As quickly as they arrived, they are gone again! Came back home to an apartment with a good deal less clutter. Was almost thinking I was robbed until I saw the note from Anneliese. They left a bunch of their bags, so that means they will inevitably return, but I have the house back to myself for a while. Her and Carlo are off to tour northern Viet Nam (most notably Ha Long Bay) while I am here, teaching.... but I can't complain. Having a motorbike has made things a heck of a lot easier. I've made it almost an entire week with not even a hint of a possible accident (which was almost daily on my bicycle), so becoming motorbike mobile has been quite the improvement; I no longer have to wear a "biking outfit" to school (since my work clothes would be drenched with sweat upon arrival). And I figure that if I can ride a motorbike in rush hour traffic twice a day, I can do anything... meaning architecture grad school should be no problem. =)
Don't have too much else to report... just started rehearsing with my classes for the year-end concert. My morning class is doing Michael Jackson's "Black or White" and my afternoon class decided on ABBA's "Money Money Money". I think the song choices speak for themselves and the show will prove to be... hmm... quite interesting. Teaching a class of twenty 3rd graders to dance is no easy task, especially when they are on the cusp of worrying what other students will think of them. I've been teaching the shimmy, which has been a real hit, but most of my other dance moves haven't gone over quite so well. Could really use some dancing friends to help me out here, but all the dancers I know are in NYC... which is a bit too far of a commute to teach Vietnamese school children. My classes were all very taken with the SIS talent show hip hop performance, and I think my students were under the impression that they could, as a whole, whip out some hip hop moves with no trouble. Well, the breakdancing was a failure (had a boy crying by the end of that attempt), the popping and locking was non-existent, and basically any sort of rhythmic stepping is just out of the question. We're at the point where they just shake around and shout, and I'm satisfied. I will have to buy a new camera before the show, because it's going to be too ridiculous to miss.

Best friends and motorbikes

My best friend from home, Anneliese, arrived in Hanoi this past weekend. She was living and teaching in China for six months, until her and her boyfriend decided to pack up all their things and head over my way. So far I am doing my best to be the best tour guide possible, taking them to all my favorite street food spots, bars, parks, etc. Since I finally decided to invest in a scooter (riding a bicycle in 90 degree weather just wasn't cutting it...) Son, Carlo, Anneleise and myself took a motorbike day trip to Ba Vi National Park, a bit less than a 2 hour drive from Hanoi. Her boyfriend did a very good job in Hanoi traffic, considering they had been living in a rural community in China. After a couple pit stops involving cold drinks, guitar playing, and Italian folk music (Carlo managed to draw some considerable crowds on the side of the road) we made it to Ba Vi. Anneliese and I ended up with some pretty intense sunburn stripes on our legs after the drive, but we hiked up to the top of the mountain despite the burn, and were very pleased with the result. We made it up about 400 stone stairs to a pagoda on the top of a mountain. The views were, of course, breath-taking... and the cooler air was a very welcome change from driving through what felt like an oven for the past hour. After snapping a couple photos and nabbing some hammocks in an effort to rest our bones, we all mounted the bikes and headed back down the mountain pass. With every curve, the heat started to rise, and by the time we reached to bottom, we were back in the Vietnam sun. We managed to make it back to Hanoi around 7pm... putting Carlo in rush hour traffic on a Saturday night, which made me incredibly nervous for him and Anneliese. I kept turning around to check on their progress while Son, driving our bike, kept telling me to sit still and focus on the road. When we got back to my apartment I was very relieved that we all made it back in one piece... since rush hour is not a pretty thing after recently arriving from the countryside. We ended our weekend with a Sunday morning trip to the market to buy (surprise, surprise) spring roll supplies. I decided it would be a good idea to pass along my spring roll making skills to Anneliese, who is always eager to learn something new to cook. After enjoying our "snack", we walked down the block to the local Bia Hoi (Carlo's guitar in tow) and proceeded to meet some very interesting people... per usual. We ended up meeting an old Vietnamese Opera singer, who, after a couple beers, started belting out Pavarotti tunes... much to our enjoyment. Carlo responded with a couple folk tunes of his own, then handed his guitar off to a very old man that began singing Vietnamese folk tunes (with a voice that sounded like it had been cut with a chainsaw). When the locals started getting a bit too drunk, we decided to pack up and head to my favorite street food, Bit Tet. Bit Tet comes served on an iron platter, sizzling with an egg, a beef steak, pate, and some fried potatoes... all for 28,000 dong (or about 2 USD). Since I had work the next day, I had to wave goodbye to my friends and drive my scooter back home, while they went out to enjoy some Hanoian night life. It's definitely hard sitting in my classroom right now while Carlo and Anneliese are out exploring, but I'm so happy to know they are enjoying Hanoi that it makes my day that much better. Right now, I'm working on convincing the two of them to stay here after they travel around Vietnam a bit (or until their money runs out!). Students are returning to class in a minute, so I have to start looking like I am doing something important... maybe grading homework books with a giant red marker... that always gets them going.

