The last two days have been the same, which makes this post easier to do. Our day has been divided between culture classes done by the Vietnamese students in the morning and language classes in the afternoon.
I have learned about traditional Vietnamese art (painting, pots, silk, edible rice sculptures, and masks) and have received a traditional painting (which is more like wood block printing) of a child riding a water buffalo. I also have a New Years envelope with lucky money in it, a creepy as hell bunny mask (it didn't look creepy when I was done with it but then a student randomly painted on it with orange and I'm repainting it as soon as possible), and an adorable wind chime. Really love the wind chime the most, hoping it makes it back to America in one piece.
The students gave us multiple presentations on Vietnamese New Years, which happened a month ago. We were given traditional New Years food and shown what to do if we were ever in Vietnam for New Years. This is the biggest celebration of the year for them. When asked what people do for New Years I replied "Get drunk." Because that is really what New Years seems to be about in America. Another question was "What traditional songs does America have?" My answer was we don't really have traditional songs (minus children songs and Happy Birthday) but songs that have lasted like Michael Jackson's or The Beatles's or/Elvis' songs. Or Britney Spears because her old songs are very popular here. Another student was offended when I said I hated Justin Bieber.
The students all seem really nice but while everyone else in the group is connecting with them I really am not. I was looking forward to meeting new people but they kind of attack like a hoard and it's more than a bit intimidating. So I have asked to have a student take me around to some of Hanoi's temples to work on my independent project. Hopefully this helps and I don't fall off the back of their motorcycle to my death. Just a worst case scenario.
Distracted our Vietnamese teacher for a half hour today by asking questions about Vietnamese culture. Things we learned
- They eat any meat. This includes dogs, snakes, horse, monkey, and cats. This does not sit well with me.
- On the other hand, they do not eat insects.
- If anyone has seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that scene where they bring the monkey heads out, that is an accurate portrayal of how monkeys are eaten here.
- All Vietnamese believe in ghosts to some degree. When I asked the teacher if she believed she said she did not, but after telling a story about a ghost she looked unsettled.
- The Vietnamese have their own zodiac. It's like the Chinese one but the rabbit has been replaced with the cat.
- Many of the trees around Hanoi are painted white near the base. Turns out it's a insecticide. I thought it was some sort of religious thing.
- Villages do revere big trees as having spirits inside them.
We had dinner at a friend of Drexler and Barbara's house tonight. Drexler has raved about her cooking since before we left Thailand and he was right to. She showed us all how to make egg rolls and then served us the ones we made. They were pretty tasty except for being stuffed to the brim with shrimp. Then we were served beef and noodles. We thought dinner was done after that but no, we had another course of beef and noodles after that. We were all so stuffed by that point., I had to take off my belt. The couple wanted us to stay late but the Drexler's wanted to head back and we waddled out to the taxis.
There's a basic summary of the past few days. We had some drama from Lilith, ate so much food, answered some really difficult questions about how America works, and had pictures taken a lot.
Picture Count: 30 This is a rough estimate since I lost count with all the sneak photographers.
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