Thank You Rain Gods

I wrote this one from the King Cafe across the street from my hotel while I was waiting for my 90 cent bowl of steaming fried noodles with veggies:

I just had such an exhilarating experience! Oh sweet, merciful blessed Hanoian downpour - oh, how you break the humidity and make the air drastically cooler!

My last class ended at 9pm and when I left the school I waved over a xe om driver. When I stepped outside it was only drizzling, but the more we rode on the more the rain seemed to pour.

While the xe om driver and I were sitting at a railroad crossing waiting for a train to pass I glanced at the other drivers around us smartly clad in long hooded ponchos and I couldn't help but bear this stupid grin on my face. I was drenched, yes, but I was cold! I was so thankful and happy to be COLD! The xe om driver and I laughed hysterically as the rain came down harder and harder knowing that I was getting soaked to the bone and we laughed even more so when we rode underneath an awning dripping with rain like a waterfall right on my head.

The stages of culture shock

Stage 1

During the first stage, foreign visitors often feel excited. The new country is interesting, the people are friendly and helpful, and the future looks promising.

Stage 2

Problems! School, language, shopping — everything is difficult. Things that were simple back home require more effort in the new country. It seems hard to make friends, and at this point, foreign visitors may begin to believe that the local people are unfriendly. Homesickness begins, and along with it complaints about the new country. This is the stage we hear referred to as "culture shock."

Stage 3

Recovery. The foreign visitor begins to use the language more fluently, so communication with locals becomes easier. Customs and traditions become clearer, and slowly the situation passes from impossible to hopeful. Minor misunderstandings which were stressful in stage 2 become manageable.

Stage 4

Stability. Eventually foreign visitors begin to feel more at home in the new country. What they do not like about their new country no longer makes them so dissatisfied and unhappy. Life has settled down, and they are now able to find humor in the situations in which they find themselves.**

At this point I think I'm at Stage 2. The first 2 weeks in Vietnam were exciting, new, fascinating, incredible etc., but now all I want to do is dream about the winters in New Jersey. On Monday I had my first day of teaching and it went really well! Tuesday did not go quite as planned for the following reasons:
a.) The air-conditioning in my classroom did not work, so I was just one big sweaty foreigner mess.
b.) Almost all of my work clothes that I brought with me are too big because I have lost 5-7 lbs since arriving in Vietnam, so I felt even more uncomfortable.
c.) The class was too mellow and not so much into my lesson on furniture.

Luckily, at the end of the evening I got to meet up with this English girl I met on my trip to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc. I unloaded my day on her as we shared beers at a Bia Hoi around the corner from her hotel.
Tuesday really brought down the high that I have been on since I've been here. Now I'm pissed off that it's hot all of the time and the air conditioner in my hotel room doesn't work properly. I'm pissed off that every xe om driver hassles me for a ride. I'm frustrated that it takes me 2 hours to plan a 1.5 hour class and then it doesn't turn out right. Yesterday at the end of my Intermediate 1 class a student approached me and said, "I know you are a new teacher, so I'm going to give you some tips on how to run this class." I appreciated her constructive criticism because it wasn't malicious and she did have some nice things to say to me as well, but it really wasn't what I wanted at 9pm at night after being at the school since 1pm. When I told the other teachers about what happened they told me that this is common and that I should take the advice with a grain of salt. In addition, during that class, one of the buttons on my shirt opened and one of the girls in the class dragged me outside of the classroom to let me know. That part is humorous, but still.
The English girl, Georgie, said something to me that made a lot of sense: She said that when you have a bad day at work in your home country at least you can go home and unwind in familiar surroundings and with your friends. Here, if I have a bad day at work, I walk outside and it's hot, alien and I don't really know anyone so it just makes the day that much worse.

Hopefully stage 2 will pass as quickly as stage 1 seemed to whiz by.

**http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu/international/incoming/living/culture.html

I'm a teacher!

