I've been living in Vietnam for 8 months now. I'm surprised that I'm not anxious or getting itchy feet to move to another country. I'm still loving it here. I was still tired and worn out for 4 days since my birthday weekend. All in all, just been so busy with work and freelance design.
I like how my design job at EMW allows me to explore Vietnam. I took on a new challenge to lead a project where we research hand-made materials in Vietnam, and then producing our own products to fundraise for our organization.
Over the weekend I went to Hoa Binh, 3-4 hours from Hanoi. Hoa Binh is a Thai ethnic village that specializes in making textile fabrics. They don't live in houses, they live in nha sans, wooden houses on stilts. I've always wanted to stay in these when I first learnt about them in my early days arriving in Vietnam. I woke up Saturday morning at 4am (ugh) and rode my motorbike to my colleague's house. From there we got a ride to the bus station and got to Hoa Binh around 10:30am. Mountains! Cows! Dogs! Chickens! Cow shit everywhere! So nice to be in a village again!
Country people are different from city people. In Hanoi I get stared at often, maybe they're curious if I'm Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and I get the same stare when wearing a dress even! I don't like people staring at me, so many days I wear sun glasses or my hat. But in this village, no one cared how I looked or dressed. It felt like I was one of them, no one stared at me funny, regardless of me wearing Converse Chucks and a jacket with faux-fur hoodie.
Thai family invited us for a traditional Thai performance at their nha san.
For lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Rice wine was served. Rice wine tastes like vodka and is very light. I like vodka. Vodka is like water to me. I drank a lot over the weekend! Our first meal, the landlord lady brought out the rice wine (my eyes lit, I couldn't stop staring at it, wondering when someone was going to open it) and THEN she poured 4 cups for people who wanted it. We all cheered "Chuc Suc Khoe" which means "Get Well". WELL...I'm use to drinking the entire shot when I'm served a shot cup...I was the only one that drank the whole thing. When I finished, I put my cup down and everyone was staring at me, then looked away and continued eating in silence. Sometimes I think if it isn't good to show interest in drinking alcohol cause I'm a woman (being in Asia, lack of respect for female independence blah blah) but I haven't received any negative vibes from anyone. One Vietnamese woman there said she liked the way I act. I asked her 'cause I like rice wine?' she said 'yeah!' ...alright then! At the end they said they liked how I'm open to their customs and that I enjoy drinking with them, everyone's happy.
Speaking of itchy feet, while I was in Hoa Binh, I was itching to go back to Hanoi. Hanoi is my home and where I feel comfortable. I know I am attached to Hanoi, just like I was to Nepal. I've been asked so many times how long I plan to stay in Hanoi, and I always say "My contract expires next June. Then I have no idea."
My 8 year old student asked me how old I was. I said 27, then he said "Oh, that's young." Then I said "my birthday is tomorrow," he said "Oh...28...that's old."
Yes that's right, I'm 28 now. I was 26 when I left America. Last year's birthday was in Dharamsala, India. I wanted a mellow get together for my birthday this year but my friends' persuaded me to have a party at their house. Last week my friend Vikki and I went costume shopping, I must say there wasn't a good selection. I didn't have time to tailor my own outfit. So I had no clue. Then I saw it...floating on a coat hanger, a little boys' Superman costume. I thought to myself 'Can I fit into that?' I grabbed it and took off my jacket, and the store lady screamed at me to not put it on, she snatched the costume from hands and re-hung on. FINE!! Don't take my money then, I'll just walk to another store. The second store lady was MUCH nicer, she and her grandmother were laughing at me when I wanted to try it on, the lady couldn't hold her laughter in when she tried to tell me it was for children. The shirt was a bit tight bu do-able, but I wasn't going to attempt to try on the leggings. So I bought the costume anyway. I tried on the leggings when I got home, it wouldn't go past my knees. I used the waistline as a headband and made socks.
Friday night, about 40-50 people came. Everyone dressed up! At least tried to and I appreciate the effort people went through. I drank tons of beer and coconut rice wine. Then the chocolate cake came out...and then I went mental! People said I started the food fight, but I don't think I did...maybe I did, but when it did start I just went on a chocolate smearing rampage. Chocolate in my eyes, my ear, back of knees, my hair was dreaded in chocolate mousse. I washed my hair 2 times, it still stank of rancid milk and was super oily cause of the mousse.
The next morning...hangover! Went back to bed to sleep it off and woke up around 2pm. Had lunch and met up with my friends to clean the house. I opened the roof door to await the mess, it looked pretty bad, but in a good way...cause then you know it was a good party! There were so many paper cups, beer cans, wine bottles, and random pieces of peoples' costumes...fuzzballs, head bands, bats, safety pins.
I found out that day that my great-grandmother wasn't feeling well. She's 103. I don't think I will get to see her. I hope my dad and grandmother are okay.
