Tet and Rob and Sam Visit

So it's been about a month since Tet, and I figured I should update a bit. Spencer and I took about a week and a half to travel up and see some of the central-north parts of Vietnam. Our initial plan was to fly up to Da Nang, spend some time there and Hoi An, and then take a train to Nha Trang (gorgeous beach town) and then another train back to Saigon. However, being disorganized, we booked our trip a bit late and all of the train tickets were sold out, as were flights to Da Nang. There were, however, first class plane tickets to go to Da Nang. We were booking our trip right after pay day, so, feeling flush (and not having much other choice if we actually wanted to go through with this trip), we went for first class. The day we arrived at the airport, it was an absolute mad house. Tet is the biggest traveling time in Vietnam, and most everyone travels. We started standing in line to check in and realized that it would be about 45 minutes or so. We asked one of the ladies working to make sure that we were in the right line, and she quickly ushered us over to the First Class checkin counter, where we waited about 2 minutes. After security, we headed to the airport lounge to wait for a few hours. The lounge was incredible - free food and drinks, sofas, internet access, no screaming babies, etc. We got onto the plane and were immediately irritated that the flight was only 45 minutes. There was so much leg room in front of us that I could stick my legs out straight in front of me and still have them be about a foot away from the row in front of us. They came around about 15 minutes into the flight with a meal of some sort, complete with metal silverware. Anyways, that's my tangent on how incredible first class is, and how much it's going to suck to go back to economy seating. It's completely ruined me.

We'd heard that Da Nang was a beach town, and requested a hotel near the beach. However, neither Spencer nor I had checked the weather before we left. We got there, and it was COLD! (Not by "winters at home" standards, but definitely by Vietnam standards). Neither of us had brought clothes for cold weather, assuming that we'd just be lying on the beach the whole time. Oops. We got a taxi at the airport, and showed him our piece of paper with our itinerary on it that had the hotel's address. We weren't familiar with Da Nang and how far out the airport was, so after about 30 minutes in the taxi, we asked the driver what was going on. Turns out that when he looked at the paper, he saw that we were going to Hoi An, which is about 30 kilometers away, and was taking us there. He turned around, and took us to the hotel, which was only about 5 minutes from the airport. After paying 500,000 (about $25) for a trip that should've only been about $3, neither of us were too pleased. We got to the hotel and decided to take a look around Da Nang. At that point, I was sick, cold, grumpy, and hungry. Not a good combination...While we were out looking for lunch, it started to rain. Needless to say, our time in Da Nang was spent mostly in the hotel room, complaining about how lame the city was. Rather than be miserable and cooped up in our hotel room the whole time, we decided to go to Hoi An a few days early. We hopped in a taxi that took us there (it was about 400,000) and upon arriving, knew that we'd made the right decision.

Hoi An is lovely. So far, it's my favorite town in Vietnam (not that I've been to that many, but of all of the ones I have seen, it's definitely at the top of my list). It's a quaint little town that feels a bit Disney-land-esque. It's got narrow streets, with old looking shops, and there are always people out in the streets. It's small enough that after only half a day, I felt like I knew the town pretty well. Hoi An is also the place to go to have clothes made. The streets are lined with tailor after tailor, all of whom can make any kind of clothes you want and have them back to you the following day. Spencer and I were both low on work clothes, so we went to a tailor and just went crazy....She pulled out a catalogue, and flipping through, it was hard to stay sane. Flipping through, I'd see something I liked on a page, then something else a few pages later, then a shirt in another few pages that I wanted in a few different colors....I walked out of there having ordered four shirts, two pairs of pants, and a skirt. We picked up the clothes the next day and they were all perfect...what a town! Anyways, after a few days in Hoi An, it was time to head down to where the weather was warmer and we could lie on a beach all day in Nha Trang...

After a cramped overnight bus, we arrived in Nha Trang tired and hungry. We checked into our hotel, napped for a bit, then ventured out to find food. Nha Trang is a gorgeous beach town, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. Spencer rented a motorbike, so one day we rode out of town for about half an hour, and the scenery only got even more beautiful. We spent most of our time there lying on the beach during the day, and eating nice meals in the evening. Our last day there, I dragged Spencer to Thap Ba Hot Springs Mudbath. He was not impressed, and really didn't want to go. We arrived and decided what we wanted (and by "what we wanted" I actually mean "what I wanted and Spencer grumbled about") and went to get changed, and Spencer suddenly says "I didn't even bring a swimsuit, so I'll just go sit by the pool and you do your thing." Fortunately for both of us, I'd snuck his swimsuit into my bag, so he had no excuse. We changed, and he complained all the way up to the mudbaths. We got in and he complained some more, but after a few minutes, the complaining stopped and he started to enjoy it. We spent about 15 minutes soaking in a tub of mud, then a few minutes lying in the sun letting the mud dry, then after a shower, we went to a hot mineral bath. We left feeling incredibly relaxed, and Spencer incredibly apologetic for whining so much.

Towards the end of the vacation, we were both ready to get back. We were tired of being tourists - of not knowing where to eat, or what to do - and were just ready to be back in Saigon. We had an 8am bus and after quite a bit of drama with them (they were at the wrong address to pick us up, and we thought they'd forgotten us), we prepared for what ended up being a 12 hour bus ride. We arrived back in Saigon around 7:30pm, and my friends Rob and Sam visiting from Jakarta were due to arrive at 8. I hopped off the bus, gave Spencer my suitcase to take home, and caught a xe om out to the airport.

