3x the Laughter, 3x the Fun

Statement of fact:
Vacations are the greatest thing that has ever been invented.

I say that statement with the full realization that there are so many different ways of doing "vacation". Cambodia was an interesting mix. Going into the week I had this vision of us being those cool travellers, you know the ones I mean. The, we're adventurous and travelling through Cambodia on our break from Vietnam types. The, we are going to explore ancient temples in SE Asia types. The, we are cooler than normal foreigners because we live in Vietnam types. You know, those ones. But I forgot a few important factors. One being, 1,000 year old temples in the cool/dry season of a hot climate during a major holiday of the surrounding countries does not equal low-key calm tourist destination. Another being, just because we "know" Vietnamese and the culture here doesn't mean anything about what we know of Cambodia. The third being, we were all equally burnt out and in desperate need of a break, which sometimes does not mean running around doing one cool thing right after another. As soon as I realized these facts (which was pretty quickly), I adjusted and fully embraced the concept of simply being a tourist on vacation. Which lead to the first statement of fact--vacations rock!!

Calah, Hannah and I had an incredible time. We spent a lot of time on buses and only a couple of times reverted to what must have been our 13 year old selves due to lack of sleep and boredom. We spent two days exploring the temple's of Siem Reap. We were complete history nerds and read a book about the temple's out loud to each other as we went. We hung out with some MCC people in Phnom Penh. We made lots of new friends (albeit the travelling type of making new friends where it is really only for a day, with the exception of a girl who also lives in Hanoi and who we are hoping to hang out with again soon!). I hung out with a friend from high school (random, right?!). We experienced two extremely touristy sunsets, one with thousands of people on the top of an ancient temple and one with just good friends on a boat looking out at Phnom Penh. We ate a lot of delicious Western food (I know, you probably expected that to say Khmer food. But there is actually good western food in Cambodia as opposed to the Vietnamese versions of Western food and we just couldn't help ourselves! It was soooo good and totally worth it!). We lounged by the pool at our hotel. We went dancing, twice! We walked a lot. We were told by strangers that we laugh a lot and asked, "why are you so happy?" We simply loved our lives.

The last afternoon we spent hours at a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City between our morning bus ride and late night flight. As we sat and enjoyed our Vietnamese coffee we reminisced about the week and all of our favorite parts and what we were looking forward to about going back. We were all amazed that after a week of being together we still had things to talk about. While sometimes it is hard to return after the freedom of being away, spending that afternoon with Hannah and Calah made me realize something: the week was fun because I was with them. Cambodia is an amazing country and we saw amazing and historical things, but it was experiencing it with good friends that made it so enjoyable. Being able to laugh about it both during it and afterwards makes all the difference. The best part is, they are a part of my life here in Vietnam as well! So while life might not seem as glamorous here, it can be just as full of laughter :)

PS Soon there will be a facebook album with more details if you are interested. I'll keep you posted

PPS See here for Calah's excellent summary of the trip as well

Happily Ever After?

I wasn't going to write anything again before leaving, but in honor of Valentine's Day--which I'm actually not celebrating this year simply because I don't have time for it being that the 14th is Calah's birthday, the first day of the year and the day we leave for Cambodia--and the 30 minutes of extra time I have before going to the airport, I thought I'd share with you a pattern that has emerged this week.

Lots of Vietnamese family gatherings mean lots of funny interactions and cultural questions from people. A typical question when you first meet someone is, do you have a family/husband/boyfriend yet. By now the family all knows that I don't, so the questions have moved to, am I interested in Vietnamese men or am I looking for a husband or something else along those lines. Last week, after clearing the table (the task that I was so proud of helping with) I was told that I was very skilled. That statement was followed by the question, are you looking for a vietnamese husband. Hmmm...what are you implying there?! This morning, the implication wasn't quite so subtle. I was helping with the dishes and was asked if I know how to wash dishes. Seems like a ridiculous question, washing dishes is not necessarily a challenging task but, regardless, I answered: of course I know how. The man then said, oh good, you will make an excellent future wife. Anyone who knows me knows how much I shudder at those sorts of statements. I realize it is cultural, but still! Even within strictly defined gender roles, isn't there more than simply being good at washing dishes?!

