The Halfway Point

The time has come – I am halfway through my study abroad experience in Vietnam. It is hard to believe that in only 12 days from now, I will be on my own in this country doing my independent research project. I remember at the very beginning of the program, I told myself that when the time came for the Hanoi excursion, (which we left for at 5:30 AM this morning), I would really be "over the hill" of my time here. This past week has been strange in a lot of ways because it has really been like an ending. We finished our Vietnamese language classes, had our final exam, had a cultural exchange program with university students here, and on Friday night we had our final dinner with professors and home stay families at a fancy buffet restaurant. Despite the difficulty of the language classes, we were all pretty sad to be finished. We have grown to really love our cute, little professor and all of his quirks – such as consistently calling me "Berrecka" instead of Rebecca (everyone in my program now calls me Berrecka), being a grandpa figure and taking care of us on excursions, or asking us to join him for a smoke during our 15 minute break during each three our lecture (don't worry, no one has taken him up on this offer). After our test yesterday we gave him a framed picture of all of us and made a cute card as well. An interesting fact about gift giving in VN culture: it is not appropriate to open a gift in front of the people who give it to you. Professor Nghia was blown away that we asked him to open the gift once we gave it to him. During the oral part of the exam which was done one by one, I realized that I was actually able to speak Vietnamese! Although the questions were not complex questions by any means and he spoke slower than anyone actually speaks here, I could respond in Vietnamese with little difficulty.

Last night was one of the best nights I've had since I've been here. In the afternoon we had our cultural exchange with university students. We had been told that they were practicing hours on end for this two hour show, so we decided to put some effort in as well. We ended up singing and dancing to a few classic American songs like "Amazing Grace", "Ain't No Mountain High," and "Lean On Me." We sounded pretty pathetic but we had a great time nonetheless. The Vietnamese performances were absolutely, positively HILLARIOUS. It's guaranteed to be funny when Vietnamese try to cater to American pop-culture tastes. When we sat down at our seats, there was a paper printed with the lyrics to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands." Luckily we never got to that part of the program, but one game they performed/played that we did get to was called the "I Love You Game." The two VN hosts would clap and then suddenly stop. Whoever continued to clap would be "punished," as they called it, and come up to the stage. In order to sit down, those on stage had to go up to someone else in the audience and say I Love You. It was so silly, but because the VN students were so enthusiastic, dressed in their wigs and glasses for Halloween, it was so funny. It was the kind of humor worse than any cheesy, American game show, if that makes any sense. I was also "pet" for the first time yesterday. The girl sitting next to me was taken by the length of my eyelashes and asked if she could "touch" them. I'm going to assume this was a complement, not her attempt to make me feel like a puppy in a pet store!

After the cultural exchange, we went back to the guesthouse and got ready for our dinner event. For the first time in a long time, maybe weeks, I broke away from the simplicity that has been central to my daily routine here. This simplicity means that the only consistent thing I wear or apply to my body every day is deodorant. No makeup, jewelry, etc. But last night, we all broke away from this simplicity and looked nice for a change! We walked to the restaurant along the streets of the downtown area, which is completely different from "real" Saigon. That is, the area with all the fancy hotels for foreigners is a world apart from the real life in HCMC. Gucci, Armani, and Prada stores line the blocks in this area, which in my opinion is the biggest irony to exist in this country. Here are stores where the average item sold costs more than most Vietnamese families' annual income. Beggars and all forms of street culture are missing for blocks on end. Everything is written in English. It was bizarre to experience, especially since the majority of my time Vietnam has been spent in such ordinary places where ordinary people spend their time. In many ways, it bothers me that this is what an average foreigner considers Saigon to be when they visit. It's too bad that this average foreigner doesn't always go down the random alleyways or eat at ordinary restaurants to see what Vietnam is really like for most people. After the delicious dinner which lasted nearly three hours, my entire group went back to our guesthouse and dressed up in some Halloween attire and went dancing at a club downtown. We all had a great time together, as usual!

