About a year ago, we were interviewing for international teaching jobs. Once we accepted our current post, I began reading. I mean READING about Vietnam. From internet blogs to every.single.book. in our city library and some I purchased from the internet.
Here is a list of things I found to be commonly held beliefs about Vietnam:
1. You (big fat Americans, or anyone over 5'8") will not be able to find clothes or shoes to fit you.
False! I bought an absolutely cute skirt and a pair of boots last weekend. It was in our 'western' part of town, but it is a part of Hanoi: 2012. Plus, you can get anything you want tailored. If I wanted to, I could get shoes cobbled. Seriously, cobbled. I just have to go to Shoe Street or Hoi An (a city famous for their tailors and cobblers).
2. There are no imported foods like cheese, cereal, tortillas, or salsa.
False! Our local shop has most of these things and I know where to find the other items....just down our road. Prices are high and selection is low, but these things are available.
3. Everyone is going to scam you.
False! Admittedly, some Vietnamese people are trying to scam you . By saying that everyone is, you are painting an entire country with the same brush. Who hasn't been scammed in some other city, (by gasp), a non-Vietnamese person. Just be careful and pay attention to where that taxi is taking you. If you see the same side of the lake twice or they don't run the meter, get out! Otherwise, there are a couple of other scams running in the Old Quarter run by girls who speak English really well-they ask you to buy toothpicks and then try to snatch your wallet. Just walk away from these girls. If you don't stop, you won't get robbed, by them at least.
I've heard some people say that the higher prices for foreigners is a 'scam'. I disagree. Yes, the prices are a bit higher for us here than they are for local people. However, prices are super low here on everything except for gas. I don't really mind paying a couple of extra cents more. That is all it really amounts to. Quibbling over a nickle is not worth it to me.
4. Street food will make you sick.
Jury is still out on this one. Jeff and I haven't been very sick while living here but we mostly go to places were we can see them cooking the food. Plus, we cook (ahem) Jeff cooks a lot at home. I don't really understand people's fear of street food. I love Bun Cha and they cook it all on the side of the road with couple of hot coals. Love it! We get chicken on a stick from our "chicken on a stick lady" and she laughs at us and our attempts at speaking Vietnamese. I think we are a novelty and she expects us to speak Vietnamese because we eat like Vietnamese people. Pull over our motorbikes and get a couple of sticks of meat. Get back on the motorbikes.
5. You will get robbed.
True- Most people I know have been robbed here. Including me! I know part of the blame was me and the way I was holding my purse on my motorbike. The other part of the blame was the robbers (of course). Now, I do things differently when I get on my bike. I have down sized my purse so it fits either in the seat of my motorbike or inside my jacket. I think for hot weather, I will put it in my bike seat. Of course, I have to remember to take it out of the seat when I get off the bike. Breaking into my bike seat is easy.
Here are some other precautions we take when going out and about. We don't pack more than one ATM card. Either I take one or Jeff takes one but not both of us. That way, if we do get robbed there is still an ATM card at home. This isn't only because we might be robbed, but getting a new ATM card is a huge pain due to banking hours and locations. We could leave both at home but sometimes we need extra cash. Depends on what we are doing that day. Jeff puts his wallet in a buttoned pocket or his front pocket. We try not to have a lot extra cash with us. Just enough for the day's activities. A lot of the time, I won't even take a purse if we are going to the Old Quarter. Although, thieves wouldn't notice me in the sea of backpackers walking around the Old Quarter with their backpacks and giant cameras screaming rob me instead of Janet.
Those are just five things I read again and again about Hanoi and Vietnam. I'm not sure if they were written by people who were just here for a few weeks or by people who generally didn't like Vietnam. Regardless, it is nice to see how things really are for yourself.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Jeff's Thoughts on Life Recently
Exam weeks.
Yes "weeks"- plural.
Today my students had a Chinese test for 60 minutes. We have been instructed that they cannot, CANNOT get up or go to the restroom. I cannot start teaching even if everyone is done. So students were finished in 12, 20 and 22 minutes. It was a looooooooong time for them to sit quietly and read a book. They did it though! Only one thing went horribly wrong... everyone asked me questions! I know slightly between 4 and 5 words in Chinese. I can read slightly less Chinese, between 0 and 0 words. There happened to be two big mistakes/misprints/typos on the test. Since I can't leave the class and the Chinese teacher is running between 6 classes, help was nowhere to be found. After about 7 minutes, I grabbed a teacher who was walking by and asked her to find and send the Chinese teacher over. She promptly gave them the answers and said that it was a bad copy.
