all for one

I mentioned yesterday at work that my wallet got stolen, and since then the editor of the publishing house and the head of the English department that I work in have basically mobilized forces and gone to town with finding a solution. They called the bus station, filled out a report to give to the police station, researched banks to see where I could get money wired, bought me a calling card so that I can call my parents back home, actually took me to a bank to make sure everything would work smoothly, and Joe bought cookies. I wish now that I hadn't wasted all of Sunday not doing anything because 1) I didn't know what I should be doing, 2) I figured it was a hopeless cause, and 3) Erik (the director) didn't really do anything either.

My coworkers are amazing.

bad things always happen to me in waves

My wallet got stolen this morning during the bus ride to Just Massage. Everything is gone, even including my mailbox key, and I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do.

Today has not been my day.

beauty queen of only eighteen

[Photo credit: VN Express]

RECOGNIZE ANYONE IN THE BACKGROUND?

Probably not because it's blurred out. But that's Ha (Johnny's Vietnamese roommate), Phil, Bibi, and me.

Yesterday our group went to the Temple of Literature and, turns out, it was the same day that the Miss Universe contestants and Miss Universe 2007 were visiting the Temple as well. Ha recognized their bus as they pulled up (he's obsessed with the pageant), and him and Christopher start running after the girls, snapping photos. Christopher doesn't even like to walk!

Anyway, the contest this year is being held in Viet Nam in July, and they've been showing the preliminary rounds on TV (I learned on the busride back that apparently Miss Venezuela recently won the ao dai competition). Ha, Bibi, and I got to take a photo with Miss USA!

Or rather, Ha got to take a photo with Miss USA and Bibi and I just jumped into it last minute, so I'm still laughing in the picture.

The girls were all really pretty (though they were also all wearing layers upon layers of make-up), very poised, and insanely tall in their sky-high heels. Basically, I would like to look like them when I grow up, please.

pass the fish oil pills

A line from the book I'm currently editing:

"In 137 BC, Trieu Da fell seriously ill and then died at the age of 110, after a 60-year reign."

...110 YEARS OLD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

someone needs an english phrase book

Every day when I go to work, the same (or I assume it's the same) middle-aged motorbike taxi driver always says to me:

"Hi! I love you!"

I'm fairly certain that this is the only English he knows.

It's weird being here for about two weeks and still feeling like I'm a fish in a bowl. I'm starting to recognize faces and places on the street, but everything from my mannerisms to my hair to my height screams that I don't belong. The attention ranges from overly tiring when it comes from rows of pestering vendors and motorbike and cyclo drivers endlessly hassling you to buy, buy, buy, to hilarious when it comes from locals wanting pictures or Vietnamese men hitting on your guy friends.

At any rate, I'm excited to meet up tonight with a group of kids here from Princeton. It'll be us plus possibly a Yale girl who attended one of our lectures yesterday evening, and we're all going to a bar together. Though I've learned so much from the Vietnamese roommates, I miss meeting new people that I can instantly communicate with without having to explain every cultural reference I make. I don't think I fully realized how unique the Greek system is until I came here.

and then there was light

I HAVE INTERNET IN MY ROOM! I don't know how long this is going to last, so here are just a few photos of what I've been up to.

Last week, we went to the zoo, which was actually semi-depressing because the cages for the animals were so small and all the creatures seemed underfed. But among all that, we also found these fantastic contraptions:

Essentially, human-sized hamster wheels. On water.

Yushen, Rosie, and I got in the big one.
Most fun 25,000 dong I've ever spent.

Later that same day, the whole group of us (all the Duke kids plus our Vietnamese roommates and minus Christopher) went to West Lake, where we rented swan-shaped boats.

It was a gorgeous day, but at night it started absolutely pouring.
I got completely drenched and was not dressed appropriately.

As for this past weekend, we (meaning all the Duke kids and our Vietnamese roommates) went on a 3-hour-long bus ride to Ha Long Bay, as I mentioned in my previous post.

Phil and me on the bus, ready to vacay.

Bibi and me on the roof of our boat, aka absolute bliss.

I'm scared my Internet is going to cut out if I try to upload more pictures, so I'm going to play it safe for now and call it an evening.

too much green, too much fun

[Photo credit: National Geographic]

I'M GOING TO BANGKOK, THAILAND!

