A morning at an orphanage and an evening with a fortune teller

Today we went to a Buddhist orphanage. We got to play with the children and it was absolutely fabulous. I love cute kids. It was sad to see so many orphans, but I am happy that they can be in such a friendly and loving environment. When we arrived the children ran out and grabbed us by our hands and led us inside to play with them. I was handed a baby who was just the cutest thing. I was relieved that she didn't whimper once (I am pretty talented when it comes to making babies cry). Babies here don't fuss nearly as much as babies back in the states. I think it is because they aren't as coddled and well, babied. I have noticed that the children in Vietnam are much more mature. I think is can be attributed to the fact that kids are needed to help around the house, watch younger siblings, and even contribute financially by working with their parents on the farm or in the informal sector. Since I will be returning to Hue for my ISP I am going to be spending time each weekend volunteering at the orphanage. I have already given them my name and am getting cleared. Hooray! I am glad that I will finally be able to volunteer at an organization instead of just visiting, wishing I could do more, and then leaving. Here are some pictures from today's visit– I know there are some of me and my adorable little baby on Vy's camera so I will snag them from facebook once they are posted.

I loved jumping rope with the kids

Simon swinging the kids around– they loved him!

Lunch time.

My favorite picture of the day. I liked it so much I even put it in black and white. Check out the little girl
on the left with the cute ponytail.

This evening I visited a fortune teller. It was actually the weirdest thing ever because so much of my fortune, and others, was very accurate. She knew that I had moved once in my childhood, that where I lived in the states had a lot of spirits (our farm has said to be haunted), that I am very independent and don't like asking for things, that someone on my father's side of the family was recently ill, and then she said a lot of stuff about my family that was just extremely accurate and therefore creepy. She also said I was careless and bad things will happen to me if I don't start to be more careful. Regarding my future: I am going to seek a higher education and have a successful career. One thing that I didn't like to hear and I hope is wrong is that right now I am in bad health. BUT after discussing it with my friends, I'm hoping it is only because for the past few days I have been feeling under the weather. As we all were analyzing our fortunes someone pointed out that everything she said can be interpreted differently. Go ahead and judge me for taking this seriously but it is eerie that so much was accurate. Erika is studying abroad in Madagascar next semester and the first thing the fortune teller said to Erika was, "You are studying abroad for a second semester." She didn't say that to anyone else. Very, very, creepy.

Lots of old beautiful buildings

Today we visited Nam Giao Esplanade, where the Nguyen emperors had offering ceremonies to worship their God. It was believed that Nam Giao Esplandae would bring nice weather, prosperity, and peace. When the tradition was first established the ceremonies were annual but at some point in time it was changed to a triennial ceremony to fall on the years of the Rat, Cat, Horse, and Rooster. Nam Giao Esplanade consists of three terraces, the lower two are in the shape of square (earth) but the upper terrace is a circle to symbolize Heaven. The emperor had to be abstinent for three days prior to officiating the sacrificial ceremony. He also couldn't eat meat. The offerings were pigs, cattle, etc. When we first began our tour I wasn't sure what was being offered, so when we saw pictures of the livestock being led to Nam Giao Esplanade I was relieved that it was animals that were sacrificed, not humans. Maybe I was just being super naive but I had no idea what to expect!

 Tu Duc's autobiography
engraved into a stele

This afternoon we went to the tomb of Tu Duc, the fourth emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. I believe he had 103 wives but no children (attributed to a bad case of smallpox leaving him sterile). Oh another fun fact abut Tu Duc: he was the emperor who lost Vietnam to French domination. Anyways, his tomb was pretty amazing. It wasn't so much of a tomb but more of a palace. It was constructed before his death so everything down to the manmade lake and island was just as he had ordered. Under one of the pavilions is a humongous stele inscribed with Tu Duc's autobiography. Even though Tu Duc had a whole 12 hectare tomb prepared this isn't where he is buried. The reason: there was so much gold and treasures buried with him that they wanted to keep it a secret from any greedy thieves. The mandarins beheaded the 200 workers who buried Tu Duc to ensure secrecy. His burial place has remained concealed even after all these years (he died in 1883).

The stele is placed in this pavillon.

All of the buildings are so beautiful. I can't get over the amount
of detail on every building, especially the roofs!

