Round One

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It's been five days in Saigon, and it feels like so much longer. My life here is so different than what I left, and I'm quite disconnected. My group is awesome, all very fun. I suppose I'll introduce them all: I've got Marta, my partner in crime -she's Portugese, and quite adventurous! Yesterday we ate Pho (pronounced fa) at a stall in Bin Thai market. 10 - 15 minutes after we'd finished, we both got the sensation that we were stoned. I couldn't stand up straight and the world seemed to be pushing against my temples. My limbs felt weak, and my whole body was lethargic. For the next hour and half or so, we wandered around in a stupor, and navigating our Vietnamese language class was less than appealing. Later, we realized that there was a weird green that neither one of us had eaten before. We've deduced that this might have been the culprit, so we'll eat it again and see what happens! The other two girls are Julie, a lovely British gal who is quite warm and motherly, and Sarah, who is the other American female, and is slighlty more quiet. There are three guys in the group, all American. Brian is the oldest (27). He's also from PA, and he's more of a loner than the rest of us. He has about 8 visible tatoos, so he'll be teaching in long sleeves for the next year - I don't envy him. Joe and the other Brian are high school buddies from Bethesda who coincidentally signed up for the same program! They're hilarious and obsessed with sports. Joe's quite goofy, and Brian is quite amusing, although I'm not sure he tries to be. SSOOOOO, that's my group!!!

Hmmm, so far the highlights of my trip have been (1) riding a motorbike through the city...there's nothing like it! At first glance there are no dicernable guidelines to driving in this city - it's mayhem! People cut each other off, ignore lights, zoom into roundabouts, drive the wrong way...all on little mopeds with no helmets. Crossing the street is an adventure every time, and a true test of one's nerves... I quite enjoy it. I plan on renting or puchasing an motorbike while I'm here, it's cheaper than hitching a ride for the year, and a true part of the experience.

(2) The food here is out of this world! So far I've been sticking mostly to the seafood, but they do everything well. The staples for most dishes include cilantro, fish/squid/asshole sauce, lemongrass, RICE, and then either meat or seafood. I've been trying to avoid poulty because of Avian flu, although I don't know if it would infect me if I ate it anyway. There are wonderful sandwiches on the street, only $.25! ...Needless to say that will be lunch for today.

(3) We got caught in a full monsoon a few days ago, and yesterday Marta and I rode on motorbikes in one!! When it's pouring, the rain is unlike anything I've seen. It's not too much harder than what we once in a while have in PA, but it can last for hours, and the streets flood - which is really disgusting b/c you know the streets are in no way clean. There are also really big cockroaches here - one crawled over my foot in a bar the other night - YUK! And, Sarah has had a small problem with them in her room, which is quite fuuny because she has the biggest problem with bugs. She's also not adventurous with food, so I'm trying to cooerce her into trying new foods when we go out.

Tomorrow we depart for a weekend at the seaside -- I'm quite excited!

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Photos

Inside Bin Thai
Looking out during the monsoon

HCMC rooftops
Looking out from the roof tops of my guest house.

motorbikes galore!
This is what I have to walk through to cross the street

Outside Bin Thai
UHHHH - I felt quite bad here, and the swarm of people were NOT helping

ugly bush/pretty statue
UH - who would ever design such an ugly bush and put it nexk to a beautiful statue???? VIETNAMESE!

Comments

[Logan]

Yeah Moira!
It sounds like you're having a great time Moira! We have huge cockroaches here in Honduras too! I said yeah!

[Mom]

Great!
Moira, this blog is a great idea. I love your pictures! Could you find out about that green before you eat it again? It soulds like you will have a wonderful time. I can't imagine crossing those streets. Are there any elderly people there? XXOO Mom

[Aunt Elizabeth]

Love the Blog
This is such a great way to keep in touch with people and to let everyone know how you're doing. I've always envied your sense of adventure and so far, you seem to be continuing in that tradition. So, my one question is, how do you know what it's liked being stoned???