Vietnam: Hoi An - Coats, Dresses and Shoes - Holy Cow!

I am so lazy and for that, I apologize.  Here's the third and final post about our Vietnamese escapades, then I'll move on to Jill's time in Korea.  Since Winter Camp finished, I've had two weeks off with no plans, thus little about which to blog...  I teach next week and then have two more weeks off for Spring Break before the new semester / school year starts.  The amount of time I get off is almost embarrassing to admit.  Almost.  Anyway, back to Vietnam:

After a very reluctant goodbye to Su, we boarded a van to take us to the train station.  We had some time to kill before our train left so we walked around looking for a suitable (read:  warm) restaurant.  We walked into a place that had literally just opened a few days before.  It felt cold and we were reluctant to stay when a European couple eating there assured us it was good and safe.  They had eaten there for lunch the day before and when they hadn't gotten sick from the food, they kept coming back.  This night was their third trip back to the same restaurant.  I was appreciative for the advice but I was a little baffled that they were being pretty adventurous in visiting Vietnam, but refused to eat anywhere but this one restaurant.  To each their own, I guess...  The restaurant turned out to be pretty legit except for one thing.  They seemed to have a one song playlist of their favorite Kenny G song and they played it over and over and over again.  Jill gave serious thought to playing d.j. and changing the song since the laptop was sitting, unmanned, at the next table, but it never happened and we endured the saxophone stylings of Kenny G for a few songs more.   That song will never be the same...

We arrived back in Hanoi at about 5:30 the next morning and went back to Maren's room to shower, regroup and pack for our next adventure.  Around noon, we flew to Da Non, a city in the south that was important during the American War (as the Vietnamese call it).  Who were we kidding though?  We weren't in that part of the country to visit war related sites.  We were there to shop!  We didn't waste any time getting ourselves a taxi to Hoi An, a city about 20 minutes away that is known for its myriad of tailors and custom made clothing at cheap prices.  Since it's fairly difficult to find clothes here that properly fit me, aside from the occasional weird fitting sweatshirt with incorrect or amusing English phrasing and American style clothes from Forever 21, I was pretty excited to add a few pieces to my wardrobe.

A typical tailor shop...  many ideas from which to take inspiration

So, basically, our time in Hoi An consisted of walking through the streets and wandering into any shops that caught our eye.  Once you've walked into a shop and show a suitable amount of interest in a certain example piece or a fabric, the shop worker approaches you to talk about what you want to have made.  Once you agree on a price (most of the time, they start out at a higher price and you are expected to barter down), they take your measurements and choices in fabric, piping, stitching, etc., until you've worked out all of the details for whatever it is you're having made.  This is where it gets dangerous.  By the time you've a discussed your piece at length, you have an idea in your head as to what it will look like and how it will fit you.  Since it's being custom tailored to your body, you have every expectation for a perfect, flattering fit.  With this idealistic picture in your mind, you gladly plunk down the 45-50% deposit and agree on a time to come back when your garment will be finished, or at least ready for the initial fitting.  Some things we had more luck with than others...  For example, my coat was perfect the first time, but I attribute that to my request for extra room since I have a habit of wearing at least three layers at all times and I have little to no shape to my body.  I had pants made that took two fittings and a dress that took three and was down to the wire for when we had to leave town to catch our plane back to Hanoi.  Jill and Maren had similar experiences of triumph and frustration.  We discovered just how different our bodies are from Vietnamese bodies with their subtle mistakes in tailoring...

What is really crazy to me is how this whole process works from design to delivery;  The customer makes an order with the shop worker.  That shop worker takes extensive notes as to the details of the order.  They have several couriers that ride motorbikes between the shop and where the tailors actually work.  The garment is constructed off site somewhere, often overnight.  The next day, your garment is delivered back to the shop.  You try it on and the shop worker makes alteration marks (x's and dashes) on the garment with colored chalk.  No notes taken.  Then, the garment gets sent back to the actual tailor.  So, the customer has no direct contact with the person who is actually constructing and making alterations to the garment.  They never see first hand the form for which they are making this garment and rely solely on the measurements taken by the shop worker.  And, seemingly miraculously, many of the garments turn out well, albeit after several go between trips for alterations.  They've obviously got this business down to a science and almost a month later, it continues to baffle me.  Jill and I had leather boots made and I literally told the shop worker that they were a little loose.  That's it.  Just a little loose.  No measurements, no feeling where my foot was in the shoe.  The next day, I tried them on again and they were perfect.  I do not understand.

Hoi An - so colorful, in more ways than one...

When we weren't talking to tailors, we enjoyed the city.  There is a small body of water that runs through the town where you can hire old ladies to paddle you around in small canoes.  We figured the only way to do this right was if we wore rice hats at the same time.  Our time in Hoi An was the only time it rained during the whole trip, which, in my book, was super lucky.  I would have been miserable in Sapa if it had rained!  So, each day in Hoi An, it rained in varying degrees of intensity.  The day we took the boat ride, it was raining fairly hard.  My moccasins turned my feet brown from the water if that tells you anything...  Behold, our boat experience.

Our sea-faring captain.  She kept touching my shoulder and telling me I was beautiful.  She won my vote for best boat captain...

Jilly enjoying the boat ride... and the rain.

The whole group in our hats.  In another picture that was taken, the boat lady put her hand under my chin.  I do not know why.

We enjoyed some delightful meals in Hoi An as well.  Between being fatigued from our shopping excursions, braving the rain and being hungry, some pretty random things happened while we were eating.  We also shared some great conversations and funny stories.  I will treasure those meals for many moons.