The weekend after next, we have three days reserved for independent travel, and so Phil and I booked tickets to Bangkok because... we can. Yushen, Johnny, and Alex are buying their tickets tonight, so that makes the final Bangkok 2008 group: me and four guys. ...I really hope I don't get ditched for a strip club.

Tickets were about $60 minus the taxes and fees, but about $160 with taxes and fees, which, although ridiculous, is about how much it costs to go to, what, Boston? Hostel or budget hotel costs are about $10 to $15 on average for a decent to good one, so it's really affordable living.

And it's fucking Thailand.

Anyway, moving on to what happened this last weekend: the entire group (us plus our Vietnamese roommates) spent the night on a boat in Ha Long Bay, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We sunbathed and stargazed on the roof of the boat (glorious!), went swimming in the salty water (amazing!), visited the grottos and caves (eerily beautiful!), and had an overall fantastic time.

Additionally, last night Thu came back to the room with about 40 long-stemmed red roses for me that she had bought from the Night Market (which is only open Friday to Sunday). She is the sweetest girl ever. No, seriously. She's been getting me little gifts everyday and leaving me notes every morning.

Basically, this entire weekend has left me speechless.

limited or no connectivity

A quick apology:

Though I originally intended for this to be a photoblog of my time overseas, unfortunately the Internet in my room no longer works, thanks to the rain we've been having. The only time I have steady access to the Internet now is while I'm at work, but, since I don't carry my laptop to work, no photos are on this computer. So, that's that for now.

Keep your fingers crossed.

slow motion for me

I officially have a crush on a local.

Let me backtrack for a minute.

About four nights ago, we were wandering around the city, as per our usual favorite nighttime activity, when we stumbled upon a large square packed with kids doing karate, riding bikes, etc. Each activity had its own little corner of the square, and right at the top of the stairs was a group of high school students breakdancing and popping and locking. The best guy was dressed head to toe in black (black baggy jeans, black T-shirt, silver chain, black bandana) and looked like the 14-year-old, Vietnamese version of the guy from Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (and the age description here is not the usual oh-Asians-always-look-younger-than-they-are comment; this kid was actually only 14). You know the cool kids in school that already had a bunch of groupies and that all the other kids wanted to dress like and talk like and be like? We were pretty sure these were Those Kids.

So we made friends.

Fast forward to the next day, and Johnny is back from hanging out with said Cool High School Kids to tell us about the Even Cooler High School Kids that he had met. Apparently, he had befriended the pop and lock champion of the city -- and said champion had agreed to give us lessons.

Which is why last night, Rosie, Johnny, Sam, and I found ourselves surrounded by some the sweetest pop and lock moves I've ever seen and some of the sickest outfits (one guy had on a doo-rag and another had on an outfit that I've definitely worn before -- tight black T-shirt, skinny grey jeans, black ankle boots, red and black checkered bandana), the music blasting from a bike that Rosie and I had chased a guy down to borrow and that was pimped out with speakers and lights. The second-in-command dancer was surprisingly cute.

And what can I say, I'm attracted to talent.

even though a lot think i'm korean

I feel more Chinese here than I do American, which is weird because I've never felt particularly Chinese in my entire life.

the bee's knees

I cannot get over how chill office culture is here. Case in point: I got back from lunch yesterday only to find my coworkers on our little balcony, hovering over a plate. On it was sliced squid, which they doused with alcohol and then lit on fire to cook.

It was delicious. And it reminded me of this dried squid dish that my grandma used to make.

Anyway, the discussion somehow led to the topic of slang terms, which led to Brent and me teaching them phrases like, "Holy crap!" (we kept it pretty PG for the first day), which led to us discovering Slang: The Authoritative Topic-by-Topic Dictionary of American Lingoes from All Walks of Life. It was pretty up-to-date, though some were definitely passe while others really need a comeback (especially "gritch," which means to gripe and bitch).

Conspicuously absent from the book, though, was both "That's what she said" and "Your mom." Brent and I figured we should probably teach those phrases to the office on a later day.

robusto arabica

Yesterday Philip met me for lunch at the publishing house's canteen, and then we found a small coffeeshop down the road, where I ordered a Robusto Arabica coffee. After paying, the waiter returns with our change, puts a cigarrette on top, taps it, and then looks at us to make sure that we know what he means. We nod.