Don't you just love watching kids sweat every morning for 60-80 minutes over a test!
And...(I know, never use and at the beginning of a sentence, but it's my blog and I'll write what I want and have Janet correct me later)...And it is raining so my kids have to stay inside for break and lunch and snack. It is times like this that I wish I was one of those horrible teachers/people who like to punish kids. They are getting punished today by the rain and the tests and it makes me miserable.
It gets better/worse! I can type this because they are in the midst of a second, surprise test (given by their EPP teacher)! Hooray! They are taking an EPP (English Preparatory something) test right after their Chinese test, and right before I give them their English written test tomorrow...and Monday. "Two English tests?" you ask... Nope 4!
To add to the joy of test weeks, the weather outside has looked like this for the last 4 weeks:
I found that it was the same image whether I made it in paint or took a picture.
I did get 2 days of intense sunshine and thought I might die of heat stroke in Saigon though. I went down for my second softball tournament. This time I went with my Hanoi team, the Bad News Bums. We tied for last place but had a great time. Due to peoples' work schedules we brought our infield but none of our outfield. We had some really great guys fill in, they were great to hang out with and I'd love to grab a beer with them again. They don't play in the local league and were a little bit out of practice.
It was fun to see the same guys I met during the September tournament. They were pushing to have a Hanoi or halfway tournament. Personally, I'd like to do the halfway tourney. That means we would be in Danang or Na Trang. Both in central Vietnam and both by the beach! Either way I hope our outfield comes, it is made up of 4 tough guys who can field and hit the ball like it insulted their mother.
Despite our atrocious losses (19-5, 15-0, 17-0 and 14-5) I went 10 for 12 and stood tall at third base, we just couldn't put 3 base runners on in a row without getting 3 outs in a row. If you're a score keeper, I actually went 9-12 because of a FC to put a guy out at second.
I also got my new bat right before the tournament!!
This bad boy right here:
It is USSSA legal and feels sweet to hold, but it is still in the plastic.
As Jeremy, our PE teacher who also lived in CWE only 3 houses away from me in the mid 90s, and I were taking practice swings in my classroom at the end of the day (as any good teacher does), I got an email from our captain.
"Another quick note from the tourney. No outside bats, all bats will be provided."
Crap.
Our spring season starts in March so the bat will stay wrapped up and unused until then.
We recently went to Indonesia as I'm sure everyone knows from our well written, in-depth, riveting opinion altering post. If I had to pick a last meal, I'd have some oysters, crab, rendang, flying fish roe, rare/raw steak, wings from Jeffersons and Buffalo Wild Wings and Indo Mie rasa Kari Ayam.
So I brought back a bunch of Indo Mie to Hanoi. This morning I opened a pack to make lunch and not one, but TWO bumbu/cabe packs were in it! I shouted "Aww Hell Yeah!" just like Will Smith in every movie, and Janet commented that she hadn't seen me that excited in a while. If you've ever had Indo Mie, you know how great this morning was. It was GREAT! I can have an extra Kari Ayam meal!
Yes "weeks"- plural.
Today my students had a Chinese test for 60 minutes. We have been instructed that they cannot, CANNOT get up or go to the restroom. I cannot start teaching even if everyone is done. So students were finished in 12, 20 and 22 minutes. It was a looooooooong time for them to sit quietly and read a book. They did it though! Only one thing went horribly wrong... everyone asked me questions! I know slightly between 4 and 5 words in Chinese. I can read slightly less Chinese, between 0 and 0 words. There happened to be two big mistakes/misprints/typos on the test. Since I can't leave the class and the Chinese teacher is running between 6 classes, help was nowhere to be found. After about 7 minutes, I grabbed a teacher who was walking by and asked her to find and send the Chinese teacher over. She promptly gave them the answers and said that it was a bad copy.
Don't you just love watching kids sweat every morning for 60-80 minutes over a test!
And...(I know, never use and at the beginning of a sentence, but it's my blog and I'll write what I want and have Janet correct me later)...And it is raining so my kids have to stay inside for break and lunch and snack. It is times like this that I wish I was one of those horrible teachers/people who like to punish kids. They are getting punished today by the rain and the tests and it makes me miserable.
It gets better/worse! I can type this because they are in the midst of a second, surprise test (given by their EPP teacher)! Hooray! They are taking an EPP (English Preparatory something) test right after their Chinese test, and right before I give them their English written test tomorrow...and Monday. "Two English tests?" you ask... Nope 4!
