Day Trip into the countryside

Mom and I woke up early this morning to get ready for our trip to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. We had our own private car which was an incredible luxury compared to my last experience driving to Tam Coc (squished in a bumpy bus for 3 hours with no air-con...). This time, we had an amazing tour guide that accompanied the two of us and our driver. He was quite an interesting guy... having served with the Viet Cong for five years and often working with American veterans doing tours through Saigon. He told some pretty intense stories, but was so positive about the current relations between America and Vietnam. So, mom and I had quite the history lesson during our two and a half hour ride into the countryside. He knew everything about everything (his family has lived in Hanoi for over 19 generations!) and was always ready with more information at very turn. Our first stop was at Hoa Lu, the original capital city of Vietnam over 1,000 years ago. Most of the city no longer exists, but a temple was constructed in honor of king Dinh who reigned for a whopping 12 years; We arrived in a slight drizzle which made the tour of this recently renovated temple (to prepare for the 1,000 year anniversary of Hanoi) all the more mystical. Pictures below-

Next, we drove through a maze of limestone rock formations into the city of Tam Coc. I had been three years earlier, but the city has expanded so much since my last visit. We sat down to a traditional Vietnamese lunch at a gorgeous restaurant with sweeping views of the landscape. The whole area specializes in mountain goat meat so I enjoyed a nice portion of that. Afterwards, we headed down to get into our little sampan with a very nice old lady and her son. The two of them then proceeded to paddle us down a river through limestone mountains, rice paddies, and caves. This gave me a good opportunity to practice my Vietnamese, and was pretty proud of myself for mostly accurate communication with the two boat rowers. I could go on and on in exquisite detail, but will instead post pictures because I'm feeling a tad bit lazy...

Terror Subsiding

Just as the post title suggests, my mother's terror concerning the traffic has begun to subside. She is now able to walk across the street without clutching onto my arm and grimacing in fear.I believe it was a combination of culture shock and jet-lag that left her previously convinced that I needed to move home immediately. By day four she's a lot more comfortable with the traffic situation and doesn't fear for my life at every turn.Yesterday we took a short walk to the Temple of Literature. It's only a 5 minute stroll from my house, but I had yet to actually visit. It is 1,000 years old and absolutely gorgeous. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

I took her to the biggest covered market today. More impressive than the market was the fact that she insisted on driving her rented motorbike in a very intense market neighborhood. Upon making it out of that area alive, we continued our drive around the Old Quarter and parked our bikes to do a little bit of tourist shopping. Naturally I tend to shy away from the whole tourist scene in the attempt to preserve my "local image" but I made an exception today. Speaking a bit of Vietnamese to the vendors always helps...

Last night my mother got the opportunity to meet some of my Hanoian friends over dinner. We went to Highway 4 for some traditional Vietnamese, and my friends think my mom is quite a funny lady (who doesn't?). Tonight we are meeting Anneliese and Carlo for some amazing Indian food (not sure why, but I've had the best Indian food of my life in Viet Nam). Naturally we are going to end the evening in the spa, and then I will head out with some friends to a DJ party.

Tomorrow we are doing a bit of a motorbike city tour (with my local friend Son functioning as motorbike tour guide) and then going to my friend's restaurant for lunch. I think a trip to the Mausoleum will make it's way into our Sunday as some point as well...

Monday we are taking a day trip out into the countryside into the village of Tam Coc. I had been there once before 3 years ago and thought it was absolutely breathtaking, so I'm very excited for my mom to get a taste of the countryside. Tam Coc is commonly compared to Ha Long Bay, as it is a river that runs through limestone rock formations. Expect many pictures...

Mom's arrival!

My mom has finally arrived! I managed to show her a bit of the city before the jet-lag officially kicked in. I even got her on the back of my motorbike (albeit for a short distance...) but I count it as a success nonetheless. She was quite gung-ho about getting on a motorbike and flexing her driving muscles, but once rush hour hit, her original excitement was replaced by anxiety. I couldn't blame her- Ha Noi rush hour is definitely it's own brand of intense. We grabbed a late lunch at Puku (a lovely new cafe opened up down the street from my house in a restored French mansion) where she enjoyed her first official plate of Vietnamese spring rolls... naturally mine are better. We ended our day with some sauna, steam room, and jacuzzi time in the hotel spa (a very non-Hanoian evening).

By day two, mom was ready and rearing to get onto a bike and "dive into the Hanoian lifestyle". This worried me a bit but upon persistence, I made a call to my motorbike guy, and an hour later, she is driving behind me on a blue Yamaha Mio. I took her on a quick loop around Hoan Kiem Lake (one of the more scenic drives in Ha Noi) and she did quite well. As long as I keep her off the streets during rush hour, she'll be fine. Looks like all the Vespa infatuation has really paid off! I'm taking her to Bit Tet tonight, my favorite "street meat" place, hopefully she doesn't get too afraid.

