4 months

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November 7, 2012



Thank goodness that I feel some inspiration today to write! It has been a while.



First I’m going to start off by saying, YAY! Obama got re-elected!!



Second on the list, I am just about to hit the 4 month mark of my time away from Cali… and I couldn’t be happier. For me, life here has such a simplicity to it. I have not worked regular job hours in ages and it really feels good to get up and do something every day. Recently, no matter how difficult my students are or how much they poop their pants, I just feel so blessed to be here and just happy.



It’s so difficult to find the words to fully describe how different it is here. Someone asked me the other day, “What are the differences from there to here?” I was kind of stumped. I mean there are obvious big differences like language and culture and food, but what does that really mean? I love the international feel of Hanoi, the complete culture immersion of Hai Phong, the old timey, crisp mountain feel of Sapa and the great people you meet along the way. Your attitude is the lens in which you see the world and right now my outlook on life is full of wonder and optimism.



Time is seriously flashing before my eyes. Each week passes and then months go by. Astrid, my first couch surfer, has now moved in with me! She just arrived a few days ago to Hanoi and is searching for a short term job. She plans on leaving back to Laos in January. It’s really nice to have someone around the house. Previously I had Naomi staying with me. She is from LA (WEST SIDE REPRESTIN!) but has been away for about 5 years teaching mostly in China. She is now employed in Hai Phong.. don’t worry not with DTLC! Besides this, I have been up to a few things around town. I occasionally go out for drinks or dinner with friends during the week but we do the most over the weekends.



Most notably, Cormac, Rich, Cam, Tom, Huong and I all made a road trip to Cuc Phuong National park to the south. It was amazing weather Saturday morning and hot as fuck! I was wearing my swim suit and shorts and packed similarly. We were on our way by about 10:45am and by the time we had a pit stop in some fields along the freeway, we were a little crispy from the sun. Things soon began to change after that. The main city before turning off to Cuc Phunong is called Ninh Binh. We were starving and the guys wanted to eat western food so we seriously scoured the town. It was desolate. We spend a good hour looking for food, just to settle on some weak “my xao”. From here on to Cuc Phunong was the most amazing drive I’ve had so far. True Vietnam! Like I was driving through a freakin post card but time was our enemy and clouds were coming and the sun was sinking.



As we entered our lake guest houses, Tom turns on the tv. (PS- there’s just one channel and it’s in Vietnamese.) On the screen was a news cast of a large storm that just hit the Philippines, killing some in flood and landslides. Then if flashes to the town of Ninh Binh, boarding up and making sand bags. The storm is due to hit tomorrow! What. The. Hell.



Starving, we all head to dinner to discuss what to do. Lone and behold, the electricity shuts off in the middle of our dinner because the storm. I didn’t pack a towel or jacket or sweater! Just a flimsy 10 cent rain poncho. Okay well we’re here and it’s Tom’s birthday so we have some drinks and stay up a bit. By the morning it has been raining for hours and things are not looking promising. If we drive though the park north and head out the top, we can skip Ninh Binh and hopefully avoid the main part of the storm. But it also brought on some danger because of potential landslides, flooding and trees falling. Well, let me tell you, we made it.. as far as you could drive. The park staff didn’t inform us you can’t drive all the way through. The trails at the top are foot trails… Oh Vietnam, this is so typical of you. So now we have to face driving back down through the park, and head into the heart of the storm without proper gear and on MOTOR BIKES! Hello! Exposed to the elements much…?



The following 6 hours are the most strenuous and intense experience to date. Our bikes were literally blowing across the freeway and through puddles and beside large lorries. Not to mention the rain hitting us so hard in the face, it’s impossible to see much. Despite this, the drive around outside the park was almost as beautiful as the drive getting there. Was just a little harder to appreciate and impossible to photograph. We couldn’t stop! We were going snail pace and had to make it back to Hanoi by sun set. Cormac had an ingenious idea of stopiing at a hardware store to pick up some safety goggles to help us see and right beside there I picked up another rain poncho. Amazingly we made it back, starving and freezing. So much for a relaxing weekend get away!



Also I have become more interested in getting more involved with organizations in Hanoi. I would love to do more volunteer work like at Sapa O’Chau but many places in Hanoi require a long term contract or hours that don’t fit my schedule. What I have found is a fundraiser for an orphanage across the Red River. They are looking for donations of all kinds and I will be printing up and auctioning off one of my photos. I’m actually really nervous because I have some really great ones but I don’t know which one to choose and I’m no one will want to buy my photo! How embarrassing would that be? Also I just went to this awesome music video shoot.



Don’t need to move to LA to become a star! I found myself on an abandoned roof top, overlooking Hanoi, with some friends and a shit ton of paint… oh and the band of course. It’s these twin girls from the states. One plays the cello and the other a guitar. The logistics of a paint party were definitely not going through my mind until I got my lung, eyes and mouth filled with floating powder paint. Icky! I blew my noise and Easter came out. It was really fun though and I can’t wait to see the video. I’ll try and post it when it comes out.



To sum everything up, nothing ever goes the way you plan or want, especially in Vietnam, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome all the same. It makes me weary to plan post-school year plans because who knows what will happen between now and then. But I jumped the gun on that one a little. Booked flights in the beginning of July to Manila and from there to Jakarta. I HAVE to make my way to Bali. And after a short discussion with Astrid, there is a possible motor bike drive through the serene country of Laos. Not to mention I also HAVE to find a way to get to Myanmar (Burma) before I leave Asia. The world is my oyster and I want to continue spreading positivity and education.

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Photos

post card
water buffalo, rice paddies for as far as the eye can see and Asian charm.

pit stop #1
some fields and what not on the side of the freeway on the way to Cuc Phuong... before the typoon

heaven
our accommodations in Cuc Phuong

take 5
mid-break from paint party video shoot

unbelievable
coolest drive ever

Chez Xuan
Our local (actually french owned) bar. We frequent this place often.

boats
they look sturdy eh?! country livin

epic
tom smoking a spliff around the corner from the police...

the aftermath
Cool contrast from the 2 tone mural in the back. At Hanoi Rock City