Mai Chau

I spent the weekend about 4 hours from Hanoi in an Ethnic community of Mai Chau. I left Saturday morning with Pam and Frankie, two other volunteers as we had arranged a tour through an agency. The guide spoke very good English. The traffic in Hanoi is bad so it takes a while to get out of town. The first road is freeway, maybe the best road in the country. The remaining three hours is spent on local dusty roads where you have to be patience. Our driver took his time and was the least aggressive one I encountered in VN.



Mai Chau is an white Thai community who where a different dress and live in stilt houses. The houses are built with the first floor used for animals, or storing equipment, and you have to climb the stairs to see the living areas. There are related to the Hmong people too, so they do lots of stitchery, knitting, and other sewing. In Mai Chau, it is easy to walk around to see the different houses and farmers. I didn't buy anything but everywhere they sell what they make. In the evening, we stayed in a stilt house, which is built above the ground, with bamboo floors, and mosquito nets. They do have electricity which is fairly new and now western toilets, so not roughing it too much, except that this weekend it was quite crowded with many local VNese visiting and some foreigners. One group of local VNese party men looked at me as if they had never seen a foreigner before. One man in the group tried to talk to me but know no English and never smiled, and it seemed lit he was asking for my passport. I was a little fearful because he seemed almost hostile and our guide wasn't there at the time, plus we was with about 6 other men. One of these men actually tried to pick me up. Later the guide came and I found out that they just wanted to know my age by looking at my passport.



After eating dinner at our guesthouse, we attended a free dance and music show, where locals dressed in costume, sang and danced. It went on for about an hour. After that we had coffee mom and pop store, then hit the stack. It was a little cold in Mai Chau because we were in the mountains and forest area. Lots of noise like barking dogs, wood chopping, my volunteer friends cackling will two hens. Lots of laughs. You have to be careful about going up and down the steps to your stilt house because a fall would be disasterous. In the morning, at 6 am, people are already on the street selling. During Sat. afteenoon and Sunday morning, we spent the time trekking through local villages, seeing their farms. Many people rice fields, but also vegetables. Wells for water, and animals for farming. Dogs were everywhere, but mostly friendly. Tapioca and sugar cane are a big products in this area. In some places, we were invited into homes, just to visit.
Now back to the school on Monday.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

School and walking tour

Today was the long day for teaching, plus afterschool actvities. My classes went good even with one seventh grade making and shooting spit wads the whole period and two cancelled classes. At lunch, a former teacher at the school, who I had kept in contact with, met me across from the school at the coffee shop where we had a nice visit and got caught up.
In the evening, we ate at our favorite pumpkin soup restaurant and


then hurried back to the hotel to wait for some students to take us on a walking tour of this old quarter area. They arrived a little late, so we passed the time talking to other guests from France who were checking out. Finally, the students arrived. With 20 students we divided into three groups, and off we went in various directions. I had about 8 boys and one girl. My group took me to an old church, a bookstore, the Opera house, and a street coffee shop. The eleventh grade student leader was very good about trying to speak to me in English and directiing the group. He even made sure we used the crosswalks and sidewalks, not that make any difference here in Vietnam. We saw the police giving someone a ticket for either speeding or no helmet, and another person from the school riding his motorbike illegally because he is not legally old enough to drive(you have to be 18 yrs. old). Towards the end of the walking tour, we sat in these little Barbie-like chairs for coffee and ice ream, which is fine for the VNese but not great for me or Westerners. They told me to be careful because it might collapse but it held nicely. And then I had to get up!! Ha!! One student insisted on paying for everyone. They said he was rich! After we got back to the hotel, students waited for their parents to pick them up. I went to my room and slept soundly for until 5 AM, my best sleep so far.






Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

My work last few days of Free time.!!

Ok, I have have good and bad moments in Hanoi waiting for the Global Volunteer program to start. My room at the hotel has been good. Very quiet at night, nice hot water, no insects or bugs in the room, and safe. I do have a little problem communicating with the front desk most of the time, with effort, I can succeed. The hotel had Skype which was nice because I could call my bank for free.




