The journey begins (Part 2)

For those of you who have not read my previous blog post (The Journey Begins- part 1) it can be found here.This blog post continues from where the last one finished- Linda and I were headed for Nam Dinh city…

As we climbed into the back seat of our car it was a refreshing change only having to fit two people in instead of the up to six people that we managed to fit in a single taxi during our adventures in Hanoi.  After a long day I settled in for a few hours on the road and was feeling a mixture of exhaustion and excitement. The first thing that struck me as we drove outside of Hanoi and into more rural regions of Vietnam was how green everything was. I guess it is to be expected that a nation which is nearing the end of monsoon season would have lush green fields but having come from the dusty, brown surroundings of regional New South Wales I found the contrast very stark. The further we travelled out of Hanoi the more rural our surroundings became. The traffic became much less intense and the constant honking of horns dissipated slightly as we headed onto the highway. I watched the changing landscape with fascination. Some of the sights I had expected such as men and women tending their fields and children riding their bicycles along the side of the road; however, other sites took me somewhat by surprise. A sight that has now become somewhat familiar but initially had me taken aback were the gravesites scattered throughout rice fields or tucked in near a row of banana trees. Some of the headstones are intricately designed with trimmings reminisce of temple designs and a variety of traditional characters and symbols, while others were so plain and unassuming that they all but vanished into the sea of green surrounding them. At first I did not recognise what they were as it was not uncommon to only see a single headstone in the middle of the field- it was not until I saw larger groupings in a cemetery like formation that I cottoned on to what the small temple like statues actually represented. Another sight that took me slightly aback was the continuing density of cities and towns. We would pass by a new city separated from the last at times by only a few kilometres and, like Hanoi, they have buildings so close together it is difficult to determine where one ends and the next begins. Once again having come from regional NSW with its large house blocks and seemingly endless distances between cities I had not consciously comprehended how densely populated Vietnam really is.

As we hit the two hour mark my curiosity and excitement increased- each time we passed a new city I would examine the highway for signs of an exit, wondering if this latest city represented our final destination. Eventually after a further half an hour we turned off the highway and made our way towards Le Hong Phong Gifted High School. As we drove through Nam Dinh City I was immediately struck by the distinct lack of noise and commotion in the streets. It was pouring with rain which tempered the busyness slightly but I would soon come to discover that life in Nam Dinh City is much slower paced than life in Hanoi. Coming from a country town I quickly came to welcome the relative peace and quiet; however, the contrast to Hanoi was so stark as to be slightly disconcerting. Once we arrived at the school we dragged our luggage up our flight of stairs and examined for the first time that place we now call home.

No sooner had we arrived in Nam Dinh City and dumped our (my) ridiculous amounts of luggage in the room than we were whisked off to dinner at a local restaurant with some English teachers and Department of Education staff. Upon arriving in a new and unfamiliar place there is almost always an inherent awkwardness to making conversation which is only intensified when the people you are talking to speak a different language, but we would soon discover that the incredible friendliness and hospitality of the Vietnamese can make even the most unfamiliar situation seem welcoming. Over dinner we engaged in mostly small talk but it was a great opportunity to get to know our mentor teachers and we had the opportunity to sample a seemingly never ending array of unfamiliar Vietnamese cuisine such as bananas the size of my thumb (a speciality in Nam Dinh). Thankfully the snakes in jars that we passed on our way inside do not make their way onto the dinner menu on this particular evening.

