Ten days to TET

Dear Readers,


I hope you are all feeling happy and warm. The temperature in Northern Vietnam fell down to 6 degrees last weekend. All my morning classes this week have been cancelled because it is simply too cold to send kids to school. I find this rather funny because I know that my friends are currently crawling their way into university in -20 and inch deep in snow in Finland. But I am very happy to finally have my mornings to myself and be able to go to the gym in peace.

We did another road trip on Saturday. Unfortunately, that was the first unnaturally cold day, and we had two hours of the roads ahead of us. We drove through the countryside to my friend's family home, spent the afternoon there having some lunch and visiting the local flower market. Lucky me, it was so cold we spent a long time playing shuttle, and now I am rather good in it ! Shuttle is a local game played with a badminton feather by people standing in a circle, aiming the hold the feather in the air as long as possible.

Sadly, we were at my friend's house just in time to witness them killing two dogs and a puppy for dinner. We also saw the preparation project after this. In a way, it was good to see and acknowledge this very specific cultural habit since it is quite common in Vietnam, and very controversial to most of the tourists who travel here. We also witnessed another very endearing cultural habit; celebrating the death anniversary. In all the families in Vietnam, once a family member has passed the family gathers around every year on that day to pray for that person and to sacrifice food, money and flowers for them. All the family members gather around for this memorial and have a celebratory meal together.


The dark becomes quite early in Vietnam, so we were in a rush to leave before it got too cold to drive. I have grown comfortable with my bike already, but driving in the freezing cold and dark is never truly pleasant. Luckily, we made it home safe and sound. My hands were so frozen that I couldn't even remove my own helmet. We went to another friend's house to have a lovely, warm meal. It was super yummy, perfect comfort food in the weather. My friend used to be in the army in Vietnam, responsible for cooking along his other duties.

Sunday was spent mostly in bed, I only left to buy some ice cream; I am a strong believer that eating ice cream will make you feel better no matter what the weather is like. 

A friend from Ha Long is coming to visit me today; I am finally able to get my suitcase back ! I left it in Ha Long when I first come to Hai Phong because I thought that I would only stay there for a few weeks. I have struggled to find the time, and to make the effort, to go pick up my belongings. Now that I am so close to having everything back, I cannot believe that I have survived so long without. 

This weekend we shall have a pre TET-holiday party where we will perform all the traditional necessities; decorating a tree branch, burning a paper horse and so on. I shall report about this over the weekend. We might also go for a road trip to a near by pagoda; it will be decorated for TET and there will be many people visiting to send their prayers. I cannot wait for TET. Everything is planned and I am ready to go. We will be flying to Cambodia in the Friday afternoon, spending five days in Siem Reap and then moving on to Luang Prabang, Laos. Happy, sunny photos coming up soon ! 

Best wishes, 

Mira 

Ps. One of my classes did not show up on Thursday afternoon so I spent the hour with my TA in the canteen drinking some milk tea. This was at the school that has Hai Phong 'famous toilet'. The school paid 5 billion VND to get this toilet built; 90 % of this money was bribes. The equivalent value of this money in US dollars is 230 000 dollars.  The fancy part of this toilet is, apparently, the fact that there is soap and paper. I have long promised my mum pictures of this toilet so here we are; 

Count down

Happy weekend everyone,


I hope your week has been good so far !

I am still ill, holding onto my bed quite tightly. I tried to take some sick days this week to recover properly but, unfortunately, such thing is unheard of in Vietnam. The week has been such a roller coaster, I've been quite unhappy with work lately and it has definitely taken a toll on my personal life. But now I have some good news, and I hope that they will be able to help me power through!

I skyped my mum for her birthday on Wednesday and she just knows the best way to cheer me up. I was busy telling her that I cannot hang in here any more as I feel like I am on a verge of a breakdown, and she told me that she is hoping to fly to Vietnam for my birthday. Not only that but that she would fly me back to South Africa after that ! I haven't been back to Africa in over five years and have been waiting for the opportunity to go back ever since I left. So there we were, in the middle of the night, and booked a dream journey; first we will see some Vietnam, then we are going to travel through southern China all the way up to Hong Kong. We will spend a few days in Hong Kong and then fly to the Mahe Island near Somalia. I am hoping to see some pirate ships ! From there we will continue towards Cape Town. Two to three weeks in Cape Town doing all the things I couldn't last time and seeing some of my favorite people. This all is followed by a few relaxing days in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Trip planning is definitely the best way to cheer me up. To keep me going I started the count down days in my calendar; 55 work days to go after TET holiday. I can do this ! It's not that there is something wrong with teaching, it is just exhausting and I am struggling with the corrupted, money-orientated system quite a bit. It seems that the work will suck all the juices out of you before anyone is satisfied. I'm sure, I will feel better once I am actually healthy again ! And, of course, now I have plenty to look forward to.

I must say, I haven't always valued the EU passport enough, or just the fact that I am from Europe, but truly, it is a privilege. Obviously, my mum is spoiling me rotten right now ! She is such an angel. And she will be awesome to travel with.

Last night was my friend's birthday, and we said good byes to a big colleague group whose contract ended. Today will be a dancing night out to celebrate ! Powering through it with some tea. I am actually really excited for my first night club night in Hai Phong, we mostly go to bars or have house parties. Should be good !

55 and counting,


Mira

January

Happy January everyone,

And happy birthday to the best mother in the world :)

I hope your 2016 has started just the way you wanted it to, or better !