Yesterday morning I went out and bought myself a new helmet. I have seen so many young people riding around with these jockey-like helmets and I thought they were so adorable in comparison to the traditional ones and I knew that this is what I wanted. When I brought it into work at least 5 people picked it up and was like "Is this your helmet? You must be kidding" haha. One guy was like, "Where's the race?". A woman said, "I think it would work better as an ice bucket." Yeah, so maybe it's not the most practical of helmets, but at least I'll look cute wearing it!

All of last week I shadowed a few of the teachers at Language Link. It was interesting to see the different teaching styles. Some provided a constant flow of 5-10 minute activities so the class kept moving, while others would have a few 5-10 minute lessons and then one 30-40 minute exercise. I think that I prefer the latter and that's how I have been planning my own lessons so far. Everyone at the school is so friendly and helpful! When I have a question about something a bunch of the other teachers would throw ideas at me and refer me to books and specific pages. The teacher's room has such great energy; it's just a great place to work. I find myself laughing hysterically several times throughout the day. Besides camp, I think this is the only job that I've really enjoyed myself at. I get to work between 12-1pm even though my classes don't begin until 4 or 5:45pm, but I come in early to lesson plan and just hang out.

I taught my first lessons last night and they went Ok! I taught the structure "If ...I will..." for example, "If you damage my motorbike I will get angry". One of the teachers suggested that I play this game called "Man Overboard" with them. The premise of the game is that they were on a boat that sunk and now they're floating on a life boat that's sinking and the groups need to kick off two people in order to survive. I split the class into two groups of 8 and each received a little card with their position on it. Each had to plead their case to their group as to why they should be kept on the life boat. Without realizing it each of the students were using the "If....I will..." structure, and they were having fun while doing it!
I love doing pronunciation activities with my classes. Vietnamese speakers have a problem with their "Th", "Sh" and ending consonants. In their own language they never pronounce the end consonant, so it's a struggle for English teachers to get them to say them. "Like" becomes "Lie","Girl" becomes "Gir". I had some extra time at the end of one of my classes, so I took advantage of this to practice their pronunciation on words that I knew they have difficulty with. For instance, the difference between "Live" and "Leave", "Three" and "Tree", and a few others I can't remember. They seemed to enjoy the exercise.

As far as apartments go I still haven't found one yet. Last week I took a look at one across the street from the school, but I would be living with two other girls from Language Link. Even though it's within such close proximity which would be really convenient I don't want to live with the people I work with. I need some space. I was going to check out another apartment last night that I found on The New Hanoian, but I realized that it's too far from the school, so that was a bust. Alex, one of the teachers, gave me the name and phone number of his housing agent who helped him find a great apartment at a good price. I called him this morning with the details of what I'm looking for and he's supposed to call me sometime this afternoon with his findings. I wanted to avoid using a housing agent because I figured it would be too expensive, but it actually isn't and I have gotten sick of living out of my suitcase for the past 2 weeks.

Toi di xe om

I must do a little piece on the Xe Om (pronounced: say ohm) or motorbikes in Hanoi. Everywhere I go in Hanoi I am constantly harassed with, "Madam, motorbike?" "Motorbike? Motorbike?" and usually a simple "No", a shake of the head or a flip of the wrist generally gets them to stop asking. The thing is that since I am a foreigner I MUST not have any clue what so ever about where I am going... so every single time I pass a xe om driver (which is at least once every block) I am asked if I want a ride. These guys work like taxi drivers, so they're not just some random people asking me if I want a ride.
Since my last post about my first experience on the xe om with Dung, I have needed to ride one of these at least once a day to get to work. On Monday Steve came over to introduce me to my own private driver who I can use to take to Language Link. On Tuesday evening I called Thien, my driver, to ask if he could come pick me up at the school. I couldn't quite understand anything he was saying except, "Sorry, sorry, sorry", and then he hung up. I went back into the school to ask one of the teachers what I should do because my driver seemed to be MIA. He came downstairs with me and asked his own private driver to find someone. Usually there are plenty of xe om drivers around the school because they know the foreigners might need one eventually, but for some reason there weren't any to be found. The other driver found another one about a block away and brought him over to me. There was the distinct smell alcohol on his breath. I don't know why I didn't just go look for one myself. I guess I figured it was late and I didn't want to go out searching for another guy...so I hopped on and off we went. Because there weren't so many people out on the road this guy took the liberty to drive as fast as he could. I was really afraid he was going to crash into another bike, a pedestrian or a car. As soon as I got my bearings about where we were I asked him to stop, I paid the man, and I trudged back to my hotel kinda pissed.
I have learned to be a little more discerning when it comes to picking a driver. If I don't get a good vibe from him then I move onto the next.

