Sapa

Hello all!

I'm currently in Rome, but this post will be about Sapa... hence the title. I landed in Rome last night and am staying one night in a hostel then moving over near the Colosseum to a room that I found on AirBnB with a girl named Alice! Should be cool!

Anyways, Sapa. Oh my goodness. What a beautiful, serene place. I wish I had stayed more days there, but I had booked a three day Halong Bay trip and did not really have time to stay longer. I probably could end up staying a week in Sapa. I loved it.

First, it was in the mountains, so a TEENY bit cooler than the busy, crazy streets of Hanoi. Second, it wasn't as crazy or busy as the streets of Hanoi. Thirdly, I met the nicest (nicestnicestnicest!) people there.

Georgia, Cinthia, and I took a day train (never.again.) to Sapa on Tuesday. It was ten hours. It wasn't that bad, but I definitely will not be doing it again. We were the only foreigners in our car, which was pretty cool actually. We got to witness the interactions between the Vietnamese families first hand. I'm pretty sure most of the families were not traveling together, but whenever a family had some sort of food, be it cookies or fruit, they shared it with everyone. It was quite an experience.

So we got to Lao Cai and had to take a bus up into the hills. It was really windy, but I didn't get sick, whew! Once we got to Sapa, I knew I was going to love it. Cinthia and I went to our hostel which was a bit of a walk from the main part of the town, but it was great because it wasn't too nosy or anything. We met up with Georgia after showers for dinner and walked around a bit. It was definitely great.

Our first full day, Cinthia and I went to a place that we read really great reviews about called Baguette and Chocolat, or something to that effect. (Because Vietnam was settled by the French, you can find a bunch of French stuff, like architecture and food there, pretty swell) Anyways we got there and ran into Georgia! Neat-o! We spent a good amount of time there and decided that we'd walk the 3 km to a H'mong village by the name of Cat Cat in the valley. It was mainly all downhill but we saw the most spectacular sites. Rice paddies and waterfalls and streams and just green green green, EVERYWHERE!

That night we went to the night market and ran into two H'mong women, Tu and Lily. This happens quite often, as they are roaming the streets selling their crafts, but even if you don't want to buy anything, they just want to sit there and chat with you! SO NICE! I love it! Anyways, that's what happened with Tu and Lily, we just sat around and talked for a while. We found out that they were taking some people on a trek the next day and we asked if we could join up! They said yes! YAY!

So, on Thursday, we set off in search of Tu and Lily. We found them. Oh man, the cutest cutest women! I love 'em. So we set off towards Tu's home. She walks 3 hours to Sapa almost everyday and three hours home the next morning. She has 7 kids at 32 years old. She's so nice. We asked a lot of questions and got all the answers, it was so neat!! On our way, we saw many many rice paddies! I asked Tu if it would be okay if I planted some rice and she said totes (but not really). So, when we ran into some people planting rice, she asked. I promptly took off my shoes and socks and walked into the rice paddy. It was super squishy and muddy. They handed me a handful of rice plants and I got to work! I was smiling and giggling the ENTIRE time because I was so giddy. I kept saying "This is awesome!" over and over. They were so nice to me. When I finished with my first handful, they gave me another! Great times. Afterwards, I sort of washed myself with more dirty water and put my shoes back on and went off again.

Tu's little compound type of thing has a bunch of animals: ducks, chickens, pigs, and she said they even have a water buffalo, but I didn't see it. She started making lunch for us and we played around (sorta) with her seven kids. It was pretty neat. I was so happy. She and Lily fixed a magnificent meal! It was so delicious, but I couldn't finish it. I tried my hardest, because I didn't want them to think I didn't like it, but I failed miserably. After lunch, we bought a couple of their crafts and they shoved free stuff into our hands.

So, smiling big, we started off back towards Sapa. We got a bridge and ordered mototaxis to take us back to the town. My mototaxi decided to break down halfway there, but I got another one easy. Super.

Once back in town, we said our goodbyes to Tu and Georgia, and Cinthia and I went back to our hostel to wait for them to take us to the bus station. That night Cinthia and I returned to Hanoi. It was about an 11 hour drive, but the bus was a sleeper bus! Literally! They had seats, but they were laid down allllllll the way, so they were practically beds. Excellent.

