The past 24 hours were really fun and very busy. Yesterday morning Mikala, Lindsay, and I did some last minute gift shopping (Sadie get ready for the most epic t-shirt) remenisccing on all the amazing times we have had. Later that night, Lindsay and I got delicious stir fried instant noodles with eggs and then her homestay sister and friend took us for icy che, followed by a motorbike ride to a beautiful part of Saigon where we just parked the bikes, sat and talked. This morning, I woke up and said goodbye to more people as they departed for other Southeast Asia destinations and then hung out with Simon all morning. Over the semester Simon has volunteered a lot at the U.S Consulate, so he brought me there and set me up with some volunteering work for the next few weeks. Hopefully every day I will get to go hang out in the Consulate's American Center and help Vietnamese students with their homework, practice English, play games with them, etc. I really hope this all works out according to plan because I need to have something to do all day long besides work on summer internship applications. Anyways, back to my day... I moved into my homestay this afternoon– I decided to use the bus and save 100,000 dong. I am glad I did, but man it was not easy to maneuver my bag on the crowded bus (which is usually never crowded, but of course today it was). It reminded me of my bus days back in elementary school when I tried to juggle my ski bag and glockenspiel (if you don't what that is google it and then picture me rocking out on that in band class. Oh yeah). Okay following unpacking at my house I took a bus back into the city and went to the movies with Simon, Linh, and Vy. Then we had dinner and I said a final goodbye to Simon and voila– I am now back at my homestay sitting in my comfy bed.
Tomorrow I am headed off to Hanoi, (the capital, Northern Vietnam, very far away, 1138 km far away to be exact) with my homestay sister. One of her cousins is getting married so I get to attend my second Vietnamese wedding. I am really very excited to go back to Hanoi, I feel like last time I was there I was exhausted and didn't take it all in. Also, the weather is relatively cool there, I was told to pack a sweater because it has been 18ยบ Celsius at night. Boo-yahhh.
I realized I never posted pictures of my homestay like I promised to do... better late than never. Here are some pictures, I plan on taking more within the next few weeks– especially some good family photos.
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| This is my room, on the fourth floor. |
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| The kitchen, first floor. Underneath all the plants is where the housekeeper does the dishes every night– not in the sink. |
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| Dining room/living room, first floor. In the background is the grandfather, the middle is Co Minh, the mom. On the right is the housekeeper who I call Ms. Yes. |
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| This is Moo-moo (that is a nickname), my 13 year-old homestay sister being a dedicated little student and doing her homework. The room behind her is the bedroom that she shares with her sister. This is the third floor. |
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| Two cousins in the stairwell. They are so cute and their English is so good. I am excited to see them again! Anyways, I wanted to put in a picture of the stairs because they are sort of an essential part of the house with it being five stories and all. Also, they are not like stairs in America, they are really twisty-turny. |
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| The view from the top (fifth) floor's balcony. |
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