It is common to see 3, 4, even 5 people riding on a motorbike. It's quite the scene. I always thought...oh ha ha ha I will never do that. Well, I never thought I'd be riding on the back of a motorbike either. So much for "nevers". Last night I went out to dinner with some of the teachers from the school. Amalia, one of the teachers who I really like, and I were heading in the same direction afterwards, so she was like, "Oh, we'll just share a xe om". Uhhh, ok. On the one motorbike it was the xe om driver, me, and then Amalia. We're both little people so we fit quite well, but it was very silly! We just chatted the whole 15 minute ride from one part of Hanoi to the other as if we were sitting next to each other in a car. Dung later informed me that it's actually illegal to have more than two adults on a xe om and if we were caught by the police then we would have to pay a ticket. I think this weekend I'm going to buy myself a helmet. The xe om drivers always carry an extra for the passenger, but I don't like wearing it because so many other people have also worn it.

Ho Chi Minh Complex, Hoa Lu and Tam Coc

I feel so bad for not writing while so much has been going on!

Saturday morning Dung came to pick me up to head to the Ho Chi Minh Complex. Now I thought that he was going to pick me up and we were going to walk there, but oh no no no...this is Hanoi, and how do most people travel in Hanoi? By motorbike. So yep, he came by to pick me up on a motorbike (aka xe om) he borrowed from his cousin. He handed me a helmet and off we went through the streets of Hanoi squeezing through the tight traffic. You haven't lived until your knees slightly graze the side of a bus while moving at 35 miles an hour.
We stood on line with about 200 other people waiting to enter Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. While everyone is waiting in line there was a procession of war veterans and their mothers, then another of the congress and once that is over everyone is allowed inside. We had to move quickly in single file around a wax or plastic re-creation of Ho Chi Minh's laying body inside a clear box. If you weren't moving fast enough a guard would prod you to move faster around the tomb. His actual body is buried somewhere outside of Hanoi in his birthplace. Dung had never been to the complex before so it was also very interesting for him. I love having him around because he is very eager to translate everything and helps me understand the history of Vietnam.
Afterwards we saw Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts that he lived in for 15 years during the war. Then we moved onto the Ho Chi Minh museum. It was actually a very beautiful museum filled with lots of pictures of Ho Chi Minh and his effort to help the country fight against French imperialism, and many art installations symbolizing the strength of the Vietnamese people. What I thought was so ironic was that in the lobby of the museum they sold French pastries and coca cola. How does that work? On one hand here is a museum detailing the hard work of Ho Chi Minh and his followers, but then on the other hand were the fruits of French and American imperialism. Oh well.
After a quick snack, Dung took me to get a cell phone. I bought the most simple phone I could possibly find and a one hour card for about $40.00. I thought this transaction would take forever, but it only took 10 minutes and we were done! We didn't really have too much else that we wanted or needed to do, so Dung took me on a ride all around Hanoi! It was both exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
He returned me to my hotel because he had to go to work and I spent the rest of the day in my room on my laptop and watching television. I needed a day to just veg out and let my body relax because I feel like I have been constantly moving since I have been in Vietnam.