Once dinner drew to a close we headed back to Le Hong Phong High School (where we live in the guest house on campus) and said goodbye to the teachers for the night… and that is when the homesickness hit! Homesickness is a very strange and at times overwhelming experience, even more so when you are experiencing it for the first time; it comes in waves and often out of the blue. With time you adjust to the ebb and flow and learn coping mechanisms, but this was the first time I had really stopped and rested since leaving Sydney airport a week earlier, and the homesickness hit me like a tonne of bricks. Vietnam is a beautiful country with absolutely stunning scenery, wonderful people and an amazing sense of liveliness and vibrancy; the noise, the food, the traffic and the frantic sidewalks which perpetually buzz with activity are things which contribute to Vietnam being such a wonderful place to live and volunteer, but they are also be things that can feel incredibly overwhelming at times. On this particular night I was hit with the overwhelming sense of dislike for all of Vietnam’s aforementioned qualities, and after a busy week with a hefty dose of new experiences coupled with absolute exhaustion I felt alienated and completely overwhelmed.  All I wanted to do was jump on a plane a head back to the relative safety and familiarity of Australia. Eventually though, after a lengthy Skype session with my family and a few full nights of sleep my perspective returned and in the coming weeks many things that I wanted to escape would become things that I now cherish about my new home. Speaking of my new home I should probably tell you a bit about Nam Dinh City, Le Hong Phong High School and what it is I am keeping myself occupied with on a daily basis. Once again there really is no better place to start than at the very beginning…

On Friday night after arriving in Nam Dinh I headed to bed exhausted after having spent the last 24hrs settling in to my new surroundings and was relishing the opportunity to rest, sleep in and have what I assumed would be a relatively quiet weekend before meeting the other staff and students bright and early on Monday morning (much to my chagrin and to the amusement of all my friends and family who know my distinct lack of propensity for alertness in the early morning, school begins at 7am every morning here, so bright and early, means bright and early!). So you can imagine my surprise when I woke early in the morning to the incredibly noisy hustle and bustle of 1400 high school students arriving to begin lessons for the day… at 7am on a Saturday morning! It turns out that in Vietnam students attend high school six days a week from Monday to Saturday. Eventually Monday morning rolled and so began another whirlwind week.

During first period Monday mornings a whole school assembly is held where students sit in the blistering sun, on tiny red stools and in perfectly straight class lines to hear announcements and watch performances. This particular morning there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air- as Linda and I headed out to sit with the other teachers the students stared and whispered excitedly. During the assembly we were invited to speak to the students (with no prior notice mind you) and upon our introduction the students let out a massive cheer which would be just the first taste of ongoing life as a celebrity in Nam Dinh. After assembly Linda and I were whisked in opposite directions to visit classes and meet the students for the first time. As I walk down the halls of Le Hong Phong it is not uncommon to receive excited glance as students speculate as to whether or not the ‘Australian volunteer’ may be teaching them next period and this time was no exception. The first time I entered a classroom I received excited squeals, cheering and a standing ovation (this would continue for about two weeks) and after some initial shyness I was confronted with a seemingly endless barrage of questions from students wanting to know who is in my family, if I have a boyfriend and “how exactly do you pronounce Wagga Wagga again?… and where exactly is it anyway?”.  For the first week or so classes consisted of introductions, games, singing the Australian anthem more times than I can count, and also being serenaded by students singing Taylor Swift songs on more than one occasion. Now that we have been here for a few weeks we have settled into a bit of a routine for teaching with a more regular timetable, and teaching the students is becoming the absolute highlight of this whole experience. The students enthusiasm is absolutely amazing (especially the English Major students) and I really cherish the chance to get up each day and teach the students a skill that they appreciate and value so dearly.

Outside of the classroom life has been somewhat slower paced but I am still very much enjoying it. For anyone wanting to know what it is like to be a celebrity, move to Vietnam and you may just find out! As far as I can tell I am the only Caucasian person living in Nam Dinh and as a result whenever I dare to venture outside the school gates I draw no shortage of stares, and have left many mouths agape in my stead as I wander around the streets. People ‘subtly’ take photos of me on their phones, teenage girls wave and giggle nervously and many a person will run up to me excitedly and say “hello” and then remember that is all the English they know and nervously depart with a smile and a nod, and I have received more compliments and proclamations of beauty since arriving than I have perhaps received in my whole life before coming here!. When I first arrived the attention was overwhelming as any sense of anonymity I once possessed whilst undertaking life’s more mediocre tasks like shopping or exercising was now shrouded in a constant haze of fascination from others.   For me the novelty swiftly waned. Now that I have been here a while the stares have lessened somewhat in the immediate suburbs and when I venture further out I meet the stares (which almost always are a result of curiosity rather than impoliteness) with a friendly but direct smile which often disarms people just enough that they smile back politely and continue on their way, whilst I quietly smile to myself in amusement. There are of course times where such status is enjoyable… My students seem to adore me (and I adore them!) and their excitement and enthusiasm has kept me going through good days and bad.  I am also never without food or entertainment- since arriving in Nam Dinh I have been invited out to dinner more times than I can count, to restaurants and homes of teachers or students and have come to value the incredible hospitality that the Vietnamese people so eagerly bestow upon their guests.

