Tourist Attraction

After 2 months in Hanoi, I can safely say that I qualify as a walking tourist attraction!

The novelty of an African American person walking through the winding streets of the Old Quarter is a sight be behold!  Sometimes the photos are taken without trying to be noticed and other times entire groups simply walk right up and ask to have their picture taken with me.  This weekend it was a gaggle of teenage girls who were mystified by me and tripped over each other trying to stop for a photo opportunity, to which I politely smiled and obliged.  I'm not really sure who all sees these photos or if I'm the topic of conversation over someone dinner table, but my new found celebrity status is taking some getting used to.  

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In other news...schools been in session for nearly a month now and is going well.  Of course there are challenges to being on a founding team and opening a new school...but all in all, I'm really enjoying my international teaching experience thus far.  One of the major differences that I notice is the focus on student learning.  Not once has anyone mentioned the words "high stakes testing", "PSSA" or "test prep".  Our schedule includes a 30 minute AM recess for everyone and an hour lunch/recess combination.  I actually have time in my day to plan and do very little work at home.  It's a completely different culture!  

I'm all moved into my apartment now and am really enjoying it.  I miss my pup terribly and wish that she was here with me, but it's incredibly comforting to know that she's being well taken care of by my parents and is enjoying being a country dog rather than a suburban dog.  Pictures to come this weekend...after the cleaning lady makes an appearance on Friday.  That's another one of my new found appreciations...a cleaning lady.  It's amazing to come home to a clean house and not have to worry about mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms on the weekend.  

It's finally starting to cool off here and by cool off I mean that the high temp for the day is only about 86 and the humidity levels are topping out at about 50%.  To us westerners, the change is blissful.  You can walk around without sweating through a shirt in 5 minutes and the hair that you spent 20 minutes flat ironing actually looks straight for more than 20 seconds when you walk outside.  The locals on the other hand have referred to the change in weather as "winter coming early"!  Coats, tights and sweatshirts were all the rage late last week as the morning temps dropped to 70.  It really is funny to watch!  I don't know what they will wear when it's really cold out!  Stay tuned!  

I've really been slacking off on keeping up with the blog, so my new goal is to update it every Saturday.  We'll see how long that lasts. 

Halong Bay

The Legend of Halong Bay

The legend of Hạ Long has it that, “Once upon a time, soon after the Việt people established their country, invaders came. The Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon and her Child Dragons down to earth to help the Việt people fight against their enemy. Right at the time invaders’ boats were rushing to the shore, the dragons landed down on earth. The dragons immediately sent out from their mouths a lot of pearls, which then turned into thousands of stone islands emerging in the sea like great walls challenging the invaders’ boats. The fast boats couldn’t manage to stop and crashed into the islands and into each other and broke into pieces.

 

After the victory, Mother Dragon and Child Dragons didn’t return Heaven but stayed on earth at the place where the battle had occurred. The location Mother Dragon landed is nowadays Hạ Long Bay and where Child Dragons descended is now Bái Tử Long. The dragons’ tails waving the water created Long Vĩ (present Trà Cổ peninsula) and formed a fine sand beach over ten kilometers long”.

Four hours outside of the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, the coast of Vietnam meets the South China Sea and Halong Bay appears on the horizon.  The view is simply breathtaking!  

 

Living overseas, long weekends are an invitation to travel.  Unbeknownst to me, Vietnamese National Day is celebrated on September 2 giving us a much needed 3 day weekend.  It didn't take long for the wheels to start turning...hmmm...where should I escape to?

After a little research, we decided on a Halong Bay cruise for a little R&R before the school year officially starts.  We chose Indochina Junk based on their online reviews and booked tickets on their "Halong Bay - Off the Beaten Path" tour.  

The day began with an 8AM pickup at our hotel for the 4 hour trip to the coast.  As we crossed the bridge and left the city limits, I could feel the relaxation set in as we traveled through the winding roads of Vietnam.  After a month of city living I was more than ready for some green grass, wandering cows and a break from all of the incessant honking! 

Once we arrived at the bay, we boarded a small boat that ferried us to our floating hotel; The Dragon Pearl III.  There were only 14 guests on board from all over the globe; UK, Italy, Spain, Morocco, France, Belguim, Germany and the US

Dragon Pearl III

As we set sail into the bay and left Hanoi behind, we enjoyed a seafood lunch and drinks with the other passengers before exploring the boat.  

Our cozy room

Enjoying our water view

A view of the sundeck.  It wasn't particularly sunny and I was just fine with that. 

The view as we left the harbor.

Heading out onto the open sea.  The rocks are made of limestone and jut out of the ocean everywhere. 

The water was a million shades of emerald green.

We soon arrived at our own private beach for an afternoon on hiking, kayaking, and swimming.  Our guide took us to an island cave that was once inhabited by a family of fisherman.  According to her, the caves are cooler (I beg to differ!) than the elements outside in the summer and provide warmth and protection from tropical cyclones during the winter months. 

There were 100 steps to the entrance of the cave. 

Perrine overlooking the bay on our way into the cave. 

Inside the cave...very cool!

Water and minerals formed this column in the middle of the cave. 

A view of the bay from the cave entrance.

The sails were up on the boat in the bay below.  

Kayaks all lined up and ready to go.  We paddled 5K around a huge island.

The sun was starting to set on the beach as we got back to land, but there was plenty of time left for a great swim in the warm water. 

The best part of the entire cruise was relaxing on the sundeck as the sun set.  Everything was quiet and still as the stars speckled the night sky.  Luckily, the rain from earlier stopped and we got to eat dinner on the boat deck with the other guests. 

