Hip Hop Hanoi

Sorry it has taken me a bit to post, things seem to just disappear in Hanoi (like the internet). On the other hand, things have randomly been appearing as well. Earlier this week I came home from school to find that a door had been installed to my bedroom. Granted, I live alone, so a door is not completely necessary, but I've been sleeping with it closed for the sole reason that I actually have one. Yesterday, after riding 30 minutes in the sun on the back of a motorbike, I came home to discover that an air conditioner was hooked up in my bedroom. This was a wonderful discovery, since the use of the aircon and my door together produce a wonderfully cool room. I had resorted to leaving my windows open for a breeze, but the mosquitoes have begun to be a bit of a problem; waking up to a loud buzzing in my ear is never an enjoyable thing. Another life improvement- a bath pouf! I have moved on up from the bar of soap and, oh my, such luxury. Next step, mosquito net.... and maybe another pillow....
So this past Sunday I made my way over to Vincom Towers (a Vietnamese version of a shopping mall) and managed to get tickets to see Alice in Wonderland 3D. Although the movie was incredibly fantastic, the biggest thrill of it all was the crowd at the theater. Fighting my way through a "line" of Vietnamese families was quite the challenge, but after ten minutes of pushing and shoving I managed to get into the theatre. Little Vietnamese kids have a rather peculiar reaction to violence, as they were laughing and cheering when heads were cut off, or blood went flying. In an American movie theatre, kids would be crying as mothers quickly ushered them from the theatre. I wonder what makes the difference?
There is a strange concert going on down the street from me right now. I'm not sure if concert is the right word, because that would mean that the person singing has some sort of talent. Right now, from what I gather, a rather old man is chanting on a microphone to a techno beat. After listening to children scream and shout all day, then hearing hundreds of motorbikes honking on my commute, getting back home to the quiet of my apartment is the best feeling... but that is obviously not happening this evening. Rather disappointed, but it's almost Friday, and one of my best friends is arriving Saturday, so even listening to this absurd "music" can't get me down.
Speaking of concerts, I went to a hip hop concert a week ago featuring a rather well-known artist from the group Jurassic 5. The show was absolutely stellar, as the 5 ft tall black guy got into the crowd and was dancing with people while free-styling. I was in the front and basically had my nose against his shins, but was loving every second of it. It cost me a whopping 10 dollars to see Akil and three other DJs. This weekend is a 3 day long outdoor music event that costs 5 dollars, and I will definitely be going. Saturday night is "experimental DJ" night, should prove to be very interesting. Surprisingly, a lot of considerably well-known artists have recently been frequenting Hanoi. Girl Talk was here last year (for those of you who don't know, Girl Talk is a very popular "mash-up" artist in the college scene).
Next weekend the staff of Singapore International is having a Vietnamese cooking class. This includes being taken into the market, identifying ingredients (this being one of the most difficult tasks of cooking in Vietnam) and then learning how to make 6 different dishes. Although it is at 8am on a Saturday (my mother will know that waking up this early on a Saturday is a BIG deal for me) I really want to learn to cook some traditional Hanoian food, so I shall be up and at it very early.
It's a little after 5pm and I think I'm going down the street to get some seafood noodles (discovered an AMAZING seafood spot around the corner that is, shocker, incredibly inexpensive).