Above: Two examples of our dining situations.
Left: Vietnamese coffee.  The coffee cup houses the sweetened and condensed milk and the coffee sits in the metal contraption above the cup.  The coffee slowly drips through holes in the metal deal until your coffee has brewed.  The whole process take about 10 minutes.  Amazing.
Right:  Jill ordered coconut juice.  I thought it would come out in a glass just like all of the other juices we had ordered over the course of the trip.  When the waitress came out carrying this huge coconut, I lost my cool.  I laughed really loud and for a long time, causing an unnecessary scene.  The wait staff seemed to get a kick out it though, so I guess no harm, no foul.  Maybe you had to be there...

Jill also spent a pretty good amount of time taking artsy shots of the various colors, people and random objects found on the streets of Hoi An.  Some examples of her fine work:

After lunch one day, a lady approached us and offered to take a picture with us if we paid her the rough equivalent of $0.10.  Jill was all about it and definitely got our money's worth, shooting about five pictures in rapid succession.  The lady threw in a complimentary rain poncho at the end, which was a good thing because Jill forgot her umbrella at the hotel the day it rained extra hard. 

Our picture and poncho pal

A little group photo action...

Funny story:  I had two button down shirts made at a shop.  I happened to have been wearing my favorite button down shirt that day and the lady thought it fit me well and offered to make my new shirts exact copies of the shirt I was wearing.  This sounded like a splendid idea to me so I gave her my shirt to take to the tailor.  She gave me the shirt I am sporting in the photo above to wear while my original shirt was otherwise occupied.  The shirt I gave them was white with a blue pinstripe.  The shirt I borrowed was white with blue and red pinstripes.  Throughout the day, I got several compliments on the shirt I borrowed from several random Vietnamese people.  Apparently, a red pinstripe really flatters me...

Obligatory jumping photo - our favorite pose!  It only took about six tries to get this right... and two different Vietnamese shop workers to take it...

Our favorite shop worker - we spent so much time in her shop waiting for alterations to be made that she started teaching Jill Vietnamese!

My favorite group photo from the whole trip!

Jill has started a custom of buying a painting from wherever her visits take her and Vietnam was no exception.  One night, we were wandering around the streets and we came upon this shop with many amazing pieces of art.  It turned out that it was owned by the cutest old man ever and all the paintings in the shop were done by him.  Maren talked to him and found out that he was a soldier in the American War with the Southern Vietnamese army.  We loved him and each bought a piece from him.  This proved to me how much more full an experience can be when you know the local language.  So cool!  By the time we left with our paintings in tow, the man was smiling from ear to ear at the sales he made in a matter of 15 minutes.  I guess we made each others' night.

Our artist pal and one of his beautiful creations

By the end of the three days we spent in Hoi An, we were all exhausted.  Evidence:

Maren and I fell asleep in exactly the same position - Jill stalked us.

Thus ended our Vietnamese adventure.  What a beautiful time we had.  It was so great to be able to share such an exciting and unexpected experience with Jill and Maren.  So many marvelous memories were made in such a short period, memories that I will cherish for a long, long time to come with two of the best travel pals for which a gal could hope! 

Vietnam: Trekking in Sapa

We arrived in the northern Vietnam village of Sapa via a sleeper train after a nine (or so) hour overnight journey.  After a hearty breakfast, we met up with our Black Hmong (the largest of the 54 minority groups in Vietnam) tour guide Su.  Maren had gone on a trek with Su about two months ago and had a great time so Jill and I were eager for the new experience.

Su - 28 years old - amazing tour guide, spunky personality, incredible person

As Su purchased the food we would eat for the next two days, Jill, Maren and I got fitted with Hmong style leg warmers to keep our pants from getting muddy.  They were well worth the $3 we paid for them as they saved us (and our pants) from serious discomfort later on.  It's no wonder no Hmong woman leaves home without them :)

In the market in Sapa, sporting the Hmong style leg warmers with a new pal

After our leg warmer situation was taken care of, we began our trek.  As we walked through the streets of Sapa, we gained quite a posse of Hmong women who were trying their best to peddle their wares.  A big part of the Sapa City experience is enduring women of all ages asking where you're from, what your name is, etc., in order to make some sort of connection with you in hopes that this new connection will result in a sale.  To some extent, it becomes a bit exhausting, but we managed to make the most of it.  The three women that stuck with us for the entire trek were dears.  They answered our myriad of questions about their culture from marriage and birthing practices to family lifestyles, the ways of their handicrafts and whatever else we could think to ask.  Each woman's hands were stained from the indigo used to dye their woven fabrics and they spent the entire trek stretching and separating long strands of hemp before weaving it around their worn hands.  I asked one of the women what she was doing and to my surprise, she hauled out a piece of hemp, showed me how to stretch and separate it and wove it between my pinkie finger and thumb, smiling from ear to ear.  We became fast friends.  To add to our bond, she must have recognized my oaf-like tendencies as we hiked because any time it was even remotely slippery or I looked unsteady in the least, she would, with cat-like reflexes, reach for my hand and steady me.  Several times, I was nervous that I would take her with me if I fell, but no such thing happened.  I would say she held my hand about 45% of the trek and that is probably a modest estimate.  I'm sure we were quite the sight.  I towered over her, yet she was the one holding my hand, providing me with (at times, much needed) support.  You just never know when or where you're going to connect with people.  I never expected to gain a pseudo caretaker on this three hour trek, but that is exactly what I got.  She was a gem.

