Ha Long Bay

Last weekend the group went to Ha Long Bay - a gorgeous area of caves and mini islands on the coast. We got a private boat for our group which sailed us around the bay and made different stops so we could get off and check out the caves - they were amazing! We also went to a shore area and went on an awesome hike to look out over the whole area. Incredible nature. We had an awesome karaoke party at night, and in the morning kayaked around the bay to hang out with stalagmites and stalagtites! It is definitely a wonder of the world!

Pasta with chopstics, Shabbat Style

Last Friday night, Marian and I decided to cook an "American" dinner for our host family, with a Shabbat twist. We cooked pasta with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, a side dish of garlicy eggplant, and grilled cheese. Before eating, we did all of the Shabbat traditions - lighting Shabbat candles, making motzi over makeshift challah bread, and saying kiddush, the prayer over the wine.
Since they have never heard of Judaism before, it was fun for me to explain what the various customs symbolize and how I practice with my family at home. Our 13 year old host brother Doung, loved the grilled cheese and proceeded to buy every type of cheese in the supermarket (about three kinds) over the weekend so he can now make it for him self easily. Dinner was a big success! Everyone loved what we made, including grandma who was nervous to try the food.
Who knew eating bow tie pasta with chopsticks in rice bowls could be so fun!

Stars do exist in Vietnam!

This past weekend, I went with a few friends up North to see three of the 53 ethnic minority people living in Vietnam. After a 9 hour train ride and 1 hour bus ride, I finally arrived to my destination of Sapa just in time for the morning markets! In this mountainous region, the Black H'mong and Red Dzao people live. After browsing the markets for a few hours and being bombarded by many women in traditional dress convincing me to buy things from them, the girls and I went with a tour guide, Hiep, to trek to a Black H'mong village. We treked through Cat Cat village, and saw their beautiful waterfall and streams, and among their few houses, tons and tons of rice fields! (and of course buffalo in the fields as natural plows). The homes they live in are relatively small, complete with an indoor fire for cooking, mini bedroom, large roof storage area for food, a sitting area, and an area for clothing. They cultivate rice for one season of the year, and in the last few years, survive mostly by entertaining the interests of tourists from all over. To my surprise, most people spoke English because they have picked it up from so many tourists! We then went with Hiep on a hike up a mountain to look out on all of Sapa for sun set. Seeing as Sapa has now become so touristy, I ate my first non Vietnamese meal at a delicious Indian buffet! I finally saw a few stars at night! I've been missing them so much since arriving to Vietman.

We woke up very early Sunday morning to head out with other people staying at our hotel to visit another area where the Flower H'mong people live, in Bac Ha. Their Sunday market is very famous, as they sell both souvenirs to tourists, and this is where they do their food and clothing shopping. Many of the stalls were filled with fruits, vegetables, meats, fish... the usual. AND they had an area where people bought and sold live dogs, pigs, and chicken! I had tons of fun looking at the material they use to make their elaborate outfits and bought a few ribbons as memorabilia. After the market and lunch, we visited a local village where the Flower H'mong live. In their very rural rice patty area stood a very new and fancy looking school, that almost seemed out of place. It was in this village that I realized I really enjoyed seeing the way they live but feel as though globalization and especially tourism is detracting from their simple way of living.

On our way back to the train station to head home, we made a pit stop at the China border gate. I initially though this would be lame, but it was actually pretty cool, and it was fun to notice the differences between the Vietnamese side and the Chinese side. Of course, there was a pagoda right before the crossing point for anyone who would like to make a last minute prayer.

Before getting on the train, Marian and I stopped to buy some fresh vegetables for the family, which we have been eating all week :) The train home was definitely an experience! There were no more sleeper cars left by the time we booked the train, so the 4 of us girls sat in the lowest class, on the hard 90 degree angle wooden bench for the 8 hours home. Although I needed a serious massage after the ride and used two days to catch up on the sleep, it was at times fun, frustrating, and educational/ cultural to ride in this class. People were smushing extra bodies on to every bench, sleeping on the dirty floors (after a few hours I gave in and curled up on the floor), sold random chachkies in the aisles and made so much noise the whole ride. At least four different times, people tried to kick us out of our seats claiming it to be theirs. After a bit, we realized that of course people were trying to trick us as we were the only non Vietnamese on the train, but that all of those people had scammed tickets! Apparently it is a huge industry here, even the conductors sell these tickets. By the end of the ride, I felt truly delirious but was glad to have had the experience. And arriving to Hanoi at 4 am really opened my eyes up to a new side of the city.