Hue: The Last Royal City

Yesterday we ventured over to Hue, the former capital of Vietnam and my future ISP location. This means I will be living in Hue for one whole month all on my own– and after spending an afternoon in this city I am absolutely thrilled that this is where I am ending up. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Hue Capital Citadel, constructed in 1805 for the Nguyen Dynasty, the last emperors of Vietnam. The Nguyen Dynasty spanned from 1802-1945 with thirteen different rulers. Enclosed in the citadel is Imperial City and the Forbidden City. There is a lot of rich history behind the Imperial City and the Forbidden City but I am just going to share the facts that I found most interesting. 

–The second king of the Nguyen Dynasty had 500 wives. He was said to sleep with four to five different women every night. He had 140 plus children.

–The Forbidden City was the home for the emperor and family. No men were allowed in the Forbidden City except the emperor and eunuchs (castrated men).

–Thê Mieu is the tallest building in the citadel at 13 meters high. This is where the Nguyen Emperors were honored and worshiped. Women were not allowed to enter, they had to worship the emperors in a different temple.

–There were three different cooking departments for the Nguyen Emperors. Each department consisted of fifty cooks, and each individual cook has their own specialized dish.

–The citadel walls are 21 meters thick.

–9 is a lucky number so there is a lot of objects in sets of 9. Like 9 cannons guard the Citadel.
–The youngest ruler became emperor at the age of 7.
–The Nguyen Dynasty ended in 1945 when the 13th emperor handed the power over to Ho Chi Minh.

 

the detail in the Citadel was unbelievable

singing children at a pagoda

Last night we met a lot of English speaking university students. They took us around Hue on their motorbikes. It was really fun to see a new city from the back of a motorbike. Hue is nowhere near as crazy as HCMC is. Thank goodness! We all went out to dinner to get noodles and then we went and sat by the river and drank coffee for at least an hour and a half. It was really nice to meet a lot of young people– I know I need to be making good connections because I am going to be the only SIT student in Hue for my ISP– I need to make friends so I am not lonely!!!

2 months without a sandwich

Well, technically speaking I guess I ate a few sandwiches while at my homestay. There were some  mornings when I was sat down at the table with a whole fish sitting in front of me. I was informed that I simply fold the fish into a piece of bread. Like in all seriousness, the tail and head were cut off but the bones, skin, etc. were all still there. It tasted like a tuna fish sandwich. I liked it. I would prefer it for lunch but that is just because I am not accustomed to eating such savory food first thing in the morning. Anyways, yes two months without a real, American sandwich. Make that American food. There have been occasions when I really wanted some good old carbs but generally speaking I haven't really missed American food. However, today I was reunited with the deliciousness of Western food at the most amazing restaurant. "Bread of Life" is both a restaurant and an NGO– all the waiters, baristas, and cooks are deaf; additionally the restaurant uses a majority of their income for training and educating the deaf. 80% of deaf Vietnamese aren't educated. The goal of Bread of Life is to teach the deaf to read, write, and communicate with sign language, while at the same time employing them with a steady job and income. It truly is a remarkable organization.

This was dinner last night. Yes, usually I am 100% satisfied with this.

But this was lunch today. It was a grilled eggplant burger with
squash, zucchini, tomato, and wait for it– mayonnaise. I usually
don't even like mayo but I did today!

Two thumbs up. Also I was so excited for a salad! I thought it was pretty
funny that it came in a rice bowl.

Alex win, win, winning!

Okay so obviously I really, really, really enjoyed my meal since I just posted three pictures of the same sandwich and salad. It was oh so good. I am pretty sure I can go another two months without Western food though. We will see. One more thing– I had carrot cake for dessert.

Before our American lunch we explored one of the five Marble Mountains, Thuy Son. This "mountain" has many caves and pagodas carved into its sides. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best (the typhoon ruins everything) and also the power was out so we weren't able to visit the cave called "hell," but we did get a chance to climb up to "heaven." All of the caves were naturally very beautiful and the carved marble statues were stunning. It is hard to believe that people have the patience and talent to create such massive carvings.
The largest cave had three temples– one for blessings, one for money, and one for love, or as our tour guide explained it: "to get boyfriend or girlfriend." There was also a place where people cup their hands and slap a "rock drum" to send a wish to the gods. If that wasn't enough I also rubbed lucky water on the back of my neck. Maybe I will get lucky and my wish will come true. Time will tell :)

The very big cave.