Every Friday we take time out from our regular classes to visit other schools throughout Nam Dinh Province and we once again find ourselves surrounded by a palpable air of enthusiasm as students embrace us in their classrooms and shower us with love and gifts (we have not been without fresh flowers on the table top since we arrived!).  During these visits students clamour around eager to take photos and afterwards I receive endless Facebook subscriptions and friend requests (which due to sheer numbers I must politely decline) from students eager to find out more about the ‘Australian Volunteers’!

In between teaching and dinners my afternoons and evenings are filled with invitations from students to visit famous local sights like Tran Hung Dao Temple or to attend Mid-Autumn festivities, celebrations of Nam Dinh’s 750^th Anniversary (which was a huge to-do with even the Vietnamese President in attendance) and various other local sites. On days when I am left to my own devices I wander or ride my bicycle around the city, exploring and taking photos and just generally soaking up the atmosphere of this small but charming city.

By now life is settling into something of a routine and things once absurd are becoming somewhat familiar (though never entirely so… like live pigs, bound at the ankles and being driven down the road in a cart, or being served snails at a local restaurants;  I don’t think these things will ever become entirely ‘normal’ to me!). But I have settled into a routine with teaching and am starting to understand the ebbs and flows of each classroom and ability level. In the coming week I am starting a dance class after school, which the students seem very enthusiastic about, and we also get the opportunity to teach a class one evening a week of primary school students which should be fun (and Vietnamese children are just so darn cute!). 

I could write all day about the intricacies and amusements of daily life here in Nam Dinh but alas this post is already ridiculously long and so I will save it for another day. All in all life in Nam Dinh is great fun and I can hardly believe how fast the time is passing (5 weeks in already)! Before I know it I’ll be packing up and heading home, no doubt taking a wealth of new experiences with me… luckily I’ve still got a few more months to enjoy first though!

Care to take a drive?

For anyone waiting to read part two of my previous blog post I promise it is coming soon! In the meantime though…The following is an extract from my travel journal written on the 21^st September 2012 on possibly one of the most harrowing road trips of my life as I headed off to spend a weekend in glorious Ha Long Bay…  

 11am (ish), somewhere just outside Nam Dinh city…

I’m sitting in the back of a bus right now that I’m fairly certain was made some time in the 80’s! At the very least the internal upholsteries can’t possibly have been updated any time this century… Nearly all the seat coverings are ripped or torn and if that is all that’s wrong with yours you got a good seat. Many seats are not actually fixed to the frames and the frames themselves are so rusted it appears as though they might collapse as soon as anyone dares to sit down. Adjusting the seat positions is definitely beyond the realms of possibility. Seatbelts? Pfft! Not a chance… which is actually somewhat disconcerting given the speeds we are currently travelling at and the fact that the driver appears to have little intention of stopping for anything, including the steady stream of traffic just barely scrapping past us as we travel down narrow highways! Did I mention there is no air-conditioning either? The breeze coming in the window provides some relief from the penetrating heat, but this is sadly offset by the toxic stench of fuel, rubbish and dust drifting through the air - I now understand why so many Vietnamese wear face masks when they are travelling!

It is interesting to observe the various characters that make their way on and off the bus each time the bus pulls over (often in locations that appear to be in the middle of nowhere). Several male passengers appear well acquainted with this method of transportation and lounge around lazily, spreading themselves across multiple seats where space permits and with apparently little intention of relinquishing their seat should another person require its occupancy. Other passengers look decidedly less at home on this rickety old bus; such as the woman a few seats in front of me wearing six inch heels and a silk button down shirt, or you know, me, huddled up the back of the bus keeping very close guard of my overstuffed backpack and trying hard not to pass out from heat exhaustion! Nevertheless, comfortable or not, the means of affordable transportation from Nam Dinh to Ha Long are somewhat limited and so those who desire such a paradisiacal destination as Ha Long Bay must suffer through this decidedly unpleasant fate…