Most of my day is spent walking around this area, reading my book, and talking to locals. If you go to the lake, and just sit, it is just a matter of time before some young person will approach you and want to speak English. Most are students but you can also get some unnamed offers too. (but not as many compared to past years). I talked to a young women who was a nurse and wanted me to come to her house and met her family. I decided against that, not that I didn't trust her, just worried that she might want me to help her financially. She told me her mother was handicapped too, so that would be difficult to turn down, but I have to set limits too.



At night, Pam and I have generally find some nice restaurant to eat at. We start out with no specific one in mind and just walk the streets, looking at different ones, until we find one that meets our price range and health standards. You can find some very expensive places and then some good moderately priced ones. For example, we found one that looked good but then we were told that we needed a reservation. I am sure that was out of my price range. Ha!! You should be careful of some of the food you eat, like uncooked vegetables or raw food, ice, and few other things, but I haven't been following those rules very closely. If the place looks busy, and semi-passable, I generally will try it. This morning, I was walking to the bank, and a street restaurant place looked ok. The woman spoke to me in fairly good English, I asked about the food and the price, and decided to try it. The hot cooked "pho" I think is always ok but it is the greens or garnish that you worry about. I also always add lemon which i think helps kill some germs. I found some great dried mango to eat last night.




Let me tell you my bank card story. As a prologue, after my bank got the paper work that they asked me to fill out regarding the fraudulent use of my debit card, they restored all that money. I was very happy. I would have been pleased just to get some of it back, so this was like manna from heaven. So now I was using my second debit card, which I had brought. I had used it once before already, after I had blocked the stolen one. And today, I had to pay for my four day stay at the hotel and switch hotels. Well, after inserting the card, and selecting the default acct. and amount, I get a message on the screen "We are retaining your card". My heart skipped a beat and I was just baffled. How could this be? Why? So, I had to wait for the bank to open-Thank heavens I had used it at a bank. Once the bank opened, the teller gave me back my card after I showed her my passport. I went back to the hotel to call my bank on Skype. It was only 10 minutes before closing in Portland!! I found out that my bank had accidentally blocked both my cards!! The bank put my on hold for quite awhile but then said they could unblock it-I didn't think that was possible. I had to answer some security questions first that weren't that easy. Ha! But now it works. Not the way I wanted to start my day.

Also, an update about Sister Tan. I found out she is back helping the Ethnic people and the police have released her from any restrictions. They just didn't want me to visit or come in contact with any Ethnic people, but I don't really know why. She worried about me and apologized for my short stay and problem. I was more worried about her but at least it is better now.

I got to talk to my brother David the other day while he sat waiting for his doctor. It was nice to hear his voice and get his update too. And then the next day, I talked to my sister Joan too, so even got more news. Technology makes all this possible but it can cause a problem too.

Weather is still great. Cool, about 70 everyday. Perfect. I think there is rain in the forecast, but they are probably wrong.

Hope everyone is well. Sorry this isn't that exciting.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Hanoi

Foreign Trade University

Tuesday morning, Pam and I went the opening ceremonies at the FTU. This university is celebrating 50 years and Global Volunteers organization was one of the invited guests. Pam, my friend and the leader of the GV in Hanoi, asked me to attend with her as I came to VN early. Former president Bill Clinton was also one of the invited guests, but came two days prior. Darn!! I am really hobnobbing with the elite thee days. hahaha!

Someone, we didn't know who, was going to pick us up at 7:30 AM, no one arrived and we were getting slightly nervous as this ceremony was only going to last 3 hours and it wouldn't be great to arrive late. But having no control, I didn't stress over it.







After about 40 minute ride in heavy Hanoi traffic, we got to the university and signed in... It was very formal. I tried to dress a little better than normal-haha- but did worried some about how dressy this would be. Now we proceeded to the assembly area. To get there, the students have formed a gauntlet line that we had to walk through. We wanted to walk outside the wall of students but were directed down the middle. I was like walking down the main aisle of a church with everyone watching. The female students were all dressed in beautiful "au dai". which is the traditional garb of the old Vietnam. The males wore more modern clothes with slacks, white shirt, and red necktie. After this, we were greeted by another person who escorted u to our seats. Because we were late, most were already seated, but we didn't miss anything as it had not started. I sat directly under the pole that supported the "big top", a huge canvas tent that covered the assembly. Everyone once in a while, i felt that pole sway and thought will it hold? hehehe! It did.. Lots of different speakers all of which I didn't understand but they didn't go on for long. At the end, there was a dance by students and singing. Very nice.