I loved Sapa. Really. What a wonderful place filled with the nicest people. I would totally go back in a heartbeat.

Peace, love & (oh how I miss it!) KIMCHI!

Hanoi, day 2

Hola from Hanoi!

I don't feel like typing a lot, so I'm gonna bullet point this post. Holla.

1. Woke up in time for a free breakfast. Always a good thing.
2. Cinthia and I went to the train station to book my ticket to Sapa for Tuesday with her and Georgia.
3. Walked to St. Joseph's Cathedral. Super pretty from the outside. Couldn't go in. Oh well.
4. Had my first iced coffee in Vietnam (coffee is supposed to be baller here). It was, indeed, baller.
5. Walked around the Old Quarter a bunch. Found a supermarket, went in, bought stuff.
6. Walked around more. Nothing too exciting.
7. Walked around even more. Found a really pretty ring, bought it. It broke less than an hour later in a cafe where I had my second iced coffee. Not nearly as great as the first one. Fail. Also had spring rolls.
8. It started monsooning while in this cafe.
9. Left the cafe and went to 69 Restaurant. Relatively good food.
10. Went back to ring place and they fixed it... with melted wax. Awesome. Where's super glue (slash KATIEDALE) when you need it/her?!
11. Went to yet another cafe where I just had lemonade this time. Got to talk to the padres, grents, and KATIEDALE while there :)
12. Went to the Water Puppet Show. It was cool. It was funny. I laughed a bit.
13. Came back to the hostel.

That's it. Not a too exciting day. The city is still noisy and busy. I'm a bit excited about Sapa. We'll probably go trekking a bit. Should be nice to get out of the city. Anyways. That's it. Goodnight.

Hanoi, Vietnam

I'm in Vietnam. It was quite a travel day for me yesterday. Probably the toughest travel day I've ever had, which is a bummer, but I guess it was needed as I have learned from mistakes and whatnots. I will not go into detail because it exhausted me enough yesterday!

Anyways, got to the hostel last night around 10pm ish. There were two other girls here, so we talked for a bit and I got on Skype to check in with the rents. And then I had the most amazing shower I've ever had in my life. I don't think it was the shower at the hostel, so much as being sweaty and emotionally/physically/mentally exhausted from the day.

I slept in pretty late today, which was nice and needed considering I had been going on 4 hours of sleep in 39 hours. Rough life. Woke up and Cinthia (a girl in the hostel with me) and I went off into Hanoi! We went to the Ho Chi Minh mauseleum, which closes at 11am, so we missed that, but weren't too worried. We got to see the One-Pillar Pagoda. I didn't really think it was going to be just one pillar, but it definitely was. It was super cute and small and one pillar. Pretty neat. Supposedly it was built as some sort of replica of another Buddhist pagoda.

The Ho Chi Minh museum was closed for lunch, so we decided to go find something to eat as well. I had delicious steamed rice with chicken and lemongrass. Oh man. Delicious. And we sat around looking at her Vietnam book and map and figuring out what all we wanted to do while in Vietnam since we both came super unprepared, in terms of planning.

After lunch, we went back to the museum. It is very interesting seeing the differences of the museums from home and the museums abroad. The museums from home give you the history and a story, but the Ho Chi Minh museum we went to today, just had pictures and letters that were briefly labeled. This was when we both realized we didn't know much about Ho Chi Minh at all. From the labels that we read, we came up with what we think is who is was and whatnot. I should probably look into that; make me smarter and stuff.

Considering it was about 100 degrees fahreinheit here, we were both completely worn out after this (around 230pm) so we came back to the hostel and unwound a bit. After we got our thoughts together and stuff, we went back out into Hanoi towards Hoan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter, which is where our hostel is. We bought tickets for a water puppet show for tomorrow (Monday) night, so that should be interesting. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I've been told that I must see one, so I will! We walked around the lake a bit and then started coming back. We were looking for food to eat when a huge rain started. It came out of nowhere! Really! It was crazy. So we were kinda stuck, but found a pretty good hole in the wall pho place.