On Sunday I took another all day trip through my hotel to Hoa Lu and Tam Coc in the Ninh Binh province. I met an English girl who is working in Vietnam as a doctor. She is doing a sort of internship here focusing primarily on infectious diseases. It was nice to finally talk to someone who spoke fluent and clear English and to be able to discuss concerns and thoughts about Hanoi and Vietnamese culture. There was also an older American woman who was only staying in Vietnam for a few days to secure some sort of Public Health study abroad program between Boston University and a university in Hanoi. I was so excited to meet her because that is the sort of thing I would like to do as a career. She gave me a few contacts to get in touch with to see if I could discuss their programs with them and possibly volunteer. Most study abroad programs in Vietnam are located in Ho Chi Minh City, so that could be a problem, but I will see what I can do.

Hoa Lu (pronounced: Hwa Loo) is the ancient capital of Vietnam. There were several temples dedicated to the Kings that ruled Vietnam. Our tour guide was not extremely effective - he just let us wander around the area and did not explain too much. It was death hot. I have never felt such heat and humidity like this before - it was almost unbearable.
After our short visit to Hoa Lu we headed to Tam Coc, known as the Halong Bay in the rice paddies. We traveled by boat down a river surrounded by mountains and through a few grottoes. I shared my boat with the older American woman, so we had a chance to talk about our lives and our impressions of Vietnam. I attempted to have a conversation in Vietnamese with our rower. I asked him how to say what we were doing. He said, "Chum ta dang di thuyen" which is "We are going by boat." Slowly, slowly I am picking up the language. He tried to ask me to marry him and bring him to America in Vietnamese, but I didn't quite understand so he asked a rower in another boat who spoke better English to ask me. I knew this would happen at least once while I was here. Very funny.
On the way back to Hanoi it finally started to rain. This has really made it so much cooler and bearable to be outside. Since then, for the past few days, it has been raining lightly on and off.

Pictures from the trip...

Perfume Pagoda

The wi-fi internet in my hotel is finally up!

Yesterday morning, after my last post, I walked outside to find myself some breakfast. I knew the bakery I went to the morning before was not open yet, so I decided to have some pho for breakfast like the locals do. I don't think I could really do pho for dinner and then breakfast again - it just doesn't seem to work, but I had to try it.

The bus headed for the Perfume Pagoda arrived around 8:20am toting 4 girls from Quebec, a guy from Germany, a man from Austria, a couple and a woman from Ho Chi Minh City, and a father and son from the U.S. Our tour guide was an enthusiastic guy around my age. The bus ride to the Perfume Pagoda took about an hour and a half then from there we took "Sampans", or canoe-like boats, to the base of the mountain to the pagoda, or Buddhist temple. The boat ride took another hour or so. I was lucky to ride in the sampan with the couple and woman from Ho Chi Minh City because they were able to tell me about the area that we were travelling through. The husband in the couple knew the most English, so he was explaining to me that there are some people that live in the mountains along the river and that the woman who was rowing our boat lived also nearby and she has to take her children by boat to get to school. He was concerned for her because if there was an emergency there would be no quick way to receive assistance.
Eventually we made our way to the base of the mountain. Our tour included lunch, so we stopped at a restaurant and ate family style with tofu sauteed in tomatoes, beef with scallions, fried omelette, spring rolls, and some sort of green cooked with garlic. Yum!
Along the way I became re-acquainted with the "hole in the floor" toilet. I was an old pro at this! Oh how I missed squatting down to pee trying to make sure that I don't end up urinating all over my feet. Lovely.
Anyway...
Most of us took the cable car up to the top of of the mountain where the pagoda was built. We walked down some steps to go in. I don't think most of us should have entered because we weren't exactly dressed properly (ie most us were wearing shorts or tank tops), but our tour guide just sort of looked the other way and didn't say anything. He pointed out stalactites that appeared as shapes of people, and one seemed to have a face carved into it, but he swore no one has touched it. The guide pointed out two big rocks inside the mountain: one couples pray to and give offerings in order to give birth to a son, and the other for a daughter. Further inside were 3 statues of the Buddha, one representing the past, another the present and another the future. Many people came to this spot before us and left offerings of fruit, cookies and other goodies for the Buddha to enjoy. Our tour guide was trying to explain the shape of one of the rocks as "bulbous", but when he kept saying it the word sounded like "pulpus". He had to spell it on his cell phone and show it to me so I could explain what he meant and how to say it. This went on a few times with different words. Later, on the hike down the mountain, he kept asking me and the other American guy in the group how to pronounce certain words in English. The American guy was getting a little frustrated, but I was very patient because I know that the guide needed to know these words in order to do his job effectively.
On the way down we spotted a monkey chained to a table sitting across from a vendor. The others in my group stopped, took pictures, and oohed and ahhed over the monkey. The Austrian man even gave the monkey the rest of his beer. I thought the whole scene was absolutely atrocious! The monkey was obviously struggling to get loose from the chain, and here were these people thinking it was cute. I continued walking because I just couldn't bear to see it tied up like that.