The big cave again.

Something that is pretty sad is that the city of Da Nang is building a "cultural village" around the five Marble Mountains, and are displacing all of the homes seen in the photo below in order to create this village. It is terrible that these people are losing their homes in order to supply the demands of tourism. Right now I think Da Nang is a pretty underdeveloped city considering that it has some of the best beaches in Asia– there just isn't much to do here. I wish there was a way that they create a village without ruining the homes of so many families. Hopefully in the long run the new cultural village (expected to be completed in five years) will bring economic success to the city as a whole.

Under the Sea

Lucky for me (and everyone else on this trip) Mikala has an underwater camera so that means all of our water adventures are documented. Thanks Mikala!!! Since I have had multiple requests to post more pictures of me– voila. I feel a little vain.

Alex and I just win, win, win. Even underwater.

The blue starfish I mentioned in my previous post. They're
bigger than my hand.

Me! And the blue starfish (left hand corner.)

And a few more pictures from the island:

Winning with the water buffalo

I think that Erika and I had the best guy navigating our boat. He just wanted us to have fun. He spun the boat around and around and would rock it back and forth. He also tried to teach us how to paddle– it really is quite difficult to emulate the movement perfectly. It is almost like making figure eights in front of the boat– you only have one paddle. It is unbelievable that a circular boat can move forward so easily when doing the movement correctly. Another reason why he was the best: he made us rings and bracelets from the beautiful plants seen in the background.

If anyone is confused about the winning pictures (hi Mom) I will explain. I thought that flashing the peace sign was a Western-created stereotypical image of Asians. However, this is not the case. When posing for pictures Vietnamese tend to hold up the peace sign, although it is not referred to as the peace sign it represents V for victory. Both young and old, male and female do this– it is a cultural phenomenon! I think it is pretty neat that it represents the same value across the country. Big smiles and holding up the victory sign is way better than American's habit of faking a smile and trying to look attractive. So when we take pictures we smile really big and flash the victory sign– and that is why we are winning!

Today we are heading to Da Nang for some more fun in the sun and sand. Yay yay yay! I love the grand excursion!!!!

the perfect 24 hours

So I have already titled one post "the perfect day" so for my second perfect day I had to call it the perfect 24 hours, which actually makes more sense considering that it was Monday morning to Tuesday morning (aka 24 hours). So like I mentioned in the previous post we went to the island of Cu Lao Cham. When we pulled up to the island our jaws dropped as we all said, "Wow Co Thanh (our academic director) this is incredible!" Her response: "Oh thank you, thank you– it is like something for William and Kate." Yes, I do believe William and Kate would like to vacation here:

After we had changed into our bathing suits as quickly as possible and raced into the ocean for a quick dip, we got back on the boat and went snorkeling! It was my first time snorkeling and I absolutely loved every second of it. I felt incredibly happy while exploring the cove and every time I saw a new creature I got overly excited– my favorite was the humongous bright blue starfish. Even though there was so much going on under the water, I was content watching the sunlight dance across my skin– it truly was amazing. Mikala and I decided to swim back instead of taking the boat. I am really glad we did because we saw some new creatures. Mikala has an underwater camera so I will steal a few from her and post them later. Once we returned we ate lunch and lounged on the beach for a few hours.

The water was such a pretty blue.

After a few hours of napping and lounging in the sun we went to explore the small fishing village on the island.

If you look closely you can see that there are eyes painted on
the front of the boat. This is for good luck– the boat can "see"
where it is going and won't crash into anything.

Go U Bears hat and a nice sunset.

By the time dinner rolled around I was absolutely famished and ate more than I should have. A majority of the meal came from the sea– we had two different kinds of fish, octopus, and squid. It was

clapping along

so so so good. Following dinner was a bonfire on the beach; Co Thanh invited some locals to have a cultural exchange with us. We tend to have a lot of these cultural exchanges, usually consisting of us teaching the Vietnamese how to do the macarena and then singing "Build Me Up Buttercup." Last night we tried to switch it up and sing some disney songs but it turns out that among the twelve of us we don't know all the lyrics to a single song. But it ended up working out because the Vietnamese had lots of songs to sing. I've noticed that Vietnamese are really good singers– I think it must have something to do with the tonal language and their natural ability to raise and lower their voice.

