Finally I've settled into my schedule so I found some time to go exploring in Hue. One of the Vietnamese volunteers offered to take me to a few fabulous places around Hue, including Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue's Temple of Literature, the Arena (tigers and elephants were forced to fight against each other as a spectacle for kings) and the Palace of the Crying Elephants, a temple erected in memory of the elephants that died. As the tigers' claws were clipped before battle hardly any of the elephants were killed so they mostly died a natural death. Apparently this 'declawing' was because tigers symbolised barbarism and elephants symbolised the wisdom and eternity of the Vietnamese royal family.
Yesterday I also got to meet up with my aunt and uncle, who are travelling in Vietnam with two friends. I joined in their private tour for the day and we visited the Minh Mang tomb - one of the kings' mausoleums - and the citadel. I also got to revisit the Thien Mu Pagoda, with a qualified tourguide this time! It was built in 1601 and has the highest pagoda tower in all of Vietnam. The pagoda is also famous for a tragic event in the 1960s: one of the buddhist monks borrowed a car, drove to Saigon and set himself on fire in protest of goverment policies on religion, which was regarded as being pro-Christian and anti-buddhist. You can still see the car at the pagoda which was retrieved from Saigon.
After our visits we took one of the fascinating dragon boats back to Hue along the Perfume River.
In the afternoon my visitors came to see me at my two placements, including the children's shelter which was staging the Royal Wedding Party. Sadly it had just finished when we got there due to our taxi driver getting completely lost even though I knew exactly where to go and kept pointing at my map! However, you will all be able to see the footage from our royal wedding party on Monday, 7.10pm UK time on Channel 4. If possible, could one of you record it for me? I think I may be in it for 2 seconds holding a child and avoiding clearing up. Oops.
My visitors have now continued their trip to Hoi An and then on to Ho Chi Minh City, so this morning me and the other volunteers went to one of the 4 star hotels for an all you can eat breakfast buffet for the equivalent of 4 USD. So so good! And I filled up on cheese, so that'll last me until the middle of the week, I hope.
For some reason we all seem to have the day off today, so we went to one of the other children shelters, bought water bombs and had a hilarious water fight as it is absolutely scorching today! We'd planned on going to the beach but I'm actually spending my afternoon in the office, with all the fans on updating my blog and listening to music.
This evening we're checking out Hue food festival, which starts today and there are all sorts of activities planned as well as performances and exhibits. Tomorrow we're taking 20 of the kids from the children's shelter to the festival for a day out, which should be fun!
Will upload some pics from my antics onto tumblr.
xxx
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The bonsai reunion
Yesterday I came back from work at the Hope Centre and the Bonsai was back!
Ong was so happy and our landlady couldn't stop grinning. The thieves had used a boltcutter on the gate's padlock, so we got new keys and the bonsai is now chained to the 'bonsai-bathtub', so all is good and peaceful now!
I think the family is on the watch a bit more now, though. Yesterday night I was coming back from our South African friends' weekly movie night and I got a flat tyre, so I had to push all the way home (not too bad, only a kilometer), so I called Kim to ask if he could cycle towards me. It was already almost 11pm, but the family is normally still up watching some interesting-looking Vietnamese soap opera, so he had some explaining to do as the family thought he was a burglar! Apart from the bonsai incident though everything here is really safe and the people are incredibly helpful.
I got my flat tyre fixed again today, new inner tube and they checked the rim of my wheel for spikey bits and it was only 45 thousand! BARGAIN!
Apart from a few bike problems everything has been going smoothly, so I have started to really feel at home here. If I didn't have my place at St Andrews for September I'd stay here!
Today I taught my first lesson at the Hope Centre! I'll be teaching the admin staff to run the Hope Shop, which will be opening next week, I hope. I've been busy designing products, too, and promise to upload some pictures once we have more prototypes. My favourite is the Huda bangle, made from Huda beer labels on wrist-thick cardboard thread spools. Proper recycled goods! We're also doing bangles with Aluoi fabric, a beautiful handwoven fabric made by members of 2 of Vietnam's 50+ ethnic groups. So be warned, that's all you'll be getting for Christmas and birthdays this year!
I'm off to the Hue Children Centre library this evening. Yesterday we lent out our first books and some are due to be returned tonight, so I am incredibly excited about seeing our lending scheme evolve over the next few weeks!
Ong was so happy and our landlady couldn't stop grinning. The thieves had used a boltcutter on the gate's padlock, so we got new keys and the bonsai is now chained to the 'bonsai-bathtub', so all is good and peaceful now!
I think the family is on the watch a bit more now, though. Yesterday night I was coming back from our South African friends' weekly movie night and I got a flat tyre, so I had to push all the way home (not too bad, only a kilometer), so I called Kim to ask if he could cycle towards me. It was already almost 11pm, but the family is normally still up watching some interesting-looking Vietnamese soap opera, so he had some explaining to do as the family thought he was a burglar! Apart from the bonsai incident though everything here is really safe and the people are incredibly helpful.
I got my flat tyre fixed again today, new inner tube and they checked the rim of my wheel for spikey bits and it was only 45 thousand! BARGAIN!
Apart from a few bike problems everything has been going smoothly, so I have started to really feel at home here. If I didn't have my place at St Andrews for September I'd stay here!
Today I taught my first lesson at the Hope Centre! I'll be teaching the admin staff to run the Hope Shop, which will be opening next week, I hope. I've been busy designing products, too, and promise to upload some pictures once we have more prototypes. My favourite is the Huda bangle, made from Huda beer labels on wrist-thick cardboard thread spools. Proper recycled goods! We're also doing bangles with Aluoi fabric, a beautiful handwoven fabric made by members of 2 of Vietnam's 50+ ethnic groups. So be warned, that's all you'll be getting for Christmas and birthdays this year!