Finally, we got back to the hostel and showered and have been relaxing a bit. I think that we are going to go to the train station tomorrow so I can book a ticket to go to Sapa Valley with Cinthia and Georgia (a girl from Australia).

All in all, my first day in Vietnam has been... crazy. It is hot and loud and super busy. I feel like I have to constantly watch where I am going because there are crazy motorbikes flying around in all directions. I'm hoping I don't get hurt! The Old Quarter is pretty nice, but I think I'm excited to get out of the city for a bit. I'm not entirely sure where I'll be going, but this is sorta what I have in mind: Sapa Valley for, ehh, two days? Halong Bay junk boat cruise for two/three days. Then either Ninh Binh or I'll buck up and take a long bus ride down to Hoi An. :) We shall see.

Miss and love!

The End

I finished out Korea, guys. I made it. The whole year. As happy and excited I was to leave Korea, I was great amounts of sad, too. I made friends there that made leaving very difficult. I'm going to miss them. They each had an impact on me that, I doubt, none of them know about.

Anyways, finished up the time on my futon! The new girl, Beth, came in on Tuesday night and we went out with Peter and Katie for some Green Galbi. She followed me Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so she is fully prepared for my babies! On Thursday night, we went to a favorite restaurant for dinner and to say goodbyes. It was hard. I cried. Weird. And on Friday we went out for same same, but different place. That was also hard. Katie and I stayed up all night Friday night cos I had to catch the airport shuttle at 4:30am on Saturday. So we just stayed up. Katie walked me to the bus and put me on it. That was sad. I love you, Katie Dale.

The End.

Korea vs High School: Socializing

I like to think that I'm a nice person, a relatively happy person, and an approachable person. In the past couple days, though, I'm starting to believe that maybe this "bubbliness" is too much for some people. That, or people are just downright RUDE. Not just any "people" but other foreigners here in Korea.

The reason I bring this up is because, yea, in the past couple days I've noticed some pretttttyyyyy rude foreigners. Example numero uno: I was walking home from the grocery store on Sunday... I was walking on the sidewalk (totally normal) and saw this foreign chick walking towards me. We were the only ones on the sidewalk and so, naturally, I smiled as in saying "hello" without actually speaking. Girl did not EVEN respond. She just kept walking! What?! I saw her later in our apartment/villa complex and I wasn't going to say anything that time, but she said "hi" so I responded, albeit begrudgingly because she ignored me earlier on in the day.

Example numero dos: on Monday evening, as the three of us were walking home from work, we saw a foreign guy walking towards us. It was daylight and it was a small street, so I said "hello!" nice and loud and clear-like as he was walking past us. This guy did NOTHING. Absolutely nothing! He just kept walking. I watched him pass and he didn't even BLINK, guys. RUDE!

I've heard a couple stories from people who have been here for longer than a year and they have said that when they first got here, everyone was super friendly and wanted to get to know everyone, but now foreigners try their hardest to straight up ignore other foreigners that they do not know. This reminds me of high school where you had your own little click and did not want to talk to anyone else. Kind of like the group of friends you already have is good enough and taking on anymore friends might be bad or something. There could be a bunch of different groups crowding the hallway that would never interact with a different clique. The only time people from different cliques crossed paths were if they happened to be in the same after school club or sport, but even there, they would try to stick with just their friends.

That's sort of how it is here. Like I said, I think I'm an approachable, nice person, so I'm guessing it's just other foreigners don't want anymore friends or they just refuse to socialize with people who are not in their group of friends. So rude.

Here's a picture to brighten the mood:

David and Kevin of Elephant class being elephants!

Oh, and here's another:

'Baller' and 'holler' on a spelling test. :)

Mixtape of Sorts

The following blog post will include a couple different things. I'll head them so you can pick and choose what you'd like to read :) I know, I'm nice.