Okay so the next part of my 24 hours was the only bit that wasn't perfect. We were originally going to sleep in tents on the beach but since there was a typhoon coming in we slept in tents on a concrete floor with only a bamboo mat as padding. We were provided pillows, but no sheets or blankets. I don't think any of us slept very well. In the very early hours of the morning it was pretty windy and I got a little chilled. I curled up into a ball and used my rain jacket as a blanket. So it goes without saying that I was pretty happy when my alarm went off meaning it was light enough for me to run. This is when the best, best, best part of my 24 hours took place. For the past two months I have been able to run almost every day, but it has been pretty painful since I have been running around a 250 meter track or in streets where I need to repeat the same loop three or four times. Today when I was running on the island I was working my face muscles just as much as my leg muscles because I was smiling the whole entire time. I ran up the mountains while listening to waves washing onto the beach, birds singing, and monkeys jumping around (although I didn't see any). The best part: it wasn't flat and I didn't need to run the same loop over and over again. I even decided to do some hill sprints and had a little old Vietnamese lady cheer me on for my last repeat. I was so incredibly happy when I finished. I really have missed getting in good workouts and feeling exhausted after reaching the top was a rewarding feeling. When I got back to the beach I jumped into the ocean to cool off. We had to leave the island earlier than anticipated to avoid the typhoon so we missed out on another few hours of snorkeling and sunbathing but we did get to ride around in these fancy boats:

Someone on the program dubbed them "basketball boats"

Now we are back in Hoi An for one more night. I am going to go pick up my new shoes and skirts in a few hours. I need to make sure everything fits, if not then they will alter it. I really like this whole custom made clothing deal– I could get use to it!

Mỹ Sơn

Today was day one of our adventurous grand excursion– we went to the Hindu temples of My Son. I had a difficult time following our tour guide but this is what I gathered: My Son is a site of the ancient kingdom of the Champa. The temples, dedicated to worship the god Shiva, were constructed by the Champa between the 4th and 14th centuries. Champa kings were crowned and buried at My Son. My Son is a UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately, in 1969 Americans bombed My Son destroying a majority of the temples. There were originally 70 temples and I think now there are only 20 or so. Oh also fun fact: There is no mortar between the bricks and no one really knows how they are stuck together. Tricky tricky.

Gorgeous writing... I don't know what it says.

the boys

Sacred cow. um bò (Vietnamese for moo, but actually)

Okay the rest of my day I biked around and bought lots of very nice gifts. I also bought myself two new pairs of shoes and two skirts– everything custom made (I am rewarding myself for finishing my "intensive" Vietnamese class).  It is actually extremely difficult to pick out a design, fabric, material, length, etc. I was overwhelmed while shopping but I am really happy with what I picked out. I am getting a little concerned with how I am going to transport everything back to the states. I am going to need a new suitcase. I am not kidding I really am.

Whistles at the Thanh Ha ceramic village.

Just casually biking around.

Fishing.

Can't stop, won't stop WINNING. This is Alex and Erika decided on shoes.
The three of us bought six pairs total.

More lanterns.

Tomorrow we are going to the island Cu Lao Cham to go snorkeling and lounge on the beach. We were supposed to do that on Tuesday but a typhoon is coming in so we are switching our schedule around so the rain doesn't ruin our beach days! We will spend one night on the island. I am very, very excited.

Lanterns

I apologize for the lack of blog posts this past week. And by lack of, I mean nonexistent. These are my excuses: I had a Vietnamese final test (HOORAY) and a midterm paper due so I was working on those. Also I have been feeling very tired lately and have just been going to sleep super early. And lastly I skyped with so many of my favorite people this week that I felt as though I didn't need to blog– which I know actually isn't the case (guess if you didn't skype with me it means you're not a favorite...)