I'm off to the Hue Children Centre library this evening. Yesterday we lent out our first books and some are due to be returned tonight, so I am incredibly excited about seeing our lending scheme evolve over the next few weeks!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
New photoblog
New pictures have now gone up. I've decided not to use Picasa anymore and have put a link to Tumblr instead.
For you guys nothing has changed, though, you just click on the link to my pics on the right hand side.
Here's a link, too!
http://amylouisasadventures.tumblr.com/
For you guys nothing has changed, though, you just click on the link to my pics on the right hand side.
Here's a link, too!
http://amylouisasadventures.tumblr.com/
drip, drop, drip, little April shower....
So Monday and Tuesday we had 2 days of torrential rain and occassional thunderstorms here in Hue. It started raining Monday morning and hasn't really stopped much, so the wetness and cold is a nice change from the heat and the humidity. Today it has brightened up a bit and, and the sun is poking through the clouds again, but the heat of last week is yet to return. Hue in the rain is beautiful, all the mist rises from the river and everything looks really spooky.
The Vietnamese whip out their huge ponchos and just carry on with whatever they're doing. Some of the ponchos have holes for two heads, so the person behind on the motorbike can see. Others just disappear under the poncho and it's impossible to tell how many people are under it unless you count the legs. It's good fun. Actually, if the rain comes back and it lasts longer than 2 days I'll start hating it, but for now I will say I was quite glad it rained for a bit!
I've had a busy few days, I've started on my two placements. The Hope Centre, a vocational training centre, is opening a shop to sell it's handicrafts very soon, so we've been busy designing new products and trying out various materials etc. And, to our delight, one of the restaurants in the touristy area as offered to sell our goods, so we'll probably be stocking them with handmade cards soon.
My other placement is at the Hue Children Centre, a shelter for orphans, half-orphans and children whose families can't afford to support them. There are 36 kids there, ranging from babies to 18 year olds. Hue Help,the organisation I work for, and one of the government departments co-financed the building itself and Hue Help still financially supports the shelter. A year ago they invested in a library, but sadly without supervision it had to be locked. So Kim and I are responsible for it now and open it on 4 days in the week so the older kids can come and read or study. At weekends we organise activities for the kids. We're trying to introduce a book of the week scheme, where the activities would be based around a book, but we're not sure how that would work in practice.
This sunday we're having a birthday party for all the kids whose birthdays are in March and April and next week we're having a Royal Wedding party, which will be filmed and shown on Channel 4 on the 30th. I'll get more details on that soon and you'll get to see me and my work on telly!!!!
Yesterday morning I dragged myself into the office to do some work and spotted my Vietnamese family and a police officer hunched over the big bath-tub like fishpond/bonsai tree pot. The bonsai tree, worth 80 million Dong (4000 USD) had been stolen! The thiefs had climed over the locked gate and taken a huge bonsai tree! Thankfully the police found the culprits and the tree, so the family and tree will be happily reunited next week after paying the police for their services.
Bonsai's are of incredible sentimental value as it is widely believed that the soul of the family lives within the tree. So when the tree disappeared, so did the family's soul. Ong, the 95 year old, was searching up and down the street for it, and he seldomly leaves the house! So I am incredibly relieved that the tree is safe and the family's soul will be returned.
The Vietnamese whip out their huge ponchos and just carry on with whatever they're doing. Some of the ponchos have holes for two heads, so the person behind on the motorbike can see. Others just disappear under the poncho and it's impossible to tell how many people are under it unless you count the legs. It's good fun. Actually, if the rain comes back and it lasts longer than 2 days I'll start hating it, but for now I will say I was quite glad it rained for a bit!
I've had a busy few days, I've started on my two placements. The Hope Centre, a vocational training centre, is opening a shop to sell it's handicrafts very soon, so we've been busy designing new products and trying out various materials etc. And, to our delight, one of the restaurants in the touristy area as offered to sell our goods, so we'll probably be stocking them with handmade cards soon.
My other placement is at the Hue Children Centre, a shelter for orphans, half-orphans and children whose families can't afford to support them. There are 36 kids there, ranging from babies to 18 year olds. Hue Help,the organisation I work for, and one of the government departments co-financed the building itself and Hue Help still financially supports the shelter. A year ago they invested in a library, but sadly without supervision it had to be locked. So Kim and I are responsible for it now and open it on 4 days in the week so the older kids can come and read or study. At weekends we organise activities for the kids. We're trying to introduce a book of the week scheme, where the activities would be based around a book, but we're not sure how that would work in practice.
This sunday we're having a birthday party for all the kids whose birthdays are in March and April and next week we're having a Royal Wedding party, which will be filmed and shown on Channel 4 on the 30th. I'll get more details on that soon and you'll get to see me and my work on telly!!!!
Yesterday morning I dragged myself into the office to do some work and spotted my Vietnamese family and a police officer hunched over the big bath-tub like fishpond/bonsai tree pot. The bonsai tree, worth 80 million Dong (4000 USD) had been stolen! The thiefs had climed over the locked gate and taken a huge bonsai tree! Thankfully the police found the culprits and the tree, so the family and tree will be happily reunited next week after paying the police for their services.
Bonsai's are of incredible sentimental value as it is widely believed that the soul of the family lives within the tree. So when the tree disappeared, so did the family's soul. Ong, the 95 year old, was searching up and down the street for it, and he seldomly leaves the house! So I am incredibly relieved that the tree is safe and the family's soul will be returned.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Settling in
So, after almost 2 weeks in Hue I've gotten used to some of the more bizarre aspects of Vietnamese life.