After we made it down the mountain we hopped on the sampans again, sailed back to the village, returned on the bus and went back to Hanoi. We were all very sweaty and exhausted to say the least.

For some more photos of the Perfume Pagoda trip and of Hoan Kiem Lake go here:
Hoan Kiem/Perfume Pagoda Pictures

Continued onto a great day...

I met with Steve, my contact, for a 2-hour lunch. He filled me in on Vietnamese culture, history and it's corrupt government. Immediately I felt very comfortable with him. His humor and mannerisms remind me of Eddie Izzard, ha. Steve informed me that Language Link is building a new school, but it will not be finished by the time that they originally thought. The plan was for me to replace a teacher who will be moving to the new school, but since that has been pushed back I will not start teaching for another 2 weeks. In the meantime I will be shadowing the other teachers and becoming more familiar with lesson planning. This really works for me actually because it will help me ease into the position instead of being thrown directly into it.

Like I promised, I met up with Dung (pronounced: Doong) at the Hapro cafe by Hoan Kiem Lake at 2:30pm. We have formed quite the symbiotic relationship: he wants to practice his English and learn American culture, and I want to learn Vietnamese and how to get around Hanoi. So we were translating words and phrases from English to Vietnamese the whole time we walked to the Ho Chi Minh museum. Once we arrived we found out that it was almost closed, so we decided that we would just go back another day and instead walk around and learn more from each other. He wanted me to just talk in English and he would try to figure out what I was saying. I was like, "Well, what do you want me to say?" and he just told me to say anything. I decided I would whip out my camera and show him pictures of my bon voyage party pictures and use that to tell him a story. This worked out really well! I was able to explain relationships between people, about my friend's occupations, and I attempted to describe the game "Taboo", but I'm not quite sure that he got it. On our way back to my hotel we stopped to get some Pho, or noodle soup. It was the first real Vietnamese meal I've had since I have been here, and it was delicious! We sat on teeny plastic stools next to a teeny little table and huddled over our bowls with wooden chopsticks and a spoon. I'm not sure how sanitary everything was, but I just kept thinking about the advice Steve gave me earlier: "Don't pay attention to how everything is cooked or served...just eat it."
Dung is going to meet me Saturday morning and we will return to the Ho Chi Minh complex to go to his tomb and the museum! I think he's also going to help me get a cell phone, so I'm really relieved about that.

This morning, at 7:30am, I will depart from my hotel to go on an all day trip to the Perfume Pagoda a few hours outside of Hanoi. My hotel runs many tours and this one is only 20 bucks, so I figured it's a good deal.

Once I can get the internet on my laptop to work I will post up some pictures/video.

My great morning!

Ok, so it's my next day here and let me tell you...it's SO much better! I went to sleep around 4pm yesterday and woke up at 2:30am, so I got some much needed sleep. I just hung around my room writing in my journal, listened to music on my laptop, watched some tv, and I took another shower. I waited until 6am so I could get out of my room and start my day. I went online again and I had a chance to talk to my mother and brother on G chat, so that was nice. I don't know what I would do without the internet to keep me connected to the people at home.