Great weekend. Great to get some fresh air, enjoy the beauty of Vietnam, and soak in much of the traditional culture the country has to offer!

Noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Wow! So much to say since I last wrote. This past week and weekend were really great and I will share some highlights with you, starting with my first weekend with the Lai family.

On Friday night, I had my first Vietnamese Karaoke experience which was so different than anything I've seen before but really fun! I went with a bunch of friends, but Son (my host dad) told Marian (my room mate) and I that he will definitely come with us in the future. On Saturday morning, we got to sleep in (until 9:30) and then went to breakfast with Son and Thao to their favorite weekend eatery, where they go every week to eat Thao's favorite dish, fried eel and noodle soup! We rode their motor bikes there and showed up at a little hole in the wall restaurant, all got bowls of soup, and devoured it all. It tasted much better than it sounded to me when they first proposed the idea of fried eel for breakfast. We then went shopping in areas where all of the products are 'made in Vietnam.' In the afternoon, they took Marian and I to a silk village where there are tons of small market shops where silk products are sold. Son snuck us into the back area where we saw the silk worms, their borrows, and how the women turned this into fibers and wove silk products together. After seeing the process, I knew I had to buy something, so I got a fun dress that Son helped me choose. We then continued on to outskirts of Hanoi to meet Son's grandparents who are 94 and fully functional! They were so cute and old and it was so amazing to meet them. I have never wanted to speak Vietnamese more in my life than in the moments with the great grandparents because I am sure they have so many stories to share and have seen complete transformation of Vietnam and Hanoi. They truly welcomed us into their home as the first foreigners to enter their house ever. Fun fact: the great grandpa rode his bicycle until last year (at 93) when his daughter, the grandma I live with, made him stop! For dinner, we went to Thao's mothers home for their typical Saturday night dinner. We met Thao's sister and her children, her mother, and younger brother. While the women prepared the dinner, Marian and I joined Son for Hanoi draft beers at a local street side stand. For dinner, we ate their family's special food: noodle soup with pork, chicken, shrimp powder, vegetables, and salty egg yolk. Marian and I ate the vegetarian version of this dish, but this was my first exposure to shrimp! Trying new foods :) We joined some friends to walk around in the night market, and made sure to be home by our 10:30 curfew (which is late for our group!).

Sunday morning, M and I accompanied Thao to the big market to buy all of the meat, fish, and vegetables for the week. We headed out at 8 am, which Thao told us was late for the market. This excursion ended up taking a whole hour and a half, and by the time we got back, we were all exhausted from carrying bags and bags of food. Most of the produce comes from either the South or the country side and is so cheap! Watching all of the animals being killed, chopped and sold was a little too much for me to handle.

This past week's theme was "Intro to Vietnam and Environmental Issues." I have learned a lot about Vietnam's history, the past wars, and how Chinese and French colonialism and globalization have shaped the nation today. Hanoi is way more modern and high tech than I expected! In regards to environmental issues in Vietnam, we discussed topics ranging from nutrition, water safety, soil contamination, pollution, and the affects Agent Orange, the herbicide sprayed by the US during the war in the 60s, has had on the nation. As a group this week, we visited the Ministry of Health, the National Traditional Medicine Hospital, and a Hanoi land fill. All three of these sight visits were really fascinating. I loved visiting the Traditional Medicine Hospital and seeing how traditional medicine and modern medicine are used together to treat patients depending on what their condition is. I also really enjoyed visiting the land fill, because I have never seen one before, and now feel that it is something everyone one should see at least once to know what happens to all of our waste.

Other funny event: as I mentioned in my last post, Son has a large alcohol collection, all of which he brews himself from sticky rice. Most of them have an extremely high proof. Last night, Son poured Marian and I two shots of his different alcohols. The first tasted like wine and was sweet, but the second tasted more like wisky - which was too much for me to have at dinner!

Next weekend, I am planning a trip to Sapa, a region in the northern most mountains for a fun get away, and cant wait to breathe fresh air again! All of the pollution and constant hustle and bustle of the city is still feeling quite overwhelming.

Well, until next time!!

Hello Hanoi!

It is only my 4th day here in Hanoi and I already love it!!

The streets are always packed and crowded. Women left and right are popping out of shops trying to sell you things, and everyone here is speeding away on a vespa! Seeing as there are very few traffic lights, motor bikes with the occasional car thrown into the mix, just dart each other and some how successfully manage to avoid car accidents. Crossing the streets was terrifying the the first few days, but now I've realized that you just have to charge into the road and hope that the bikes will just swerve around you - otherwise they will never stop and you will be stuck on the side of the street for hours!

