vietnam

Since I’ve spent so many nights longing to go back to the USA, it feels surreal to finally say that today is my last day here in Vietnam.  I’m so happy and relieved to finally be going back home!  I am looking forward to tackling my law school applications with full force, and I am excited to find a new job and place to live!  I am also anxious to see the people who are very important to me, and of course, to feast on fresh bagels and cream cheese. FEAST MODE! Ah, and to go to the nice quiet libraries. And to go running in nice, open sidewalks.  And to be reunited with my car.   And to have craft beer!!!!!

My last week in Asia has been spent in Hanoi with my mother.  After our action-packed trip to Sapa, we decided to stay in one place and explore it thoroughly rather than to spend long hours traveling from city to city by bus.

Drift with me through the streets, hillsides and waters of northern Vietnam on the “Get Wet, Go Wild” tour, offered by Vietnam Backpacker Hostels! Catch a glimpse of Hanoi’s top attractions: Quan Thanh Temple, St. Joseph’s Cathedral and the West Lake. Then hop on board a junk boat to cruise past the cliffs of Ha Long Bay. Throw in a bit of swimming, kayaking, rock climbing and beach volleyball for good measure. Lastly, journey inland to the rural Mai Chau Valley, home to breath-taking, emerald rice paddies and towering, dramatic peaks.

I teach for three more days and then have three days off before leaving Quinhon forever.  The three months I’ve spent here have been surreal, sort of like a learn-about-yourself-bootcamp. I have to say, I’m pretty goddamn proud of myself for making it through, since it hasn’t been easy.  The hardest part about the expat life here is the communication and culture barrier. However, the time I’ve spent trying to understand these barriers, while difficult, has also been the best part about living here, hands down.  Should be interesting to integrate these new perspectives into life back in the USA in only 22 days!

Another bright part of my time here in Quinhon has been teaching. My happiest moments here have been in front of the classroom. I’m no expert teacher, but I figured I’d write a post about some teaching tips and tricks that have helped me, because more often than not you won’t get any training in Vietnam before your first class, haha.

So it turns out Hanoi has a reasonably-sized Korean community. This was great news as I was keen to keep up my Korean, so I went trawling for lessons. Given that most Koreans are here with corporate jobs however, rather than the English-speaking community who almost all do some kind of teaching, the only place offering such a thing was the Han-Viet Family Centre. This is an institution set up and funded by the Korean government in response to rising numbers of Korean-Vietnamese marriages. We went along to see if they wouldn’t mind me signing up, despite being distinctly non-Viet, but after seeing that I fulfilled the ‘married-to-a-Korean side of the bargain they said it would be fine.

Fast-forward to a week later, and it seemed like it might not be quite so fine after all. Given that I’d turned up for a pre-intermediate class, which I’d asked the way for in Korean, one would have thought I might be able to understand an exchange along the lines of:

Yesterday was Independence Day for Vietnam! I thought things would be a little crazier, given the Vietnameses’ penchant for techno and flashy lights, but all in all the scene was pretty chill. The only thing that made it different from any other day was the fact that the school wasn’t open. Woot woot!

After spending the morning working on my law apps, I decided to take my motorbike on an adventure. I ended up in a little town 25km outside Quinhon, called Cat Tien (not to be confused with Cat Tien National Park).  The drive there was beautiful and flat. Full of sand dunes and breezes.