My pal, showing me her ways

Though it became obvious that these women hoped to make some money from us as they hiked well out of their way with us, it was one of the best parts of the experience.  One of the women was 23 years old, the same as Jill and me.  It was mind blowing to consider the contrasts between our lives.  Despite these vast differences, it was so refreshing and delightful to learn about our similarities.  Talking with these women and later Su and Mai (our homestay host), I was reminded of just how small the world really is.  Despite the many surface differences that are apparent to the naked eye, we are so much more similar that I would have ever thought to recognize.  We have similar worries, triumphs, joys and pain.  We met such strong, capable, amazing women on this two day journey and we built a beautiful bond with them in such a short time.

Our trek lasted for about three hours.  A dense fog had descended upon the area and never really lifted the first day.  Though we weren't able to enjoy the picturesque views, the fog made for its own mysterious and oddly soothing beauty.  We hiked through various terrains including a hard surface road, rickety bridges (see below), up sharp inclines and down steep paths through hard clay, rocks and slippery mud.  We learned the reasoning behind most Hmong people being outfitted in rubber galoshes.  I'll definitely add those to the packing list for next time!  (By the end of the second day, my entire right foot was coated with mud.  It looked like I had a chocolate covered foot attached to my body.)  Also during the hike, we stopped for lunch at a tiny shack that cooks for trekkers.  We had chicken omelets, laughing cow cheese (!!), tomato and cucumber slices on a baguette.  Soo tasty!
   

Jill and Maren with my pal on a super delicate bridge.  I kept thinking of Romancing the Stone when parts of a bridge breaks off as they're crossing it...  EEK!  That didn't even come close to happening to us, but it would have made for a sweet story!

The dense fog - and my caretaker.  Notice her holding my hand and imagine an hour and a half of this for her.  She has strong arms underneath that hemp robe!

Rice paddies filled with water.  If there was no fog, this view would go as far as the eye could see.  Beautiful.  Have I mentioned that I love Vietnam?

Soon after lunch, we arrived to the village (Lao Chai Village, population 850 or so - my pal was baffled to hear that my hometown was not a whole lot bigger than their modest village!) where we would spend the night.  We were taken to a school yard so my pal could introduce us to her painfully shy granddaughter and got to spend a few minutes playing with the adorable Hmong children.  We spent the rest of the afternoon warming ourselves and our shoes by the fire inside the house, talking with Su and Mai.  Mai is 28 years old and has three kids.  When her husband died last year in a logging accident, she was forced to support her family on her own.  With Su's sister Shu's help, she was able to get a loan to build a house in which to host homestays as often as Su can book them.  Both women are incredibly intelligent, both learning English through their exposure to tourists.  They were so open to sharing their lives with us in such an incredible way.  They made us feel right at home, building an awesome fire, cooking us delicious meals and talking for hours around the fire.  Su took to calling each of us "Sister" for the rest of the trip.  I'm not sure if this was because she couldn't remember our names or if we earned this term of endearment through our time spent together, but either way, we found it quite delightful and returned the sentiment often.

Connecting with these women on a more complex level than can be expected was so special.  It touched my heart in ways that are hard to describe.  Listening to them talk to us about their way of life, their struggles and triumphs and seeing them smile and laugh reminded me of how simple life can be.  This seems to be something we lose as we do so much to make life more complex than it needs to be.  Maybe it's due to the differences in our upbringing, world view or culture, but it was mind blowing to experience.  I later wondered if our experience was different than that of the average homestay participant.  Do these women charm everyone or did we really connect with them on a deeper level?  I guess it doesn't matter.  What does matter is the experience we had and the bonds we created with these women and with each other.  This was truly one of the most special (and unexpected!) experiences of my life.

Su and Mai cooked us dinner and breakfast the next morning.  The food they prepared was delicious and it was fun to share meals with them. 

Jill and Su warmed their hands while demonstrating what I now refer to as the Asian squat.  Everyone squats here and in Vietnam too.  The physics of such a bodily position are beyond me, but it is ingrained in them early on.  Ever Mai's two year old daughter had perfected her squat!

The next morning Maren and I woke up around 8:00 to find Mai cooking us breakfast. Probably still recovering from jet lag (and, let's be honest, homegirl enjoys a good night's sleep!)  Jill slept in until around 10:00 and woke up to sing song calls from Su of "Sister - Lazy!  Lazy Sister!"  For the rest of our time together, Su's sing song voice could be heard warning us of the slippery terrain ahead, urging us to be careful or just calling Jill lazy.  Delightful. 

This little buddy greeted us outside the house's window along with two other "buffalo"

Maren with Mai and her daughter.  The blanket Maren is holding was hand stitched by Mai

Su and me - she's pint sized!

A view of Lao Chai village from our homestay  (I think..)

The weather cleared for the second day, so we were able to fully enjoy the picturesque natural views.  The hiking on the second day was crazy.  Lots more mud resulting in many falls - on my part.  By the end of the trek, Jill told me I should change my pants for the bus ride to the train station because it looked like I had had an accident.  I had, just not the kind to which she was referring :)

Hiking with our pal Sister

One of my favorite pictures from the trip - these girls were adorable

At one point, Su took us to her house to introduce us to her children.  It was so special to be able to meet her family and play with them.  Because their father was at work logging and Su was giving us a tour, her ten year old son was placed in charge of the whole brood.  It seems Hmong children are forced to grow up much faster than western cultures are generally accustomed.  This ten year old was in charge of his eight year old sister, six year old brother and four and a half year old brother, often times overnight.  This blew my mind.  Clearly, he was capable of such a task and will grow into an even more responsible, kind caretaker than he already is, but can you imagine placing your family in the care of a ten year old?

