Wow! It has been such an adventure so far and it has only been 13 whole days since I have moved here. So much has happened within this time so I will just touch on the key points.

Today was the last day of the two week orientation. It felt like I was attending summer school, as we were meeting in a classroom. The first day we went right in to Vietnamese lessons. It is a very complex yet fluid language. The Vietnamese alphabet does not have the letters F, J, W, or Z. This explains why my last name was spelt without the F upon airport arrival. In Vietnamese culture you acknowledge and speak to someone based on their age and gender. For instance, if I was saying hi to my mom it would be “chào chị” and to my dad and brother it would be “chào ahn.” (Hi family!!) I have no doubt, once able to know how to fully pronounce each sound it will be a bit easier to pick up. This past week we broke off into Primary and Secondary training. We have been doing mock lessons with eight students to get the feel for teaching a class. In preparation, we have been learning how to teach using different activities for all the key points in learning English like vocabulary, grammar, phonics, etc.

Originally I was contracted to teach Secondary school here at Wellspring. With a little persuasion, I was transferred to teach Primary school. When I think of teaching English, or any subject in general, I always imagine teaching to younger students. That is where my experience is and it is a more creative teaching process. I am so thankful and grateful that I was switched to teach 1^st and 2^nd grade English and reading. I will also be teaching 5^th grade math, which is where the challenge will come in to play. I do look forward to it though, as it will refresh my own math skills.

I have tried pretty much all the food that has been put in front of me. For those who know my picky food habits, this is rather surprising. The strangest thing I have knowingly eaten so far is duck tongue. I went in to it thinking it was chicken feet, which is still pretty gnarly for me, but was told afterwards it was duck tongue. I have to admit, it wasn’t the worst thing I have eaten.

Getting my medical exam was quite the experience… The days leading up to this were a bit nerve racking. The hospital we went to was cleaner than I had expected, but did have a lingering smell of urine in the stairwells. We all started with the blood and urine test. They administer their blood test in a room amongst a dozen or so other people. It’s very impersonal and borderline questionable. Thankfully, I have a nice fatty vein on my right arm, so giving blood is usually easy for me. The test tube we had to pee in had a circumference smaller than a dime, which was exceptionally challenging. We also had to get a chest x-ray, vision test, dental test, ENT test and just a basic check up like height, weight and blood pressure. Each type of test you had to go to a different room. It took two hours for ten of us to complete our exams, which was not as bad as I anticipated.

After the medical exam we had a city tour where we went to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which is where he himself once lived. Guards protected the front, which is always a bit intimidating. It had a sense of calming and peaceful environment once entering through the gate. Although it had a ton of shading, it was one of the most humid areas I have been to here in Hanoi. We indulged in well-deserved ice cream at the exit and continued on our tour to the Trấn Quốc Pagoda, which is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi. It had a very picturesque view along the West Lake and had a constant aroma of incense. Walking in to the temple, shoes must come off, before observing all the Buddha shrines. It is filled with money and food, which visitors give as a gift to the Gods to give them good luck.

There was an unexpected stop to observe the process of lacquer paintings at a studio and shop. Each painting takes two months and is inlayed on wood with either eggshells or mother of pearl. The lacquer process takes ten steps to be complete. It is very fascinating and incredibly beautiful. I can’t wait to get my first paycheck here and indulge in a few pieces!

When we got our Vietnamese bank accounts we had to fill out a ton of papers. It got kind of irritating, but Thuan and Hoa, our coordinators were so helpful and did the hard parts for us. Downstairs at Vietcombank we were able to exchange our USD to VND. I converted $1100 USD and left with just over $24.5 million VND. It felt pretty awesome! After a long while at the bank, we headed back to Long Biên to get our international SIM cards. It cost $70,000 VND to activate for 3G, which is only $3.21 USD. I do believe this is the monthly cost and then you just add however much money for minutes. Kind of ridiculous how little it is to have a cell phone plan out here.

We went to Long Biên’s street market with our Vietnamese teacher Ms. Thu to practice and engage in conversation with our very beginner stages of Vietnamese. I got three mangos and a pair of pants for $4 USD. We ate breakfast at a place, where mid meal, Ms. Thu told us we will probably need some medicine after we eat and that she can give it to us. She was right. 