Mom is staying in Silk Path Hotel, right around the corner from my apartment. It has only been open for 3 months, and is stupendously beautiful. Her room is hand-picked (I came here a month earlier to guarantee that the room had an amazing view) and all the hallways are flanked with glass. I came over this morning to enjoy an "American Breakfast" together, and was very enthusiastic when a huge meal arrived with a side of coco-crispies. I haven't had cereal in some time, so it really was quite the treat. All this in addition to the spa leave me feeling rather spoiled. But my mom is here, this is how it's supposed to be!

False Alarm...

I was all hunkered down in my apartment (a big improvement from last week's flood, considering the fact that I was IN IT) and ready for this storm to arrive. The wind got pretty intense so I decided to go up on my roof to watch it roll in. This proved unsuccessful since, well, no storm really came. It was basically heavy wind and a little rain, so all my preparation efforts were in vain. Apparently the storm hit the coast pretty hard, killing around 50 villagers and fisherman, but Hanoi remained A-Ok. I'm a bit relieved since I didn't want my mom to arrive to 3 ft of water. Speaking of, I'm getting so excited for her to get here! I've got quite the itinerary planned for her week in Hanoi, since we will be taking it very easy during our relaxing stay at a Spa in Phu Quoc. Many pictures will surely follow. Right now I'm in the process of planning my own traveling plans after she leaves HCMC to return to the states. She is basically boarding a plane and I will be in Saigon with a week or two of free time and nice hunk of travel money in my pocket (thanks Gran and Geeka!!!!). I've worked so ridiculously hard these past few months that I'm really ready to kick-back and take in some more of the country. I think I will end up taking a bus north from Ho Chi Minh City into Nha Trang, a city that has what is considered some of the most beautiful mainland beaches in Viet Nam (word on the street, Phu Quoc has the most beautiful beaches in the country so, luckily, my mom and I can enjoy that together). My intention at this point is to just wing it once my mom leaves, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

On the home front (as in, Hanoi) my best friend Anneliese and her boyfriend Carlo have decided to move to Hanoi to work here for a bit. Right now they are in the process of applying for jobs and finding a place to live, which comes as a bit of a relief to me since I won't have to worry about making them comfortable in my place. I'm definitely very excited to see where they end up, since there are so many great parts of the city to live in! I must admit that I'm a bit biased concerning my current living location, since it seems to be spot in the middle of everything and quite beautiful... :)

Typhoon Conson

So the Philippines was recently hit by a pretty major tropical storm, Typhoon Conson. There's been a rising death toll, I think it's reached above 50 now. The storm was supposed to head for China but, apparently, it took a sudden turn and will be colliding with Northern Viet Nam. Lucky for me, Ha Noi is in the North, so the city has a major storm warning right now. The American Embassy issued a warning, stating that everyone should stock up on food and water in case the storm doesn't lose any momentum. My friend Eric and I decided to grab some breakfast then head to the grocery store... just in case. I guess a lot of people had the same idea because the FiviMart was a mad house! There was a good amount of pushing, shoving, and children running around in a frenzied state. I picked up some salmon fillets (along with a nice amount of candy) so I could at least enjoy a quality meal if cooped up in my house. A majority of the city is getting pretty worried about the potential flooding, but my friend Son just told me that the storm changed direction yet again and Ha Noi will be safe. Every Vietnamese person I talk to has a different opinion of what is going to happen tonight. At this point, I will just have to wait it out, and be thankful that I live on the 5th floor.

Oh, and this is a great website that has a bunch of pictures from the flood that happened a couple days ago... click here

Monsoon Commute

The Year End Concert came and went... thank goodness! The concert basically consisted of me running around like a mad woman getting students into costumes, out of costumes, back into costumes, and then back to their seats. I only managed to "misplace" two children during one of their recorder performances; So, all in all, I measure it as a success. Unfortunately, my camera froze after recording only one performance! The one that I managed to get (mostly) is attached below for your viewing pleasure. :)

So- I have one more day of school left, and I was feeling pretty lucky that I never had to make my daily commute in the rain... until today. And it wasn't just rain, it was an incredible monsoon that was pouring buckets by the second. Usually these things pass after 5-10 minutes of rain, so I decided to wait it out and head into school a bit later than usual. After an hour of pouring rain, it didn't let up. I begrudgingly slid on my poncho and headed out on my bike. The amount of water splashing into my face was a bit too much, and I had to take it very slow since my contacts were literally being rained out of my eyes. The heavy rain hitting me through the poncho wasn't the worst part of it all... it was the flooding. Almost my entire route to work was completely flooded with over 2 feet of water. I was a bit nervous that my bike would give out with all the water, but I managed to make it through. Knowing that the numerous pot holes and other random obstacles in the street were still there, but covered completely by muddy flood water made it all the more scary. I essentially crossed my fingers and drove through, resulting in some very wet pants but successful avoidance of anything that could knock me off my bike. Apparently floods like this don't happen too often, so I was just incredibly unlucky that I had to drive through it. The most unlucky part of the day was the fact that I left my passport at home, and since I needed to scan it today in order to get my visa renewed, I had to spend my lunch break braving the weather, yet again, in order to pick it up. With all the flooding, the main street back to my house was in stand-still car traffic. Having a motorbike came in handy here as I was able to drive up on the sidewalks and squeeze between fenders. The traffic was so bad that I had to head the wrong direction down one-way streets just to get back to my house. After picking up my passport, I was out in the rain again, although the floods had subsided a bit and I only had to drive through two heavy flood areas. By 5pm, the sun was shining, and all evidence of the floods had gone. I was quite relieved that I didn't have to put my feet into some Hanoi run-off again. In fact, I should shower it all off right now.