Learning the language, or ... not.
I have a friend that is in France and keeps a blog as well. It's a really good read. The last couple posts have been about the language and how many foreigners there don't even try with the language and how she gets compliments on being well-versed in French. I think that's awesome, that she is learning her third language and doing freakin' spectacularly! These posts always get me thinking, of course. I've been here for 11 months now and I barely know any Korean. I know a few phrases and words and I can read Korean, but it's definitely not something worth writing home about. I do feel bad about not learning Korean like I said I was going to, but it's too late now... Anyways, yea. That's really all I wanted to say about that: I feel bad that I don't know more Korean, but, hey! I can read it! That's pretty cool, eh?! And I can say "I love you." Always important. :)

One more.
Guys, I have one more month here. I can't believe it. A sorority sister emailed me asking what I was doing in Korea and I told her and then I said that I had been here for such-and-such amount of time and that in five weeks it would be a year. Then I stopped and had a minor freak out. In FIVE weeks I would have been in KOREA for a whole YEAR. HOLY SHIT! Part of me can't believe it, then a different part of me is like, "Well, duh, it's about damn time this year was up." I'm so so soooo mixed about how I feel about it, it's ridiculous. I'm happy that I came here because I got to myself better and a different culture and new foods and new friends, but then I'm like a year! A year in Korea! I had heard that I might not be able to do more than a year, then I came here and met many people who had been here for 2-6 years and I was confused. Then I had the chance to experience it for myself and I've figured out that, yes, Korea is a good country, it's a great place to teach and the people are nice and the food is delicious and you aren't alone, but it's definitely not my [kind of] country, if you get what I'm saying. I've had a great time in this year, but I'm ready to move on... I'm pretty sure. I'm gonna miss my friends, that's fo' sho'.
Side note: I admire anyone and everyone that has stayed here for more than the first year. You guys are amazing and I am so glad that you love it lots!

Packing, ick.
I have decided that the last week that I'm here, I just want it to me, the turtles, my backpack, and the stuff that was here before me in this apartment. With that said, I have four weeks to get everything out of here/thrown away. Now that I've officially said four weeks to do that, my stomach is slightly knotted. My parents have reminded me over and over and over again that I'm lazy. I agree with them, I am! I hate packing! I hate getting ready for stuff, it's time consuming and boringgggg. I'm secretly (or not so much so) hoping that I'll be able to throw away most of the stuff that is here! I hope hope hope!

Travels
Since I'll be leaving in five weeks, I should probably start thinking about where in northern Vietnam I'm going to go and where I'm going to stay in Vietnam and Rome. Have I even looked into it? Ehhh, not really. Surprise? No. I did ask a friend of a friend about her stay in Vietnam and she had some excellent tips, but I have yet to look into it on my own. Fail. I really should probably get on that. If any of you guys have any tips or suggestions, holler at me. PLEASEEEEEEEE!! I beg!

School Update
As I reported in the last update, things with the kids have been going pretty well. Zebra class and I are get along great, when we both get our way without fighting! Yay! Elephant class is still my favorite because they just LOVE to learn. They want to be at school and they want to be with me, I love it... well, except for one kid who has been giving me the HARDEST time. When I talked to her mom, who I know personally, she told me things were rough at home, so I get it. I get that L's life sucks right now, but do you have to make mine suck, too?! I mean, come on! After I talked to the rents about my issues, they suggested I ignore her, which I did all day Friday and it worked out for me. The other kids and I just pretended she wasn't there when she decided that 12:08 would be a perfect time to throw a fit. That's gonna be my new angle... I'ma straight up ignore the dickens out of that child and shower the other kids with my love and attention! Evil? Maybe (*shrugsies*). Worth it? Most certainly (HOORAY!).
This week we have Thursday off of school for Children's Day. Not sure what that is, but I'll take a day off since we haven't had one off since the very beginning of March, and that was barely a day off. Then we go back to school for Friday, have the weekend off, go to school Monday, and have a day off on Tuesday for another national holiday. I have asked multiple times if we could have either Friday or Monday off, for a four day weekend, but boss lady has told me that the parents complain and then gets a super sad face on and says "I WISH I WISH!!" Ugh. That's all I have to say to that: ugh.

End.
I think that's about it, folks. I feel like I wanted to write about something else, but I have forgotten about it in the four hours it has taken me to jot this post down.