What I find most fascinating here is the hour long news/goverment announcements and music which is played over giant megaphones and speakers every morning at 5am. I can almost sleep through them by now and I find it absolutely hilarious! This announcement service used to be incredibly important as it was one of the only ways of finding out what's going on at a local, regional and national level. However, with mobile phones and the internet it almost seems a little bit superfluous.
Another thing that really fascinates me is the complete lack of health and safety regulations. Helmets were introduced a few years back, yet there is no governmental standard, so the helmets on sale here are mostly decorative and probably not accident-safe. Also, there is no law requiring children to wear helmets! I almost laughed out loud the other day when I saw a woman on a vespa/scooter put a small plastic chair on that flat bit intended for your feet and then lifted her two or three year old onto it. Fortunately in the city most people don't go faster than 30 or 40 kilometers per hour! Furthermore, people carry the most ridiculous things on their motorbikes, bicycles and cyclos, ranging from wardrobes and fridges to chickens and stacks of beercrates. The load is sometimes secured using ropes, more often than not it's just perched on the seats of the cyclo with someone holding it and peering over the top. People also take naps on their cyclos/motorbikes!
cyclo (I didn't take this picture, I've yet to start photographing people)
The third thing I find really amusing is the abandoned amusement parks within the cities green parks. There are dodgems, merry-go-rounds and even some small rollercoasters, but they don't seem to be open or safe for that matter! At night they look really eerie in the glow of the streetlamps. I'll try get a photoseries of the rides up soon!
What I find most fascinating here is the hour long news/goverment announcements and music which is played over giant megaphones and speakers every morning at 5am. I can almost sleep through them by now and I find it absolutely hilarious! This announcement service used to be incredibly important as it was one of the only ways of finding out what's going on at a local, regional and national level. However, with mobile phones and the internet it almost seems a little bit superfluous.
Another thing that really fascinates me is the complete lack of health and safety regulations. Helmets were introduced a few years back, yet there is no governmental standard, so the helmets on sale here are mostly decorative and probably not accident-safe. Also, there is no law requiring children to wear helmets! I almost laughed out loud the other day when I saw a woman on a vespa/scooter put a small plastic chair on that flat bit intended for your feet and then lifted her two or three year old onto it. Fortunately in the city most people don't go faster than 30 or 40 kilometers per hour! Furthermore, people carry the most ridiculous things on their motorbikes, bicycles and cyclos, ranging from wardrobes and fridges to chickens and stacks of beercrates. The load is sometimes secured using ropes, more often than not it's just perched on the seats of the cyclo with someone holding it and peering over the top. People also take naps on their cyclos/motorbikes!
cyclo (I didn't take this picture, I've yet to start photographing people)
The third thing I find really amusing is the abandoned amusement parks within the cities green parks. There are dodgems, merry-go-rounds and even some small rollercoasters, but they don't seem to be open or safe for that matter! At night they look really eerie in the glow of the streetlamps. I'll try get a photoseries of the rides up soon!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tales from Hue
So, where to start? This is what I get for not writing in over a week, means I don't know where to begin.
So, last week I wrote of the bikes. Well, mine needed some work done, as it had a flat tyre and the pedal kept getting stuck. It cost me 10,000 Dong to have it fixed, which is the equivalent of 0,5 US Dollars! So I've been cycling around a bit, which is mental! Traffic here seems to have some kind of secret logic to it, which I'm starting to understand. But actually getting out there on a bike is different to sitting on the back of a motorbike which I'm starting to feel comfortable on and have reached a point where I'm neither clinging on to the driver nor the bike. Woop!
Anyways, we visited all the different placements this week, including the two I'll be at.
I'm teaching three hours a week at the Hope Centre, a vocational training centre for young adults with disabilities and/or of ethnic minorities. The centre offers them the opportunity of enrolling on garment production training courses, where they make custom-ordered school uniforms. They are now starting to tap into the tourism market, producing jewellery, bags and other things. They've also gotten hold of a little shop front where they'll be setting up a store. So I'll be teaching them shop-keeping English, as well as helping produce new things and coming up with a marketing plan, too.
Many of the people at the Hope Centre are deaf or mute so I'll be able to learn sign language, even though there will be people there to translate. I'm thinking of making instruments with all the students and setting up a choir/band of some sorts. I have a meeting with the woman who's been volunteering there for a year tomorrow to discuss my ideas!
My second placement is at Hue Children's Centre, where I will be setting up a library and putting in place a borrowing system. Eventually we'll be able to hand it over to some of the older kids to run, but it'll take a few weeks of trial and error ideas first. We're also going to have a 'book of the week' scheme where we organise different creative activities around an English book every week - designing posters, putting on a play, doing mini-English lessons on the topics etc. That obviously depends on how many English books are in fact in the library, so again, we'll see how that goes!
Wednesday night we went with Khanh, the Vietnamese who works in the Hue Help office, for dinner, as he setting up a weekly restaurant club. I tried my first Goat, which was really good, though, like goat's cheese, it smells of goat a bit.
On Thursday night the French NGO 'The French Bakery', where my fellow volunteer Kim will be teaching the baking apprentices English, invited us for a tasting session. They spoilt us rotton with quiche, breads, mango mousse, chocolate brownies, croissants and more!
Afterwards we went for Bia Hoi, the Vietnamese equivalent of going for a pint of beer. A bottle of Hue beer (Huda is the best so far) costs between 7000 and 12000 Dong, so somewhere between 0,3 and 0,7 US Dollars.
Friday night we all gave in to temptation and went for some "Western" food - PIZZA! I worked out I'd gone for 10 days without cheese, a personal record!