Almost done...

Report cards printed, copies made, portfolios completed... all that's left is speaking to parents (which will probably be the hardest part of it all considering the language barrier) and the Year End Concert. Speaking of, we had a walk-through rehearsal at the Ha Noi National Convention Center where the concert is being held. This place is HUGE and the kids look like ants dancing around the stage. The Convention center is absolutely stunning, with a very modern ceiling that looks like rolling waves (supposed to be reminiscent of a dragon) grand staircases, and a gigantic head of Ho Chi Minh. The bust of Uncle Ho was particularly funny since they had to move it off the stage when we came in to do the walk0through. I was standing in the wings with my class waiting to go on stage when all of a sudden this monumental shoulder pokes through the curtain. I pushed my kids back towards the wall, not sure exactly what was to follow. Sure enough, the tell-tale Ho Chi Minh wisdom beard peaked through next, followed by the hint of a smile and his gigantic golden eyes. The huge bust was being carried by 5 grunting men, which actually gave the impression that Ho Chi Minh himself was grunting from the weight of his colossal head. Just as they found a place to put him down, one of my students thought it would be a good idea to turn off the lights. Of course, screaming ensues, and the guys struggling with Ho Chi Minh got very upset as they did not want to injure any part of their dear Uncle Ho. After some berating, the lights were on, Ho was in a nice resting spot, and my kids filed onto stage. As we were heading out, I noticed a bunch of cameras and lights in an area to my left. Sure enough, it was auditions for Viet Nam Idol, which I found particularly funny. Some of the clothes being sported by the wannabe Idols were, erm, interesting to say the least. I had half a mind to get in line and sign up, but then figured that I can't sing any Vietnamese songs so I wouldn't be much of a hit...
I've begun to expand my range of Vietnamese dishes, with some My Xao Hai San my most recent success (stir fried noodles with seafood and vegetables). I also just purchased a cute little rice cooker, but am waiting for a friend to show me how to use it correctly, since they tend to be a bit fussy. We have an ancient rice cooker at home from Japan which is so easy to use and always produces perfect rice. I was expecting the same level of excellence since my rice cooker is Asian and all, but no dice. If the amount of water isn't perfect, neither is the rice. Hmpf! Once I get that down, some nice rice stir-fry is next up.
2 short weeks until my mom arrives! Getting so excited to show her around, hopefully the jet lag doesn't leave her impression of her initial week in Ha Noi to be a lackluster daze.
Well, I'm off to put my John Hancock on 45 report cards... the last official part of my paperwork until a month of freedom!

Dress Rehearsal... in 100 Degree Weather....

Sadly enough, my 4th of July was incredibly uneventful. The American Club in Ha Noi was hosting a 4th of July party but upon arrival, I found the admittance fee to be completely exorbitant and unreasonable. This was obviously due to the fact that they were trying to attract Americans who tend to have a lot of money in comparison to your Vietnamese average Joe (or, average Nguyen I should say). I ended up getting some pizza with friends (which was the most easily accessible "American" food I could locate on short notice). Afterwards, we went to watch the final tennis match, then straight home to bed. Now, I am sitting in a hot classroom while many friends currently in the USA are probably quite intoxicated and watching fireworks somewhere. Definitely felt my July 4th to be lacking in Independence day spirit, so I did miss home quite a lot.

Today, we had our dress rehearsal for the school concert. This involved getting every single student into costume and then proceeding to sit them outside in 100 degree weather until it was their turn to perform. Since Year 3 also has to play two different recorder songs, all of my students require two costumes. This means that I have to painstakingly button-up 40 Ao Dais (the traditional Vietnamese long dress for both girls and boys), take them off to get them into hip-hop clothes, then change them back into their long dresses for a final recorder performance. Here I've included a picture so you get the idea of how ridiculous it is to take these things on and off and on and off again is incredibly hot weather (and yes, the head pieces are an integral part of the whole ensemble). Dressing fussy kids is hard enough, but add heat and sweat to the mixture, and changing clothes becomes a nearly impossible task. All the long pieces of silk were sticking to the students so I could barely get it around their chests to button-up along the side. Needless to say, it's 30 minutes past noon and I am dead tired. Once this Year End Concert is over, I am going to be living a whole lot easier. And I wouldn't mind never having to fasten Ao Dai buttons again...