To add to the joy of test weeks, the weather outside has looked like this for the last 4 weeks:
I found that it was the same image whether I made it in paint or took a picture.
I did get 2 days of intense sunshine and thought I might die of heat stroke in Saigon though. I went down for my second softball tournament. This time I went with my Hanoi team, the Bad News Bums. We tied for last place but had a great time. Due to peoples' work schedules we brought our infield but none of our outfield. We had some really great guys fill in, they were great to hang out with and I'd love to grab a beer with them again. They don't play in the local league and were a little bit out of practice.
It was fun to see the same guys I met during the September tournament. They were pushing to have a Hanoi or halfway tournament. Personally, I'd like to do the halfway tourney. That means we would be in Danang or Na Trang. Both in central Vietnam and both by the beach! Either way I hope our outfield comes, it is made up of 4 tough guys who can field and hit the ball like it insulted their mother.
Despite our atrocious losses (19-5, 15-0, 17-0 and 14-5) I went 10 for 12 and stood tall at third base, we just couldn't put 3 base runners on in a row without getting 3 outs in a row. If you're a score keeper, I actually went 9-12 because of a FC to put a guy out at second.
I also got my new bat right before the tournament!!
This bad boy right here:
It is USSSA legal and feels sweet to hold, but it is still in the plastic.
As Jeremy, our PE teacher who also lived in CWE only 3 houses away from me in the mid 90s, and I were taking practice swings in my classroom at the end of the day (as any good teacher does), I got an email from our captain.
"Another quick note from the tourney. No outside bats, all bats will be provided."
Crap.
Our spring season starts in March so the bat will stay wrapped up and unused until then.
We recently went to Indonesia as I'm sure everyone knows from our well written, in-depth, riveting opinion altering post. If I had to pick a last meal, I'd have some oysters, crab, rendang, flying fish roe, rare/raw steak, wings from Jeffersons and Buffalo Wild Wings and Indo Mie rasa Kari Ayam.
So I brought back a bunch of Indo Mie to Hanoi. This morning I opened a pack to make lunch and not one, but TWO bumbu/cabe packs were in it! I shouted "Aww Hell Yeah!" just like Will Smith in every movie, and Janet commented that she hadn't seen me that excited in a while. If you've ever had Indo Mie, you know how great this morning was. It was GREAT! I can have an extra Kari Ayam meal!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Happy Belated New Year 2013
Happy belated New Year 2013!! We watched fireworks from the street in Jakarta this year. This picture was a self-portrait taken at midnight. We can't wait for the exciting adventures to come this year!!
Teacher, Tailor, Solider, Spy?
This year for Christmas, Jeff and I decided to get some clothes tailor made for us. Buying off of the rack in Vietnam is, well, impossible for us. Even if I could shoe horn my way into clothes, they would be too short. Neither of us fit in the mold here. No worries though, there are enough tailors in this country willing to outfit us in style.
Before we went on our Christmas vacation, we ventured into the Old Quarter. In the past, the Old Quarter has usually resulted in tears (for me) and general unhappiness (for Jeff). The Old Quarter is a rough place. It is jammed packed with people, motor bikes, and a heap of backpackers. We typically get lost, hungry, and dehydrated. Never the less, we sallied forth to Hang Gai street. Hang Gai street is a street devoted to silk and tailoring. Jeff was the first to be outfitted. He ordered a suit and three shirts all for $320. We picked them up today and the suit and shirts fit Jeff perfectly!
We picked out every part of the suit, from the cloth on the outside to the silk lining on the inside.
Before we went on our Christmas vacation, we ventured into the Old Quarter. In the past, the Old Quarter has usually resulted in tears (for me) and general unhappiness (for Jeff). The Old Quarter is a rough place. It is jammed packed with people, motor bikes, and a heap of backpackers. We typically get lost, hungry, and dehydrated. Never the less, we sallied forth to Hang Gai street. Hang Gai street is a street devoted to silk and tailoring. Jeff was the first to be outfitted. He ordered a suit and three shirts all for $320. We picked them up today and the suit and shirts fit Jeff perfectly!
Every girl is crazy about a sharp dressed man!
My tailor adventure was less successful. I ordered three dresses and I was really excited about all three of them. Unfortunately,when I showed up at the shop only two dresses were made. They were two simple dresses and the tailoring quality just wasn't there. The dresses cost about $28 each. Not too bad but I won't go back to that shop. I think my next tailoring adventure will be at the same shop that Jeff got his suit made at.
Overall, our day in the Old Quarter was a success. No tears on my part and we actually knew where we were. A huge improvement over almost every other trip!
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