Thanksgiving in Thailand

Wow it’s been so long I don’t know where to start. As everyone who reads this probably knows, I went home for the month of October and part of November, so I’ve just been back in Vietnam for about a month. Not much has changed…same crazy motorbikes, lovely aroma of garbage and fried food, xe ohm drivers yelling “madame, moto” at me. But there have been a few major developments in my life:

1) I got a motorbike. Now I just need to get up the nerve to actually drive it. I’ve had it for about a month now and have only taken it out once on a dinky side street. Of course, walking is probably even more dangerous than driving- I should probably just start wearing my helmet around everywhere.

2) My house got a cat. Not only do I hate cats, but I really REALLY hate this cat. It’s a kitten and its favorite activities are stalking and attacking me, trying to sneak into my room (the one place in the house she’s not allowed), and meowing non-stop. My favorite activities are throwing the cat across the room, chasing it out from under my bed, and dreaming of ways it can mysteriously disappear.

3) Two roommates moved out, meaning I no longer live in a windowless hole and actually have a balcony. It also means I lost a close friend, and am scheduled to lose two more in December. That is the ex-pat life it seems. On a side note, I wouldn’t actually call myself an ex-pat- ex-pats are usually old men with beer bellies and Vietnamese wives who look prepubescent. The other extreme is “backpackers” who my group also looks down on as dirty tourists who don’t actually take the time to know the city (although admittedly I become one when I travel). So me and my friends are…somewhere in between. We work at NGOs or teach English and plan to stay a year or two, definitely more than six months, but also know that it’s nothing permanent.

4) I’ve been traveling…a lot. In the past two weeks, I spent the weekend in Hoi An (again), got back late Sunday night and left Monday for a work trip to Bangkok, then spent the weekend in Phuket. Hoi An was fabulous, of course, and for $80 round trip and an hour flight I will keep going back there- it never gets old. I went with three friends and we stayed at a cheap hotel in town for $30 a night and then snuck into the NICEST RESORT EVER during the day- Nam Hai. I looked them up and rooms start at $600 a night. We just waltzed in and sat down and they gave us lounge chairs and bottles of water. I felt guilty, so I ordered a poolside massage- what a sacrifice.

Then it was off to Bangkok for work, where I attended a Helmets for Kids ceremony at a primary school and met with local sponsors. It was my first trip outside of Vietnam (besides my 12 hour layover in Tokyo) and…I loved it! I really like Bangkok, though it was less fun to travel alone. The area by the river is beautiful, with all kinds of palaces and temples that are lit up at night. And the night markets are an interesting cultural experience- a mix of women hawking knockoff designerware and men handing out menus describing different sexual encounters you could “order”. Interesting. I ended up spending Thanksgiving in Bangkok and decided since I was by myself I was just going to do something totally American, if not Thanksgiving-related. I went to one of the biggest malls I’ve ever visited (though I usually hate malls in my normal life) and found a food court offering McDonalds, Burger King, Au Bon Pain, Starbucks, and-no joke- Krispy Kreme. You can’t even get Krispy Kreme in Boston anymore! I had a burger for dinner, went to see Harry Potter on IMAX, and bought a Christmas tree. Not a bad Thanksgiving.

Then the next day it was time for Phuket, which was both amazing and disappointing. I had really high expectations and Phuket is definitely as beautiful as it is in the pictures…but it’s also super built up, touristy, and tacky. I spent a day on a boat touring the smaller islands though, including the phi phi islands from Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The Beach and “James Bond” island (Khao Phin Khan from “The Man With the Golden Gun”). And of course, no vacation would be complete for me unless I tried to adopt a dog. In this case, the dog was Tucker’s spitting image, so obviously I was obsessed!! He had the sweetest disposition and was quickly my special friend after a few rounds of meat-on-a-stick (by the way- Thai food is amazing…much better than Vietnamese!). I could only justify not bringing him back with me on account of the fact that life’s not really so bad…he does live on the beach…actually I’m pretty jealous.

