Border Crosser: Five Countries, Five Months, One Big Adventure: Pho-nomenal Vietnam (hehehe)

Okay okay, so I have only been in Hanoi for four days but I am absolutely in love with the city. After a wretched 36 hours of travel (flight from Cape Town →Johannesburg →Doha →Bangkok →Hanoi) we finally landed and drove into the city from the airport, passing rice paddy fields, yaks, and hundreds of thousands of motorbikes. I don't know how to explain how I feel about Hanoi exactly, but the motorbike brigades, air pollution, and overpopulation of the communist state are easy to forget for a little when one is surrounded by friendly people, delicious food, and trees (yes, there are trees everywhere unlike freaking Sao Paulo!).

Because of the less than ideal family situation in Langa, and Natalie's pretty crappy homestay in Bo-Kaap, we were pretty nervous to meet the family that is going to be hosting us until the programs conclusion on December 7^th. Karma is in our favor though, and I can safely say we have probably the coolest family known to man. We live on Hoang Hoa Tham, which is a long street near the massive freshwater lake Hoy Tay. Most streets here are known for the three or four goods that they specialize in, and ours happens to be the woodworking, tree, fish, and bird street. Our house is five stories, with a living room and kitchen on the first floor, a bedroom and bathroom for our grandparents on the second floor, the same setup for Natalie and I on the third, the same for our parents and siblings on the fourth, and a shrine and laundry room on the fifth. We don't have dining room table (which seems to be pretty common here), so for dinner all eight of us crowd around a mat on the floor and feast on tofu, veggies, eggs, rice, fruits, soups, etc. My family was perfectly fine with me being a vegetarian, once I explained to them what that meant, and they have been making some bomb dishes. I feel guilty that I don't remember the names of my family members because they are so sweet! Our host dad is a security officer of some sort who protects the head of state here in Hanoi, and is like the go-to guy when foreign dignitaries come to town. He has picked up John Kerry, Bill Clinton, and is nabbing Vladimir Putin next week...! Our mother is a financial advisor at a non-profit called One Reason that I think works towards improving residents quality of life in what she calls “the poorest province” in Vietnam. We have an 8-year-old host sister who seems bratty but is warming up to us, and a 12-year-old brother who is really shy but adorable. Our grandfather fought in the Vietnam War and lost part of his hearing during an airstrike, and our grandmother is this kickass lady who is super goofy and friendly. Our host mother is the only one in the home who really speaks English, and is really excited to practice with us whenever possible. Our presence here feels more like a tradeoff instead of a monetary transaction, and I think that we are all genuinely excited to learn about each others culture. It is also their first time hosting students, so they are really intent on showing us the city, taking us to markets, and taking a trip to our host aunts country house one weekend.

The hustle and bustle of the city has been a bit tough to get used to, but I think by the time we leave the chaos that is constant once one walks out their front door will be nothing more than a small nuisance. On Monday, myself and three other students were faced with the task of exploring our neighborhood and made plans to meet at an arbitrary street corner we found on the map at 10 am. As soon as we starting walking we knew it was going to take us longer than we expected. Motorbikes here are the main form of transportation and own the streets, meaning that if you want to cross you have to wait for forever until there is a break in traffic, or suck it up, weave in between bikes, and hope that they dodge you in time. Sidewalks are pretty much non-existent here and restaurants, traders, and even motorbikes command any and all open sidewalk space. This means you basically walk in the road and pray you don't get hit. I took a nasty spill and busted my knee while we were trying to find our friends because I didn't notice a curb or something. ANYWAYS, we finally found our friends at the assigned corner, which turned out to be adjacent to a tiny little lake. Inside of this lake is a giant piece of an airplane, which turned out to be a piece of a B-52 plane from the “US Imperialist Strategic Air Raid ” that the Vietnamese army shot down in 1972. Happening upon this little piece of history made me really excited to learn more about the Vietnamese ethos surrounding the war and hear their opinions. After stopping at Cafe B-52 for some delicious avocado smoothies we stumbled upon the Hanoi Botanical Garden and spent the rest of the day walking around, admiring the peacocks, and napping off jetlag.

Tuesday was pretty standard. Natalie and I walked to school, which is about a 25 minute walk, presented on our neighborhood, and then we all took a trip to the Vietnam History Museum. To be honest, the tour was pretty boring and our guides seemed to hold a lot of information back from us about the history of the country which I don't know if I should attribute to the fact that we are American or the language barrier. After the tour a few of us walked around the Old Quarter of the city and Ho Hoan Kiem lake, which is a big attraction for tourists and locals alike. Tons of women were taking pictures with their men on the banks of the lake, all gussied up in these white dresses and black pant outfits. It was too adorable. OH, and I got a bowl of Pho for 15,000 dong, which is like 75 cents or something ridiculous like that. We then helped our mom with English for a bit by identifying kitchen supplies and then passed the hell out.

Yesterday was by far my favorite. We had a free afternoon, so myself, Hayley, and Natalie decided to treat ourselves and found a massage parlor. I've never gotten a massage before, and by the end I realized for 200,000 dong it was totally worth it. I feel more relaxed than ever, and have most of the kinks I've accumulated from traveling all sorted out. After dinner our host mother suggested we take a walk with our grandmother around West Lake. We thought it would be a short, 20 minute walk, but it ended up taking over two hours. She took us past tons of cute cafes along the river where couples were posted up cuddling on their motorbikes, temples, groups dancing in the park, The Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and this place that has delicious 7,000 dong coconut ice cream cones. We came back home embarrassingly exhausted and once again passed out.

I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend but I'm sure it will be fun. And cheap, which is most important! I should also probably devote some time to learning vietnamese, but I at least know thank you, sorry, and vegetarian which are the three most important words in my book!