About an hour or so later… somewhere between Nam Dinh and Ha Long City,

In the past half an hour or so the unpleasantness factor of this particular journey increased significantly! Linda and I had the unenviable experience of being harassed by several Vietnamese men who took a fancy to the foreigners sitting at the back of the bus speaking English and scribbling in notebooks. They therefore decided it would be fun to spend their time taunting and harassing us for our food and my notebook and then later had a go at Linda, making rude insinuations about her Chinese ethnicity. Whilst we didn’t feel immediately threatened for our safety we certainly weren’t keen on this charade continuing for another three hours until we reached our destination. Eventually we rang Khiet (one of our placement mentors) who spoke to one of our fellow travelers whom we had befriended before boarding the bus in Nam Dinh. Following the phone call the woman swiftly berated our harassers with a slap to the arm and what appeared to be some rather harsh remarks and the men sheepishly made their way back to their seats with grins on their faces.

Just after things settled back down the bus came to a stop at the Vietnamese version of a rest stop and unfortunately I really needed to use the bathroom… I had cringed using the rest rooms at the supermarket before our departure and this made those look like the Ritz Carlton! After squeezing my way into the tiny cubicle I couldn’t bring myself to sit on the filthy seat and instead crouched awkwardly trying very hard not to drop my luggage on the soaking wet floor (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just water!) in the process. During this particularly delightful experience I became incredibly glad for the packet of tissues I had thrown in my bag on the way out the door as toilet paper was nowhere to be found! Eventually I escaped the bathrooms from hell, bought a cold drink and have been sitting in the heat writing and waiting for others to finish eating lunch just long enough to be extremely uncomfortable…

                A little while later… somewhere in northern Vietnam;

I am finding it somewhat off putting the frequency with which I look up from my notes to see a large truck or other oversized vehicle less than ten feet in front of us, driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, only swerving out of the way at the last possible moment and nearly grazing the side of our bus on the way past…

                A little while later again… still too far from our destination;

So we were just pulled over by a uniformed official who had a heated conversation with the driver before sending us on  our way… have no idea what that was about. I’m really starting to miss Australia’s wide, smooth, open roads! In many places here the road is narrow and uneven- the highway (if you can really call it that) is a single lane in each direction for the majority of the time with a disproportionately large number of oversized vehicles travelling along it. For travelers occupying less hefty modes of transportation (mostly bikes- motorised and otherwise) the shoulders are mercifully wide although I really hope no driver swerves right in a hurry!

For the most part the landscape consists of rice fields and banana trees, often for many miles towards the horizon, and every so often we pass through yet another small but densely populated town or city. Many of the sights in the towns are ones that have become quite familiar to me over the past few weeks; Students riding their bicycles to school, men and women tending to the crops often with buffalos grazing or working in the fields nearby and countless people sitting at roadside stalls and shop fronts selling their goods to passers-by. Just now I am starting to see more rugged, mountainous terrain ahead which is rather stunning to observe, but I am really hoping we are going around the mountains and not over them given our highly precarious current mode of transportation…

             1.40pm… still on this darn bus!;

From time to time here in Vietnam I have moments that absolutely confirm that I am a long way from home. Many of the things that initially took me aback, such as the insanity of the traffic and the absurd amounts of luggage carried by bikes of all descriptions, have become at least vaguely familiar if not comforting, but occasionally still I will witness things that make me do a double take. For example, yesterday I saw a woman casually riding down the street outside the school with what appeared to be her dinner laid across her carry basket- in the form of a dead, but still fully intact, pig. Just now I have had another such experience as I witnessed an older man lead a buffalo out to work in the fields- not such an unfamiliar sight except for the fact that he was leading the buffalo out of his living room and through the front door!?!

                2.20pm… are we there yet?

The land surrounding the highway is now dense with farming agriculture and quarries and in the background mountains and cliffs emerge as haunting silhouettes to the immediate scenery. Increasingly the landscape is similar to the quintessential picture shown in travel brochures… hopefully that means we are close to our final destination! Getting excited now!