So overall, Thailand was great, but this trip only made me want to go back and spend more time there! I really want to travel in the North- Chang Mai and Chang Rai, where you can visit a tiger preserve, go elephant trekking, white water rafting, and hiking in minority villages. I’m back in Hanoi now and have a million more stories to share about life and work, but this post is already getting long…I’ll put up some pictures from Hoi An. Still haven’t downloaded Thailand yet.

Life As Usual

I realize that I haven’t blogged in awhile and that’s because life here is starting to feel normal. Sort of. I’m falling into a routine with work and friends and in some ways it feels like I could be anywhere. Then I nearly get hit by a motorbike while I’m walking on the sidewalk and remember I’m definitely in Hanoi.

Other very Hanoian things:

• Ants everywhere, lizards in my room, rats in the kitchen (apparently before I moved in- haven’t seen one yet)
• Ladies doing yoga on the sidewalk at 6 am in their pajamas
• Ladies doing pretty much everything in their pajamas (love it!)
• People washing their motorbikes, selling food, running businesses on the sidewalks
• Delicious meals for $1
• A street that specializes in dog meat (which I obviously avoid at all costs)
• Lunchtime naps (I thought it was just my office, but have talked to friends and realize this is actually business as usual)
• Alleys beyond alleys beyond alleys- my address is 210/41/11/57 Doi Can, because I live down 4 alleys
• Having a maid
• Lots of poverty but no homeless people (the government ships them off to the countryside)
• Endless pictures of Ho Chi Minh
• Having “moto moto” yelled at me approx 50 times a day by men trying to sell me a ride on their motorbike taxi
• Riding on the back of my boss’ motorbike (would never happen in the States) (also don’t worry- female boss)
• Hang-drying laundry
• Intense thunderstorms followed by intense heat and humidity
• Rich Vietnamese who like the idea of going to the gym, but don’t actually want to work out- they get super dressed up and walk on the treadmill for like 10 minutes
• People who avoid the sun at all costs- wear full bodied sweat suits in 90 degree weather
• Inappropriately personal questions from random people (mostly about my love life/ marital status)
• Being interviewed for TV- it’s been 3 times now
• Girlfriends who want to hold your hand
• Guys who ride on motorbikes together, hold hands, put their arms around each other
• People who cart their entire lives around on motorbikes, or even bicycles, driving with one hand with 5 more people hanging off the back
• Riding “side saddle” on a motorbike
• Bars that close at midnight because of curfew

Hoi An and Helmets for Kids

I just got back last night from an incredibly relaxing four days in Hoi An- an old French colonial city known for its beaches and tailors- what a perfect combination. I’ve been back for less than 24 hours and have already decided I must return to Hoi An…which seems to be a common conclusion drawn from my trips in Vietnam. It’s always tough balancing the excitement of seeing new things with the desire to go back to old favorites.

And Hoi An has definitely become a favorite. It’s a very sleepy town and this is off season because of the rain, so it was almost completely deserted. I left Wednesday with my roommate and we got really lucky- though it rained every day, it never seemed to interfere with our beach time. Our routine was pretty much: wake up, eat crepes and fresh fruit juice for breakfast. Rent bicycles, bike 4k to the beach (yes- I rode a bike for the first time in 6 years- what an accomplishment!). Lounge at a beachside restaurant on a large sofa bed and alternate between long walks on the beach- where you wouldn’t encounter anyone for miles- and eating fresh seafood for $2 a plate. The sand was perfectly white and the ocean was perfectly blue- best of all, there was NO ONE around. Definitely top five beach experiences, if just for the space. After a long day at the beach, we’d bike back to town, get cleaned up, and put on one of our newly tailored dresses to go out to dinner and drinks. In bed by 10 or 11 and up early the next morning to repeat. Welcome to the good life (as Kanye would say).

More on the tailoring…Hoi An is not so much a city as four streets devoted entirely to dress shops! You can walk in anywhere and get clothes copied or browse through binders with countless styles. Then you pick out your fabric, get fitted, and come back in 12 hours for an entirely new wardrobe. Custom items were $10-$30, all made to fit! Same process for shoes…I made up for my lack of shopping in Hanoi pretty quickly in the first 24 hours in Hoi An.