On Saturday we visited the nearby beach, well, it was a 20 minute motorbike ride away, so I'm probably never going to cycle that distance! The beach was really nice, not a tropical white-sand, palm-trees kind of beach, but still a lovely place for a cooling swim. Afterwards we went for seafood at the lagoon, where I had my first 'crack into your own crab and realise it's actually a lot of work for a tiny piece of meat' experience.
At the beach, relaxing with some Huda!
Sunday - yesterday - we got up early to be judges at a local English Club. They meet twice a month and the local highschool English Clubs are all invited to join. We watched 3 performances on 'What to do in Hue as a tourist' and helped stage some debates on 'How can we make Hue greener'. It was good fun and I was surprised how good they're English was. Before we left for our next appointment, we had to join in a public performance of the birdy dance, not for the last time that day, as we were to find out!
We were invited to lunch at one of the children centres, where again we had to join in some songs and dances. After cycling the 5km in the boiling heat all I really wanted was a cold glass of water, not having to sing and dance with 50 kids staring at my sweaty bright red face!
Anyways, lunch was worth it.
Today we went fishing with Khanh. We drove (again on motorbikes) to a restaurant that has its own fishing pond. They brought us bamboo fishing rods and some bait - bananas and prawns, but by lunchtime nobody had succeeded in catching a fish. So instead we ordered chicken, which came as the WHOLE chicken, including the head. Afterwards we used the skin and the head for bait, but still no luck! The chicken innards were brought to us in a soup, I only later found out the meat I ate was lung and blood, yummy! I also later realised that the 2 feet were also in the soup. The Vietnamese sure don't waste any food!
Anyways, I've been rambling on and on.
Basically, I've been keeping really busy and I love it here. The food is delicous, though a lot of it reminds me that as a kid I was never really introduced to the 'grosser' parts of animals, so we'll see where I draw the line!
The people are really friendly,two of the vietnamese volunteers, who work for Hue Help to come with us to our placements and translate if necessary, are taking us out for dinner and drinks tonight.
I start work on Wednesday, so I have quite a few lessons plans to come up with until then, probably in the Cafe next door which does delicious Cafe Sai Gon - Vietnamese coffee (tastes of chocolate) with condensed milk and ice!
I'd love to hear from all of you so feel free to email me with all your news!
xx
So, last week I wrote of the bikes. Well, mine needed some work done, as it had a flat tyre and the pedal kept getting stuck. It cost me 10,000 Dong to have it fixed, which is the equivalent of 0,5 US Dollars! So I've been cycling around a bit, which is mental! Traffic here seems to have some kind of secret logic to it, which I'm starting to understand. But actually getting out there on a bike is different to sitting on the back of a motorbike which I'm starting to feel comfortable on and have reached a point where I'm neither clinging on to the driver nor the bike. Woop!
Anyways, we visited all the different placements this week, including the two I'll be at.
I'm teaching three hours a week at the Hope Centre, a vocational training centre for young adults with disabilities and/or of ethnic minorities. The centre offers them the opportunity of enrolling on garment production training courses, where they make custom-ordered school uniforms. They are now starting to tap into the tourism market, producing jewellery, bags and other things. They've also gotten hold of a little shop front where they'll be setting up a store. So I'll be teaching them shop-keeping English, as well as helping produce new things and coming up with a marketing plan, too.
Many of the people at the Hope Centre are deaf or mute so I'll be able to learn sign language, even though there will be people there to translate. I'm thinking of making instruments with all the students and setting up a choir/band of some sorts. I have a meeting with the woman who's been volunteering there for a year tomorrow to discuss my ideas!
My second placement is at Hue Children's Centre, where I will be setting up a library and putting in place a borrowing system. Eventually we'll be able to hand it over to some of the older kids to run, but it'll take a few weeks of trial and error ideas first. We're also going to have a 'book of the week' scheme where we organise different creative activities around an English book every week - designing posters, putting on a play, doing mini-English lessons on the topics etc. That obviously depends on how many English books are in fact in the library, so again, we'll see how that goes!
Wednesday night we went with Khanh, the Vietnamese who works in the Hue Help office, for dinner, as he setting up a weekly restaurant club. I tried my first Goat, which was really good, though, like goat's cheese, it smells of goat a bit.
On Thursday night the French NGO 'The French Bakery', where my fellow volunteer Kim will be teaching the baking apprentices English, invited us for a tasting session. They spoilt us rotton with quiche, breads, mango mousse, chocolate brownies, croissants and more!
Afterwards we went for Bia Hoi, the Vietnamese equivalent of going for a pint of beer. A bottle of Hue beer (Huda is the best so far) costs between 7000 and 12000 Dong, so somewhere between 0,3 and 0,7 US Dollars.
Friday night we all gave in to temptation and went for some "Western" food - PIZZA! I worked out I'd gone for 10 days without cheese, a personal record!
On Saturday we visited the nearby beach, well, it was a 20 minute motorbike ride away, so I'm probably never going to cycle that distance! The beach was really nice, not a tropical white-sand, palm-trees kind of beach, but still a lovely place for a cooling swim. Afterwards we went for seafood at the lagoon, where I had my first 'crack into your own crab and realise it's actually a lot of work for a tiny piece of meat' experience.
At the beach, relaxing with some Huda!
Sunday - yesterday - we got up early to be judges at a local English Club. They meet twice a month and the local highschool English Clubs are all invited to join. We watched 3 performances on 'What to do in Hue as a tourist' and helped stage some debates on 'How can we make Hue greener'. It was good fun and I was surprised how good they're English was. Before we left for our next appointment, we had to join in a public performance of the birdy dance, not for the last time that day, as we were to find out!