Peace, love, & chicken noodle soup (which I'm currently nom-ing)

Just Call Me "Indie"

"Indie" for "Indecisive"

Yes, folks, me... I couldn't even figure out what to update my blog about! And my nickname, given by Nate, pretty much sums up the past month (aka since my last update).

Anyways, I've been trying to figure out my next step after Korea. Yes, I have booked tickets to at least DC, but that's as far as I've mapped out my next quest. I had a job interview in Kuwait that was looking like it would be heading in the right direction, but due to my indecisiveness and my lack of knowing what I want to do right this minute, I decided to stop with the interview. It was for a nursery teacher position, which would mean doing this same thing I'm doing right now, again. I love babies, but not enough to "teach" them anything. So that was one decision I was able to make after much consideration and stress. Exciting.



My next indecisiveness came with "Well if I'm not going to teach in Kuwait, what am I gonna do?" Easy, I'm gonna go to Kuwait and live with my parents. Uh... what?! Live with my parents again!? *SWOOSH* Here comes Indie to the rescu- uhh, wait... nevermind. More stress. Why would I want to live with my parents again, other than it being a free place to be? The other reason is because if I stick my head out far enough and try, I might be able to find good tutoring gigs that will bring in some money flow without being on a (EEPS!) contract of any sort! Okay... Then I thought "Well, shit, man, I can't live with them and save up money forever! I need something else!"
I sat back and talked with Katie and the rentals and came to the conclusion that I want to teach. I do. I want to. However, I do not want to teach the English language, and I do not want to teach babies which is sort of (I say sort of because that's not necessarily true, but I really just do not want to teach anyone how to speak English... I'M horrible at it, why would someone want to learn how to speak from me?!) the only avenue I have with just my bachelor's. SO I think I'm going back to school, guys (think = pretty sure)! I want to teach and I want to travel and a really great way of being able to teach what I want, who I want, and where I want is being a certified teacher! :) Excellent.

our walk home from work

That being somewhat "down pat." I had to figure out summer plans, which are still in the process of being organized.

MOOOOOOOOOVING right along... I've gotten used to the kids in the past month (thank goodness, right). And I'd like to think they have gotten used to me and sort of being in a classroom. Since I see the same kids everyday, all day I try to break up the monotony of studying English for the babies, and we do fun things, too, but they are also learning to recognize when to be "serious" and when to have fun so it's a great time! That was a long sentence.
We had a field trip today to a Transportation Museum. It was relatively boring and uninformative for the babies, but we had a great time at lunch time and after lunch time! It was such a beautiful day, in fact there have been lots of beautiful days as of late, and so we played around outside. It was mostly havoc, but it was nice seeing the little kids being little kids and not being told to sit properly for five hours out of a day, ya know?

That's pretty much it, though. Here are some pictures to lessen the boring-ness of this post. :)

Jason super excited on the bus

Museum

Reppin' license plates from the States

After-thought: I guess it doesn't seem too indecisive, but trust me guys, this is an issue for me. Even trying to figure out if I'm going to go out to dinner with friends is a pain in the a$$. Oh yea, dollar signs. What?!

Peace, love, & Polo mints

Oh, and also, I have a month and a half left. Weird.

In the past two weeks... Warning: it's a semi-long one

With my departure date slowly coming into view, I've been doing a bunch of thinking. Mainly, it's "Man, I'm gonna miss Katie Dale." This is a very true statement, but I'm also going to miss our other friends, too. We have cool friends, we like them. Then I find myself thinking that I'm going to miss Korea, which is also true. Korea is a pretty cool place, I guess. I was talking to a friend and he mentioned that to be here, you need to be positive. So true! You've got to be super positive, which can be super hard at times because you find yourself faking that positivity and that gets tiring. Other than being tired of always trying to be upbeat, Korea is a pretty okay place. It's a good place to start off living on your own and they have an endless need of English teachers, so there are always jobs.
Anyways, *shakes head to get back into groove*, I'm going to miss it here and whenever I start feeling like I'm going to miss something, I sometimes start to doubt my leaving. But it's okay! I was unsure of my leaving for a bit, but then I remembered that I'm ready for the next step. I'm excited to move to Kuwait and make some more monies to fund my 'round-the-world extravaganza (that had best happen)! The next 11 weeks or so are going to fly by, so I'm going to try my best to take advantage of the time I have left to experience more of Korea, so when I do leave here, I won't regret that decision. That was a lot of USELESS RAMBLING, per usual.