It is now Sunday evening and I have been up since 4:30 AM and am exhausted! We are in Hanoi now, which I have grown to absolutely LOVE over the course of the last 8 hours that we have been here. Many describe this city as the Paris of Asia. Although I have not been to Paris, I truly believe this expression to be the case. Over the last two days, there has been massive flooding and rains here, which is worse than Hanoi has experienced in two decades. Just yesterday, the streets were flooded up to two meters, but today there has been significant improvement. We were on the verge of cancelling or postponing this trip, but because the rains have slowed down, we decided to continue on. The situation has become so serious, however, that food is running out for many families in the surrounding districts of the downtown area. Prices of food have nearly quadrupled because all the farmland is completely inundated by the water.

Landing in Hanoi was a world different from landing in HCMC just two months ago. Instead of the colorful arrangement of crammed houses in HCMC that were so evident during the landing, the scene landing in Hanoi was the stark opposite. Farmlands were extremely flooded and many homes were completely submerged in water. Despite the natural disaster that has taken place here, there was a charm to the place that I couldn't help but notice right from the start. The roof tops are all terra cotta and the homes are modeled like French villas with dark yellow stucco. The land is much hillier and the buildings are spaced much further apart than in HCMC. Flower fields, horse drawn carriages, and motorbikes all line the countryside on the way into the city from the airport. In general, there seems to be a fascinating combination of modernity and ancient times. Once we drove into Hanoi proper, my initial impressions became even truer. Tree lined boulevards, yellow stucco villas, sculpture parks, multiple large lakes lined by trees, less traffic, slower pace, elegant stores, cyclos, space between all forms of vehicles – these are all things I noticed. The opera house in the center of town is gorgeous, as is the high school my academic director went to, which is the same yellow stucco with a terra cotta roof and massive wooden shutters (she is from Hanoi and her parents still live here). Hanoi seems completely livable and enjoyable, unlike HCMC, which as much as I have learned to love is only tolerable. People dress differently here as well. There is a real sense of fashion and elegance to the way people present themselves. I remember my home stay mom in HCMC telling me about Hanoi because she is from here as well. Although she complained that life here has become too materialistic, she swears that the men are more handsome and the women more beautiful. I have to say she is right – people look strikingly different here, with rounder eyes, smaller noses, and they seem to have a more sophisticated, European demeanor (if the people weren't Asian here, I would think I am in Europe).

After lunch at a wonderful bistro called Paris Café, where we enjoyed delicious salads, French baguette sandwiches, chocolate mousse cake, and strong cappuccinos, we had our second drop-off exercise. It started to TORRENTIALLY raining again as soon as Alex and I began our trek to the ancient quarter. When I say torrential, I mean the strongest rain I have EVER experienced or even seen on TV. I have never used every feature of my Marmot rain coat and still gotten soaked. Even with the wrists Velcro-ed tight and my hood fastened around my head, I came home from a five hour shopping experience/exploration of the ancient quarter soaked to my underwear (keep in mind also that it is much cooler here, so the rain is cold rain)! It was interesting to note the difference in infrastructure here, though. If it rained this much in HCMC, I would feel like I was bathing in gasoline, motorbike grease, and dirt. Here, the sidewalks are open, consistently paved, and walk-able, so walking through flooding streets is a bit less miserable. Alex and I had a great time, though. The shops in the ancient quarter have some of the most beautiful artwork, bowls, plates, chopsticks, jewelry, and other household items that I have seen in Vietnam so far. I wish I could just ship entire stores home with me to outfit my apartment in Atlanta! Soaked in our wet clothing about halfway through the drop-off exercise, Alex and I stopped for another cup of bittersweet Vietnamese coffee. After my third boost of caffeine for the day, we were ready to continue. We ended up walking around the flooding streets for nearly five hours. Now that I've had my hot shower and am curled up in my bed, I couldn't be happier. Our (very, very modest) guesthouse is having many problems with the rainwater, as are other restaurants and hotels in Hanoi. The room just reeks of mold and none of the sheets are dry. Despite these small inconveniences, I couldn't be happier here. I really love the city and can't wait to spend more time here over the next month. Sending love to you all from the Paris of Asia!