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!