Getting Antsy

I am lucky enough to live on the fifth floor of my building, meaning that cockroaches and rats never seem to make it up this far. At first climbing so many flights of stairs was an incredible hassle (especially when carrying groceries, books, or furniture). But upon hearing cockroach and rat horror stories from friends living in Ha Noi (here I will do you the favor of not going in to detail...) I realized that my apartment's relative height is actually a blessing. But the one creature that can get into any place at any height in any condition, are ants. Tiny little ants ranging from black, to white, to red, come in droves when the smallest hint of food is present. I tend to be a very clean person in general, but I have amped up my cleaning routines in response to Vietnam's ant situation. I thought I had been doing a pretty good job wiping down my countertop and making sure all my food is tightly closed and put away, but, sure enough, every morning I would wake to find ants all over my sink and counter, marching in a tightly-packed line towards or away from some invisible food source. My biggest problem was keeping my sugar safe. Even after purchasing a tightly lidded sugar jar, I would find at least 50 ants in sugar-induced comas moving lethargically within my sugar jar. After a couple months of unsuccessfully combating my ant issues (and pouring a heck of a lot of sugar down the drain), I decided to enlist some local help. My friend Son told me to put my sugar jar in a bowl of water. It seemed a bit silly, but sure enough, after filling a bowl of water and placing the jar in the middle, my sugar has gone untouched for over a week now. Now that I had the sugar under control, I wanted to deal with ant entry; the place where my countertop meets the wall has a couple cracks in it, and I have seen ant lines disappear into these cracks on far too many occasions. This time, I was told to use crushed-up chalk wherever ant lines were present. I felt that something so simple couldn't possibly solve my endless ant problem, but figured I would at least give it a try. After swiping a couple pieces of chalk from my classroom, I came home, crushed them up, and sprinkled the dust along the problem spots on my countertop. Four days later, no sign of ants! I couldn't believe it! (I was so excited I even chose to include a photo of my chalked-up countertop and floating sugar jar)
Moral of the story.... listen to the locals!











And as promised, I have posted a video that shows the view from the rooftop balcony of my apartment. Pretty cool, eh?