Last week we all went to see the Thang Long Water Puppet show. It was a very beautiful and different form of entertainment. It was all spoken and sung in Vietnamese, but the water puppets in action helped formulate a storyline that was understandable.

House hunting was quite the mission. To cut to the chase, we are splitting into two houses, one with five and one with six teachers in the Tay Ho district. I move in today to my new home, where I can finally unpack my suitcase and settle in. Not to mention, go grocery shopping and start cooking!

Hang sửng sốt caves resembles life on another planet.

I can finally say I have been on a cruise! We spent the weekend in Halong Bay and were guests on Majestic Cruise. The bus ride is about three hours from where we are currently staying in Long Biên. On the way over we were all singing oldies songs and looking at all the new surroundings out the window. It made the bus ride go by quickly. When arriving, we docked Majestic Cruise and were greeted with welcome drinks and keys to our rooms. We settled in for about 10 minutes before eating lunch. There was so much food, I am not even sure how many courses it would be considered. Food just kept being brought out to us. After lunch we had about 30 minutes to digest the food before taking a smaller (tender) boat to Hang sửng sốt where we hiked to get views of Halong Bay and walk through the caves. This was so incredible! I didn’t even know the caves existed. We went back to the cruise liner then headed out to go swimming and more hiking. Some of us did the additional hike to the top. Nearly breathless and contemplating giving up halfway, I made it, sweaty and panting as all hell. The water felt deserving afterwards, although it was just as warm as the outside temperature and not the cleanest feeling water. Floating and swimming around taking pictures with Joseph, the Irish’s Go Pro, kept us all insanely entertained. The water left orange coloring on our skin, which is apparently from gasoline. It looked like we all had really bad spray tan’s coming off.

When we got back to the boat, we took well-deserved showers and met on the upper outside deck for happy hour. Piña coladas, margaritas and long island iced teas all being slurped down before dinner and karaoke. Another large course meal with my favorite dish shockingly being fresh bbq’d squid. After a filling dinner, we continued on with happy hour and began some pretty hilarious karaoke. Thuan and Hoa came with us. Hoa’s ringtone is “Kiss Me” and every time it plays we all break out in song to her. So naturally this was our group karaoke song. At night, these big flying ants decided to come out and join our party. Apparently they are harmless and don’t bite, yet I have managed to acquire four bug bites this past weekend. After karaoke, we went “squid fishing.” It was fun to see if we could catch anything off the bamboo pole with fish wire and bait. Staring in to the lit water and watching the jellyfish go by was a very relaxing and calming few moments. No one caught any except for the fisherman who came running in with a freshly killed squid in a net during dinner.

Kate and I kayaking in Halong Bay.

Sunday morning we woke up at 5:00am to watch the sunrise. The sun was already up so I went back to my room, took a nap and headed back to the deck at 6:15am to do some Thai Chi. Although I have never participated in any form of martial arts, Thai Chi is a very graceful form (at least what we were taught) and it was the most peaceful feeling doing it on the deck of a slow boat cruising in silence. Shortly after breakfast was served. It was really nice to have some eggs and toast with jam. After breakfast we took a tender to the fishing village where we went kayaking. Yet again, another memorable kayaking experience. Some people decided to go swimming and two people got stung by jellyfish and one person fell in. We headed back to our boat, sat on the deck enjoying the views and one another’s company, then went to the dining room to get a lesson on how to cook spring rolls! We all rolled up a spring roll and then the cooks put them in the fryer and served them to us with our lunch. They tasted great! Knowing how to make these is going to be very dangerous. I may just eat these everyday for the rest of my residency in Vietnam. Unfortunately Halong Bay was a bit overcast, but nonetheless magical and relaxing.

On our way back home we stopped at the fresh water pearl factory where we saw how they make and take out the pearls. Everything in the storefront was absolutely beautiful. I treated myself to a black mother of pearl bracelet and I got to choose a complementary ring made out of a seashell.

Photo Credit: Jordan Crandell

One of my fellow teachers Erick, asked us all, as we were sitting on the top deck of our boat drinking piña coladas, where we were at one year ago… I was still driving around on a golf course beverage cart serving beer and snacks feeling pretty lost with what I wanted to do. In this moment—in this country—I know I am exactly where I am meant to be.