My Holiday

So.. We got 9 days off from work for "Lunar/Chinese New Year". February 4th till 13th.
I decided to take an extra 10 days off and go on a long trip to Thailand.. I really needed the break..
Thailand wasn't as great as I wanted it to be, so I ended up taking a detour through Cambodia.
Here are things I loved and hated about my trip, photos to come next post.

10 THINGS I LOVED ABOUT MY TRIP

1. Touching a tiger in Kanchanaburi.
2. Bamboo rafting/Elephant riding in Kanchanaburi.
3. Drinking cheap fruit shakes everywhere I went.
4. Bangkok's street food (pad thai, bbq squid, fruit...)
5. Checking out handsome muscular Thai Rock Climbers in Railay
6. Beautiful tropical limestone mountained peninsula, Railay
7. Beautiful clear watered beaches of Ko Phi Phi
8. Joking around with cute little Cambodian panhandlers/merchants (in perfect English).
9. Feeling like I was in an Indiana Jones movie while climbing temples in Ankor Wat
10.Enjoying a night out on the town in Siem Reap

10 THINGS I HATED ABOUT MY TRIP

1. Realizing that the tigers were probably drugged and constantly tied up.
2. Bamboo rafting/Elephants only lasted 10 minutes just to satisfy tourists
3. I really hope there weren't too many calories in those fruit shakes
4. Couldn't afford eating in real restaurants in Bangkok.
5. Finding out I was the only person wearing a full bathing-suit.
6. Railay looked really ugly when tide time came and had a huge disposal area in the middle of it.
7. Ko Phi phi was so EXPENSIVE!!!! and full of drunken Euro-trash kids.
8. I wish I had shoes to give all the little Cambodian kids, most of them were barefoot.. sad :(
9. Wishing Japanese tourist would stop blocking my view every time I want to take a photo.
10. SPENDING WAY too much money on this trip.. my budget ended one week into the trip.. so am broke again !!!

Christmas in Hanoi

Two months late posting this blog, but alas.

Xmas in Hanoi was rather weird, in some ways, for me, it was the most festive Christmas I've ever had.
First, I had to actually celebrate the holiday with my students and talk to them about Christmas customs. Mind
you all that I grew up in a country where Christmas does NOT exist and though my family is strictly atheist, we do consider
ourselves J.E.W's. I kept telling people that I don't celebrate this holiday and they didn't understand.. because for them, I'm white.
Second, I went to more Xmas parties here than I had ever in the States (just Christie's staff parties.. seeing preppie girls get drunk.. definitely do not miss that).
Third, I actually played Secret Santa with my students and taught them Xmas songs.
Here are a few XMAS in Hanoi photos:

Our "Class Christmas tree".. the board + presents
Pre-Intermediate 2 spreading Christmas cheers:

The mall in Hanoi, Christmas eve.. I guess their holiday tradition is to go to the mall and take photos of themselves in front of a tree.. I've got tons of photos of Viets taking photos at the mall.

another mall photo (damn that western influence, I love their communist flag next to the Merry Christmas):

Day Tripper

Last Tuesday, my roommate Sarah and I decided to go on a little "Scooter Road Trip" Hanoi style.
But first, of course, before heading out, just as I turned left from our Alley, we noticed I had a flat tire!! how typical of me.
It's quite common here, because there is a man sitting with a pump, glue and a bucket of water, on every street corner.
So luckily, I only had to drive half a block to get help. (See photo above: How to repair flat tire in Hanoi)
We rode our little Honda waves till the outskirts of Hanoi,
crossed an enormous bridge and found ourselves on a Vietnamese Highway.
We got off and started riding our bikes around some farms and fields
Saw some buffalos and chickens. What an adventure, haha :)
(see photo above of field and farmer,wearing a Viet hat).
On the way back, I saw a man riding a motorbike with a medium sized cage behind him,
stuffed with dogs that seemed dehydrated or dead... I knew exactly where those dogs were going..
I started crying.. I couldn't stop looking into their eyes..
I'm sorry, but eating man's best friend is just too cruel.. especially the way these animals are treated..

Well hopefully next time, I'll drive more than 5 km out of Hanoi.....

Strange things you find at the supermarket

Weird things you find at the supermarket...
1. funny clothes hanging pins
2. tooth pig holder (haha! a pun! tooth pick)
3. huge strange and tasty fruit

More to come....

WORMS

OK, we all know I am a crazy vegetarian.. But today I ate some thing that I had always wanted to try (or at least wanted to try cause I've seen it on TV).
I ATE WORMS!!! I think they were silk worms, they were rather small.. fried.. not live.... It was DISGUSTING!!!! Please don't try this at home...
P.S - I don't really think worms are "animals" so no lectures please... besides, they die after making silk...

Teacher's day and more cute students

Today is Vietnam Teacher appreciation day. Which I didn't realize was going to actually mean something..
I received three bouquets of flowers!!! I have never gotten so many flowers in my life. You had to see how many presents were showered on people who are actual school teachers!!!

PHOTOS: The flowers I got + the cute ladies from my Pre-intermediate class and the bouquet they gave me :)

My new dwelling

Yes, I have a home in Vietnam now. Moved in a couple of weeks ago. The house is enormous, I am on the fifth floor,72 steps from the living room. So I keep on having to remember to take every thing I need every time I leave my room.
Some quirky facts about the house:
*It's not a building.. it's a house! 6 floors!
*We have a lot of pet Geckos.. (I even found one in the sink while washing dishes)
*We park our motorbikes in the living room.
*We have an altar on the top floor of the house (photo above)
*We dry our clothes on the roof (photo of roof above as well)
*We have a DVD and a new TV but no oven or toaster-oven (which I guess is normal here)
*We wake up naturally around 7am!
*Our landlord always yells at us in Vietnamese, I have no idea what she wants from me