We were invited to lunch at one of the children centres, where again we had to join in some songs and dances. After cycling the 5km in the boiling heat all I really wanted was a cold glass of water, not having to sing and dance with 50 kids staring at my sweaty bright red face!
Anyways, lunch was worth it.
Today we went fishing with Khanh. We drove (again on motorbikes) to a restaurant that has its own fishing pond. They brought us bamboo fishing rods and some bait - bananas and prawns, but by lunchtime nobody had succeeded in catching a fish. So instead we ordered chicken, which came as the WHOLE chicken, including the head. Afterwards we used the skin and the head for bait, but still no luck! The chicken innards were brought to us in a soup, I only later found out the meat I ate was lung and blood, yummy! I also later realised that the 2 feet were also in the soup. The Vietnamese sure don't waste any food!
Anyways, I've been rambling on and on.
Basically, I've been keeping really busy and I love it here. The food is delicous, though a lot of it reminds me that as a kid I was never really introduced to the 'grosser' parts of animals, so we'll see where I draw the line!
The people are really friendly,two of the vietnamese volunteers, who work for Hue Help to come with us to our placements and translate if necessary, are taking us out for dinner and drinks tonight.
I start work on Wednesday, so I have quite a few lessons plans to come up with until then, probably in the Cafe next door which does delicious Cafe Sai Gon - Vietnamese coffee (tastes of chocolate) with condensed milk and ice!
I'd love to hear from all of you so feel free to email me with all your news!
xx
Gone Fishing....
.... will be updating my blog later today with tales of the French Bakery, Khanh's food club, cycling in Hue and Fishing for my own lunch.
Pictures are being updated as I write this!
Pictures are being updated as I write this!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
First few days in Hue....
Today is my 5th day here in Hue. On Friday morning I moved out of the Hostel I was staying at into the homestay. The City of Hue is located on two sides of the Perfume River. The side I stayed in on Thursday night contains the 'touristy' backpacker areas, so a lot of restaurants that serve Western food, Western bars with cheesy Western music and as a result, prices are a bit steeper.
The other side of the river, where I am staying, contains the citadel, and within its walls lies the old city of Hue. This is my new home for the next three months!
The homestay itself is in the same building as Hue Help's office. The house belongs to Hue Help's Vietnam Representative's mother-in-law. There is a family of 5 living here: the 95 year old head of the family, our landlady and her husband, her daughter-in-law and the landlady's sister. I think I've probably gotten some of the relations mixed up, but here in Vietnam it's not so important to know who is whose sister/husband/father-in-law etc.
Vietnamese culture is incredibly family-oriented. The house I'm staying at often houses 4 generations, as the Hue Help Vietnam Representative often brings his kids and they spend the day with the family. It is important to respect those older than yourself and this is reflected in the langauge, too. So instead of saying, "hey, could you pass me the butter?" we need to decide whether we say "uncle", "grandma", "sister" or "younger sibling" based on their age related to us. So the 95 year old becomes 'ong' (eldest), the landlay's sister is 'ghi'(person the age of my parents), our landlady and her hustband are adressed as 'bac' (grandparent) and their daughter-in-law is 'em' to me(my age or younger'). This is why Vietnamese people will first ask you how old you are, so they now how to address you!
Aside from being unsure how to address the family (besides saying hello - xin chao I don't know much yet) there are many more curiosities to discover. The landlady speaks German, as she did her medical training in East Germany and her sister speaks French, so we try to communicate. Once my Vietnamese lessons get underway it should get better though!
On Friday I also met the other volunteers. There are 5 of us altogether. Kim is my age, so the two of us are the 'babies'. Stefano and Catarina are Italians who gave up their house and jobs in London and are planning on staying in South East Asia for 2 years. Greg is Australian and is intending on staying in Hue for as long as possible. I reckon age-wise Greg is in his early fifties, Catarina and Stefano in their late thirties. It's a really nice group and the fact that Greg, Stefano and Catarina have all been to various South East Asian countries will help me with my culture shock!
We spent Saturday and Sunday with Hy, the volunteer coordinator, who had prepared a vast amount of information on Vietnamese culture. Between all our induction sessions we managed to squeeze in loads of food (delicious!), some beers (Huda beer beats Festival beer, that's what I've learnt so far) and lots of coffee Saigon, which is similar to a cafe Latte but has a distinct chocolate-y taste.
Last night my homestay family cooked for us all, I'd expected to have the whole family there, but instead it was the 5 of us plus the Hue Help Vietnam Representative Khanh. The food was delicious, I tried my first Ban Bo Hue, which Hue is famous for and I also tried my first shellfish ever - clams out of the Perfume River.
This afternoon Stefano, who ran a bicycle shop in London, is going to help us fix the bikes that the previous volunteers left here and I might go for a little cycle to explore the area.
Tomorrow we're starting our visits of all the different NGOs and placements we'll be working with/on and we start our teaching next week.
The other side of the river, where I am staying, contains the citadel, and within its walls lies the old city of Hue. This is my new home for the next three months!
The homestay itself is in the same building as Hue Help's office. The house belongs to Hue Help's Vietnam Representative's mother-in-law. There is a family of 5 living here: the 95 year old head of the family, our landlady and her husband, her daughter-in-law and the landlady's sister. I think I've probably gotten some of the relations mixed up, but here in Vietnam it's not so important to know who is whose sister/husband/father-in-law etc.