After the program, Pam and I got a tour of the school and of the neighborhood. The school isn't that big but it has a lot of prestige in Vietnam.




Now, I am waiting to start my volunteer work at a high school in Hanoi. My hotel is near a famous lake in Hanoi-Hoang Kheim Lake, so I often go there to walk or talk to the locals. I met three young people there that wanted to speak English. One works as a nurse, another an accounting student, and the third is attending painting college. The nurse, Dung, invited me to her house, but I haven't decided if I am going yet.

Yesterday, I got an email from my bank about my Credit problem, so I had to fill out some paper work, which I did but wasn't sure I did it right. Then afterwards, I had to find a place to get it printed, scanned and emailed. The printing was easy, but I had to go to three different places before I got it scanned and e-mailed back. The scanning place was most interesting. Everyone works in such a small space that they are virtually working around each other. Paper and books everywhere. It looked like total chaos to me.




After this, my moto driver want me to take me to some restaurant where they served some specially VNese food. One he mentioned was Cobra-snake. I have never heard of that but I declined. Also someone else told me about cat, which I did know about. So now i have learned the VNese words for these foods, just in case. Ha!!

Ok, Have a great day. I am so Thankful and feel so blessed when I can still what I do. I see lots of people here with nothing but still manage quite well, and with a smile. It makes me ponder and try to share my few talents. I am sure you all do the same....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hanoi

Now, arrived in Hanoi, It continued to rain in Da Nang. I was caught in one huge downpour in the morning after two local guys told me "no rain today". I guess weather is the same all over the world-unpredicatable. While in that rainstorm, I walked into a local booking office to check on the status of my flight. I was told that the flight time was been changed to 9:20 PM, which was 4 hours later than the scheduled time. I wasn't real happy, but what could I do? Nothing. So I paid a few extra dollars at my hotel so I could stay until 4 PM, then keep my bag at the front desk, while I walked around and had dinner. I still worried that it had rain so much that the flight might not actually happen.

Sometime after 6 PM, I took a taxi to the airport. Da Nang is an international


airport, but quite small. It is the third largest city in Vietnam; just disappointed that I couldn't really see much there because of the weather. At the airport, I met a young couple from Vancouver BC, so it help pass the time. In checking in with Jetstar, they said nothing about the 4 hour delay. In fact, we didn't take off until about 10 PM. Again, no mention of a reason but the plane was full. This is a budget airlines, which flies to Australia, but I might not use again because they obvious can't keep to a decent schedule.




It didn't affect me terribly but I did call my hotel in Hanoi to tell them I would be much later. Also, I was planning to connect with Pam Cromer who was flying in from CA. at the same time. Now, because my flight was much later, I thought I might miss her so I email her hotel to give the driver who was picking her up a message. Thank god for technology. Ha!! Well, Pam was there waiting for me when I landed in Hanoi, so then we rode to the hotel together. My hotel, which is much cheaper(about $18 per night) is almost right across the road from her though. It was great to see her smiling face at the airport!! And luckily, the driver had not giver her my email and she only noticed that he had an extra paper so she took it from him, then knew my flight problem. Fate!!

I got to the hotel at midnight. I had stayed here before but now remodeled.


