amount of compliments they give white girls here makes me wish my chubby, awkward twelve year-old self had visited. It would have been a great self-esteem booster, especially when I was hoping a guy would ask me to dance at our middle school dances (never happened, all three years), when I could have consoled myself by remembering I was a huge hit in Asia.

One good thing about not knowing the language here is that it's really quite fun to communicate without the language. And also very gratifying once you get your point across. This communication mostly comes in the form of hand gestures, noises, and acting things out. Some actions are very easy, lets say drinking water. Trying to find where to buy a banana is much trickier, and a recurrent problem for me considering my asian banana obsession. It is also quite funny when you are both talking to eachother in different languages and neither of you understands one bit. This happens frequently and it always makes me laugh.

One thing that seems to translate in every country is a sense of humor. I've found that if you always manage to keep your temper, laugh things off, smile and act eager, that you can easily win friends and good favor. It's something important for many westerners to remember when traveling to asia, because many tend to lose their temper very easily, and if you are not laid back there are a million things here that can set you off.

I also thought that hand gestures such as thumbs up, thumbs down and the like are universal, and in many cases they are, but here there is an exception with the hand signal that means 'no'. Our no mostly revolves around a shaking head, maybe a hand put up to indicate stop. The no in Vietnam is what we would use to indicate something is so-so. So an outstretched hand rocking back and forth. It was quite confusing at first, because when they were telling us no, the restaurant isn't open, we thought they were either saying eh its not worth it, or maybe its open, it depends.

And finally, one more thing on staring here. I've found that being stared at intensifies whatever mood you are in. If you are in a good mood, lets say having made it a whole kilometer without getting muddy, with no rain, and having just ate four particularly tasty bananas, and people drive by you and stop and stare just to say hi or curiously see what you are doing, you usually become even happier. You feel like Mr. Rogers, a friend of everyone you pass, stopping to say hello to everyone in the neighborhood, and enjoying the beautiful day.

However, if you are already in a bad mood, staring usually makes it severely worse. I've only had three short-lived episodes of this, since I try to avoid frustration, but I was having serious internal temper tantrums when they did occur. The first time this happened, I had been riding the 201 back home. The bus was so crowded that I couldn't see out the window to tell where my stop was, and I couldn't push through all the people to get out at the last second when I finally realized where I was. The next stop was 2 kilometers away, and I had already been traveling almost two hours home (the commute home is always longer). I had to get out on the highway, with everyone on the bus laughing at me because it was an absurd place for someone like me to get off, and then I had to walk down a tiny sidewalk on the highway, hurrying to make it before it got dark. Everyone on the highway was looking at me like I was nuts, and I was already in such a bad mood from being pushed around on the bus and missing my stop that it enraged me. Internally I was screaming WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!?! IM JUST WALKING!! You're carrying 50 straw hats on your bicyle, and you, over there, you have live chickens in your lap! And how about the guy with the skinned dog slung across his back?!?! You think IM weird??STOP LOOKING AT ME!!!!!

Luckily this feeling fades quickly, but it is why i now walk home instead of taking the miserable bus, so that I may be intrigued by a motorbike carrying 10 bags of gold-fish (carnival style) on a pole, instead of infuriated.

FwH:

• We now have a new routine after work. I stay later, go down with her to the garage where she parks her bike, and then I ride out with her, handing the parking attendant her 4000 dong fee and parking ticket on the way. Then we go to this nice little cafe, talk about life, work on her english, and then she drives me part of the way home, which I walk or cab.
• Most names here are not just names, they are usually nouns as well. Huong means nice fragrance. So basically her name is I smell good.
• She loves the animated film 'Tangled', and we watched some of it yesterday at work. She learned the word Gesundheit, gecko and countless other random words from this movie that she attempts to slip into conversation with me.
• She started drinking water at work because of me. I drink a ton of water while I work, a habit I formed while studying at college. Now she drinks all the time. I said it was healthy for her, but annoying since you have to go to the bathroom more frequently. For some reason this didn't translate at all, and multiple people had to consult me until she finally understood what I meant.
• She's bugging me to go buy my lunch right now so I have to go!!

