Long weekend = long post

We have had yet another amazing, jam-packed, exciting, and EXHAUSTING weekend, so my apologies in advance for the lengthy post. There's just so many pictures, descriptions, and emotions to fit into this one post! (An indication that I should update more often, perhaps?)

We started off the weekend on our group-bonding field trip to Ninh Binh Province, a two-hour bus ride south-east of Hanoi. We began our tour in Hoa Lu, the former ancient of Vietnam (circa 1050 AD), where we saw more temples/pagodas. (To be completely honest, all of the temples and pagodas are beginning to bleed together, so lately I've been tending to zone out during the tours. Thus, I have very little to report on the Hoa Lu citadel or the Nhat Tu Pagoda, but I'm sure you can find more information online if you're interested!)

 Here are the 15 Fulbrighters in front of the entrance to the Nhat Tu Pagoda. We look like a great bunch!

Here is one of the many "dynamic" pictures that I accidentally end up taking whenever I try to photograph anything in Vietnam. There is always a bicyclist or motorcyclist who photo-bombs my picture, but I've grown to appreciate that this simply represents that dynamic nature of Vietnam, where people are always moving around.

Those three photos are all various shots from around the grounds of the citadel and Pagoda.

This last photo pretty much sums of Ninh Binh - I took it by walking around to the back of one of the temples to admire some scenery. Ninh Binh is comprised of gorgeous limestone karsts which appear to simply spring up out of the ground (background), as well as rice paddies (foreground). It was incredibly beautiful, and there are more pictures to come later in this entry!

After all of us succumbed to hunger, exhaustion, heat, and general crankiness, we had a lunch that perked us all up. After lunch, we were taken to our hotel, the Ana Mandara Resort. which is possibly (probably is more like it) the nicest resort I will ever stay in, in my entire life. We arrived in our room, and I could not stop screaming and exclaiming over every luxurious amenity provided to us: the free-standing claw-foot bathtub (all of my readers who know me well know the happiness that this provided me!), the monsoon shower, the outdoor shower surrounded by privacy walls (outdoor naked shower? yes please!), the cushy beds, the beautiful view, everything. There is no way my pictures will do the place justice, but check out the pictures of the room and the bathroom:

 This was one of the cushiest, fluffiest beds I have ever slept in.

 In 24 hours, I managed to take a shower in the outdoor shower, a soaking bath, and a shower in the indoor monsoon shower. We joked that between Adelina, Andrea, and myself (the three of us shared a roommate), there were enough facilities for us to all bathe at the same time!!!

 Here is another view of the entirely glassed-in bathroom with the outdoor shower in the background.

This is the view from our fenced in veranda in our bungalow. Everything was just so lovely and over-the-top luxurious! After a 2-hour break that we were given to unpack/swim in the pool/nap (I managed to do all three!), we set off on our Tam Coc excursion:

The Tam Coc (“three caves”) portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngo Dong river, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba), the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. The boats are typically rowed by one or two local women who also sell embroidered goods. (thank you, Wikipedia!)

 Here are some gems from the boat-ride:

 This is a picture as we were entering the first cave!!

 This is as we emerge out of the first cave!

 Puppy-ducks!

 Of course I needed to include the obligatory photo of the Mountain Goat (or Subaru) who was hopping around on all the ledges of the limestone karsts!

For some reason, this picture reminded me so much of Wood's Hole and Cape Cod in general, and watching the sunset over the rowboats began to get me homesick.

However, there was no time to get emotional because it was time for our gala dinner that included lots of food, lots of rice wine, and lots of beer. After a few shots each of rice wine and one or two beers, we were ready to dance, play silly bonding games, LIMBO, and sing patriotic American songs while declaring our love for our country.

 This picture should remind my cousins and relatives of every single bar/bat mitzvah I've ever attended.

For fear of embarrassing/shaming any of my fellow Fulbrighters, I will only share one photo of everyone else, but know that plenty more exist in cases of future blackmail! ;)

The next morning we all woke up a bit groggy but still ready and excited to work with the ACCESS students who had also come to Ninh Binh for their own camp. ACCESS is a US Goverment program that funds microscholarships to underpriviledged, but promising and talented, youth from the urban areas surrounding Hanoi to study English in the United States. Each of us Fulbrighters was assigned to a group of 10 or so ACCESS students to discuss education and leadership and to describe to them what the United States education system is like.