So right now I am sitting in my very luxurious hotel room with my towel swan sitting next to me. I threw the orchids that were spread out on my bed out the window though. They hit the roof below me and made a loud noise; I hope no one lives in that building otherwise they had a rude wakening.  So this very nice hotel is in the beautiful town of Hoi An, not to be confused with Hoa An where I was a few weeks ago. Hoi An is a super touristy village– there are way more Westerners than locals. I don't want to say that I love it here because I know that it isn't authentic Vietnam, but it is really beautiful and so calm compared to Saigon. We had a wonderful dinner tonight by the river and then explored the town. Hoi An is well known for tailored clothing– I am trying to decide how much money I am willing to spend for custom made clothes. I think I should spend a lot. I will sleep on it.

the famous lanterns of Hoi An!

It was really rather sad to say goodbye to my family when they dropped me off at the airport (yup we flew to our current location). I really enjoyed my three weeks with them and I can't believe they are already over. When I return to HCMC in December I am going to go see them again. I finally took pictures of their house so I will upload those at some point. Maybe tomorrow. In the mean time I am going to go to bed. Since I have arrived in Vietnam I haven't slept on one soft mattress– the mattress I am on right now is very plush. I don't know if I like it.

Cultural experiences

traditional Ao Dai.

The second day of the wedding started off slowly, the groom was supposed to arrive at the bride's house at 9:00 but got stuck in a traffic jam and arrived at 10:00. Rough start to a marriage. While waiting for the groom to arrive we drank a lot of tea, ate more than our fair share of pumpkin seeds, and took pictures with the bride. For the wedding ceremony she was wearing a traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai in red, which is the color brides wear. I asked Vy, our program assistant, why this was and she didn't know. When the groom arrived more than fashionably late the wedding proceedings began. I guess what we would consider groomsmen were all carrying large decorated boxes covered in red

Passing the gifts. The second woman from the right is Vy.

cloth. They presented them to the "bridesmaids," all members of the bride's family. The boxes represent the wealth the groom will bring to the brides family. I am not sure what was in the boxes but I think it was food. Then the bride and groom entered the house where they held the ceremony. The house was really crowded so we had to stand outside and peer in through a window. Incense were lit, there was bowing, and speeches by a few  people. The coolest part of the ceremony was when the groom put earrings on the bride. Vy explained that this means the groom believes his wife is a virgin so it is always a relief to the bride's family when the groom puts the earrings on her. I asked my homestay sister about this later and she said sometimes the groom just lies and puts the earrings on the bride anyway to avoid scandal. Originally the wedding was supposed to proceed to the groom's house, but since it was so behind schedule we all moved onto the reception part of the wedding, which was a lot of food and drinking for the men. And karaoke of course. I feel so fortunate to have been able to attend a Vietnamese wedding, especially the actual ceremony because usually it is only for family.

Getting the earrings– thank goodness!

The other really cool event I attended this week was the 33rd death anniversary of my host father's  grandmother. This is a Buddhist celebration that is commemorated for ancestors. My homestay sister says she usually attends two or three of them each year. Over thirty relatives came to my house to celebrate. Everyone brought some sort of offering (most of it was fruit) and put it on a table where they also paid tribute by burning incense. My homestay mother and housekeeper, with the help of some aunts, had been preparing food all day long. They cooked six chickens on top of octopus, pho, rice, banh it, and other dishes that I can't remember. It was a feast! There were hired caterers there to do the set up and help with the cooking, serving, cleaning, and transporting the food up the three flights of stairs! It was such a wonderful experience and I feel so fortunate to have attended. I was expecting some sort of communal ceremony but everyone gave their individual offering and then enjoyed the rest of the night.

Miu learning that pancakes are actually good.

This is my last week with my homestay family. I am so sad, I really wish that I could spend more time with them. They are so amazing, I am so fortunate to be placed with such a wonderful, kind family. Last night we all went out for sushi together and I was just so happy the whole time. Meal times with them are always the best.

Yesterday I was winning big when I found baking powder– something that supposedly doesn't exist in Vietnam. I was so excited when I saw it in the store. I obviously bought it so I could make PANCAKES for my family. My homestay sister said she had tried to make them before and they didn't really taste good. I told her she must have done something wrong because pancakes are delicious, which, after today, she now understands. I even brought out the maple syrup. I made the pancakes at an uncle's house so my host parents didn't get to try them. My sisters told them how good they were so they want me to make them again. I say no problem, I am not going to turn down the opportunity to eat something besides noodles for breakfast. I love eating my noodles, but after having one pancake today I want more!