                3.10pm…

Just saw a sign saying 12kms to Halong City! Thank goodness! Right now I am dusty, sweaty, hungry and in desperate need of a shower but I have to say the emerging view is pretty great!!

Eventually we did arrive at our destination in Halong City where we were unceremoniously dumped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. We hailed a nearby cab, and headed to our hotel where I didn’t really care about the soft comfy beds so much as the fact that we finally had access to air conditioning and showers! I spent the afternoon wandering the docks near our hotel before meeting up with about 14 other YPWB volunteers for dinner. The following morning began bright and early as we went for a hike up a mountain in the middle of the city, from which we beheld absolutely stunning views of the bay and then we headed off to the port to board our cruise. We spent the next 24 hours swimming and kayaking, eating amazing food and enjoying absolutely breathtaking views of Ha Long Bay. I thought about writing another blog post to try and describe the beauty of Ha Long Bay but I don’t think words could possibly do it justice… They say a picture’s worth a thousand words and I took nearly a thousand photos (yes I know that’s insane for a 24hr trip) so I thought instead I’d simply share some of the best of the weekend… showing the experience before we had to endure the journey home again!

The Journey Begins (part 1)

I started writing this blog post the first day I arrived in Vietnam… that was twenty days ago and here I am still working on finishing and publishing my very first in country blog entry!! The last (almost) three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of new experiences, new people and even new emotions. At times I have been elated and other times I have felt completely overwhelmed by the whole experience. Much like when I wrote my very first blog entry a few months ago I really am not entirely sure where to begin…so I guess this time I will simply start at the beginning;

It was 10am on the 1st of September as I boarded a flight to Hanoi from Changi (Singapore) Airport my mood was less than great; Having already flown 8 hours from Sydney to reach Singapore, followed by a 10 hour layover (arriving at midnight) at Changi Airport with little sleep (and a bout of food poisoning thrown in for good measure) I have to say by this point I was simply over it all- I was tired, queasy and desperately craving sleep, instead of feeling enthused my mood was one of trepidation and even a bit of apathy.

Fortunately once I boarded the flight I found pleasant distractions that tempered my gloom somewhat as we set off on the final leg of our journey to Hanoi, Vietnam. A young Singaporean girl seated next to me (who was so adorable and minute in stature) kept me entertained and fascinated as she spoke to me about her schooling and read the paper aloud to her mother- I couldn’t help but be intrigued watching a six year old girl having somewhat educated and informed discussions about topics such as the ‘paralysing impact of recent typhoons’ in south-east Asia and the differences between government in Singapore and Vietnam. This was really my first significant interaction with ‘locals’ since I had left Sydney and by half way through the flight my mood had improved dramatically as I continued to interact with my young neighbour. As we neared Northern Vietnam my mood improved even more as I gazed out the window and was greeted with a sight that I can only characterise as quintessential Vietnam. Through a haze of luminous clouds with fairy floss texture I laid eyes upon endless fields of green, many appearing to be rice paddies , interspersed with clumps of buildings built so close together it was hard to define where one ended and the next began. As we moved inland a river emerged (possibly the Red River Delta- I’m not sure though), scattered throughout the landscape with more and more towns emerging along its banks. By this stage my trepidation had been replaced with excitement and fascination- this whole experience suddenly felt much more tangible and compelling as I witnessed for the first time the nation I will call home for the next five months. Before I knew it the landscape I was admiring from afar was drawing ever closer as we headed in for landing at Hanoi International Airport.

Upon landing at Hanoi International Airport I was struck by the very stark contrasts between where I had come from and where I was about to go. Heading through immigration the mood of the officials was focused and unyielding; stepping forward to present my passport I was met by a stone faced official who examined my passport, stamped it and returned it to me without once directly acknowledging me (or anyone else) or even changing his expression. Once through immigration we headed to the baggage carousel to grab our bags. As I watched bags circle endlessly around the rickety old carousel I began to become acquainted with the first of many cultural differences that exist between Vietnam and Australia. Security was lax at best and many locals had checked their baggage simply in large cardboard boxes wrapped in endless layers of tape. Once I had grabbed my bags I set out to find a bottle of water (which seems to cost on average 20 cents a bottle here- so cheap!). As I approached the counter I came to the realisation that I had no clear way to communicate with the cashier and only a loose grasp on the currency system. Whilst not particularly difficult or overwhelming this was certainly one of many not so subtle reminders that I was now a long way from home- and things I usually take for granted like talking to a cashier, or crossing the road would now be challenges to embrace and/or overcome… After grabbing our luggage and precariously navigating our way through the airport car park I and thirty other volunteers piled onto a bus bound for Hanoi city.