Here's the real scoop:

We've got new kids. I am in Zebra class now. I bounce back and forth between Zebra (6 years old) and Elephant (5 years old) everyday. Tuesday and Friday, I have Apple class and Day Care for one period of the day and, on Wednesday, I have a break (much needed break). The kids are somewhat cute. Mostly, though, they just wear me out. Zebra class are all best friends now and it can be difficult teaching them anything at all.
Last year (3 weeks ago) when I was in King class, I was convinced that teaching English was somewhat tedious and easy. Now, with kids that don't speak any English at all, I find that teaching English is, in fact, quite difficult. They don't understand me and I don't understand them. It's frustrating, but when they can finally read "can" and "cat" I feel accomplished and proud.
Here is my Zebra class:

Ian

Ella
Juana

Julian
Annie
Lita

StephanieMore on their personalities and my interactions with them on some other post.

In Elephant class, there is a total of 8 kids I think. One kid, James, just cries all the time because he hates English and doesn't want to learn. Fair. Another kid, Jason, is one of the teacher's kids and he just... oh man. He cries, too; when he sees his mom, when he doesn't feel like sitting down, when he can't ask for the bathroom or water in English, when Jessica teacher leaves the third floor at the end of the day, every morning, etc. One word: headaches. Even with those two, Elephant class is my favorite so far. They are so cute and squishy and they listen to me. When I ask and motion them to stand up and push in their chairs they don't turn to each other and just start talking, they do what I ask them to. They love to sing along with the songs and they do their work. They're beautiful and I love them. Here are my favorites:

Kevin - he is super smart and quiet
Ricky - also smart. He loves to talk and calls the crying kids "babies." And he smiles at me.

David - He's cute. When he sings, he belts it out. And he's super ticklish.

Those are my classes.

Two weekends ago, Katie and I decided that we should do some sightseeing of sorts, so we found out where we had to go to find the Seoul Tower and go up up up! We found it pretty easily, after a hike up a small hill, we got into a cable car and went up the mountain. It was so cool! On Namsan, they also have this thing called "Locks of Love," nooo not the hair thing. It's for lovers. Lovers take locks up there and write messages on them (lovey dovey) and then lock it up. It was really cool and sweet, but I'm a sap for those kinds of things. After looking around the locks, we went up into the Tower. It was pretty cool, really high. It had a good view of the city. We felt accomplished after our day trip to Seoul. This whole paragraph was crappily written, I apologize; I think I'm getting sick and my head is not all in one piece because of this.

in the cable car

locks
locks and the Tower

Peace, love, & kimchi.

Flights

With a lot of help from the padres (thank goodness), I was able to book flights! Needless to say, I'm super pumped now. :)

Seoul - Hanoi on June 4th
Hanoi - Rome on June 15th
Milan - DC on July 8th

Still figuring out: flight to CA? flight to Kuwait - one way.

Super stoked.

Peace, love, & kimchi


PS. I'll be keeping this blog for my other travels.

Positives

First two days back at school with a new classroom and new kids has been crazy hectic. Crying babies, fake smiles, pants soaked in pee, and crying babies EVERYWHERE. So I thought I'd write a bit about some positives going on.

1. The babies always smile after a bit, which happen to be cute smiles!
2. I have really cool coworkers. I super like them a lot.
3. My friends are pretty awesome. Near and far.
4. Snurtle and Hank are doing spectacularly (I think; they don't talk much)
5. 65 weekdays.
6. Korean food is amazeballs.
7. My boss saw the purple in my hair and did NOT freak out. YAY!
8. Seester sent me Reeses cups!
9. I found money in my pocket today.
10. It was cold today, but it was a pleasant cold. AKA it was a nice day.

There's tons more, but I think this is good for now.

Peace, love, & kimchi