Vietnamese culture is incredibly family-oriented. The house I'm staying at often houses 4 generations, as the Hue Help Vietnam Representative often brings his kids and they spend the day with the family. It is important to respect those older than yourself and this is reflected in the langauge, too. So instead of saying, "hey, could you pass me the butter?" we need to decide whether we say "uncle", "grandma", "sister" or "younger sibling" based on their age related to us. So the 95 year old becomes 'ong' (eldest), the landlay's sister is 'ghi'(person the age of my parents), our landlady and her hustband are adressed as 'bac' (grandparent) and their daughter-in-law is 'em' to me(my age or younger'). This is why Vietnamese people will first ask you how old you are, so they now how to address you!
Aside from being unsure how to address the family (besides saying hello - xin chao I don't know much yet) there are many more curiosities to discover. The landlady speaks German, as she did her medical training in East Germany and her sister speaks French, so we try to communicate. Once my Vietnamese lessons get underway it should get better though!
On Friday I also met the other volunteers. There are 5 of us altogether. Kim is my age, so the two of us are the 'babies'. Stefano and Catarina are Italians who gave up their house and jobs in London and are planning on staying in South East Asia for 2 years. Greg is Australian and is intending on staying in Hue for as long as possible. I reckon age-wise Greg is in his early fifties, Catarina and Stefano in their late thirties. It's a really nice group and the fact that Greg, Stefano and Catarina have all been to various South East Asian countries will help me with my culture shock!
We spent Saturday and Sunday with Hy, the volunteer coordinator, who had prepared a vast amount of information on Vietnamese culture. Between all our induction sessions we managed to squeeze in loads of food (delicious!), some beers (Huda beer beats Festival beer, that's what I've learnt so far) and lots of coffee Saigon, which is similar to a cafe Latte but has a distinct chocolate-y taste.
Last night my homestay family cooked for us all, I'd expected to have the whole family there, but instead it was the 5 of us plus the Hue Help Vietnam Representative Khanh. The food was delicious, I tried my first Ban Bo Hue, which Hue is famous for and I also tried my first shellfish ever - clams out of the Perfume River.
This afternoon Stefano, who ran a bicycle shop in London, is going to help us fix the bikes that the previous volunteers left here and I might go for a little cycle to explore the area.
Tomorrow we're starting our visits of all the different NGOs and placements we'll be working with/on and we start our teaching next week.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Pictures now going up!
Hi everyone,
I have managed to create a link on my blog to my pictures on a picasa website.
The link is on the right side of the blog, titled "pictures from faraway lands". You can also access it here
I have managed to create a link on my blog to my pictures on a picasa website.
The link is on the right side of the blog, titled "pictures from faraway lands". You can also access it here
Friday, April 1, 2011
an epic journey from Geneva to Hue, Part III
The flight to Hanoi was less than 2 hours and I spent it re-reading the bits on Hanoi in my guidebook. A friend of a friend lives in Hanoi, so we'd arranged for me to spend the day with her before my flight to Hue yesterday afternoon. She'd recommended taking a minibus from the airport, which is 30km outside the city which came to 40000 Vietnamese Dong, 2 USD! A taxi would have cost around 5 times as much and would have been less exciting. I was the only white person crammed into a 12 seater minibus with all my luggage. It was a great introduction to Vietnamese traffic! Unlike in the EU, honking your horn is not either a sign of oncoming danger or an expression of annoyance but a constant part of everyday traffic. We passed thousands of motorbikes, often with piles of boxes, chicken cages and sometimes 2 or more passengers on the back. Often the drivers were even texting at the same time! I quickly witnessed the often spoken of travel sickness which apparently is very common here in Vietnam - one of the women 2 rows in front of me threw up, partly in a plastic bag, partly all over the floor, thankfully I was safely tucked into the back. The bus pulled over at the side of the road, kicked her out and left her to her own devices, leaving us with nothing but the smell. Thankfully I had toothpaste in my handluggage and could try distract my senses.
After a 45 minute ride we arrived at the Minibus station outside Vietnam Airlines' main office in Hanoi. While waiting for Bryony I met a scottish guy who had been teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City, he could clearly tell I was a bit overwhelmed and checked that none of the motortaxi - called Xe Oms (Xe means taxi/ride and Om means 'to hug') - had been hassling me. Bryony turned up on her own motorbike, so my hopes of slowly easing myself into Vietnamese transport were destroyed and I hopped on, clinging on for dear life. After resting for a bit at her place we got back on her bike and she showed me around Hanoi.
We visited the Temple of Literature, which functioned as Vietnam's oldest university. It's almost 1000 years old. Confucius taught here, and the complex contains many statues of him as well as a shrine devoted to his parents, I guess as a kind of 'thank you for having such an awesome son' gesture!
It also includes lots of turtle statues. The turtle is considered a bit of a holy animal in Vietnam. Legend has it that one of the Vietnamese kings, when Hanoi was under attack, was given a sacred sword by one of the Gods (Later on I'm sure I'll know which king, which attack, which year and which God, but for now this short version will have to do). After saving the kingdom, a turtle took the sword from the king and returned it to the God/Gods. Apparently the turtle still lives in the lake. It's partner turtle died a long time ago, but it's body was gilded and is on display in the temple on the lake's island. There was a newspiece in the Guardian on this turtle a while back, as every so often it comes out of the lake. It's considered good luck to catch a glimpse of this mystical creature. I was told that the viewings of the turtle most commonly happen after big holidays, so it could be a government PR trick to pop some turtles in the lake around these dates. From a more pragmatic point of view, the turtle species that lives here is under threat from extinction, so the government is trying to take the turtles out of the lake as the pollution is slowly killing it. Who knows, perhaps there are in fact no turtles left in the lake and the turtle viewings are staged. It certainly reminded me of Nessie!