When first arriving in Vietnam’s northern capital Hanoi inevitably the first thing that people notice is the traffic! To say that traffic in Hanoi is insane is an understatement!! Motorbike riders and cars alike swerve and honk their way through the maze of often narrow streets with little regard for other road users and perhaps even their own safety. Road rules are more guidelines than actual requirements, the near deafening cacophony of honking horns which replaces all normal driving practices such as yielding and indicating drones on throughout the day and well into the evenings and even driving on the correct side of the road is a concept that is only sometimes understood, particularly by cab drivers. And of course it would be highly remiss of me if I failed to mention the insane amount that locals are able to carry on motorbikes or at times even bicycles; families of four or five people on a single bike, entire palates of coca cola, floor rugs stacked at least a meter high, construction equipment of every variety (chipboard, glass, guttering) - the methods used to transport people and objects alike in this country never cease to amaze me!

The first time I went wandering through the streets of Hanoi with other YPWB volunteers it took us the better part of an hour to work up the nerve to step out into the never ending stream of traffic to reach the stalls and shops that waited a terrifying twenty metre walk away on the other side of the road and it would take several days before I no longer contemplated my seemingly eminent demise every time I stepped out into oncoming traffic. Eventually though the culture shock of navigating or being driven through the traffic of Hanoi became slightly less confronting experience for the most part, except for the time our taxi did a U-turn which put us 20 feet away from an oncoming bus on the wrong side of the road when I was almost certain for a moment that we were all going to die! Despite the chaos however the traffic in Vietnam is really a somewhat fascinating sight to behold and throughout my week in Hanoi I could not help but marvel at it even if I never quite felt at ease amongst it.

The first three days of our orientation in Hanoi we were more or less left to our own devices and spent our days and evenings exploring the endless sights, sounds, tastes and smells (pleasant or otherwise) that make Hanoi such a vibrant city. We visited sites like the Temple of Literature, the old quarter (quite possibly my favourite part of the city with its eccentric personalities and constant busyness), the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (well the outside anyway- it was closed the day we wanted to see it) and night markets and on more than one occasion found ourselves completely lost; I enjoyed wandering around fascinating markets and back streets that we would have no idea how to find again. There are so many fascinating things to see, do and buy in Hanoi but personally I found the most enjoyable experiences the ones that involved interacting with the locals or simply watching the locals as they go about their daily routines. In the evenings we explored the many culinary offerings of Vietnam; freshly baked pastries, pho (beef and noodle soup that is one of Vietnam’s best known meals), roast chicken (served with the head still attached) and many other weird and wonderful concoctions made their way onto our plates. Overall the food in Vietnam is for the most part wonderfully fresh and highly affordable ($2.50 AUD can buy you a very filling meal here) however at times the food preparation process can be uncomfortably transparent and wandering through food markets can at times make your heart sink as you witness the cruelty with which animals are often treated such as eight to ten chickens in single carry cage or large fish being kept alive with a bucket and a hose in street markets. After three days of wandering, exploring and getting to know other volunteers we knuckled down and attended a three day crash course in how to teach English as a second language. Before I knew it the orientation had drawn to a close… on the last afternoon of our training we sadly parted ways with the other volunteers, met our host mentor Thuy, were presented with stunning bouquets of  welcome flowers and Linda and I were bound for Nam Dinh city, the place we are calling home for the next four months…

As this post is getting ridiculously long I have decided to make it a two part entry in order to not completely overwhelm or bore you with my unending stream of consciousness… Part two coming soon! (In the meantime I have included pics of Hanoi, Nam Dinh and my lovely students at Le Hong Phong secondary school for you all to check out!)