We returned from Hoi An Saturday night, well-rested and with twice the luggage. Unpacking, I realized I had made it through security with three bags, a water bottle, and a large vial of perfume. Oops.

I then woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 the next morning to go to a work event at 5 AM. We had a Helmets for Kids launch ceremony at a primary school in Hai Duong province, about an hour outside of Hanoi. For some reason- please don’t ask me why- the school decided to hold the event at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. I picked up the sponsors and we squeezed into a tiny cab for the hourlong ride.

Some background- Helmets for Kids is the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation’s signature program. We connect schools with sponsors to provide free helmets for all students and teachers as well as a curriculum on traffic safety. The launch ceremony is a fun event where the sponsors, local government, and media all go to the school to see the kids receive their helmets. The kids put on a show and thank the sponsors etc.

As usual, I played the role of “token white person.” My colleague informed me when I arrived that I would be “taking the stage” three times (love the translation). Luckily, I didn’t really have to do much but hand a helmet over to a child and get lots of thank you gifts from the school. The kids were adorable in their helmets- especially the tiny grade one students. Again, I was quite the celebrity- giving the kids autographs, being interviewed for TV, and posing for all kinds of pictures.  I was also invited to take a teaching role at the school and to marry the principal’s son.

I was completely exhausted after the ceremony, despite the minimal effort required on my part. However, we proceeded to join the teachers and government officials for lunch, which was served around 10 AM. I was excited to note that the menu was chicken and rice- something I could eat without making a complete fool of myself- though I was not as excited to see that beer was also a requisite part of the meal. The government officials put on a lot of pressure for everyone to take a drink (yes, at 10 AM) and this is the one time that I flat out refused…I’m not usually one to turn down a free drink, but the thought of beer before breakfast is not appealing (unless it’s Duke tailgate!). Though the men put on the pressure, the female teachers quickly protected me and started serving me water in a shot glass, so I could do “shots” with all the rest, who had moved on from beer to rice wine. Actually, I noticed all day how welcoming and attentive the women were- always anticipating my needs (serving me food I wasn’t sure how to eat, leading me around on stage when I had no idea where to go). In the end, I promised I’d visit again- and I really do want to go back and see the kids and teachers. I hope the kids are still wearing their helmets!

As the meal rapped up four hours later…no exaggeration…one of the sponsors stumbled over to me and confided that he had drank 7 beers and 16 shots of rice wine. For a small Asian man, this is quite impressive. He then proceeded to give a long speech about how he felt like the teachers were his family and the school was his community and “the language of the heart is universal” (since he was speaking through a translator). Oi. But actually, he and the two other sponsors were very friendly and all invited me to visit them in Saigon and Singapore during my travels.

Now I’m back home and exhausted, but exciting news- I’m ready to share photos! I realized I haven’t taken many in Hanoi, but I have a few from Sapa and Hoi An and will try to post them now.

Sapa

What a trip…only two days, but it feels like forever. For a quick recap, I left Thursday for Sapa- the mountains in the North, right on the Chinese border. I went with a group of ten colleagues from the Ho Chi Minh City office, most of whom I met earlier when I spent the week there. The group was: me and two other Princeton in Asia fellows (Americans), one Vietnamese girl our age, two Vietnamese guys our age, and a family with a child and parents-in-law included in the package.

We left Thursday night on the overnight train and got into Sapa bright and early at 6:00 AM. The overnight train actually wasn’t bad- we had a private car for four of us and each got our own bed (two bunk beds). I had pictured much worse…multiple people sharing beds, no AC, etc. So, I was pleasantly surprised. However, I was not so pleasantly surprised with our hotel. As my mom would say “Capiche dump?” One of the rooms we had booked was moldy- the rest were hardly any better. Luckily, one of the Americans had her trusty Lonely Planet guide and we were able to rebook rooms for all of us at a nice hotel with beautiful mountain views for the same price.