It was awesome having them visit. Taking people around your city makes you feel proud, and for me especially, made me appreciate it here a lot more. We didn't do a ton while they were here...we ate lots of street food, particularly bun thit nuong, and hit all of the main tourist attractions (the post office, the cathedral, the palace, the war museum...). We also spent a weekend in Vung Tau with them, though by that point I was pretty well burned out on traveling and ready to get back to work and a regular schedule.

Since they left, things have settled down quite a bit. Teaching is still going well, and I'm still having a lot of fun with all of my friends here. I've got a few trips planned for the near future...in March ILA is having its annual trip to Mui Ne. It was a ton of fun last year, even though I'd just arrived, and I'm hoping that it'll be even more fun this year, seeing as I've been here over a year and know a lot more people. Then, at the beginning of April, Spencer and I are going down to Kuala Lumpur to see the Formula 1 Race, and after that, heading for a few days to the Perhentian Islands (if you want to be jealous, do a google image search...). I swear, all of this traveling around here is completely spoiling me for anywhere that I want to go in the future...

The Holidays Edition (Super-Belated)

And again, I haven't written in what feels like ages. A quick Gossip Girl addiction later, and here I am....It doesn't feel like I've actually accomplished a lot since I've last written (especially given the amounts of TV that I've somehow managed to watch), but when I actually look back on the past few months, I realize that I've done quite a bit.

The first holiday was Thanksgiving. I'd booked tickets home ages ago. When it finally came time to head home, part of me didn't want to go. I was still enjoying Vietnam and getting used to things, and I knew that if I went home, I'd have to readjust all over, and the little things (the nonexistence of lines here, or sidewalks for that matter) would annoy me all over again. What I didn't realize was that when I was home, I'd have to readjust to American culture as well...somehow the concept of reverse culture shock slipped my mind. Jet lag apart, I had an amazing time at home, and as tough as it was getting used to paying 5 times as much for a beer at home (and having to tip on top of it - can you believe it!), it was really awesome to see everybody. The weather was perfect - I got home and caught the last bit of Autumn, and before I left, even got to see a few inches of snow! We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner and while I was home I ate enough BBQ to last me for another few months here...

I got back to Vietnam on a Wednesday night and had to be at work on Thursday evening (mostly due to poor planning and an inability to account for the time difference and date differences when I was booking my time off of work). I certainly hit the ground running...after Thursday evening of work, I was back in for a nearly full weekend. Fortunately we only had to work for half of Sunday since ILA's Christmas party was that evening and they gave us the evening off. The Christmas party was tons of fun - it was at the Intercontinental Hotel, a 5 star hotel and restaurant, and featured an all you can eat buffet and open bar. Zara and I both had dresses made for the party (as did most of the female teachers), and everyone had a complete blast. Fortunately for my liver and my stomach both, I was still pretty jet lagged, so headed home relatively early.

For Christmas, Spencer and I decided that if we couldn't have the cold that we were used to, we'd better go for the other extreme, so we headed up to Mui Ne to get some quality beach time in.
The trip was amazing...the weather couldn't have been better, and we stayed in an incredible resort where we had a Christmas Eve dinner feast. We tanned (avoiding sunburn this time!), read more than can possibly be healthy, watched the kite surfers, and thoroughly enjoyed being out of the city. It was rough coming back, but then again, it always is hard to go back to work after a relaxing vacation (especially one spent at the beach...)

So now on to New Year's.....I've never been a huge fan of New Year's and all of the parties. It's just too much hype for a night which, to me, has almost always turned out to be a disappointment. One of my teenage students invited me to a New Year's party that she and her family were throwing. I was in a bit of an awkward situation, so I agreed to go before I really got a chance to think about it. I was going to bail at the last minute, but she was really excited for me to come (since I didn't know where she lived, she offered to come to my house across town and pick me up and take me there), and I couldn't say no. Fortunately Spencer agreed to come along with me, so we showed up to her house. In Vietnam, lots of people happen to clear out the bottom floor of their house to make some sort of business, and just live above it. Her house is a beauty salon by day, but had been cleared out and filled with tables for the party. When we got there, we sat with a bunch of older teenagers from her English for Study Abroad classes that she was also taking at ILA, so fortunately everybody could speak English. It was an incredible party - it was fully catered, and had waiters that would come over to bring another drink as soon as you even looked like you were maybe considering another drink. The food was amazing as well - mostly seafood, which I wasn't a big fan of, but very fresh tasting and perfectly cooked. Spencer and I ducked out after a few hours and headed to get frozen yogurt on the way home. In bed by about 11 and watching a movie. Could be one of the better New Years celebrations of my life....

Since the big holiday rush, not a lot has been going on...I got a semi-promotion at work. They took my first two classes away from me (my Jumpies, which I loved, and my J3B's, who were the first class that I got when I started teaching here - weird to think that I've had them for a year now...). Anyways, I'm now officially one of the two "standby teachers" on the weekend. I have to show up a bit earlier (7am!), and wait around to see if anybody calls in sick. If they do, I plan a last minute lesson and go teach. If nobody does, I work on developing the supplemental resources that all of the teachers use. I've only done it for two weekends, but so far it's all going really well, although I was sad to have to say goodbye to my old students...

I've just been hanging in there, getting through the teaching, and waiting for Tet to come at the beginning of February. Spencer and I are flying up to Da Nang (a nice beach town), then going to Hoi An (the fabric and clothes-making capital of Vietnam), and Nha Trang (a busy beach town). It'll be a busy 9 days, and then when we get back, my friends Rob and Sam are coming to visit from Jakarta for a week! - That should all keep me nice and busy!

My apologies for my incoherent writing (and rambling) in this post...I'm working off of only a few hours of sleep and a full weekend... will hopefully be more together with my next update (which also shouldn't be another four months or so from now...)