 After a great nights sleep, we awoke to a rainy Sunday morning.  After a quick breakfast, it was off to the Vung Vieng Fishing Village for a tour.  The village consists of approximately 100 villagers who live on the water and fish for a living.  The entire village is self contained including a woman who floats around the village selling items from her mobile grocery store. There is even a school for the children to attend.  The teacher sleeps in a room off of the main school room and is hired by the villagers to instruct the students.  Children as young as 4 row themselves to school in bamboo boats.

The Fishing Village

A family enjoying their Sunday morning.

Floating store

Fisherman returning with the days catch

Floating house ~ Families with small children line the perimeter of the house with netting so that they children don't fall into the water. 

Rainy Sunday morning in the hammock

Elementary school classroom

Computer classroom where students play games.  No wifi here!

Beautiful cave that we rowed through on our way back to the boat.

The trip to Halong Bay was absolutely amazing and right on time.  I really needed a quiet weekend away from the nonstop movement of Hanoi.  Its a definite must do when you visit Hanoi!  

Playing Catch Up

The past few weeks have been packed full of the last few days of summer and the first few days of an exciting new school year; my first outside of the US.  The move to Hanoi has been filled with a million and one new experiences that continue to surprise and amaze me.  

Apartment Update: I was really surprised that no one picked apartment #3...but I did.  I wish that I could report that it looks much different today than it did in the original photos that I posted, but that's not the case.  I'm supposed to move in next weekend, but I'm not thinking that it's going to happen. We just came back from checking in on the progress and nothing has been done.  Guess who's going to be sending a strongly worded email in a bit?!  

Hong Kong

Before my Dad headed back to the US and before I started school, we took a quick trip to Hong Kong.  It's been my favorite part of moving to South East Asia so far!  What a vibrant and modern city.  Here are a few of my favorite memories.  

The view from the top of Victoria Peak

The view from our hotel room!  It was absolutely beautiful.

The view was crystal clear from the top of the peak.

Daddy at the top of the peak with the harbor in the background.

We had such a nice time, but boy was it hot!

We took the Peak Tram back down the mountain. You ride down backwards and at its steepest point, the tram is at an angle of 27 degrees.

Our view from the cable car overlooking the South China Sea

We rode the Ngong Ping 360 cable car to the Ngong Ping Village.  The bottom was glass so that we could see the mountains and waterfalls below. 

We were 12,968 Km away from the Statue of Liberty, USA.  I really should have paid more attention in math class when the metric system was being taught.  Thank goodness for my convertor app.  

Daddy and I in front of the arch at Ngong Ping Village.

This is the Tian Tan Buddha.  The largest seated Buddah in the world.  There were 238 steps up!

The view on the way up to the Ngong Ping Village. The view of the South China Sea was awesome.

We found a really cool garden on afternoon.  Yes, I'm wearing a hat...it's beyond hot here.

Another Buddah picture...this was my favorite thing.  It's massive!

School Starts

I knew all along that moving to a new country to live and work would be an amazing life experience.  After month and months of looking at pictures online, I was excited to begin the school year.  I'd already met most of the other teachers as we're all staying in the same hotel.  Everyone is incredibly kind and excited to begin the year.  So far, we only have about 50 students enrolled, but that is expected to increase throughout the course of the year.  This year we will have students in grades Pre-Kinder to 5th grade and will expand to 6th-11th grade next year.  These first few days of school have been great!  We've planned curriculum, ordered materials and started setting up our classrooms. Now all we need are some kiddos to turn our beautiful building into a school :)  

Top 5 New Things I've Learned

1.  Crossing the street isn't nearly as scary on day 26 as it was on day 1!
2. A taxi is not the best place to practice the new direction words you know in Vietnamese!  (I'm really good at turn left, turn right and go straight)
3. In Vietnam, nearly everyone is a millionaire!
4. Almost anything will fit on the back of a motorbike!
5.  Living in a hotel for a month isn't all that it's cracked up to be!

House Hunters International

When I first told people that I was moving to Hanoi, almost everyone suggested that I sign up for HGTV House Hunters International.  I've watched dozens of episodes and let's just say that apartment shopping is a bit different in Vietnam.  I'd been in communication with a recommended realtor for months and she had been sending me apartments that met my requirements.  We made plans to meet up to see 6 places on the rainiest day in months here.  That was an experience!  In and out of the car, up and down elevators and through all six places and still nothing that I loved.  We did find 2 places that were nice, but I just didn't know.  

Later than night, I met up with Lizzie and Steph, two teachers who will be working at ISV with me.  They recommended another real estate agency, so I reached out to a realtor from there.  Within 10 minutes, we'd made plans to see a few more places that same day.  Ahhh!  Now I know why realtors only show 3-4 places at a time.  It's a good thing that I was taking pictures of each place to keep track of things.  

Below are pictures of the 3 properties that I liked.  See if you can figure out which one I chose.  

House #1 ~ 2 Bedroom/1 Bathroom, 9th floor, big balcony

   

   

House #2 ~ 2 Bedroom/ 2 Bathroom, 3rd floor in the city center and brand new

   

  

House #3 ~ 2 Bedroom/ 2 Bathroom, 5th floor in the city center and brand new. 

     

     

So which one will it be?  

#1 - The apartment on the 9th floor with the huge private balcony and amazing city views?  
#2 - The new apartment on the 3rd floor across the street from the cultural events center in town?
 or 
#3 - The new apartment still under construction?

Put your pick in the comment section below. 


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On a completely different note, I got mistaken for Serena Williams at dinner on Sunday night!!  The waiter was very attentive and finally got up the courage to ask me if I was her.  I found the entire thing to be absolutely hysterical. 

~ Kelly