The last week and a half has been one very long blur. Teachers are back to school (kids next week) and we're all on information overload with mile long to-do lists. So these are just some ramblings I have: - I have now had Vietnamese street food. My roommate Sinead took us (all of us that live in the house) to a pho bo (beef pho) stall. No I did not eat beef. I had pho khong thit or pho chay (pho no meat or vegetarian pho) which was still pretty tasty. So I have now sat on the infamous tiny plastic stools on the sidewalk. It was great fun. - Second roommate outing was to chicken street. Yes, chicken street. The chicken was absolutely delicious as were the potatoes and honey banh mi. It probably would have taken me months (if ever) to get to these types of places. So glad I went with roommates instead of my own apartment. - Nap time is serious business here. I walked out of my classroom to go downstairs and see these guys just napping on the tile floor. *Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form a good photographer ... please forgive the quality of the pictures in this post - The mattress and bed frame seen behind the mini-van . . . those are being transported via motorbike . . . I'm fully convinced that the Vietnamese can use a motorbike the way Americans use a U-haul truck. - That adorable face is Groot who belongs to one of my roommates. Super adorable as you can see and very friendly. I have 3 roommates by the way (Sinead - British, Axey - British, and Diana - French) who are all pretty cool people. Descriptions of school stuff as seen in pictures (top left -->bottom right) 1. Outside of the school. We've got 4 buildings, lots of stairs, AC in the classrooms but not the hallways. Each subject basically has a floor to themselves. 2-3. My classroom setup currently. Biggest class right now is 19. Smallest is 15. I can confidently pronounce about 4 of my student's names right now ... mostly because they're my non-Asian students ... nothing like international teaching to make you feel really dumb and a bit unintentionally racist :( 4. Wonderful anime-esque panda bear mural which came with my classroom. Hasn't haunted my dreams yet but we'll see. I'll keep him for now. 5-6. My "feel good" space by my desk. Various student, colleague, and friend gift trinkets. - I've started learning to ride a motorbike. Amy (Secondary ELA teacher and one of the 1st people I met in Vietnam) has been letting me practice on hers around the school (there's basically no traffic out here). I can now confidently go straight and turn left. I still have to practice turning right some more though. Yes, I realize that turning left but not right is a very odd thing but the throttle is on the right hand grip so I keep throttling as I'm turning right... not good. I'll get there though... Then I still have to learn how to drive in the craziness of Hanoi traffic.
- I tried CrossFit for the first time on Tuesday. Since midday on Wednesday, it hurts to stand up or start walking. My inner thighs are crazy painful. - I went to the only gym in Hanoi which does aerial stuff (silks/sling and lyra). Did an aerial core class on Sunday and an aerial dance class on Wednesday (did not help with the sore thighs... just added bruises). Both classes were with Trang who luckily does the classes in Vietnamese AND English. She's a rather nice person but also laments that there is no place to legitimately practice silks in Hanoi. Their ceilings are maybe 10 feet tall so there's no climbing the silks or anything. The classes were a bit easy but it was good to get back into practicing. - A few other teachers and I have developed a carpool system that seems to work for getting to/from school. 15 minute walk or 5 minute motorbike ride to Steven's apartment then grab a taxi out to the school in Splendora. We just have to make sure our driver doesn't miss the turn onto the access road. Very easy to miss as it's a dirt construction path . . . - In that same vein, I've had a few "scenic" tours of Hanoi via motorbike or taxi as my Grab (like Uber) drivers get lost or go a very different route that I have no idea why they took it in the first place. - I gave directions to a Grab motorbike driver all the way from my place in Ba Dinh to the aerial studio in Tay Ho. About a 20-25 minute drive but he was going the opposite way Google Maps wanted him to go and didn't want to turn around. I've done the Tay Ho ride so many times already that I have it memorized. Very proud moment considering he spoke no English so my directions were all pointing/gesturing. *Friends still in the USA, I understand you have no idea where Ba Dinh and Tay Ho are but oh well, you'll live (or look at a map :P ) - I saw 4 grown ass men on a single motorbike this morning. It was rather impressive though I felt bad for the man sitting between the actual driver and the front of the bike. Wish I had gotten a picture. - I rode side saddle on a motorbike ... unintentionally. See what had happened was... I ordered a Grab Taxi, someone accepted, said some cancelled two minutes later. I ordered another Taxi, no one accepted. My carpool was supposed to meet in 7 minutes (roughly the time it takes to get there on a motorbike) so I'm like f*** it, I'll just get on a motorbike ... I think my dress is long enough to pull it off. Motorbike arrives, go to straddle the bike, nope, not long enough. So I'm like shit, what do I do? but I went for it (side saddle), grabbed onto the handhold on the back of the bike and put the other hand grabbing the side of the seat which was behind me. I think the driver saw the fear in my eyes and so he drove slowly and cautiously. Either that or he was like "Is this white girl really about to do side saddle? I gotta not kill her so I keep my job." Either way, I arrived safely and did not die. But I will not be repeating that experience if I can help it. I think these are the highlights. I really need to start making note of things as they happen but probably won't. The end.
5 Comments
Christina McCartha
10/8/2018 04:40:18 pm
Shannon,
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Gena Misouria
10/8/2018 08:24:13 pm
Enjoy reading your adventures! Wish I had documented my younger days life so I could remember! Lol! Sounds fun! Good luck at school, I am sure it will be a great first day! Love u!
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Tyler
11/8/2018 11:30:03 am
The peas in a pod are adorable! Those would have been an awesome ferret toy.
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Ingrid Gero
11/8/2018 07:47:50 pm
The peas miss you in the pod! I love your adventures! Glad you are settling in. I am ready to pass out after the first week of nothing but administrative craziness. I actually taught something on Friday!
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Joe Morris
19/8/2018 08:26:34 am
Hi Shannon, I am an old friend of your dad, we went to high school together and rode motorbikes together quite a bit. He sent me a link to your blog and I read it this afternoon. I traveled to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City last year with my wife, who is from Saigon. I could not have done it without her there. You are very brave. I can relate to your street crossing rules. Everyone in her family was amazed after I successfully crossed the street a few times without getting killed. As you said, when you are a passenger on a motorbike, HOLD ON. I held on to the bracket on the back of the seat for dear life. The only issue I had in VN was on two occasions, my elbows were hit by other motorists as they stick out a couple of inches when holding on back there. After a month in VN, I never saw an accident. The traffic becomes almost natural after a few weeks. It actually flows very gracefully, and I only saw one instance of irritated drivers, but not to the level of 'road rage' by any means. I relate so much to what you have written, and look forward to reading more. Cam on!!
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