Lights Out

This whole week we have had pretty miserable weather in Hanoi. It's been colder than normal and raining all day. Usually when it rains here it's an annoying spray, so light that you can really only feel it on your face. It's been raining heavily the past four days, which makes everything very muddy and slippery and has caused me to take cabs to and from work almost everyday. One day when I was trying to hail a cab and getting soaked in the process, a girl drove up to me and handed me a plastic poncho, another example of how helpful the people are here.

With this weather has also come a lot of power outages. We lose power periodically at our dorm, but it usually only lasts for ten minutes, or if it lasts longer, we are informed of it ahead of time. When the electricity is shut off it's to save money and energy. But this last week the power has been shut off repeatedly and for long periods of time, because it is considered dangerous to have power running during thunderstorms.

On Tuesday we had a pretty bad storm while I was at work, and about five minutes after the storm began all the power was shut off around the city, including the 22 story building my NGO is in. We didn't have any electricity or internet for the rest of the day, so we all sat around our couch and talked in the dark. The women at work were all very excited to have time to speak with me, because they are always so busy that we only get the chance to talk at lunch. They had a lot of questions about what I thought of Vietnam, and were very happy to hear that I love it here. Chi, a 24 year-old staff member, confessed to me that she was very jealous of Huong because we get to talk all day, and she is able to improve her English and learn about American culture.

This same day I decided to start giving Huong English lessons. She was very excited when I offered and made us shake hands to indicate it was a deal. I think we are going to start Saturday, I have no idea what I'm doing but hopefully the internet can lead me in the right direction. They have the most trouble with 'the' (they almost never use it when they should, and then use it when they shouldn't. Examples : I am going to pool, Social change is important to the society) and also with choosing the right preposition. Of, with, to, on, for, and at are all used interchangeably. So I hope to work on that with her. And pronunciation.

Also during the power outage, Huong was talking about Tim Howard, the American goalkeeper for the World Cup. He's bald, and Huong confessed that she really likes when guys are bald. She also taught me that Santa Claus used to be skinny and wear blue, and it is only because of Coca Cola that we have an image of a red, fat Santa Claus.

She also asked me if I ever get angry, because she thinks I would never get angry or upset because I am "always nice and happy". I found this ironic because most people find my facial expressions to be scary, intimidating, or upset most of the time, even though I am not usually feeling that way. This made me happy because I have been working very hard to have a more pleasant look on my face for years now. Progress!

After this discussion she made me make angry faces for her so "she could imagine when I am mad".

Today lunch was particularly fun. First, they asked if I would ever come back to Vietnam, and said if I did they would help me to find an apartment and more volunteer work. I told them I plan to come back eventually, although I didn't know if it would be anytime soon. Huong promised to visit me in the United States in no less than twenty years. I told her I would see her much sooner, because she is planning on getting her master's in London. I am really glad that I will be able to help her with the application process and also to secure scholarships, because she won't be able to afford any of the tuition or living expenses. She plans to go in the next two years, and I hope I can fundraise for her to help with the cost. She is very bright and I think it would be a great help to her family and her own future if she was able to get this degree.

Also there is a general consensus that I do not eat nearly enough during lunch, and all of the staff members are afraid I will lose weight (how terrible...). I find it odd that they are worried I will be thinner, because I weigh significantly more than all of them, probably including an employee who is six months pregnant right now. Truthfully I don't eat that much at lunch, but it is because I can barely stomach white rice anymore. A lot of the food here is delicious, but the food at our dorm is not particularly great, and is mostly made up of rice. So now when I eat rice I can't get down more than a few spoonfuls, which is complete blasphemy to them, because they eat two big cups of rice with every meal. Except breakfast, when they eat rice noodles. Today at lunch they tried to trick me into eating more, by saying they were worried it would go to waste and would you "please please help me eat some Lisa", all while laughing and giggling in Vietnamese... not so sly. Especially considering five minutes before they told me they were afraid I was losing weight.

Lan also told a really funny story about her daughter. She told her Mom she felt very bad for a few children in her class and that during the school day she had helped them. Lan prompted her to go on, telling her how great it was that she helped them and asking what she did for them. Her daughter said, well there were a few kids who couldn't eat all of their food (common problem in Vietnam, some people are just destined to be uber-small here), so she finished all of their meals for them. Lan told her to not do that again, but she thought it was very funny. Which it is. Lan said that Huong should be friends with her daughter so she can learn how to eat. Then she told me that Huong and her daughter weigh the same amount (88 lbs if you remember), and her daughter is only nine. Huong is 22.

