Burning paper and New Camels

So on Friday we went to a pagoda on Bach Mai Street and met some of Phuong's family and friends. We sat on bamboo rugs for 2 hours as monks lit incense, recited chants, banged drums, and clanged bells. It felt very spiritual to be sitting inside this old pagoda, decorated with gold writing and gold buddhas. I was one of three foreigners there, and we all felt a bit lost, not knowing when to bow our heads during the recitations. After the monks were done, we all stood around outside, trying to avoid the intense guard dogs that kept circling us. We went out back to a giant, decorated hearth and saw the pile of paper gifts for Phuong. The variety of paper goods was really amazing: a paper motorbike the size of a large dog, a giant house equipped with king size beds and dining room table, TV's, a laptop, tea set, an oven, a fan, bedding and pillows, clothes, shoes, and even a horse. Also, lots of replicated 100 dollar American bills and paper gold nuggets. Families burn money almost every month to replenish the wallets of the deceased...

On a lighter note, a new set of Connecticut College students arrived for the Vietnam study abroad program last week. We had befriended the previous group last January, so Flip (my fellow Camel in Hanoi) and I have been keeping an eye out for any potential Conn kids wandering the streets. I figured we would see them on Ta Hien Street, a place in the Old Quarter with a lot of touristy bars, shops, and Bia Hoi's; when we had first arrived in Hanoi for our abroad program three years ago, I remember this street being one of the first (and last) places we spent a lot of our time on the weekends. So on Saturday night a couple Conn graduates living in Hanoi along with myself sat around the Bia Hoi on Ta Hien Street calling out "Camel!" (our mascot) to any kids who looked like they fit the bill. We received a lot of stares and questioning glances, but no Conn kids. Flip and JD eventually gave up and went around the corner to go watch a soccer game, while Son and I headed back to our motorbike to go home. As I was getting ready to hop on, I saw four kids meandering down the street, and recognized one of them from one of my classes. Immediately I shouted "Camels!" and got a positive response... I had found the new Conn students! I explained myself, got Flip to come over, and exchanged numbers before heading home. I remember feeling so lost and somewhat scared my first week here, so I plan on taking them to some really great street food and night spots, to help them get familiar with the city. It's pretty hard finding your way around to the best local spots with, well, no local to help you out, so I'll be doing my best as a Conn Alum Tourguide. They all seemed really excited to get some insider information, so I assume I will be meeting up with them soon.

In loving memory of Phuong Do

This Saturday a couple of us got on our bikes and headed over to Phuong's house. There, we met with her mother and sister, lit incense, and left some dried fruits at her altar. Standing in front of her altar, listening to the prayer chants playing on the stereo, and looking at her picture surrounded by gifts and incense made the whole thing very real, and it was only at this moment that I realized I would never see her again. After we finished lighting the incense and placing the gifts, we sat down in a circle on the floor where her mom proceeded to pour us all tea and pass out oranges. As horrible a tragedy and intense a meeting as this was, it still opened my eyes to the experience of death in a vastly different cultural setting. In America, we have a funeral, say prayers, visit the grave and leave flowers, etc. Here, the whole concept of the spirit moving on to another world takes precedence over everything. Phuong's mother was telling us that she still sets a place for Phuong at dinner time, as she believes her spirit is still in the house. Additionally, many Vietnamese people believe that the burning of gifts will send these items into the afterlife for the deceased to use. You can buy paper versions of almost anything on the street, and we are all going to the pagoda next Friday to burn things that we think Phuong would need in the afterlife. We talked about things she cherished, and her mom mentioned that she was going to buy Phuong a pair of very expensive boots, but was never able to give her this gift. In this light, we will be burning paper boots, paper computers, paper clothes, etc. I would like to find a paper stereo or ipod or something, because I know how much she loved to listen and dance to music. Additionally, people burn letters or postcards written to their deceased loved ones, in the effort to send these messages to the afterlife. I have a letter I will bringing to the pagoda on Friday.