I ventured out again onto the streets of Hanoi looking for breakfast. Most places don't open till 8 or 9, but I was able to find a bakery/cafe for a croissant and tea. I just sat there and watched people as they were on their way to school or work. Then I returned to my hotel to grab a map of the city, the hotel's copy of Lonely Planet Vietnam and began to find my way to Hoan Kiem Lake and the site where the infamous red bridge (see main blog image) resides. It was only a 10 minute walk from my hotel. I actually had to cross several streets dodging motor bikes, bicycles and autos...and let me tell you, it wasn't as bad as it seemed on the youtube video I presented a few blogs ago. When I arrived at the lake I spotted the red bridge and went to reach for my camera inside my bag when I realized that I forgot it! Damn it! I didn't get too upset about it because I knew that I would return to this spot many times during my stay here. The lake is where the city convenes. Men and women come here to exercise, read the paper, meet with friends and enjoy a cup of coffee. I spotted many old folks stretching in very interesting poses, and groups coming together to play a game of raquetball in the middle of the street. I bought some postcards from a stand and I was actually able to use my knowledge of numbers to figure out how much it cost! I bought "sow" (6) postcards and the price was "bon hai" (42).
There is path that works its way around the lake so I just followed that until I came to an outside cafe called Hapro where they serve coffee and small bites to eat. I ordered a traditional Vietnamese coffee served with condensed milk. Vietnamese coffee is very strong, so I absolutely loved it! I got into a conversation with my waiter about where I'm from and what I'm doing here. He wanted to practice his English on me which wasn't too bad, but I did have to ask him to repeat himself several times before I completely understood what he said. I asked him where the Ho Chi Minh Tomb was and he told me that he would show me if I came back at 2:30pm when he got out of work. I took down his mobile number and I told him I would return at 2:30, but I would call if I couldn't make it. I'm so excited! I made a friend! I left feeling so amazing! I have a guide!

I walked back to my hotel stopping at a fruit stand and bought another mini-pineapple. I asked the woman what it's called in "tien Viet", Vietnamese. She said it was "Qua-soo-uh". When I repeated what she said, she said it again and again and again. I thought I said it how she did, but apparently I couldn't quite put the stress where it was supposed to go. Sometimes I would get it, but then when I tried to repeat what I just said it apparently wasn't the same. I giggled the whole time, but she was very patient with me. She threw in a kumquat for free and I was on my way. When I returned to the hotel I called Language Link and asked for my contact. A woman told me his contract was up and that he left, but she could direct me somewhere else. I must have spoken to about 3 people before someone told me they would send a driver to come get me and bring me to the school. Ten minutes later my contact, Steve, called and I told him that someone had told me he left and he said "Well, maybe it was wishful thinking..." He's going to pick me up in an hour and a half and take me out to lunch! I am so relieved, excited, and hyped up on caffeine that I don't even know what to do with myself!

Sigh

So I made it to Vietnam safe and soundly. I thought that I would request the vegetarian option when I made my flight arrangements because the veg meal always looked better than the non-veg one, but I don't think that I'm going to request the vegetarian option ever again. For some reason, the stewardesses would serve me half an hour before everyone else, and that made me feel kind of uncomfortable...you know, to be the only one eating around me. The food wasn't bad or anything, it was just weird. Other than that the flights weren't too bad. I did get to sit next to some nice people on both flights who gave me some tips on Hanoi.