Texts with Huong:

• How abt u today lisa? I'm busy in afternoon so I can't go there. (to our work). Miss u a lot, a lot, a lot B-).
• Morning lis, :-D. I's raining heavily. Remember to bring an umbrella, ok. If not, u cant get sick.
• Hi Lisa. Are u ok. I've heard form Lan. :-( poor u. hope u get well soon! (from when I was sick)
• Texts I received during the Man U - Liverpool game:
• Oh no, we are losing 2-0. It's the end of first half. Oh my god. :(
• :(. Hope well better at the next half. Amen.
• 3-1, cant be worse. So so sad. Your bf ll be very satisfied.

Hanoi adventures

Sorry it’s been awhile, I’ve been spending the past few nights out in the city center for birthdays and other events. This post is going to cover my Sunday with Huong and my visit to a social enterprise called VIP Bikes.

After a slight miscommunication about what street we would meet on, Huong picked me up at 2:30 pm in the center of Hanoi, joined by one of her school friends whose name starts with a C and is unpronounceable for most westerners. She handed me a helmet (a quite unfashionable one for vietnamese standards, most of them wear helmets that look like plastic baseball hats) and we were on our way. Sidenote, everyone wears helmets on motorbikes here because it is illegal not to. Except they never put helmets on their kids when they drive with them on their bikes... guess thats not illegal.

Me and Huong with our helmets, ready to go. I'd like to take this time to point out that I have not gained an enormous amount of weight. Standing next to Huong adds twenty pounds.

Teeny tiny Huong. Note the facemask.

She decided to take me to the Temple of Literature first, which was great cause its one of the main attractions in Hanoi and I had yet to visit. She explained it was the oldest university in Hanoi, although now it is only visited by tourists and Vietnamese praying for something in their lives they want to go well or improve. She told me that during exam week she would go to the worship area and pray for good grades. I told her I would have liked one of those in college.

A picture we took when we first got into the temple.

The elbow pose was Huong's idea.

She wanted us to make a heart with our hands.

Huong and her friend had just come from an engagement party for their friend. They both gave me these little wrapped candies, which are traditional engagement party favors in Vietnam.

After going through the temple, we took a ride to West Lake, an area that is very popular with the ex-pat community. We made a quick stop and had an ice cream cone (my first in two months!!) and then took a motorbike ride around the entire lake, which is 12 kilometers. This was my favorite part of the day, because I got to see so many new streets, markets and parks that I had never been to before. I also really love riding on a motorbike, because you can just relax and look at everything around you. Plus its fun zooming through traffic. After circling the lake we stopped and sat down on a mat, and Huong ordered us a few snacks to have while we sat and took in the scenery.

Huong and her friend sitting on the mat.

Our snacks. Mango, guava, and barbecued fish. They dip their fruit in seasoned salt there, which is what the small bowl in the middle is. The bowl above it is a spicy sauce to dip the fish in.

While we sat around, Huong confessed that she hoped that in ten years I will live near West Lake with all of the foreigners because she wants me to have cute babies for her to play with. She thinks "white babies are so cute." Its also her goal to one day be able to afford a house in this area (its expensive for locals, and very cheap for us. I could get a nice place for $150 a month). Later, there was an Australian couple that walked by and she excitedly told me the guy was hot! Which lead to me asking about her past boyfriends, and it turns out she had one for two years! But they broke up because they were very different. So I taught her the phrase "it was mutual".

Then I had to head back to a friend's apartment for a dinner we had planned, so she dropped me back off. On the way back we were pulled over by a police officer who wanted to know how old I was. When she told him in Vietnamese that I was 23, he told her that he thought I was 15. I think that's the youngest age I've been pegged for in awhile.

It was a great day and I promised her I would take her around any city she wanted in the U.S.

The next day at work, the president of CSIP, named Oanh, and my supervisor, Lan, took me out to lunch at a restaurant in my building. At our meal, Oanh asked if I would spend a few days at high schools, explaining why I am interested in volunteering and helping others, with the hope that I would encourage a few of them to take similar action in their community. I of course agreed and i think I will be taking a few school trips later this month. They also told me that the next day Lan was going to visit a social entrepreneur who started a company called VIP Bikes, and they invited me to come along, which I was very excited for.