Sapa is home to the largest mountain in South Asia and I went there ready to do some serious hiking…so I was surprised to find that the Vietnamese girl had not even brought sneakers. We headed off on a walk to the minority villages nestled into the mountains- not so much a hike as a walk along narrow dirt roads, but we still had amazing views. My parents, who have been begging me for pictures, will be happy to learn that the two Vietnamese twenty-something guys were avid photographers. I know it’s a stereotype that Asians love to take pictures, but it’s SO TRUE! Seriously, we could not walk five feet without posing for a photo. And of course, the guys were doing hilarious model poses- “pensive looking out at the mountain,” or “crazy with hands flailing in the air.” Because they took so many photos, I actually hardly took any. But I will post photos here as soon as they get sent around.

The other hilarious thing about these boys is that they LOVE to shop. Everywhere we went, they seemed to buy another silver item of jewelry. Yes, for themselves. They’re also obsessed with American pop songs and were singing old Backstreet Boys songs the entire time…quite different from American twenty-something guys.

Long story short, Sapa was amazing and beautiful, but I feel like this trip didn’t really do it justice. We didn’t get to do any real hiking, and I want to go back and climb Fansipan- the highest peak in South Asia, which is about a 3-day hike.

Another thing that had me somewhat on edge with my Vietnamese travel companions- the communal money pot. At the beginning of the trip, one of the guys collected money from everyone and then proceeded to just pay for all of our expenses. In theory, this is nice. But not when you’re eating with the Vietnamese!! For such tiny people, they can EAT. They often ordered multiple dishes at a single meal, or went out to buy massive quantities of gross snacks- ie, shrimp flavored chips or gelatinous tofu-yogurt- and all of this comes out of the common pot. I recognize that it is very American to want to pay your own way and be uptight about sharing money, but I really think I (and the other Americans) probably ate about half of what everyone else did. Of course, they’re still half our size. Anyway, the money thing is always tricky, and I kept trying to remind myself that in the long run, it’s only a few dollars difference anyway, because everything is so cheap.

However, the true low point of the trip was definitely when I got BY FAR the worst massage of my life. From a teenage boy- enough said. In my defense, I did not realize I was going to be massaged by a teenage boy until I was already lying mostly naked under a flimsy sheet- without much of an escape option. I felt like I needed a massage after to recover from my massage. Although, what can you really expect for a $5 massage at a bakery/tourism office?

Reading back over what I’ve written, I feel like this is a rant against the Vietnamese. I have to say- there are huge advantages to traveling with the Vietnamese too. Everyone was so generous and helped us out however they could- mostly with language issues, ordering things, etc. For the first time here, I don’t think I got ripped off once (though I did get suckered into buying overpriced souvenirs that I had no interest in from some really cute kids…but I take full responsibility for that). And everyone in the group had a great sense of humor- like I said earlier, the trip was full of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC- what more could I ask for?

Inappropriate conversations

Sorry I’ve been silent for the past two weeks…it feels like things are starting to fall into a routine here, which means that I’m busier and there’s also less to talk about. I found myself starting to get frustrated with little things in Hanoi this week- like how my laundry never actually seems clean- or dry- and how drinking water is never cold, yet shower water is never hot. Of course, balance that with cheap massages, motorbike rides, and bowls of bun cha. Life isn’t really so hard.

The past two weeks have been a bit crazy in the house- we had a new housemate move in and two guests staying with us. It’s fun having a lot of people around and I’ll be sad when our guests leave. One of the girls who’s staying with us has been here for two years and is leaving in a week (her lease was up a bit early). I feel like I’m losing my first friend here- I guess that’s how life goes in the ex-pat world with people constantly leaving and new people arriving. September’s supposed to be a big month for new arrivals, so I’m looking forward to not being the newest kid on the block!

Things are going well at work…they fluctuate between being crazy busy and incredibly slow, mostly depending on whether my boss is in the office. We got a new foreigner though, which is great! She’s a 40-ish year old Danish woman with 4 kids, married to a guy who works at the UN. They’ve lived in Zimbabwe and Mozambique for the past ten years…what a life! It’s nice to have her around to speak English with and to have a co-witness to the bizarre office dynamic. Vietnam is very hierarchical and even the office has its own mini-hierarchy. As a foreigner, you’re somewhat left out, or you’re automatically at the top- even being the youngest.