But annyyywayyy, the school sent a driver to come pick me up at the airport. And for all of you who asked me, yes, he did hold a big sign that said "Jessica Greenbaum". He didn't speak any English, but I did manage to tell him that I am an American "Noi Mee-ee" and that I only understand a little Vietnamese "Moht eet tien viet'. We swerved in and out of lanes in between trucks and bicycles honking the whole way. I must have gripped the side of the car about ten times on our twenty minute ride from the airport. I was reminded of the drivers in India and how I just had to learn to trust them no matter how insane their driving seemed. He dropped me off at a small hotel in a really touristy part of Hanoi. Immediately, I dropped my things off in my room and jumped on one of the computers in the lobby to email my parents to tell them I was alive and well.
Afterwards, I returned to my room to shower and I realized that my ankles and feet have swollen up like balloons! Even right now they are quite swollen. Once I was all cleaned up I went for a walk to explore the areas. There are lots of tour guides, little snack stalls, bars, men offering motor bike rides, and souvenir shops that seem to go on for blocks. I stopped at a bar and had a beer to calm myself down a little. I have to be honest: I feel completely displaced and depressed. Granted, I also haven't slept for 2 days, I'm experiencing insane jet lag, and I have yet to get a hold of someone from the school to see what my next step is. So after my beer I bought a mini pineapple fruit from a lady selling them on the curb, I returned to my hotel room, and I had myself a good cry. I feel much better and now I am off to go get some much needed sleep!

Side note:
I was watching some television in my hotel room trying to relax when I came across the movie "Lost in Translation". When Bill Murray began to talk his lines were dubbed by a woman speaking Vietnamese. How ironic!

Almost there!

A butt-kicking bike ride to the Alemany Farmer's Market on Saturday.
Pizza from Cheeseboard in Berkeley.
A dance club that night called Bootie that rocked my world.
Sunday Brunch with Melissa at the St. Francis diner.
Shopping at the Haight with Brian.
Delicious Middle Eastern dinner at Yumma's in the Inner Sunset.
Off to the movies to see "Iron Man" with Robert Downey Jr. (surprisingly good flick!)
Picnic at Holly Park this afternoon with my friend Youa and her son Dylan.
More shopping Downtown.

Yeah...I would say I was pretty busy for the duration of my stay in San Francisco. I'm absolutely exhausted to say the least. I loved seeing Youa (aka Elissa for those of you who have heard me talk about her) this afternoon. Even though we haven't seen each other in 3 years, and haven't even really spoken too much since then it seems as if we just come together so easily as if we haven't missed a beat. Because of the ease of our relationship and the fact that I could always just be myself around her I considered her one of my best friends in AmeriCorps.

Last night, while Brian and I were watching "Iron Man", I was suddenly hit with the reality that I'm actually moving to Vietnam. I'm moving to Vietnam, like, by myself! I knew that I wouldn't get much sleep that night, so I asked Brian to take me to a Walgreens to get some sleeping meds - which will also be helpful on my 14 hour flight to Hong Kong as well!
In a few hours I will board my flight and I am absolutely scared out of my mind. I know it helps to talk about things like this, so I've been mentioning my fear to everyone close to me hoping that it will make me feel a little better. I emailed my contact at Language Link to confirm that someone is going to pick me up at the airport and quite quickly they responded to let me know that someone will be there! Phew! That eases that worry. I'll be OK. I always think things are much harder than they really are, and this is just another one of those things. I keep telling myself that.

So my next post will be from Vietnam! Stay tuned! Cross your fingers! Wish me luck!

The adventure begins

So I made it! I left from JFK airport on Thursday headed for San Francisco. I flew on Jet Blue airlines which provides each passenger with their own little television screen on the of back of the seats. There are about 25 channels to choose from which is pretty cool actually, but there is only so much television I can watch within a 6 hour period before I want to kill myself. I started to talk to the fellow next to me because neither of us could watch another second of television, and I was feeling too anxious to focus on any of the books I had brought along. He invited my brother and I to this "mixer" of sorts that he runs on Friday nights. Sounded like fun.

Eventually we landed and my brother picked me up to bring me back to his apartment. I mentioned attending the mixer event, but he said we were going to a "taco crawl" that evening for his friend's birthday. What is a taco crawl you may ask. Well, where my brother, in the Mission district there is a pretty heavy Mexican population. With many Mexicans comes many a taquerias, or restaurants that serve tacos, burritos, and the like. The whole concept of the "taco crawl" is to eat one taco, one beer and then move on to the next. More on this later.