Later, that same man asked me if I am looking to settle down in Vietnam. I told him no, that my family is too far away. But he didn't like that answer so he began to try to persuade me otherwise. His line of reasoning? I could find a good husband here! I should consider staying because I am very beautiful and could easily find a rich, Vietnamese, business man to marry. Then I could buy whatever I want, eat whatever I want and go wherever I want and be very happy. He then emphasized that all rich business men would happily marry a pretty foreigner.

So this Valentine's Day the lesson is clear, be a foreigner in Vietnam who can wash dishes and you will never have to worry about anything ever again.

Tet

Please imagine hearing this song everywhere you go. Stores, on commercials, played on the piano at family gatherings, everywhere. Go ahead and listen while you read the rest. It’ll be like you’re in Viet Nam!

Today is the equivalent of New Year’s Eve. This week has definitely been a whirlwind of holiday activities. One night I went with my host family to Co Sa’s sister’s house for dinner for a meal with the everyone. I hadn’t met many of them before and was pleasantly surprised at how great they were. It probably helped that a lot of them speak English and were very purposeful in including me in conversations. Also there are a couple of people my age-ish in the family, so it wasn’t just me and little children. Always a nice change!

The next night all of Chu Hung’s family came over to our house for dinner. We’ve had a couple dinners like this in the past and I always end up exhausted. Family gatherings, when it isn’t your family or your language, tend to be overwhelming. But again, I was pleasantly surprised!! His mom is my favorite; she speaks no English at all and yet talks to me the most. We always end up sitting together when it’s actually time to eat and she makes sure I know how to eat things. I realize that sounds silly, but you’d be surprised how often I have no idea what sauce goes with what, what order to eat in, or some other culturally defined food fact. She has this endearing way of hitting me when she wants to tell me something. She’s just great. Both before and after the meal I was able to find ways to help cook dinner and also to participate in helping clean, which again sounds like a silly accomplishment but when the options are run around with the kids, sit and chat in Vietnamese, or sit with the men while they drink, finding something productive to actually do is a relief. Although, on this particular evening I did feel really good about my attempts at Vietnamese. In the end I sat down with the women and chatted for a while and I think I understood a good amount! If someone had asked me to translate I would have no idea what actual words they were saying, but I could follow and when people asked me questions I could answer correctly. That is, until I started to get really tired at about 9:30 and suddenly couldn’t understand any more. By 10 I made my escape and went up to bed, even though at least half the guests were still there. It’s a good think I didn’t wait for everyone to leave, they were all still here the next morning!

A lot of people had work and school off Thursday and Friday (as well as most of next week) so even though I technically had work Thursday, instead I spent the morning with the neighbor girl and some of her friends downtown. I have this feeling it was mostly to introduce that she has a foreigner friend and for them all to practice English. It turned out to be three 14 year olds, their old English teacher, and me. The girls basically just talked to themselves and giggled the whole time, but the teacher was great! She was about my age and just moved back from studying in New Zealand. She and I had a great time chatting all morning!

Another thing that happens this week is cleaning and repairing things like crazy. Tet serves as kind of a motivation for spring cleaning and they take it very seriously. Two rooms even got brand new furniture. New flowers have appeared everywhere. Storage rooms have been organized. Everything has been dusted and dusted again. The house is ready to be “presented” to people. Which is kind of funny b/c my family is going to the beach on vacation so people aren’t necessarily going to be coming over here.

Rumor has it that tonight we won’t sleep at all! We are heading downtown to a firework show and to eat ice cream and celebrate until 12. Then afterwards we will go to the Pagoda to make our offerings for the year for health and happiness and good luck. My family is not religious at all, but they go once a year, mostly just because that is what you do. Last night I saw a bag of cookies out and I figured, it’s the holidays, I’m sure I can eat one! So I asked and was actually told no because it would be unlucky. Because they are Tet cookies, first you must make your offerings. So many traditions!