Phuong's altar has been set up for over a week now, and the prayer chants are played 24 hours, 7 days a week. It is believed that these chants will help send the spirit to the afterlife. Once we move her altar to the pagoda, monks will be doing the chants on daily basis. After sitting and talking about Phuong, looking at pictures from the funeral, and planning the paper burning ritual taking place next Friday, I went over to give Phuong's mom a hug. When I introduced myself as Marchie, she immediately knew who I was and said that Phuong spoke of me often, and she invited me to visit the house and Phuong's altar at any time. I felt really moved, because this made me realize what a strong friendship blossomed between Phuong and I over the span of one short year. She was one of the first girls I met when I moved to Hanoi, and her spark and positive attitude made us instantaneous friends. I feel it's only appropriate to include some pictures of her here, since she really was such a beautiful, happy girl. In honor of Phuong's fun-loving attitude and positivity we are all doing our best to smile, and celebrate her life rather than continue grieving. It's been hard, but I know that is how she would want it.

Back to my (second) home

Yes, I know a took a month's hiatus from writing, but I figured no one wanted to hear about my adventures in New York or New Jersey since they could very well go out and have their own! Before I get back to my Hanoi return, I have to comment on my original journey back to America. So I boarded the plane to Tokyo on my birthday; I was a bit bummed to spend this day alone, but I had 12 hours to walk around Tokyo and I figured, there is nothing like discovering new things for yourself on your birthday! So I arrived at Narita airport and boarded a train that took me straight into the heart of Tokyo. I got off at Tokyo station and transferred to the Tokyo Metro, and successfully made my way to Harajuku district, most well-known for it's quirky fashion shops and youth Tokyo culture. I had only changed over 100USD for the day, and was already running pretty low at this point. I guess I grossly underestimated how expensive everything was, so I strolled down Takeshita Street to witness some of the absurd things for sale. I saw a McDonald's and tried to pass by, but my lack of good 'ole American-style fastfood, and my lack of money sent me straight in to enjoy a Big Mac and some fries. McDonald's had never tasted so good; I think the key to vastly enjoying such unhealthy food is to deprive yourself of it for a year. Next, I walked around the corner to visit Meiji Shrine, which was absolutely breathtaking. I snapped a couple illegal photos inside the actual shrine before security came over and not-so-politely told me to leave.

It was really great to walk down these winding gravel roads, feeling like I was deep in the forest, but actually being in the center of one of the most bustling cities in the world.

After the shrine I wandered around nearby Shibuya district, amazed at the excellent shopping (and equally amazed at the exorbitant prices). When I later asked my father about where we used to live in Toyko, I was informed that Shibuya district is where our family spent a lot of time (we lived in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Shibuya). I guess some eerie sort of fate pulled me towards the area where I spent some very formative years. :)

I made it back to Narita Airport alive, but with significantly less money, then hopped on the plane back to the states.

I got to experience everything I wanted and more when I was home: seeing family, walking through a blizzard, going to great concerts, having fun in New York City with great friends, bonding with my sister, etc etc. I'm so grateful so have had the time and the money to make a trip home and accomplish so much.

Currently, I am sitting on my bed in my Hanoi apartment with a heater blasting warm air on my face. I thought I would be prepared for Hanoi's winter after walking around in NYC and NJ in the snow, but the coldness still hit me by surprise. This time though, I wisened up and brought my winter jacket, hat, gloves, and multiple sweaters. The real killer is the lack of insulation, so my house is literally the same temperature as it is outside, which is now a chilling 57 degrees. This little space heater was definitely worth the 23 dollars.

I met with some friends over lunch to get more information about my dear friend Phuong who passed away a couple days before I got back. I never really dealt with her passing in America because it seemed so distant, and somehow not real. But upon return to Vietnam, the whole thing kind of just slapped me in the face, and I'm feeling very thankful that I have such wonderful friends here who are going through all the grief with me. On Saturday a bunch of us will be going to her house to console her mother, light incense, and pray for her. I'm looking forward to this, as I feel it might give me some closure. As of now, I feel like I am in some sort of limbo, hearing the news but with no evidence to back anything up.

Oh, and I forgot to mention one of the things that I did not miss about Hanoi- the constant construction noises! Gosh, what bliss to wake up to a quiet house, definitely took that for granted when I was home.

Now I am going to run to the store to stock up my fridge, since I don't think I can survive on pickles and eggs for too long...

Hanoian Birthday Party!

