Good Morning, Vietnam

Well I made it to Vietnam and pretty much all I can think about right now is how hungry I am.  I think they have forgotten that I have zero clue where I am and have no idea how to get to a market or food store and I AM STARVINGGGG.   I took me like 6 hours to find water and now I am rationing that until I can find some more.  Okay I’m kind of exaggerating but not really.  I flew in yesterday and after waiting an hour and a half in the line to get my passport stamped, I was convinced that whoever was picking me up had left until a tiny man started waving a piece of paper in my face with “WorldTeach” on it.   Made the drive from the airport to the school and all I could think the whole ride was I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK.   During the 20 hours that it took me to get from San Fran to Hanoi, I kept waiting to get nervous or feel anxious but it never happened. 

View into my room from the doorway, bathroom to the left

Arrived at school and was brought to my room on campus which is actually very nice.  It’s on the fourth floor and is very large with high ceilings.  I have a double bed, a little balcony, AC and my own bathroom and they provided bedding and towels.  I looked over my balcony and was glad to see that my view was rice patties to the left and a tin roof shanty town/market to the right with the city in the background.  Helps keep things in perspective as I sleep in my gated compound with running water and electricity that’s guarded 24/7.  The school/my home is in a poor Vietnamese neighborhood that is a few kilometers from the Old Quarter Hanoi.  The common room is next door to my room and hopefully when they get the internet working, I’ll be able to get it from my room.  The common room also doubles as the “kitchen” which isn’t actually a kitchen.  It’s a fridge, a toaster and a hotpot burner (for 8 people).  We’re going to try to work on that.  I spent the next five hours unpacking and organizing and then took a three hour nap to try to avoid how hungry I was.  It worked and woke up for a 7 pm dinner with two of the Vietnamese teachers, their husbands and the head teacher in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, which is over the Red River from where the school is.  It was really nice for them to take me out and I’m sure they will help as I try to figure things out here.   One of the husbands is actually flying to Boston today so we exchanged some dollars for dong (the Vietnamese currency) so that was nice.

Right now it’s the morning of Day Two and I’m waiting to go to the airport to get one of the other WorldTeach teachers who is flying in from New Zealand.  The rest of the group is supposed to get here tonight BUT the plane they are supposed to fly out on is the Asiana plane that just crashed in San Francisco coming in from Seoul.  However, apparently they got on a flight so will be here tonight.  Orientation starts in the morning and below are some pictures of my room and views.

P.S.  Since I wrote this and found internet, they have provided our common room with a jug of water, fixed the internet and I was given lunch in the school cafeteria.  I  was told that I was eating chicken until I looked a little closer and asked again, “This is chicken?” and was told, “Oh no no that is frog.  We like to farm frogs, don’t worry it’s not the frogs you see in the streets.  Eat Eat!”   I tried my hardest to eat it but there were so many bones and little fried feet that I stuck to fried egg and watermelon instead.   Was invited back to this man Victor’s office, I kind of think he’s my boss? and we drank green tea and had a lengthy discussion about how there are 90 million people in Vietnam and 150 million Sim cards and how I should get at least two phones and a few different sim cards while I am here to be like the Vietnamese.

Brought CVS to Vietnam

Views from my balcony