In December, Hanoi celebrated 1000 years, and it seems that the whole area was spiffied up for the occasion. Inside my room, the floor, bathroom, and beds looked new. I was pleased and look forward to a some much needed rest. Maybe tonight I would not hear the rain pounding outside. Hanoi appeared dry and very comfortable at 70 F, which is quite cool to the locals but fabulous to me. Once in bed, I didn't hear anything. I didn't sleep that long, but it was all I needed to recharge for the day. Glad to see some dry weather...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Da Nang

Left Pleiku last night On a sleeper bus. Thanh had bought the tickets at the post office but we weren't sure about our seats, only promised that they would be good seats! We arrived at the bus station early and it looked like a brand new bus. Mai Linh bus company is the biggest in the country and it pledges to be Eco- green, which is good. At first I didn't think it would be full but at 9 pm departure neared, it was full. A sleeper bus has a bed like seat which reclines about 45 degrees. Inside the bus, there are 3 rows of seats, one row on each side of the bus, and one row in the middle. And each row is doubled, like a bunk bed. the back of the bus is composed of 5 beds across. And two of these were ours. You take off your shoes as you get on the bus. Then you maneuver sideways down the aisle to the back. Our seats were no. 2. & 3.
Of course you can't see much in this bed, but I planned to sleep anyway. No matter what position you are in, after a short time, it becomes uncomfortable, so you try to just ignore it. Lucky me, I also had one guy next to me that decided to talk on his phone the first 4 hours. I keep hoping his battery would die. I did sleep some in spite of all this.

After 9 hours, we arrived in Da Nang at 6 AM, on time and safe. Thanh talked to a taxi driver who agreed to take us to a budget hotel area. After a few minutes, we were dropped off at a decent hotel but in checking the price, Thanh went to check others while I had coffee. He found another one for $5 less. We checked in and rested some before going to have lunch. The hotel is near a nice walking area and a river.



In the afternoon, Thanh got a call from his mom who said that his grandfather had died. His grandfather was 94 and he had just visited him but still hard. I knew Thanh was torn between staying with me or going back to Saigon for the funeral. For me, it was no question, so I told him to go. It might be harder for me now, but I will manage. So Thanh is taking another long bus ride- about 15 hours - and we will reconnect in about 10 days.




I visited the Cham museum which was within walking distance from my hotel. unfortunately, it has been raining all day. This museum is the finest in the world for Cham architecture. It opened in 1913 and has added lots of pieces over the years, dating as far back as the 7th century. Many tour groups come here but it was not crowed and quite interesting. I think it has a connection to Angkor Wat.

Kontum

Well, I wish I had good news to report today, but it is pretty disturbing. If you recall, I told you yesterday that police would not let me visit the ethnic areas, and I could only stay one hour with Sister Tan. Last night, Sister Tan called and said that 6 police officers can back after I had left to tell her that she was now basically in prison. She would only be allowed to be on the church premises, and no longer could she teach in the ethnic villages. And this sentence of punishment was for an undetermined amount of time. All this because i had come to visit her. I am sure she would have not agreed to me coming if she knew this would happen, but she did nothing! And I am upset because I basically caused this problem. I was told that I was the first foreigner to visit this area, but now she can't even leave to go to the market. This dictatorial judgement applies to the the other two nuns at the church too. I hope they reconsider their decision in the near future or maybe someone will intervene with more power. I can only imagine the way thee officers addressed her after we left. She is really a missionary working in her own country against her government.

My other distressing info is that some how several days ago I lost my Visa debit card. And lucky me, the person who took it, somehow could use if for several withdrawals. I am not sure how many yet. but yesterday, I happen to look at my acct. online, which I generally never do, and to my horror I could see several cash withdrawals. I did call now and have the card blocked but didn't talk to my bank yet as it is a holiday. I will cal then on Monday. I do have another card but not sure of my acct. balance now. haha! And I have some cash on me too. It is a mystery to me how they would have my pin number too, or how they even got it. Maybe I will be contacting all of you for a small loan. hahaha!

Today, we took the public bus to Kontum. It is 50 KM from here and town close to the Laos border. After we got to Kontum, we walked to a famous wood church that is used by many ethnic tribes in this area. The people there were very friendly. There was an orphanage that I visited too. Lots of people asked me if I spoke French as the French were a major influence here and some people still speak French. This also was the site of some major battles between the south and north during the "American" war. The town is very nice with wide streets and new looking building, and cool weather.

We are taking the sleep bus - 9 hours - tonight to DaNang.. Sweet dreams.