It was refreshing to watch these kids play.  When we arrived, the eldest son was meticulously whittling a top.  The younger boys cleverly constructed a hammock out of a rice sack and a cell phone charger.  When it broke, resulting in them falling from their contraption, there were no tears, just belly laughing at how fun it was to fly, even just the briefest of moments.  When the hammock lost its appeal, they constructed makeshift bows and arrows from a cornstalk and string.  Not only was this idea adorable, but they worked pretty well too.  Between these two feats of ingenuity, Jill captured some amazing portraits of concentration, determination and pure and unabated joy.  The irony of the situation was when Su emerged from their home to ask where her children were.  They had run somewhere and we didn't know where they were.  Unconcerned, Su replied, "Oh well.  They're probably watching the t.v. at the neighbors."  HA!  I guess kids are more similar across cultures than I thought!

Su's eldest son perfecting his top

Some bow and arrow action, corn stalk style

Enjoying the hammock in all its glory

The rest of the trek was spent (on my part) desperately trying to stay upright.  I took such careful steps, so as not to fall down, that I fell quite behind the rest of the group.  They were patient with me though and by the end of the hike, I would be lying if I said I was disappointed that we weren't doing more hiking.

I don't know how, but I often end up doing activities that I never saw myself doing.  Several hour treks through mud falls into this category.  However, just because I never saw myself accomplishing such a feat surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in which I have found myself with some of the most amazing and delightful women with whom I have had the pleasure of spending time, doesn't mean I am regretful.  In fact, as we descended on the small clearing with a homestay destination that marked the end of our trek and more important to me, our lunch break, I was so glad that we signed up for this experience.  After all, in life, some of the experiences that are the most worthwhile are things you never saw yourself doing in the first place.

Traversing the rim of a rice paddy, trying not to fall backward into the water filled pool of mud and muck.  Of course Su held my hand - this became a standard practice

Miss Maren and me - I am so thankful to have shared with experience with you, pal! (And Jill too... I guess :) )

The whole group - what a wild ride we took in Sapa!

Vietnam: Getting To Hanoi

Jill and I reluctantly parted ways this afternoon as I put her on the bus to the airport before I had to be at school.  The last three weeks have been absolutely marvelous.  I apologize for my absence from the blog - I will try to recount our adventures according to the journal I have been keeping along the way and the myriad of pictures Jill took...  Read on for Part 1 of 3 of Jill and Noelle take Vietnam by Storm with Maren's Guidance, of course:

Jill arrived in Korea on New Year's Eve.  Her baggage did not.  Normally, this would not have been much of a problem, except that we were scheduled to leave for Vietnam the very next day at noon.  After communication with a representative from her airline, we hoped to have her bags sent to Hanoi to be picked up when we arrived the next evening.  We were not sure this would work, but we hoped for the best.

Upon arrival back in Gwangju after the two hour bus ride from the airport, we went to dinner at a restaurant where you grill your own meat in front of you and then wrap it, along with many different sides, in leaves of lettuce.  So delicious, and it was so fun to share Jill's first Korean meal.  The restaurant workers also enjoyed having us in their restaurant, apparently, because of all the attention they paid us.  At one point, we let the meat get a little crispy and burnt, which is just the way I like it.  The woman who was keeping an eye on us was horrified at the thought of us eating meat with any sort of burnt morsel and promptly came over with a pair of scissors in hand to trim off the burnt bits.  I was equally as horrified that she was cutting off what I considered to be the best part of the meat.  She smiled so big as, in her eyes, she vastly improved the quality of our meal.  What a pal!  She even showed us how to properly construct a lettuce wrap by snatching Jill's lettuce leaf from her hand, filling it with a little bit of everything, rolling it up and giving it to Jill to eat.  She proudly looked on as Jill devoured the lettuce wrap, then proceeded to do the same favor for me after receiving Jill's seal of approval.  Definitely a meal to remember!

The next day, we woke up, made it to the airport shuttle just in time and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare.  We received word that Jill's luggage would arrive in Hanoi around 10 pm.  Our flight to Beijing boarded about 20 minutes late and actually ended up taking off at the time we were supposed to have landed in Bejing.  When we arrived in Beijing, we went through Chinese customs and had a hell of a time finding the international transfers area of the airport.  Most airports are clearly marked and sport clocks every few hundred feet.  Not Beijing.  Word to the wise:  avoid flying through Beijing.  So confusing!  After asking several questions about where to go, we realized it was 3:00.  Our flight to Hanoi was to leave at 3:30 and we still needed to get our boarding passes printed!  We ran through customs (for a second time - so weird!) and found our ticket counter.  The ladies at this counter pointed us to another counter.  There was not one person at the counter at which they pointed and the monitor indicated that it was too late to make the flight.  We were directed to find the Vietnam Airlines office upstairs and had them help us.  And, help us they did.  Two very nice men set us up with another flight departing at 5:30 but that took an extra two hours to arrive in Hanoi.  We didn't understand this, but we weren't about to question it as we just wanted to secure our flight!