Here is an example of how the meeting went to introduce Lotte, our new Danish colleague:

Me: Okay everyone, let’s go around and introduce ourselves and describe what we’re working on.

Khuong (only Vietnamese man in the office): I’m Khuong, single, looking for a nice girl to settle down with.

Linda (older woman with grown kids): I’m Linda, I’m married but still looking for a nice man…

Me: Okay, ummm, Hoa why don’t you go next.

Hoa (new girl right out of university): I’m Hoa, Greig’s secretary, and I make lots of mistakes. I am sort of slow and I don’t really get everything. I’m going to try to do better. You just have to be patient.

…And so on. Apparently Hoa had made a mistake earlier working with an older woman and she proceeded to publicly humiliate herself so that the older woman could “save face.”

Along the lines of inappropriate sharing…I taught middle schoolers this week. Enough said. Usually the girls are pretty reserved and the boys are wild, but in this class, there was one girl who was completely out of control. She was talking nonstop and I told her to be quiet and do her work. Of course, she had already finished her work. The exercise was to write five sentences starting with “have you ever.” She only wrote four:

Have you ever had a girlfriend?

Have you ever texted your girlfriend?

Have you ever gone to a hotel with your girlfriend?

Have you ever slept with your girlfriend?

I literally froze in shock and said something she didn’t understand about how her writing was x-rated. Naturally, the boy sitting next to her could tell something was going on so he grabbed her paper and read it out loud for the entire class. Oi. I think I fully earned my $20 an hour that night.

So now I’m enjoying a lazy weekend after a long week and have trips planned for the next two long weekends- first the mountains and then the beach (Sapa and Hoi An). Hoi An is also the main city for tailoring and I’m so excited to get knockoff clothes! Especially since nothing ever seems to quite get clean in the laundry.

Another Marathon Week

It feels like so much happens in a week here…thinking back to Monday seems like such a long time ago. For the first half of the week, the internet was out again in the office, making for a light work load. I’ve found that as the token white person at the company, though, I do get to do some pretty cool things. On Monday, I attended meetings with the CDC and the WHO to discuss our work with them in Cambodia. Then, on Wednesday, my boss sent me to an all day workshop about the design of Vietnam’s National Injury Survey. There were all kind of government and NGO bigshots there…and me. To my surprise, the workshop was conducted almost entirely in Vietnamese. Basically, my job was to sit still, smile, and entertain the Vietnamese at lunch with my lack of chopstick skills.

Wednesday night I taught again—two classes, ages 8 and 14. I think these will be my classes every week from now on. The 8 year olds are SO cute, but also completely wild, especially since I’m the worst disciplinarian ever. The 14 year olds are easier- well-behaved, smart, and pretty quiet, but I still think I like the little kids best. Actually, the social dynamics in the 14 year old class were pretty amusing. I asked the kids to partner up for an exercise, and most of them were sitting two to a desk, except for one girl who was sitting alone, and one desk with three boys. I suggested one of the boys move up front to work with the girl—the entire class was in an uproar. Both kids refused and the girl looked like she wanted to kill me. I ended up being her partner.

I feel like it always comes back to race when I’m talking about Vietnam, but I seem to encounter some type of racial issue every day…for example, the other day, one of my colleagues announced “Megan, you are so beautiful. You look like a Barbie!” Before I went on a major ego trip, I remembered that I had overslept that morning, not showered, and was wearing jeans and flip flops because it was casual Friday. She, on the other hand, was perfectly coiffed and was wearing a very stylish dress with four inch stilettos.

Also on Friday, I went out to lunch with the pregnant ladies again. On the walk over, they whipped out their umbrellas, which they take everywhere to avoid the sun. I refused to get under the umbrella, explaining that I was trying to get a tan—I was too pale. This was apparently hilarious and they cracked up about this for hours.

Besides work, I’ve been doing plenty of fun things here too. I went to the Temple of Literature last weekend (honestly, not my favorite sight) and today spent the day at the pool and the botanical gardens. I got caught in a massive tropical rainstorm at the gardens and don’t think I’ve ever been so completely drenched in my life. Once you’re caught in one of these storms, there’s really nothing you can do. They’re usually pretty short, though they leave behind massive street floods, which are interesting to navigate on a motorbike.