The next day Lan picked me up in the city center, where I staying in a hotel to keep my friend Lauren company. She was very sick over the weekend and decided to stay in the city center to be closer to a doctor and to have a nicer place to stay while she recovered. Now she is feeling much better, which were all very happy about.

While I was waiting for Lan to pick me up, a man came up to me and told me "Happy Women's Day", then returned shortly with a red rose and handed it to me. In Vietnam, they take International Women's Day very seriously, and almost every woman is presented with flowers, chocolate, or a combination of the two. Shortly after happily accepting my rose, I received a call from Lan. After having to repeat herself many times, I finally understood that she was asking me to ask someone if I could borrow their helmet, because she didn't have one for me. This of course seemed a little odd to me, and considering most people wouldn't know what I was asking, also very difficult. I went to the hotel desk and asked if they had spare ones.. they looked at me like I was crazy and said no.

When Lan showed up, she asked if I had found a helmet and I sadly had to report that I had not. Then she started yelling to a random guy on the street, and about thirty seconds later I had a black helmet and we were driving off. Lan is very talkative and always has something funny to say. Unfortunately she decided to talk during the entire motorbike trip, and I could not understand a word of what she was saying. Between the honking on the streets, the sound of her motorbike's engine, and the face mask that she had on, I could not understand one word of her heavily accented English. Luckily she didn't seem to mind my answers, which clearly did not relate to what she was asking in the slightest.

In about twenty minutes we arrived at VIP Bikes and I was surprised to learn that the social entrepreneur that started the organization was Australian, not Vietnamese. He had come over five years ago and saw an opportunity to create the company. Basically, he takes in around 7 or 8 disadvantaged teens in the area, trains them to repair motorbikes at a motorbike rental and repair shop that he started, and in turn gives them a good salary so that they can have a better life. The org is not-for-profit, and he has a lot of really great plans for the next three years. Within that time he hopes to build a house for the children to permanently live in, create a classroom where they will be taught not only mechanics, but English, Vietnamese, and important life skills as well. He hopes to provide all of their meals, and be able to raise their wages. CSIP will hopefully help him obtain these goals. He said his goal is for all of the kids to eventually become self-sufficient and be able to secure a permanent job. It was great to hear about what he was doing, and also amazing to see the difference just one person can make. Because of him dozens of kids are off the streets, providing for themselves and their families.

Huong also came along on the visit, and I think she was a little nervous, because she would not let go of me the entire time. This was particularly funny when we had to climb stairs that were less than two feet wide, and she clung to my hand and walked squished up beside me.

After a few hours of learning about VIP Bikes, we headed back to the office. Because of International Women's Day, the office had been given bouquets of flowers and chocolate. Around 2 p.m. we sat around a table and had the chocolates and some other desserts to celebrate the occasion. It was at this time that I learned that Vietnam celebrates two women's days. The international women's day mandated by the UN, and their own Vietnamese women's day. I told them that we did not celebrate this day at all, and when they asked what we do to appreciate women, I told them we have Mother's day and Valentines day, but that you either need a child or a boyfriend to be included in them. I definitely think the U.S. should pick up on the women's day tradition.

While we were sitting around they all said how excited they were for the chocolate. When they finally opened the box I was shocked to see that the chocolate was green. Apparently green tea chocolates are popular here, and don't worry I tried enough of them to give my approval. Huong refused to eat them because she thought they were too pretty. Lan also refused to eat them because she is sure that she gained weight last week. She thinks it is either because she was in Saigon and ate too much without realizing, or because she was with her mother this past weekend, and her mother makes her happy and when she's happy she eats a lot.

And finally, I conclude with my FwH section. I think my next post with either be on the language or the food. Or maybe travel stories... keep putting that off.

Fun with Huong:

• I recently found out that she keeps a numbered list of every word that I teach her. She writes the English word and then the Vietnamese word right next to it. I think its at number 70 or so.
• This morning she just realized that after I leave “we will never meet again” and became very sad. Which of course made me very sad too. I promised I would make it back here someday.
• At lunch I taught her the different names for different kinds of voices. This was very fun because I would use the type of voice while I told her the word so she could remember it more easily. For example, I would say “this is a squeaky voice” while making my voice squeaky. This provided a solid twenty minutes of entertainment. I also was able to explain to her that she was soft-spoken.
• We were talking and a strand of my hair fell onto her journal. Before I had time to swat it away she grabbed it and folded it in between the pages of her notebook so she could “remember me always.”
• Five minutes ago she drew a portrait of me. Picture Japanese anime with those sparklely twinkle eyes.
• We just arm wrestled. Surprise surprise the girl with the forty pound advantage took the win.