CAMA Music Festival

My last post seems to have been a foresight into what had happened to me on Thursday. Yes, I got in my first motorbike "accident". Nothing too serious, I was sitting sideways on the back of a bike and a guy came by with a giant wooden dresser lashed to his motorbike. Needless to say, the dresser got a bit too close and clocked me on both my knees! It wouldn't have been that bad if I got hit anywhere else, but since I was hit directly on my kneecaps, any bending of my legs resulted in some pain. I didn't go to school the next day with the intention of giving my knees a rest; I wanted the bruising to go down as soon as possible so I would be all set and ready for CAMA on Saturday night! Along with Saturday being the biggest music festival in Hanoi, it was the last night that the Connecticut College SATA group was in Vietnam. The weather was perfect (if not a little too hot...) so we spent the afternoon at a pool at Thang Loi Hotel, which is one of the first luxury hotels opened in Hanoi. It is overlooking West Lake and is absolutely beautiful. After leaving the pool sans-sunburn (this was quite the feat) we all got ready to go to the music festival. After having some seafood noodles down the street from my house, a couple girls and myself arrived at CAMA around 7. The first band was a Japanese rock band featuring a very impressive lead female vocalist who also played guitar. The group did a great job, but the real show-stopper of the evening was Dengue Fever. Based in LA but featuring a Cambodian woman as their singer, the music could best be described as "groovy ethnic". Despite the 90 degree weather, I still danced like crazy, and by the time the set was over, everyone looked like they had just gotten out of a shower, fully clothed. After Dengue Fever finished their set, we ran into the drummer and bassist on the patio, and chatted with them a bit about their music style, dance moves, etc. Their music has been featured on the 'Weeds' soundtrack, so any fans of the show would recognize their stuff. If anyone is interested, "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" is their most famous song, go check it out if you have some free time! The festival was absolutely amazing, with a separate tent dedicated solely to DJs, so the dancing went on well into the night. I've taken it pretty easy on Sunday, recuperating from the CAMA extravaganza, and preparing myself for teaching swimming tomorrow morning at 8am. Apparently along with the PE teacher, and teacher aide, the expat teacher is required to swim with the students. I'm a little wary about showing up in a bikini around twenty 9 yr olds so I'm just going to wear a t-shirt in the water in a last ditch effort to maintain a modest appearance. I'll be letting you know how that goes....

Unification Day

This weekend was rather hectic, since the city was celebrating the unification of Northern and Southern Viet Nam. Due to the fact that it was a long weekend, many Hanoians skipped out of town to do some traveling. It was wonderful to walk along on the semi-deserted streets... until they started filling up with people from the countryside. According to my friend Son, about 90% of the accumulating crowds were from nearby provinces, all coming into Ha Noi to celebrate and watch the fireworks. We started walking from my apartment with the intention of reaching the lake to see the fireworks, but were soon swallowed up in a massive mob filled with babies, children, motorbikes, and A LOT of pushing and shoving. Getting close to the lake was physically impossible, so we tried to head the other direction, but things started to get pretty hairy behind us as well. We ended up immobile until the fireworks ended and had to be really physical to actually get moving. Having celebrated Tet (Vietnamese New Year), and seeing the absurd crowds on the street, I had never expected that the streets could get any worse. Well, they did. It was so incredibly overwhelming to have 10 blocks packed with people and motorbikes. An hour later, we made it 3 blocks to the Bia Hoi corner, where we took a seat and played the "countryside or Hanoi" game. Obviously my Vietnamese friends were a lot better at picking out who was from the countryside, but I started to get the hang of it after 30 minutes or so. Apparently, people from the countryside try really hard to dress nicely, with the intention of impressing the "city folk". Along with clothing, the wide-eyed stares and meandering walk of a lost person became a dead giveaway. It was a nice change from our usual game of "guess where the foreigner is from" (I've gotten quite adept at this one as well...).
Before the madness of Unification Day, I was riding my bicycle home on a Thursday, incredibly excited for my upcoming four day weekend. I must preface this story with a little bit of information about the traffic police in Ha Noi. Two guys hang out on street corners with cream-colored helmets, uniforms, and batons (they look very similar to space troopers from Star Wars). When people drive by without helmets, or are driving "dangerously" (very ambiguous term since traffic laws are essentially non-existent), the cops bolt out into traffic waving batons and get people to pull over. SO- as I'm merrily pedaling towards my home, this young Vietnamese guy swerves around me at an incredible speed. Directly in front of me, a traffic cop runs into the road swinging his baton to get this absurd young guy to pull over. This little guy was having none of it, and sped up in an effort to lose the policeman. The cop, sensing this intention, whips out his baton and smacks the driver on the face. The guy's glasses broke off his face, and then his bike tipped sideways and he slid on the road, resulting in lost shoes, ripped pants, and some pretty serious damage to his bike. At this point I was so shocked that my jaw was almost touching my handlebars. I barely had time to avoid his bike on the street. As the young kid gets up, he has a major welt already forming on his head from the policeman's baton, but the cop was insanely angry and started yelling at him to move his bike and get his shoes out of the street.... like it was the motorbike driver's fault. This is one of the more absurd things I've seen in heavy traffic, and I am now even less inclined to purchase a motorbike. This "incident" was quite a start to my vacation...