So it has been a very long, but enjoyable, week and I also just planned a trip to Sa Pa- the mountains in the North- for the end of August with some colleagues in the Ho Chi Minh City office. I can’t wait to start traveling!

A Week of Firsts

Lots of new things happened this week- I moved into a new house, officially started my job, and taught my first English class.

First, the move- possibly one of the most miserable experiences of my life. Imagine dragging everything you own down endless muddy alleyways…in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity. I don’t think I’ve ever been so sweaty, muddy, and completely disgusting. What a wonderful first impression for my new housemates! They’re all really nice though. There are five in total- three Americans, a Dutch, and a German. It’s so nice to finally be somewhat settled, and I think I’ll be here for a long while, if only so I don’t have to move again…

Moving onto the job. It’s going well so far, though I haven’t really done much yet. Today the internet went out, so I’m “working from home.” Nice. The office has a very different vibe from the Advisory Board…there are only three others (all Vietnamese) who work in the same room as me. It’s pretty silent all day, except for the occasional blur of Vietnamese chatter, which pretty much goes like “blah blah blah MEGAN blah blah blah MEGAN”…I am clearly one of their favorite topics of conversation. The’y’e all older- in their 30s- and two are pregnant, which is so exciting because I’ll have babies in the office!! The whole office’s work style is very different too- apparently the 8:30-5:30 workday is taken very literally and we have to punch in and out as we come and go. Everyone is very aware of what are work hours- and what are not. For example, we get an hour for lunch, which the pregnant ladies have turned into naptime. I went out to eat the other day and came back to find them sprawled on a row of chairs (that can’t be comfortable!). The lights were off and naptime went on until exactly 1:00. The next day, same thing, except a third non-pregnant woman joined in. Who knows, before long I will probably be embracing the lunchtime nap routine…

The other highlight of my week was teaching my first English class. I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump into teaching right away, but my roommate needed a sub for the night and the pay is very tempting ($20 an hour…considering I make about 1/5 of that at my job, very tempting).  I ended up with the youngest age group- 7 year olds- who were not surprisingly very much like 7 year olds in the US: boys were lwild and out of control, girls were quiet and did their schoolwork. I thought I would be really stressed by trying to teach a class after a full day of work, but it was actually a lot of fun! The kids were really cute, especially when they all told me their English names- they sort of have British accents, because I guess that is considered “proper” English. The lesson plan was pretty lame, but we ended up playing a rousing game of pictionary, which I think was very educational. Things were going pretty smoothly, until there was a total power outage in the last 10 minutes. Chaos ensued, but I got out early and made my full salary…which I proceeded to blow a large portion of on drinks at a French restaurant with my new roommates.

Those are pretty much the highlights for the week- other accomplishments include riding my first xe ohm (motorbike taxi), ordering bun cha for myself at lunch WITHOUT writing it down, and waking up at 5 AM this morning to get 70% off a gym membership (only the first five people to show get the discount).

One more thing before I sign off…not to be a total work dork, but I am really starting to appreciate the significance of what the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation does. I was pretty skeptical about road safety at first, but it is actually a huge public health crisis- traffic fatalaties are the leading cause of death worldwide for children under 19. It’s crazy here because almost all adults wear helmets, but they don’t put them on their kids! That would be total blasphemy in the States, but here they just pop the kid in between mom and dad on the motorbike and think the kid’s safe. AIP Foundation has hundreds of documented stories of kids they’ve distributed helmets to who have then survived motorbike crashes, relatively unscathed- so cool! I’m excited to get more involved with work and hopefully have opportunities to travel to Cambodia and Thailand.

A Week Down South

I’ve been in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) for the past week  for job orientation and I fly back to Hanoi tomorrow. I’m actually surprised by how much I’ve liked HCMC…the guidebooks all say that it is less charming and beautiful than Hanoi, but I’ve found it to be a pretty attractive, well developed city. It’s much more Westernized than Hanoi, which is why I think the ex-pat crew in Hanoi looks down on its Southern neighbor a bit, but after a week of pretty heavy culture shock in Hanoi, it’s been nice to see some English signs and tall buildings and paved roads.