The food is also quiet the experience! There is so much street food everywhere - I can't get enough. Some typical foods are 'Pho' - noodle soup, and rice. Pineapple and mango slices with chili powder and salt are also sold everywhere and so delicious! The meal in the picture above was 15,000 Dong (18,000 = $1) so it was around 80 cents!! All of the food and everything in general is incredibly cheap. Yesterday I decided that I may break my normal eating habits and try some of the crazy and exotic foods here. Last night I was served fish head as a delicacy and tried it... step by step.

On my first full day, I visited the Vietnamese military museum and the 1,000 year old Temple of Literature, dedicated to Confucius.
I moved in with my wonderful host family yesterday. I am living with Son (father), Thao (mother), Zun (13-yr old son) and Grandma, and have a new room mate, Marian. The family lives in a 3-story house, 3 bedroom and 3 bath, quite a change from the village! I already feel so comfortable with my new host parents. Even though we officially met and moved in yesterday, they were so excited for our arrival that they greeted me on Saturday at my hotel. As our first day, Thao prepared us a traditional Vietnamese lunch, with fish spring rolls, soup, and noodles. All meals are eaten communally and each person serves them self small portion in tiny bowls through out the meal. Son showed me his alcohol collection - complete with various beers and sea horse and scorpion wine! I will let you know how that is! After our post lunch rest, we went on an outing on their motor bikes! Marian rode behind Son, and I rode behind Thao. I felt like I was in a Mary-Kate and Ashley movie, driving through an unfamiliar city and seeing all the sites. They took us to the supermarket to buy breakfast foods that we like, to buy pillows, because they were not sure which style we would prefer, then around the whole city to tour around, and our last stop was to the one pillar pagota. As a Buddhist family, Thao and Son shared with us how to pray in the pagota, mostly for things like wealth, happiness, and longevity.

Of course, I already found the daily night market! I am sure I will visit this a lot. Very few people speak English in the city, so I am practicing my non-verbal cues of pointing and smiling. Luckily, I have a Lonely Planed mini language guide book so I have used that to explain to people what I am trying to say. If I want to practice my great bargaining skills, I need to learn some key phrases fast! My biggest struggle so far is to make sure the tones are correct, as there are 6 tones here and the same word can mean so many things!

Cape Town!

For my 1 week vacation for IHP, I went with 7 friends to Cape Town - which I can now most definitely say is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen! Having come from Bushbuckridge, I felt a sense of culture shock as I entered an area of South Africa that was not predominantly Black, but rather filled with Whites and Coloured people. We stayed at a hostel called Long Street Backpackers on Long Street in the city's center. Here we met people from all over the world and were really close to shops, the beach, great restaurants and mountains. Here are some highlights:

1. Green Market: filled with amazing jewelery, clothing and crafts! I went there almost everyday, and to my luck it was only a few minutes walk from the hostel.

2. Beaches: the beaches were absolutely gorgeous, the blues of blue waters and surrounded by mountains. Even though the water was typical Atlantic Ocean cold, i loved laying on the beach, and one night I watched the sun set at the beach!

3. Table Top Mountain: We hiked the famous Table Top Mountain and enjoyed seeing views of the whole city.

4. Old Biscuit Mill Market: The most gourmet and mouth-watering specialty food market held every Saturday - amazing!!

5. Food: the food in general in CT was so great! Especially coming from BBR, I was so excited to eat so much fresh and healthy hearty and relatively inexpensive meals!

6. Night life: I had so much fun relaxing and dancing at many of the city's bars, clubs, and karyoke bars. We had 3 birthday in our group with in the 7 days, so we did a lot of celebrating!

7. Full Moon: on the night of the full moon, we joined locals and some others staying at the hostel to go to a remote rock area about a 15-minute hike off a beach to enjoy the full moon with crashing waves all around us. We made a fire and brought music with us, and just enjoyed the starts and company through late hours of the night (night life in CT starts past midnight and goes until 4am)

8. Jewish community: I went to the Jewish/Holocaust Museum and saw one of the first synagogues in the CT area, CT Hebrew Congregation and spoke to a nice grandpa for over an hour about the history of the Jewish community here.

9. New Friends: In addition to all of the people I met along the way, I met up with a few friends who I was put in touch with, Avdah, Ellie, Carley, and Izzy - so fun!

In conclusion, CT was amazinggggg! So much delicious food, kind people, great culture, incredible beaches, mountains, and adventure activities - that I now know, I have to come back!

My 5 weeks in South Africa were incredible. I saw two extremes of the country and will definitely keep these memories for ever.