After being sent on a wild goose chase to check into our new flight, making sure my luggage made it onto our original flight to Hanoi and having our new boarding passes printed, we had some time to figure out how to let Maren know that we would be arriving almost six hours later than planned.  Our strategy was to find someone with a computer, put on our big American smiles and convince them to let us use their internet connection.  After surveying the situation in our gate, we approached a very handsome man with an exotic accent, but more importantly, a computer.  He said that internet was not available in the gate but if there was some way for us to achieve internet access, we were more than welcome to use his computer.  We inquired at a snack shop about the availability of internet and found it unavailable.  Another black mark against the Beijing airport!  We spotted a pay phone and went to work.  The catch was that it was nearly 2:00 AM at home.  On New Years Eve.  Not the best night of the year to get ahold of people!  We didn't have Maren's phone number in Vietnam so we frantically left voice messages with several people asking them to contact Maren via Facebook to let her know our new circumstances.  We were actually able to get ahold of Maren thanks to Jill's mom answering our second phone call and having obtained Maren's phone number.  How lucky we were!  As Jill was talking to Maren and explaining the change of plans, I had the following conversation with the man whose internet we tried to use:

Man: I hope everything is alright with you and your friend.
Noelle:  Yes, yes.  We just got ahold of our friend to tell her we'll arrive late.  Thank you so much for offering your computer to us!
M:  It would have been my pleasure to help you.  Where are you from?
N: We're from America.  I teach in Korea.  Jill is visiting me and we are going to Vietnam to visit our friend who lives in Hanoi.  (typical Noelle - way more information than necessary :) )  Where are you from?
M: I am from Iran.  Have you heard of my country?
N: (trying not to laugh) I sure have!

When his flight to Tehran was boarding, we shared several of what I call "moments" with him as we waved goodbye to each other about three times, thanked him for his help and concern and bid him safe travels. 

We boarded our flight to Hanoi in good spirits and sat next to one of the craziest men I have ever encountered in my life.  He was so obnoxious.  He would blow his nose and throw the tissue between the seat in front of him and the plane's wall.  He talked extra loudly and was quite demanding of the flight attendants and he inhaled two servings of the in-flight meal in the time Jill and I leisurely finished about half of ours.  When our plane landed, he was quite anxious to get off the plane, nudging and pushing us before the plane even came to a complete stop.

We got off the plane and walked to the baggage claim area of the airport after a short stop in the bathroom.  We inquired about my luggage which should have arrived on an earlier flight and after much rigamarole, were told that my luggage could be found at carousel number nine.  As we approached our carousel, we were intercepted by a handsome airport worker and told to follow him.  No other explanation.  Just follow him.  Jill and I decided to follow him unless he left the building.  We followed him all over creation in that airport, the whole time indicating that I just needed one bag.  He answered us with assurances that we would in fact get our bag, no worries.  He led us all over, and at one point asked us to wait while he went into a secret airport staff room.  A couple of minutes later, he emerged with handwritten boarding passes to the flight on which we had just arrived.  This made zero sense to us, but we continued to follow him nonetheless.  He went through security and customs again, still with much confusion.  The airport man just kept smiling and laughing and telling us we would get our bag.  The following exchange ensued:

Noelle: We just need one bag.
Jill: No flying (waving her arms in the air).  Just bag.
Airport Man: You will get bag.  Don't worry.
(We arrive at a boarding gate)
AM: Go gate A102.  Your bag there.  Bye bye.
N and J: What??  You can't leave!  How will we find our way back?  Help us!!!
AM:  (laughing and waving) Bye bye!

Bewildered, we walked toward the gate and saw a screen with our flight number and Hanoi as the destination.  It was then that it all clicked.  We were not in Hanoi.  We were still in China.  Unbeknownst to us, our flight had a stopover in Gwangzhou, China.  We would receive my bag indeed, when we actually made it to Vietnam!  We boarded the same flight we had left half an hour (or more) before and tried to find seats away from people who looked familiar so as to avoid more embarrassment.  We began to recount the signs that we were not yet in Vietnam:

• The extra two hours flight duration
• Other passengers giving us weird looks as we got off the plane
• No Vietnamese writing on the bathroom signs
• Our flight arriving directly to baggage claim without first going through customs
• Going through Chinese customs
• People looking curiously similar to the airport workers with whom we worked in Beijing 

We arrived in Vietnam at 11:30 or so and got our visa situation taken care of.  We went through customs, which consisted of two young-ish guys laughing and smiling a lot, asking seemingly unimportant questions of us as they pointed us toward our luggage.  Our luggage was nowhere to be found.  As we inquired at the lost and found desk, they produced Jill's luggage.  Mine hadn't made the flight after all.  We were so relieved to have Jill's luggage, to have arrived safely in Vietnam and to see our dear pal Maren that it was of no matter to me that my luggage hadn't arrived.  We arranged for it to be delivered to Maren's home the following day and were on our way to our hotel.

Maren had made arrangements for us to stay in a cozy hotel just a few minutes walk from her apartment, which was so convenient for all of us!  Because it was in a more residential area of Hanoi, it was much more slow paced and quiet.  The next morning, we accompanied Maren to her international church and it was then that we truly got our first look at Hanoi and Vietnamese culture in general.  Talk about a hustle and bustle!  At first glance, the roads seem quite chaotic with motorbikes darting in and out of traffic, but once Maren explained the system, it made so much sense.  They don't have lanes of traffic really.  The person whose wheel is in front has the right of way.  As for pulling into traffic or making turns, you just gradually and cautiously edge into traffic and everyone else avoids you.  This is the rule for crossing the street as well.  Because the only automobiles on the rode are taxis and the occasional city bus, the majority of road traffic is motorbikes and bicycles.