I’ve kept up with my food adventures this week, trying snails (delicious!), raw shrimp (whole shrimp, not sushi-style), and goat. I enjoyed the goat breast and thigh, but drew the line at the spinal cord and kidneys, which look about as appealing as they sound.

This week has also been a crash course in what my life will be like for the next year. It’s been very busy at the office and it basically sounds like I’ll be juggling 20 different roles, but my official title is “communications and outreach coordinator.” The most exciting part is that I’m managing someone! I saw an org chart and there was actually an official reporting line between me and the creative designer. Forget that I don’t know ANYTHING about creative design. I’m pretty excited about being a boss.

I’ve also learned a bit about government relations. This week we hosted a highly important government official from a nearby country (who will remain anonymous). None of us spoke the same language, but the universal phrase of the night was “Chia Can chén” which is 100% in Vietnamese (it means you need to finish 100% of your drink). He kept toasting and chanting and ordering everyone to drink more. He seemed very happy to drink with American women and his wife was even pressuring us to drink more, though she didn’t touch a drop of alcohol. Neither did the other Vietnamese women with us. I asked the other American fellow who has been here for a year about this and she confirmed that Vietnamese women rarely drink, though apparently Vietnamese men drink an average of “6 servings” of alcohol per day. Yikes.

In other news, I move to my permanent house on Sunday and I can’t wait! So excited not to live out of a suitcase anymore!

Pajama Fashion Shows and the White House

It’s the end of my second day in Hanoi and I just said goodbye to Betty, my hostess, whose Princeton in Asia post I am taking over at the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. My first day was a whirlwind of surly airport staff who don’t understand Vietnamese visa requirements, lots of bad plane movies and Korean food, and finally 30 hours later, my landing in Hanoi. It’s been a very productive two days- I now have a cell phone, a hairdryer, and most importantly, a house. I’ll be living in a house with five people, all foreigners and mostly Americans…but we’re in a pretty eclectic neighborhood and are apparently known as the “White House” for being the only white people on the street, which is sort of cool and also ridiculous.

In my first two days, I’ve managed to do pretty much all the things you’re not supposed to do in Vietnam…I’ve eaten street food twice and will probably continue to do so pretty much every day. It’s amazing- lots of noodles and broths and herbs and everything is loaded with garlic (my favorite!). No stomach issues yet, knock on wood. Also I’ve been riding around everywhere on the back of Betty’s motorbike. The road safety thing here is no joke…there are absolutely no rules of the road. It’s like one big chaotic free-for-all, with people driving wherever they feel like on the street- always the wrong way, or in the middle of two lanes- and no stop lights or speed limits or any kind of law enforcement. Crossing the street feels like an accomplishment.

Another few funny things about Hanoi: women all want to have lighter skin, so they cover up their arms and faces even in 100 degree weather. They also wear pajamas out in public, which seems to be considered stylish. Seriously, they wear like matching flannel pajama sets out with high heels. I saw several at a bar last night, where I paid $2 for a huge meal and a few drinks. AND for Betty’s last day/my first day, we got hour long massages for $10. All this seems too good to be true, until I realize I’m being paid a Vietnamese salary…yikes.

I haven’t actually started my job yet- Monday will be my first official day. But I just found out that I’ll be spending the rest of the week in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), where we have another office and I will receive a more formal orientation. My first week and I’m already traveling- I’m obviously psyched! I have the rest of the week off to explore Hanoi and practice my pathetic Vietnamese…I quickly came to the realization that people don’t really speak English here and I’m going to have to make an effort to master survival Vietnamese. I’m also hoping to start teaching English to supplement my salary. But first, I have a few days just to get settled and then a week of vacation…er, work.

T-24 Hours

Less than 24 hours until I’m off to ‘Nam and I wanted to get this blog up and running before I go. Please send me e-mails and updates so I have something to look forward to on arrival. That’s all for now- off to do important last minute things (ie see Twilight).