This past Friday, my friend Phuong and I celebrated our birthdays with a big 'ole birthday bash. Phuong works at this bar/restaurant called House of Son Tinh up towards West Lake (a very posh neighborhood). Therefore, we decided to rent out the private floor and invite all of our friends. My friend Ryan has a band with three other Nigerian guys, and they call themselves The Only Reggae Band, which is very fitting because they are, indeed, the only reggae band in Ha Noi. They played a lively little set and had the whole party dancing. Upon my request, they gave a wonderful rendition of my favorite Bob Marley song, "Could You Be Loved", followed by a reggae-fied Happy Birthday. We had over 80 people show up to enjoy music, food, and drinks. The band brought a bunch of their Nigerian friends along, so we got to watch a whole group of them do some "native dancing", which was really cute and, naturally, I joined in. It was an awesome experience to have such a mix of Vietnamese and foreigners, and it turned into quite a lovely cross-cultural celebration. After the party died down, a bunch of us went to one of the few late-night spots in Ha Noi. The government has a curfew set in place, so most bars are supposed to be closed by midnight. Usually, "closing" involves shutting the doors and windows and trying to appear closed, and letting everyone stay inside. The bars only completely close when the police bust in and tell everyone to leave, which happens on a very regular basis. So, there is one "club" that is situated a bit out of the city center, bordering the Red River. It's hidden through a garage, and I have yet to see police close it down. So, given that this place was likely still open, we all hopped in taxis and made our way to Phuc Tan. There, were proceeded to dance to some out-dated techno or chat on the back porch when we needed a break. With ears ringing, we headed back out into the street and jumped into one of the taxis that was eagerly awaiting the arrival of white people.

The next morning, a couple of us met up at a favorite brunch spot, Cafe 129. This place calls itself "slow-food", which is not far from the truth, because you always end up waiting over an hour for anything to arrive... so you can only go here if you have time to sit around. This place makes the best "American breakfast" I have yet encountered; they make pancakes using imported Bisquik, which is really a huge improvement from all the other "Western pancakes" I tried before (which tend to be a lot more like tasteless crepes). After enjoying a much-needed brunch, I went with Son to his house to visit his father, who recently had knee surgery due to a motorbike accident. I had never been to Son's house before, and had been constantly warned that it was "really old", and "out of date". I think Son was a bit nervous for me to come since my house is brand new, super modern, and very clean. Given my propensity to love anything with architectural history, I had been hankering to visit his house for some time, since it had survived the war and was over 100 years old. So I finally got my chance, and really loved it. It was a very old, very traditional Vietnamese house. Small ladders took the place of stairs, and antique wooden furniture decorated the main living space. I particularly liked the kitchen, which had ancient tiles and a vast array of potted plants. Really, the whole house was a great lesson in traditional Vietnamese living; I tend to get pretty jaded living the "foreigner lifestyle" and I very much enjoyed seeing a house that had barely changed for over a century. Hopefully I will get to go back and take some photos, it had such lovely charm!

Well, my friend's band is now playing a little set down the street at Puku Cafe, so I am going to run over there and see if I can catch the end of it.

Christmas Fever

Yes, that time of year has hit Ha Noi... hard. The whole "Christmas Thing" is a relatively new phenomenon here; Son said Santa Claus and Christmas Trees appeared when he was almost out of high school, so between 5-6 years ago. Celebrating Christmas is a way to become more Western... and a way to spend some of the money that appeared after the globalization of Viet Nam's economy. I've been starting a project on Ha Noi's middle class, which is a pretty new thing as well (considering) and I'm thinking it goes hand-in-hand with the emergence of Christmas culture.

Stores have been playing English Christmas songs (although most of these tend to be techno versions, which are even more annoying than the originals). Christmas trees are appearing in the posh places in town, and animatronic dancing Santas have been lining the stores. I took a photo of a street-side Christmas shop for proof that

those scary moving Santas are unavoidable, wherever you may be. I was hoping that I would get a bit of a break from all the hokey Christmas stuff, but no luck. Since it's an even newer business here, people are really going all out. Ha Noi is covered in lights all year round anyway, but people are opting to add more, not giving much thought to discretion. It's all pretty cute in it's own Hanoian way, and I feel pretty lucky that I get to experience 2 versions of Christmas Time this month, since I will be returning with 4 days of the American Christmas frenzy to go.

I'm getting so incredibly excited to see all my family and friends, now I'm just contemplating what ridiculous gifts to bring home. Snake wine anyone?

Saigon Seafood

The weather has been amazing this weekend, and I've been doing my part to get out and enjoy it. It's been a cool 75 degrees, no humidity, and lots of sun, but since this is Ha Noi winter, everyone is in down jackets, hats, gloves, and boots.