Notice the girls in heels.  Impressive!

Jill and I in the middle of traffic in the heart of Hanoi

Family transport...

Church with Maren was great!  It was the first church service, aside from school church once a week, that I have attended since leaving the US, so it was nice to be in that environment again.  Even nicer though was seeing Maren with the amazing support system she has cultivated through her church.  It is obvious that Maren is so happy and comfortable in her Vietnamese surroundings.  She speaks Vietnamese like a champ, and is constantly complemented on her abilities.  Her enthusiasm and fun loving attitude is contagious.  We couldn't have asked for a better tour guide and travel companion during our stay in Vietnam.  We were continually impressed with the ease and comfort with which she communicates with people from shop owners to taxi drivers to her host family and church community.  What a joy to be able to share in her life in Vietnam!

After church, we had lunch with her friend Will and two Vietnamese girls who were new to the church.  We had a delicious meal of an assortment of typical Vietnamese food, all of which was quite tasty!

The lunch crew

After lunch, we spent a lot of time wandering around the old quarter of Hanoi, bouncing in and out of shops and observing everything around us.

There were so many shops that sold reprints of different works of art...

A typical vendor

There were so many women balancing these bad boys on their shoulders as they walked down the street

Maren took us to the only Catholic church in Hanoi and we were sweetly greeted by several children as they left the church.  We stopped at a third floor cafe for refreshments and to plan the rest of our time in Hanoi.  Will met back up with us and suggested we get fruit cups.  These fruit cups were bonkers.  A pint glass was filled with about five kinds of fruit and sweet and condensed milk (how can that taste good, right?).  Then, you stir everything around with as much crushed ice as you can work into your glass before you eat it.  So weird, but so tasty!

Also, most street food eateries involve you sitting on small plastic foot stools.  The same stools in the next size larger sometimes serve as tables, while other times there are actual plastic tables that look like they would function for a little kid's picnic or tea party.  Observe these gentlemen who ate dinner a little ways away from us later that night:

Typical street food setup - my legs did not fit under the tables...

The next day, our first stop was to eat a breakfast of one of the most famous Vietnamese dishes: phở (pronounced like the sound the letter F makes when sounding out a word).  It is basically chicken noodle soup, though each time we ate it, it contained thinly sliced beef.  The best part, for me, was the abundance of cilantro in the soup.  I began to crave this dish in the few short days we were in Vietnam.  It was so tasty!

These girls ate next to us and fought off a boy who was trying to flirt with them - nothing comes between them and their phở!

Phở!

Jill and Maren enjoy a meal seated on tiny stools, just like the Vietnamese!

Next, we booked plane and train tickets for the rest of our time in Vietnam.  The rest of the day was spent snagging souvenirs in the old quarter of Hanoi, recovering my luggage from the airport luggage delivery man (I was starting to get pretty anxious when my luggage hadn't arrived by the second afternoon of our stay!) and preparing for the next segment of our journey.  Stay tuned for Part 2 of Jill and Noelle take Vietnam by Storm with Maren's Guidance, of course.  It's a doozy - trust me!

A little group shot action...

All Things Christmas

I should learn to write things as they happen so there aren't gargantuan posts that result after almost a week's worth of escapades...  Buckle your seatbelt - here's the Christmas edition of my Korean adventure:

On Wednesday, during the teacher's meeting that I attended for some reason, the third graders gave a short presentation thanking the teachers for everything they have done for them and basically saying goodbye.  They also gave us gifts.  There was a wrapped package and a bag of fruit and cookies.  It was at this time that the school's Christmas gift to us was also presented.  So, when I got home, I had a little Kyunghwa Christmas.  I opened up a wall clock with the school's crest on it and a five pack of toothpaste from the third graders.  Koreans are so practical with their gifts!  I think I have about 10 tubes of toothpaste in my apartment now!

During lunch on Thursday, the founder approached Dionne and me to invite us to join him in his office for a drink after lunch.  We walked into his office in the middle school and shared some tea with him as he told us all about the journey he took to be where he is today.  He grew up in North Korea and escaped by himself shortly after the armistice was signed in 1953.  He worked as a houseboy on an air force base and befriended an American electrical engineer there.  The engineer  took him under his wing, financing college for the founder.  He built one of the largest steel companies in Korea, which has exclusive contracts with the nuclear facilities all over Korea.  Once he had garnered enough money, he bought the entire mountain on which our facilities sit and began building up the school complex.  He started with the middle school, then the cafeteria ("because students were hungry," he said), then the high school, auditorium, dormitories and last, the EB school in 2006.  They are currently building more dorms with the goal of being able to house 1000 students on the grounds.  He also really wants to build a high school for the arts, but doesn't have any concrete plans for that yet.  Quite a man!  Later that night, he treated the entire staff to a Christmas banquet. The whole school gathered in the auditorium where we enjoyed a large buffet of finger food, soups and salads.  Such a great meal!

Friday was our school's Christmas program which involved hymns, dancing, handbells and a short video depicting the birth of Jesus.  I took some videos of the performances but it was too dark for them to turn out very well.  Dionne and I were also presented with homemade Christmas cards from the worship team which were given out during about 16 counts of one of their dances.  Adorable!  Also during this service,  Hyunjoo invited me to spend Christmas Eve with her family.  I already had plans with Diane, but it was so comforting to know that if I hadn't had the plans, I would have had a great environment in which to spend Christmas with an amazing family.  I really cherish the people I have met here and each day, I grow closer to them!