Speaking of making offerings, last night all night there was a rooster ...what word do you use for the rooster noise? Crying? Crowing? Squawking? eh, I don’t know... there aren’t normally roosters in my part of town. So this morning I asked Co Sa about him. Turns out he won’t be making noise for long because he is the offering for tonight. That family is supposedly very pious for having a rooster, we are “only” offering a fish.

Tomorrow, the first day of the New Year, will be spent visiting family I think. Basically its just wishing everyone a happy new year and eating a lot from what I gather. Then in the evening we’re off for Cambodia for the week!! I think its going to be an exhausting week after an exhausting weekend, but I also think it’s going to be FANTASTIC!

I’m sure there is lots more I could tell you about Tet, but this seems long enough already. Basically, it feels a lot like December at home. That atmosphere around the city is just different. I love it! I love all holidays so I’ll take any chance to add more to my list :)

To Remember Vietnam

Last weekend I went to the new fancy grocery store with my family called The Garden. I know, extravagant sounding, right?! Not only is it a Western style grocery store (meat in packages and a produce section that looks just like the US!) but it is a mall as well. There are 4 floors that include clothing, books, toys, and a food court. We spent hours there, which the kids were very unhappy about. Minh at one point fervently exclaimed, "if I had know we were going this I would not have come!"

The point of this story is this:

Why on earth am I now the owner of giant self-portrait?! Well, if a person spent over a certain amount then they got discount something or other, as well as apparently, a coupon for a picture at this photo booth like thing. My family insisted. I promise I tried to get out of it, and then when that proved futile I attempted to get the kids to join me. I failed. They were very persistent in saying that I needed it to "remember my time in Vietnam." So yep.

To take full advantage of such a wonderful possession, I did a little photo shoot. Now, I know that sometimes I crack myself up even though no one else thinks I'm funny...at all. So I apologize in advance for this. But just imagine the joy it brought me to take these pictures.

Did I ever tell you I discovered the great secret of this poster?! It's Minh when he was a baby! How truly fantastic is that?! So adult Alicia joined baby Minh on the wall of fame.



Maybe it'd look better as wall art? The cartoon, giant flat screen tv, and me?!

Time for Alicia to sleep...

I hung it up in my boss' office, but unfortunately did not get a picture of that. For some strange reason he didn't want a giant picture of me on the wall though, I can't quite understand why...

Maybe it'll look better in my own office as a poster?

Ohhh, who do you think is more productive? Photo Alicia or real Alicia? It could be a close call this week...

I guess I just don't know what to do with the picture. For now it lives in it's little envelope at home on my desk. I've thought about sending it to my mom. Mom's always want giant pictures of their kids, right?! Maybe it could go on the frig :)

Struggling...

I. Cannot. Focus.

Work is boring. Don't get me wrong, I have lots to do. So much in fact that I will have to do some of it tomorrow. And yet I find myself doing nothing. Resenting this dumb desk that I am sitting at and have been for what feels like forever.

Lame big girl job.

I think this is the pre-vacation woes. Have I mentioned I'm going to Cambodia soon?! In fact, in only 11 days! It is Tet (which one of these days I'll probably tell you more about) and we get an entire week off of work, so Calah, Hannah and I are taking full advantage of it! I'm very excited!! And also annoyed that it can't come sooner...

Some things I've done today:

1. Read some AIDS articles--this one started as work related, and turned into just a lot of random reading. I watched this movie in a high school health class about the man who brought AIDS to the US in the 80's and I wondered if it was true. Turns out, it's not at all
   
2. Found an interesting article about one model in different magazines. I love sociology websites!
   
3. This guy is also doing SALT and the side of his blog he has links to most of the other people doing it this year! So I like to see how everyone is doing in their various placements around the world.
4. Looked up lots of interesting facts about Cambodia
5. If you look to the right you might see a new countdown feature. Because Lauren comes in just over two months and I already CANNOT WAIT!
   
6. And listened to lots of this (yes Tim, I'm copying this from you):

So yep...this is what I do when I'm supposed to be working.

"Are They Delicious?!"

Before yesterday Co Sa had never seen or eaten MM's before. Now, I wouldn't call myself a MM enthusiast by any means, but they are in the grocery stores here. I wouldn't think of them as something rare.

Sometimes its the little things in life that are so surprising.