We grabbed some ice cream at one of the ice cream parlours, we were the only Westerners there, which actually was a lovely introduction to authentic Vietnamese life. The only flavour left was 'rice', so we sucked on our green lolly pops and headed off again, to lots of laughter as the sight of two white girls navigating a motorbike out of a narrow courtyard is quite amusing. We then drove past the Ho Chi Minh Memorial and a giant statue of Lenin, staring majestically towards all the governmental buildings.
In the evening Bryony had to go to work, so I had a four hour nap, bliss! When she got back we went out for dinner. Having already experienced Vietnamese street food at lunch, where we had grilled pork with noodles in a soup sitting in someone's living room (there was a bunk bed above our heads and the TV was on, felt weird sitting amongst someone's ornaments and at some point a man came down from the bed, put his shoes on and wandered off), I was expecting similar for dinner. We went to an outdoor street food place this time, though, and sat amongst loads of locals on tiny plastic chairs. It reminded me of kindergarten and I had the strange feeling of being punished for something, sitting at a tiny table eating my dinner. At least I had company! The people at the table next to us ordered pidgeon, it was very hard not to stare!
After dinner we met some of Bryony's friends for Bia Hoi, which is basically bars at the side of the road, again the small stools. Playing it safe I ordered a Tiger beer rather than the 2 USD homebrew, I figured I should get my stomach used to the different foods and drinks before I start it on booze! Anyways, after the Bia Hoi closed (around midnight, the police goes around checking due to licensing laws) we went to two other pubs and on our way home at 1am I saw my first rat! In the morning we went for Pho, which is typical for breakfast. It's a beef and noodle soup and was very good, though it will take some getting used to as it is incredibly savoury.
Afterwards I got the minibus back to the airport, this time vomitfree and I even managed to have a nap! The flight was only an hour long, and again I slept through it. In Hue the volunteer coordinator from Hue Help and one of the volunteers who will be staying at the homestay with me picked me up. I stayed in a guesthouse last night, as my room at the homestay is vacated this morning. After a hot (this bodes well, hope the water at the homestay is hot, too!) shower I ventured out and tried to find somewhere for dinner. I don't feel up to ordering street food by myself yet, as I don't speak a word of Vietnamese, so I went to a restaurant and spent 5 USD, which is cheap for a restaurant but pricey compared to street food.
The stage one volunteers, those that started in January, had their last night here yesterday, so originally we were going to go out, but apparently they were all still fragile from the night before so I got an early night. This morning I woke up at 5.30am and stayed snuggled up in bed watching TV - they get amazing Asian channels which show all the latest US series including How I met your mother and Glee! I ventured out of my room around 9ish expecting to brave the street food stalls and order Pho. Turns out the hostel does food, so had bread and jam. The woman even went on her bike to get me a fresh baguette for breakfast!
Will soon head over to the homestay, which is in the same building as Hue Help's office, so will get to find out about everything there and will get to unpack! I'll try upload the few photos I've taken so far, too.
After a 45 minute ride we arrived at the Minibus station outside Vietnam Airlines' main office in Hanoi. While waiting for Bryony I met a scottish guy who had been teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City, he could clearly tell I was a bit overwhelmed and checked that none of the motortaxi - called Xe Oms (Xe means taxi/ride and Om means 'to hug') - had been hassling me. Bryony turned up on her own motorbike, so my hopes of slowly easing myself into Vietnamese transport were destroyed and I hopped on, clinging on for dear life. After resting for a bit at her place we got back on her bike and she showed me around Hanoi.
We visited the Temple of Literature, which functioned as Vietnam's oldest university. It's almost 1000 years old. Confucius taught here, and the complex contains many statues of him as well as a shrine devoted to his parents, I guess as a kind of 'thank you for having such an awesome son' gesture!
It also includes lots of turtle statues. The turtle is considered a bit of a holy animal in Vietnam. Legend has it that one of the Vietnamese kings, when Hanoi was under attack, was given a sacred sword by one of the Gods (Later on I'm sure I'll know which king, which attack, which year and which God, but for now this short version will have to do). After saving the kingdom, a turtle took the sword from the king and returned it to the God/Gods. Apparently the turtle still lives in the lake. It's partner turtle died a long time ago, but it's body was gilded and is on display in the temple on the lake's island. There was a newspiece in the Guardian on this turtle a while back, as every so often it comes out of the lake. It's considered good luck to catch a glimpse of this mystical creature. I was told that the viewings of the turtle most commonly happen after big holidays, so it could be a government PR trick to pop some turtles in the lake around these dates. From a more pragmatic point of view, the turtle species that lives here is under threat from extinction, so the government is trying to take the turtles out of the lake as the pollution is slowly killing it. Who knows, perhaps there are in fact no turtles left in the lake and the turtle viewings are staged. It certainly reminded me of Nessie!
We grabbed some ice cream at one of the ice cream parlours, we were the only Westerners there, which actually was a lovely introduction to authentic Vietnamese life. The only flavour left was 'rice', so we sucked on our green lolly pops and headed off again, to lots of laughter as the sight of two white girls navigating a motorbike out of a narrow courtyard is quite amusing. We then drove past the Ho Chi Minh Memorial and a giant statue of Lenin, staring majestically towards all the governmental buildings.
In the evening Bryony had to go to work, so I had a four hour nap, bliss! When she got back we went out for dinner. Having already experienced Vietnamese street food at lunch, where we had grilled pork with noodles in a soup sitting in someone's living room (there was a bunk bed above our heads and the TV was on, felt weird sitting amongst someone's ornaments and at some point a man came down from the bed, put his shoes on and wandered off), I was expecting similar for dinner. We went to an outdoor street food place this time, though, and sat amongst loads of locals on tiny plastic chairs. It reminded me of kindergarten and I had the strange feeling of being punished for something, sitting at a tiny table eating my dinner. At least I had company! The people at the table next to us ordered pidgeon, it was very hard not to stare!