Later, toward the end of the day, random bits of food kept showing up in the teachers' office.  Someone ordered about 10 pizzas that were distributed throughout the offices and another teacher sprang for kimbap and duk boki  because his daughter achieved the highest grades among the second year students.  As we were finishing up the kimbap and duk boki, the principal insisted that I take home a leftover roll of kimbap.  She said, "You take this kimbap.  I insist.  I Principal.  I do what I want."  Adorable.

Later that evening, I met Diane at a bus stop near my apartment and we went out to dinner for Christmas Eve.  On the way, we were waiting for a walk signal and were chattering away about the day's events when a man kept staring at us.  We weren't sure if he was just intrigued that we were speaking English or if the sight of my white face and big eyes were so foreign to him that he couldn't look away.  It is common for people to stare at me since I look so much different that the average person on the street, but he was blatantly gawking at us.  Suddenly, he began asking if I was cold and where I was from, etc.  It turned out that he just wanted to demonstrate his strong grasp of English.  As we walked down the street, we had a nice conversation with the man, who was on his way to church.  Diane and I enjoyed a lovely dinner of duck and pork lettuce wraps with various side dishes like kimchi (two kinds!) and a pumpkin salad.  On the way to Paris Baguette to buy a Christmas cake, we ran into one of my favorite students who was on her way to aerobics.  She was so excited to see me that she hugged me several times.  She's a third grader.  I'll miss her when she graduates.  The funny thing is that she rarely speaks English to me but she has such an adorable personality and is always so excited to see me.   We ended up buying a green tea chiffon cake and were given a bottle of champagne for free with our cake.  We decided to save that for New Years.

When we arrived back at my apartment, frozen from the chilly air, we opened our cake, I prepared a plate of Christmas cookies and fudge that I had saved from the goods people sent me (thanks again to everyone who sent me Christmas goodies!!) and opened a bottle of wine.  We enjoyed all of these treats as we watched The Family Stone.  This is the first Christmas Eve that I have not attended church and it felt a little un-Christmas-y, but it was a good time nonetheless spent with a good pal.  The next day, we had planned to go into Seoul, but it was too cold for us so we stayed in our pajamas all day and watched movies (five to be exact)!  We prepared a large brunch of omelets, hash browns, grilled cheese, fruit and mango juice.  We ordered pizza for dinner, which took two hours to arrive because of some miscommunication over where I live, but when it finally arrived, it proved to be well worth the wait!  Very early the next morning, I called Grandma and Grandpa Plueger while everyone was still gathered at their condo for Christmas.  It was fun to talk to everyone even if just for a brief moment!

Yesterday, the first thing the principal said to me was, "So many people all over world say your name yesterday.  I bet your ears busy!"  Lots of laughing ensued after this comment.  She's so clever!  Yesterday also marked the end of my TEFL course as I finished it!  I am so excited to have that off my shoulders!  At about 4:45, Dionne and I were informed that the English Department decided to go out for dinner together to a tofu house.  There were five of the six of us there and it was such a great time.  We really bonded over great conversation and lots of great food!

It began snowing yesterday afternoon at about 4:00 and didn't stop until sometime early this morning.  When I was walking to school today, it looked like about an inch and a half or two inches had accumulated and cars were not allowed to drive up the mountain!  Many teachers either walked or parked away from the school today.  Dionne, Chan Yang and I went shopping this morning for Winter Camp supplies and we saw several soldiers removing snow from the city streets.  Korea is not used to this accumulation of snow!  I think it's gorgeous.

Today is the last day of school before winter break.  There were no classes and the students left at 10:00.  Right now the teachers are all in a meeting so I'm taking this time to update my blog before I delve into Winter Camp preparations like cutting paper into squares and making powerpoint presentations.  We're pretty much ready for everything, which if you know me at all, is a miracle as I'm quite the procrastinator!  Mr. Shin just delivered a box of seven Dunkin' Donuts to every teacher to celebrate the success of the English Department this year.  They smell so good!

Jill gets here on Friday and Saturday we embark for Vietnam!  I'm so excited!!!  Until then, it's packing, preparing for Winter Camp and trying to stay as warm as possible!  Stay tuned for "Jill and Noelle take on Vietnam with Maren's help!"  It's bound to be a doozy.

Getting my Internet Fixed

Since Friday, I've been pilfering someone's wireless signal because my land line internet was not properly functioning.  On Monday, I told Hyunjoo my problem and she arranged for someone to come fix it last night.  Forty-five minutes late, two young hipster Korean men arrived at my apartment.  They encountered my busted modem and were unprepared to fix it.  They didn't speak hardly any English and since most of the Korean I know involves food, it was very difficult for us to communicate.  After a few successful attempts to understand each other using Charades, they spent a couple of moments looking at the pictures on my wall before they left.  They told me (via a phone call to Hyunjoo) that they would be back with a fully functioning modem tonight.  Mr. Fix-it (only one of last night's duo showed up tonight - the one with the hipster-stache, in case you were wondering) just left and now my internet is back in business.  But, not without a few awkward moments.  Behold:

On the second attempt with a new modem, he leaned over the arm of my couch to fiddle with my computer.  I invited him to sit on the couch where he might be more comfortable in messing around on my computer.  Upon realizing that all of my computer was in English, he uttered the stock phrase that it seems every Korean knows, "Oh. My. God."  (My girls have perfected this expression, complete with a little sassy attitude.  I'm so proud.)