Friday morning Brian and I ate breakfast at this yummy hipster diner, St. Francis. I had a guacamole omelette with homemade biscuits! It may sound kinda gross, but for those of you who really know me know I love me some guacamole. Afterwards we ran a few errands and headed down to Stinson Beach to hike the Matt Davis Trail. As we drove up highway one on the way to Panoramic Highway we passed through forests of eucalyptus, and while the trees are a threat to the surrounding indigenous plant life, it smelled damn amazing. Once we arrived at our destination we began our trek. It started off quite easy, but eventually each steep step killed our thighs. I'm not a hiker per see, but I would like to think that I could handle the heat, the bugs, the potential rattle snakes and I can, sort of. I froze when we hit a patch of flowers swarming with bumble bees, heaved with each step, sighed with desperation when I looked up to see how much higher we had to hike, and I would wince each time I spotted a snake hole in the trail. This thing kicked my ass, and we only hiked up about two miles! Note to self: you are so out of shape. Eventually we rested on "table top rock" which overlooked Stinson Beach. Breathtaking. Brian and I feasted on some blood oranges and cherries picked up at a vendor on highway one. We continued. For an hour or so we didn't see a single soul on the trail, so it was much to my dismay to hear something scurrying ahead of us. A fox or bear maybe? I looked up and saw a man running down the trail in our direction. I thought, "Who the hell is this guy? How could he run down this thing?" On we hiked for another half hour or so searching for some sort of "two-foot step" carved out of a tree that we had to see. Exhausted, Brian and I decided to head down before reaching the step. As we made our way down the trail the force of gravity was upon us pushing us to leap and run downward. Now I completely understood why that man was sprinting so quickly in the opposite direction. There was something very liberating about charging full speed down the trail. I felt exhilarated. I was flushed with serotonin. When we reached the base of the trail both Brian and I were drenched in sweat, but feeling amazing and on an incredible high. The ride home was quiet and contemplative.

That night Brian and I met up with a few of his friends for the "taco crawl". We began at "El Farolito" (my personal favorite of the bunch visited) and continued to about three others munching on tacos and guzzling down beers. I have to admit, after the second taqueria I was done for the night.

On my way out

I'm leaving tomorrow for San Francisco and I'm freaking out. I had a slight heart attack yesterday because one of my worst fears came to fruition. On Sunday I sold my car to a man named Cesar and his wife Victoria. My biggest worry was that I would get a call from Cesar the next day or the day after explaining that the vehicle broke down and he wanted to return it. Well, it didn't happen exactly like that. Cesar called on Tuesday to tell me that he brought the RAV4 to see a mechanic and the guy told him that the timing belt needed to be changed and it was going to be $500. Cesar then, and rightfully so, told me that he wouldn't have purchased the car if he knew that he would have to put more money into it. I said that I could not take it back because I was leaving the country in a few days. I did what, I believe, any righteous person would do: I offered to send him a check for $500 to fix the timing belt. I wasn't going to argue with him over the issue. I knew that it needed to be changed around this time anyway and it would be fair of me to hand it over for him to deal with. Some may disagree, but that's how I roll.

I've just about finished my packing, but I have this strange feeling that I have forgotten something huge. I picked up my visa from the Vietnamese consulate in New York on Monday, so it's not that. I have enough clothes, toiletries and little extras to bring with me. I still have to send out the documents for my work permit to the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington to be translated and certified. How unlike me to leave something to the very last minute.

One thing I have to make sure of is that I bring some personal items with me such as photos, letters and just little things that remind me of home. The one thing I really regretted in India was that I only brought 3 or 4 pictures of friends and family and it made me feel very homesick to not have more. I know I will be feeling especially homesick since I'm going out on this trip all by myself. I have to figure everything out on my own, so I'm really hoping that someone from Language Link will hold my hand at least for the first month or so.