After dinner we met some of Bryony's friends for Bia Hoi, which is basically bars at the side of the road, again the small stools. Playing it safe I ordered a Tiger beer rather than the 2 USD homebrew, I figured I should get my stomach used to the different foods and drinks before I start it on booze! Anyways, after the Bia Hoi closed (around midnight, the police goes around checking due to licensing laws) we went to two other pubs and on our way home at 1am I saw my first rat! In the morning we went for Pho, which is typical for breakfast. It's a beef and noodle soup and was very good, though it will take some getting used to as it is incredibly savoury.
Afterwards I got the minibus back to the airport, this time vomitfree and I even managed to have a nap! The flight was only an hour long, and again I slept through it. In Hue the volunteer coordinator from Hue Help and one of the volunteers who will be staying at the homestay with me picked me up. I stayed in a guesthouse last night, as my room at the homestay is vacated this morning. After a hot (this bodes well, hope the water at the homestay is hot, too!) shower I ventured out and tried to find somewhere for dinner. I don't feel up to ordering street food by myself yet, as I don't speak a word of Vietnamese, so I went to a restaurant and spent 5 USD, which is cheap for a restaurant but pricey compared to street food.
The stage one volunteers, those that started in January, had their last night here yesterday, so originally we were going to go out, but apparently they were all still fragile from the night before so I got an early night. This morning I woke up at 5.30am and stayed snuggled up in bed watching TV - they get amazing Asian channels which show all the latest US series including How I met your mother and Glee! I ventured out of my room around 9ish expecting to brave the street food stalls and order Pho. Turns out the hostel does food, so had bread and jam. The woman even went on her bike to get me a fresh baguette for breakfast!
Will soon head over to the homestay, which is in the same building as Hue Help's office, so will get to find out about everything there and will get to unpack! I'll try upload the few photos I've taken so far, too.
an epic journey from Geneva to Hue, Part II
My flight to Bangkok passed in a flash considering I'd only slept 2 hours at Doha Airport the night before. I remember being woken up for the breakfast meal and sleeping more than half of the flight's duration, then waking up just in time to watch 'Never let me go', a film based on Kazuo Ishiguro's book, which I need to read as I didn't get all of the film - plane headphones are not of great quality, plus the mandarin subtitles really confused me!
Upon arriving at Bangkok airport, which is an amazing building with lots of glass and very futuristic I needed a while to locate the hotel rep who picked me up and took me to the hotel. It was only a 20 minute drive from the airport, and I guess quite far from Bangkok itself, but as I yet again arrived after dusk it was great to take in all the lights and the hustling and bustling.
The hotel itself was up a dark alley passed busy street food stalls and a small market, so I decided not to venture out by myself to get dinner. The hotel deal online advertised a free Thai Massage, which I had booked for 9pm, but after realising I'd have to wake up at 3.30 am and the massage being postponed to 10pm I cancelled it - or so I thought. I ordered some dinner - first Thai food in Thailand, which cost me 100 Thai Baht - 4 US Dollars. When I was waiting around to get on the internet at just before 10pm, I was approached by a Thai woman who works at the hotel and was informed that she would be giving me a massage after all.
towel artwork at the hotel
The massage itself was unreal, never having had one before I did not know what to expect. So when the small, fat (Sorry, Mum, I mean CURVY) middle age woman starting clambering around on me I had to try really hard not to laugh. I managed to stay awake for the whole hour as I was terrified I'd find out it was a scam and would wake up robbed and naked in a Bangkok hotel, but it all turned out ok. Afterwards I collapsed into bed and fell asleep with the TV on, I must have dropped off somewhere between CSI and Leverage, all in English but, as I suprisingly recognised, Vietnamese subtitles.
first gecko (and not the last!)
My wake-up call came at 3.30 and at 4am a minibus took me back to the airport in time for my flight to Hanoi, Vietnam!
Upon arriving at Bangkok airport, which is an amazing building with lots of glass and very futuristic I needed a while to locate the hotel rep who picked me up and took me to the hotel. It was only a 20 minute drive from the airport, and I guess quite far from Bangkok itself, but as I yet again arrived after dusk it was great to take in all the lights and the hustling and bustling.
The hotel itself was up a dark alley passed busy street food stalls and a small market, so I decided not to venture out by myself to get dinner. The hotel deal online advertised a free Thai Massage, which I had booked for 9pm, but after realising I'd have to wake up at 3.30 am and the massage being postponed to 10pm I cancelled it - or so I thought. I ordered some dinner - first Thai food in Thailand, which cost me 100 Thai Baht - 4 US Dollars. When I was waiting around to get on the internet at just before 10pm, I was approached by a Thai woman who works at the hotel and was informed that she would be giving me a massage after all.
towel artwork at the hotel
The massage itself was unreal, never having had one before I did not know what to expect. So when the small, fat (Sorry, Mum, I mean CURVY) middle age woman starting clambering around on me I had to try really hard not to laugh. I managed to stay awake for the whole hour as I was terrified I'd find out it was a scam and would wake up robbed and naked in a Bangkok hotel, but it all turned out ok. Afterwards I collapsed into bed and fell asleep with the TV on, I must have dropped off somewhere between CSI and Leverage, all in English but, as I suprisingly recognised, Vietnamese subtitles.
first gecko (and not the last!)
My wake-up call came at 3.30 and at 4am a minibus took me back to the airport in time for my flight to Hanoi, Vietnam!
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