Also, I found out I was accepted to Columbia and The Graduate Institute (international school based in Geneva, Switzerland), so I am having a very hard deciding what to choose right now! I think it will be between Georgetown and Columbia.

Why I love Hanoi

I was talking to my mother last night about my blog, and I realized that I have yet to spend any time writing about the positive aspects of Hanoi. While commuting and a few other aspects of living in Vietnam are not the best (although they do make for fun blog posts), for every not so great thing, there are about 100 amazing things about Hanoi that more than make up for any inconvenience or frustration.

So, I will make a short post to try to explain why I enjoy living here so much, and save more travel stories and a post about my Sunday with Huoung (with pictures!!!) for next time.

Hanoi is my favorite city in Asia thus far. This is largely due to the aesthetic and general vibe of the city. Hanoi has the most trees of any urban center I have seen. Almost every street is lined with trees, and there are numerous small parks that often house a fountain or intricate stone statue. Adding to the amount of nature in the city are the dozen or so lakes. The most famous lake is Hoan Kiem lake. It is at the center of the city, directly south of the 'old quarter', and is known for the amount of couples that stroll along it, the touristy red bridge that many people pay to cross, and an old, large, much loved turtle that occasionally pops up his head and draws in crowds that reach the hundreds within minutes. Below are some pictures:

I haven't figured out how to do captions yet, so the first picture is of the bridge, the second is of a structure that lies in the middle of the lake, and the third of course is the famous turtle (who is sick right now and this makes Huong very sad).

The city is also very beautifully decorated with hanging string lights, colorful flags, and lighted lanterns:


The first picture shows typical side street decor, the second is of hanging lights, many of which feature the symbol of hanoi (the pagoda looking light pattern in the center), and the third are lighted lanterns around hoan kiem lake at night.

Also there are many pagodas and temples throughout the city:



There is also a noticeable french influence:


And then of course more Asian style buildings:



The city is bustling with people (except after 10pm, then it is surprisingly dead), and has an amazing street culture. Almost everything here seems to take place on the street, or atleast spill over onto the sidewalk in some fashion. There are multiple street food vendors on almost every road, and the locals consider street food to be much better and more authentic than any traditional restaurant. They take a lot of pride in this part of their culture, which they rightly should. The food is amazing on the street, and dirt cheap. You can get a meal for 30,000 dong ($1.50), all while sitting around little plastic tables on a little plastic chair, people watching and enjoying the scenery. Typical street food set-up below:
Also on the street are many woman selling various fruits, trinkets, flowers and donuts, which add to the colorfulness and liveliness of the city:

Stores always open up onto the street as well. Below I posted pictures of what we call 'toy street'. Vendors of certain products tend to all be located on one street. There is a road for teak wood products, metal products, shoes, underwear... pretty much any good you can think of.



There are also places called 'Bia Hoi' which literally translates to 'Fresh Beer', where you can order a pint of beer from a keg for as cheap as 3,000 dong (about 12 cents). It tastes very good and is a cheaper alternative to the bottled beer (brands such as: Beer Hanoi, Saigon Beer, 333, Tiger and others). Cafes also litter the streets, serving the famous Vietnamese coffee. The country has amazing iced coffee, and usually during the weekend we stop at about three cafes to have a round of them.



Another great aspect of Hanoi is the Vietnamese people. They are all very interested in you, and try to be as helpful as possible in light of the usually huge language barrier. One of my favorite things to do is just smile at the Vietnamese that I pass on the street, because they usually excitedly wave and smile back. Or in the case of two year-olds, giggle, hide their face and run to tell their mom about the foreigner that looked at them. Little kids also love to say hello to you, which usually leads to the two of you saying hello back and forth to each other until you really should go cause its getting a little out of hand.

I learn about ten new things every day here, and there is never a dull moment. The charm and allure of the city are very hard to articulate, but I hope that I have relayed a bit of it through my descriptions and pictures. Basically, everyone who has the means and the energy should try their hardest to make it to Hanoi and the rest of Vietnam, it really should not be missed.