Unfortunately, I cannot say quite the same; work has been super hectic and now I am ill again and trapped to bed. We have had loads of schedule changes at work, and it seems that schools are taking the second term by the balls. I have been made the new primary school teacher which is not necessary ideal to me. I lack experience with kids and, honestly, I cannot take the screaming and constant repeating at all. I think one of the reasons why I have been ill for so long is this new stress with work and being exposed to all the kids. It is endearing to see all the kids so excited and happy when I walk into the school but it takes up a lot of energy.

I have spent this week running between school and bed, drinking at least four liters of tea on a daily basis. A lot of my friends finish their work contract this week so the weekend is meant to be hectic. Besides the farewell party on Friday, it is my friend's birthday so the whole weekend is planned. I'm just praying I'll be able to rise from the dead by then. Just waiting for an antibiotics delivery.

I am having a dry January. I would like to think that I am not one of those people who jump on a hype, I did do this last year as well for two months (along with being a vegan)! I really wanted to do this now because I have been feeling quite ill for so long and just been very tired in general. Also looking forward to my trip to Cambodia and Laos during TET holiday so just waiting for a special occasion.

My new years resolution was to start applying for jobs in January so that I would have a clear plan for the future before my contract is ending (The UN application is LONG). Last Saturday, I spent four hours looking into jobs and updating my professional profile, it made me feel rather good and productive. Had about ten cups of coffee and fell in love with law all over again.

That's all for now ! More coming up soon :)


Love,


Mira

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas filled with tasty food and a very pleasant, cheerful new year!

I, for one, really needed some rest during the Christmas days so I flew down south to Ho Chi Minh City to see some sun. My friend stays down there so I stayed with her. The apartment and the area were super nice and the weather was ideal. I arrived there during the Christmas eve, enjoyed the drive through the city to the apartment.

We spent Christmas evening inside, chilling and having some beers and sushi. Later we left for the local party street to play some pool! Ho Chi Minh is the biggest city in Vietnam with 8 million residents. The city is huge, wide spread and the streets are always busy. Ho Chi Minh is a popular tourist location filled with western people. Compared to Hai Phong the gap between westerners and the Vietnamese is definitely wider. Most of the local Vietnamese people know some English but don't really seem interested in making friends with the westerners. Especially during Christmas the touristy atmosphere was dominant; plenty of half naked people acting like idiots after drinking too much, something you rarely see in Hai Phong.

I slept like a baby in Ho Chi Minh. My friends hosted a Christmas dinner during the actual Christmas day; they ordered some roasted chickens and spent the morning preparing the food. The Christmas party was a great success; we had 20 people joining us, food was yummy and everyone was in good Christmas spirits. Later we toured around the city, stopped at some local places for drinks and enjoyed the little festivities around.

All of my friends were working or busy on Saturday so I headed to The Rex hotel to spend a day at their rooftop pool. I was blessed with a boiling hot weather for the entire four days so there was no better way of spending the day.  After I had roasted myself enough I wondered around the city and the shops. As a very tall person I have really struggled to find clothes and shoes in my size. Ho Chi Minh definitely has a wider selection than Hai Phong so I had big expectations to find something suitable for myself. I did manage to find myself some yummy food, a few clothes and some souvenirs for my family. I don't really trust the post here so some research on sending the package must happen.

Ho Chi Minh is a pleasant, vibrant city full of choices and different cultures. I would highly recommend it to every tourists who wants to enjoy some sun and a lot of entertainment. I am more than happy to work in a more local, communal city but the trip down south was great and very necessary to my mental health - started to feel a bit crazy already in Hai Phong. Sometimes a person just needs a break from the daily life.

I was looking to spend new years in Hoi An after I realised the bus journey to Sapa would take too long for me to make it there before midnight, but unfortunately, the flights were too pricey for those days. I had to move onto plan B; headed to Hanoi after work on Thursday. I was on my way to the bus stop when my TA's mother drove past me and offered me a ride, she is such a sweetheart even though we don't really speak the same language! We ended up chasing the bus down the street trying to make it stop again for me, I did make it ! Luckily, some of my friends were on the same bus so the 2,5 h ride up to Hanoi was rather pleasant.

Vietnamese people will definitely make sure that they receive every penny from their work. The bus had at least 60 people on it. 

Made it my hotel nicely, dropped my bags there and headed to my colleagues hostel with a new friend from my hotel. Hanoi was super busy, we stayed at a very popular hostel area so the streets were packed with all sorts of people. The atmosphere was great and we had a big group of people. Originally we wanted to head to the lakeside to see some fireworks but later decided to head to Hanoi Rock City club instead. The club was quite unique; quite a big roofless drug hole that serves fancy cocktails in its downstairs. Midnight came around quickly, unfortunately, there were no fireworks but the night was good anyway. We ended up staying up for ages with a bunch of people from our hostel. 

Friday was spent touring around Hanoi, stopping at every cute coffee place we came across and some secret ones. We walked around the lake, got a rickshaw ride and sat on some gorgeous rooftops. 

Rooftop cafe overlooking the lake

Lantern lounge with some yummy falafels 

Lakeside strolls. 

After strolling around the city for hours we retreated to our hotel to enjoy some chess and red wine. I also managed to learn some Vietnamese games. 

We spent the following day in the same manner; strolling around the streets, eating and hunting things from our shopping lists. I managed to find myself a cute lantern from the lantern street along with stamps and stickers for my classes. The last few weeks had worn me out so much I decided to head home that evening instead to have a peaceful evening by myself. 

Christmas and new years were both lovely, couldn't be happier to be able to explore Vietnam and to see other cities. 

Happy 2016 for everyone ! 

Mira