Our group had a lot of insight for us about some of the detriments of the Vietnamese school system (rigorous, based on rote memorization, punishment-based instead of reward-based, and intimidating) which Sasha, my fellow Fulbrighter, and I took to heart and used as suggestions of things NOT to do in our own classrooms. The ACCESS students told us they love when they have American English teachers in their high schools because the Americans are more encouraging, fun, and excited. These are all good things to keep in mind when trying to put forth a specific image of myself to my students in just a few weeks from now.

 Here is a picture of our brilliant group of 15 and 16-year old Vietnamese students. As you can see, Asia really agrees with me because you are allowed to do crazy poses for every single picture taken. I have come to love the peace sign.

Here are the 15 Fulbrighters with our matching polo shirts. We look good!!

After our session with the ACCESS students, we went on a glorious 10-mile bike ride on country roads that took us through rice paddies and more limestone karsts, as well as some small villages, and even a short and very refreshing rain-storm. I absolutely loved the bike ride, and it got me SO EXCITED to get my bike when I get to Ha Tinh, and to start making my own bike excursions all over the region. I know that my fellow Fulbrighter, Sasha, lives an hour by car/bus from me in Vinh City to the north of Ha Tinh. My goal is to be able to bike to visit her at least once a month.

 Here I am representing Paul Pierce on my old but reliable rented mountain bike!

 Here we are, ready for our adventure!

 As you can see, the roads were anything but well-maintained, which made for a bumpy and painful ride. Oh well, it was worth it!

(Whew, it feels so good to be almost done with this blog entry!! The end is in sight!)

We returned home around 4 in the afternoon, where we were all thrilled to shower, nap, and eat dinner. MJ, my fellow Fulbrighter, and I walked around the Night Market after dinner, which was quite the experience. For those of you who remember my Senegal blog, it reminded me a lot of Marche Sandaga, but with more jostling and less yelling. There were lots of clothing items with "Engrish" (poorly written English sentences/phrases that tend to make no sense) on them, and I am excited to find the perfect ironic  Engrish shirt when we return next week.

This morning we woke up early for our cooking class, which has basically been my dream since I applied for a Fulbright. Who knew it would be so easy to accomplish this goal of learning to cook Vietnamese-style within the first two weeks of my time here?!

 First we went to the marketplace with the chef who came to teach us (in white) leading the way. Here he is haggling over the price of pork. We ordered something like 2.2 kg of pork to prepare bun cha, a pork-noodle dish served with vegetables.

 Here is some lovely produce.

 And some more lovely produce.

 And some lovely shrimps. (Very excited to get to Ha Tinh and eat these ALL THE TIME, as they are Ha Tinh's speciality)

 Here are Violet, MJ, and Han (one of our favorite hotel staff here at the Rising Dragon) preparing the mint leaves for the bun cha.

 Here is a bowl of sliced pork that I contributed greatly to.

 Here are our salad greens.

 Here is MJ dicing carrots for nems, Vietnamese spring rolls!!

 Here is a mixture of carrot, onion, black mushroom, ground pork, and vermicelli noodles (the insight stuffing of the spring roll) sautéing.

 Here are some of our hand-crafted spring rolls. Violet taught us a lesson that her Vietnamese mother taught us: you tend to create spring rolls that are in the shape that is the opposite of your body. Thus, Violet's and my spring rolls were long and thin, whereas our friend Taylor's spring rolls were short and squat. Whether or not this adage is true, who cares, but it seemed true within our group!

 Here I am with MJ, beginning to fry the spring rolls.


Here is Han, frying some spring rolls!

 Here is our chef cooking the bun cha over an open flame. (Glad that he did not offer this responsibility to any of us; it looked a little dangerous!)

 Here are Taylor and Violet serving us grilled pork at our huge table of food.



Here is a more detailed look at our table (rice noodles, broth, greens, dipping sauce, and spring rolls)

Here are Violet and Nen, one of our other absolute favorite Rising Dragon Hotel staff.

Alright, writing this entry has made me both exhausted and HUNGRY, so I am going to go figure out dinner. I will write a more feelings-based entry at some point this week. Until then, I hope all of my loved ones are doing well stateside!