So Son and I were driving around West Lake on a lovely Thursday afternoon and came across some men getting their chickens ready to fight. Usually I'm not a fan of cock fights, but all these guys were sitting around in a beautiful lakeside park, and I figured I might as well enjoy a

typical Vietnamese past time. Son informed me that the men breed the cocks especially for fighting and feed them all sorts

of special food. These birds are definitely the ugliest birds I've seen, and they are fed rice soaked in alcohol before a fight, apparently it gives them more stamina. So, the birds were put in the circle and went at, all the while men were shouting out bets. After about 20 minutes, they took a break to wipe the birds down, give them water, and restore their energy for round 2. These fights can go on a long time so after 20 minutes I decided I'd had enough and was back on the road.

That night we celebrated Son's birthday in style, and all met up at this place called Vine Cellar Door, that has wine tasting every Friday. It costs about 10 dollars to get 8 glasses of wine, and if you come in a group of four, you get a free pizza next door. Since we had so many people show up together, we ended up with 4 pizzas and bottles of wine that cost us 2 dollars, all and all an incredible deal. Usually I'm not a big wine drinker, but this place was really nice and had a great assortment of wine and a really nice crowd of people. I think if I'm feeling classy I will head over there again. Here's a picture of myself and Son...

On Saturday evening, a couple of my friends got together to go to this incredible street seafood that is cooked Saigon style. They had an amazing assortment of shell fish and snails, and served crab claws in a really tangy sauce. They grilled oysters filled with a light sauce, chopped shallots, fried onions, and peanuts. I've definitely never had oysters this way before, but really really enjoyed it. I'm mad at myself for not taking more photos of the food, but I was too concentrated on actually eating it.

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Freedom!

So I'm officially done with Singapore International School (well, not exactly, still have to pick up my last paycheck). The new teacher has taken over, I said goodbye to the kids and received some really cute "good luck" cards/poems/songs. I'm sad to leave some of the adorable kids behind, but excited to start living like an actual English teacher, rather than a full time classroom teacher... which is a drastically different life. All of my friends work at after school English clubs or teach English to adults. This mean they don't work every day of the week, so week nights turn into big party nights for a lot of the foreigner English teachers living in Ha Noi. Since I was doing a full-time gig, I was going to bed by 9:30pm on week nights and saving my energy for the weekends, the days that most of my teacher friends would go to bed early. So, the swap in lifestyle means seeing a lot more of my foreigner friends. Speaking of, Anneliese and Carlo officially left Ha Noi on Tuesday to go visit Egypt and then back to the states. Son and I decided to take a break from bit tet and do a different sort of street meat for their goodbye dinner. A bunch of us met up on Cau Giang road and sat down to some pans of hot oil atop a coal burner. Next, we proceeded to marinate our beef in a deliciously spicy sauce, then went on to fry the beef, along with eggplant, onions, and french fries. It was by far one of the best meals I've had on the street so far, and I will definitely be returning soon. Obviously, there is a trend developing here involving my love of street meat...Yesterday, I joined my friends Flip and Ryan for some lunch (something I was usually never able to do given my job at SIS). We met up around the corner from St. Joesph's Cathedral at the fried food lady. Here, we were taken into the "VIP room" (I think because Ryan was still in his teacher clothes) where we were able to dine with the big shots. Well, big shots were men on lunch break from some nearby financial office. You actually had to walk through the fried food lady's house to get to this room, which was slightly strange, but very typical. We had some banh goi (meat samosas), nem chua ran (friend meat rolls), nem ran (spring rolls), and bun noodles. After eating way too much fried stuff, we settled down to play some Phom, the traditional Vietnamese card game that I have mentioned in earlier posts. It is really quite addicting and I've found myself playing it at every opportunity. After I managed to win a little over 10,000 Dong, we decided to switch venues. We walked down to the corner and sat on little stools that are in the shade of St. Joseph's Cathedral. Since this is also directly next to a school, this "cafe" is called Sinh Vien Cafe (or Student Cafe, very creative, I know). Here we had some tea, played some more Phom, and watched Flip pass out tour package information to tourists. I was very much enjoying sitting next to such a lovely example of religious Architecture on a beautiful day, and thinking how cool it was that all these 8th graders have such a great after-school hangout. Honestly, I would hang out by the Drug-Fair, or Super Stop and Shop after school. These kids get to sit on the steps of one of the oldest and most famous buildings in Ha Noi... lucky.