Next, he clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, which is only used by me when I have to peruse Korean websites for whatever reason.  (Korean websites do not work in any other browser but Internet Explorer.)  It took forever to load.  While it was loading, the following conversation ensued:

Noelle: (pointing to my computer) It's very slow!  And old!
Mr. Fix-It: Yes. Very slow.  (laughs)
N: (pointing to my computer) Five years old!
MFI: How old you?
N: 23 (holds up two fingers on one hand and three on the other)
MFI: Oh?  (points to himself and holds up two fingers on one hand and four on the other)
Awkward silence ensues as he looks at the display of pictures on my wall.
MFI: American?
N: Yep!
MFI: Chicago?
N: Close.
MFI: Friends?
N: Yes.
MFI: (points to himself) Friend?
Noelle = confused - was he asking if the two of us were friends, or if I had a boyfriend?  This language barrier makes for some pretty great situations...
Just then, Internet Explorer successfully loaded.  He cheered and put his hands in the air in triumph.  I laughed and he ran out the door, bidding me good night as I thanked him for fixing my internet. 

Oh Korea.

English Festival

Today was the 3rd annual English Festival at our school.  For weeks, students have been scrambling around, preparing themselves as has the English Department!

Before the actual festival began, all of the students had to take the TTP test.  TTP stands for Triple Three Project.  It is the goal of the English Department that by the time each student graduates, they will know 3,000 words and sentences.  For about a week, all of the students have been pouring themselves into studying a list of 50 possible sentences that they would be tested over.  During the test, the principal came to my desk and said she needed my help.  She brought me to her office, which I had never seen before, and asked me, since I am her English teacher (she warms my heart!), to help her perfect the opening speech she would give to kick off the festival.  I read each sentence to her and she repeated after me to get the pronunciations down and where would be good places for her to breathe.  Then, she read each sentence to me so I could tell her where she needed different intonation.  Korean is a very monotone language, so the fact that our words ride and fall is very hard for them to master.  She is a star student and I really enjoy working with her.  She is so appreciative of my help and gets really frazzled when she doesn't have time to practice with me on Wednesday mornings.

For the morning portion of the festival, Dionne and I were the judges, along with various other Korean teachers, for a speech contest, a singing contest and a skit contest.  The speeches were done by one or two girls from each homeroom class and were all fully memorized.  It brought me back to my elementary ELP days when I had to memorize a speech about Annie Wittenmyer for a famous Iowans showcase for our sesquicentennial in third grade.  The amount of work the girls put into these projects and the courage they have to get up in front of the entire school and recite a three to four minute piece in what is a second language (or third for some!) is truly amazing to me.  The singing contest was mostly Christmas carol medleys sung by large groups, but they wore costumes, worked out choreography, handed out candy and one group even had candles!  So creative!  One girl, with an amazing voice, sang "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic.  She was awesome!  The skits were done by the first year students.  One group read the lines in English while another group acted out the skit onstage.  I coached one of the teams.  They performed Little Red Riding Hood.  When we were practicing after school on Friday, they kept pronouncing the words: Riddle Led Liding Who'd, among other difficult sounds for any Korean to form.  After a little work and some really cute actions, costumes and musical enhancements, I am proud to say that my group won the first prize!  I was sooo proud of them! 

Then, we had a break for lunch.  At lunch, we were greeted by the principal and vice principal asking us what we thought of the festival.  They were so proud of their students (as were we!) and loved being able to share this with us.  Dionne and I marveled at how lucky we were to have been placed in the school we were.  Many people are not placed in the best of situations and each day, I grow more and more thankful for my place here.

On the way back from lunch, Dionne and I caught up to many of the other teachers from our school.  They were taking pictures in front of a big rock with Korean writing all over it and asked us to join them.  Then, as we were walking down the hill to return to the building, they stopped us again to take pictures with us walking down the hill.  We taught them a new phrase: action shot.  They were obsessed with getting a picture of about five of us walking and kept giggling and repeating action shot, action shot, action shot.  Adorable Korean ladies.  I so enjoy them!

The afternoon was filled with various English games that were fun to watch.  I sat next to the principal while she gave me commentary on what was happening and asked me questions about phrases being used that she had never heard.  The whole day's competition was both for individuals and each homeroom class, much like wrestling or track meets where there are both individual and team winners.  This really caused a lot of team camaraderie and spirit to be displayed.  When all of the final awards were presented at the end of the day, each class that won a big prize was awarded a large sum of money (90,000, 70,000, and 50,000 won  for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively) to be used for, I assume, some sort of class party.  I was impressed that the school would shell out that kind of money to the winners!  Then, each of the winning classes posed for pictures.  Dionne and I were dragged into the pictures with one of the winning teams and when I forgot to put up the requisite peace sign, the students all me sure to point out my gross oversight and show me the correct peace sign technique!

Walking home after school today, I stopped into the kimbap shop to grab some dinner before the man comes to fix my internet (I'm stealing wireless from someone nearby and the land line internet man is half an hour late!).  Literally every table in the shop was filled with EB students and they all excitedly greeted me as I entered the shop.  They always get so excited to see me in public!  One group even invited me to sit with them while I waited for my kimbap to be made.  I'm really going to miss these little buggers when I'm on winter break in a week!

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped of the girls in the kimbap shop:

I will never understand why they look so somber in pictures!  Moments before they were smiling and laughing like the little school girls they are.  Regardless, they make this job amazing.  I love my students and my school!