Was this the Vietnamese version of an after-lunch breath mint? I figured maybe it was intended for Philip (I mean, it could be like a "man" thing or something), but then after counting our change, we realized that the waiter had instead actually run out of change (about 1000 dong was missing, to be exact) and had thrown in the cigarette (presumably from his private stash) to make up for it.

And so, while on my balcony with Philip after I had gotten back from work, that became the first Vietnamese cigarette I've ever smoked.

where your boyfriend at

At 7 this morning, just as I had gotten out of the shower, I hear a knock on my door. (Did housekeeping come this early? Was I late for breakfast? Was my director telling me something about my internship since it was my first day of work?) Thu (the roomie) was still asleep, so I quickly put on a bra, underwear, and shorts, grab a dress out of the closet (they were already knocking for the third time so there was no time to actually put it a shirt on or to yell at them to hold on a second since Thu was sleeping), hold it up to my chest and open the door a crack, wet hair and all.

Only to see Philip and his Vietnamese roommate standing in front of my door with about six long-stemmed flowers. I could make out some roses.

And, always the lady, the first thing out of my mouth is, "Holy shit! Fuck! Hold on." After which I proceeded to shut the door in their face so I could find a shirt to put on.

Sometimes I amaze even myself.

Turns out, the guys had gotten up at 4 this morning to go to the flower market that's open from 2 to 5 am and bought flowers for all the girls, including two directors. Phil had told me last night that he had planned to do it, but I didn't think he actually would, especially since we had been up late talking with Yushen and Thu.

Anyway, to make up for my lack of grace (and for essentially shooing the guys away so I could put on real clothes and dry my dripping hair), Thu and I wrote a little thank you note on Thu's "special" stationary (she told me she bought it just to write letters to me on -- ISN'T SHE THE SWEETEST THING EVER? I had to ask if it was alright that the first letter we write is to the guys, and she said that was okay). It was so pretty, with flowers and the Eiffel Tower and fashion cut-outs and stuff on it in a collage-like fashion on a pink background (I can tell by her taste in stationary that me and Thu are going to get along just fine) and it even came with a tiny little envelope.

I saw Phil and his roommate downstairs at breakfast later and asked him if they had liked our card because we had loved the flowers. He said that apparently his roommate had liked our card so much that he had asked if he could keep it because he had never gotten something like that before. I felt a little guilty because I had signed the note off, as a joke, "The back of your head is ridiculous, Lucie and Thu," in tribute of our maybe 2-hour-long YouTube session last night (and since Phil had been all, "So can I have yo numba?" at the door earlier), but apparently Phil's roommate thought it was hilarious and told one of our directors, Hiliary, all about how we had an inside joke.

My first day of work has definitely been off to an interesting start.

and she likes white boys

My roommate:
- is 23
- is a total sweetie
- has been dating her boyfriend for 1 year
- asked me at dinner if a guy in our group was my boyfriend
- told me that she normally lives in Hanoi with her husband
- actually isn't married
- says she doesn't like the idea of marriage
- loves romantic novels, shopping, walks, journals, etc.
- likes the Spice Girl and 'NSYNC
- uses Asian emoticons in her texts
- holds my hand when we're walking around

em nghi tieng viet kho

Hanoi is beautiful!

Here was our schedule for the day:
- Group breakfast at the guesthouse
- Program overview
- WALKING TOUR
- Lunch at Cafe Diva
- Vietnamese class
- MEET & GREET ROOMMATES
- Welcome dinner at Hoa Sua Restaurant

More pictures to come after, as I have to meet my new roommate in approximately 10 minutes. Quick note for the day, though: VIETNAMESE IS SO HARD. Imagine being told that every single letter you ever learned is now pronounced differently, with 6 different tones. Now imagine my head exploding.

i'm scared my cosmo magazine is going to scandalize my vietnamese roommate tomorrow

I'VE ARRIVED IN HANOI!

[Quick culture shock moment: turning on blogger and finding it entirely in Vietnamese. Ahh!]

The trip here was quite an ordeal. There were seven of us total, including me, and our flight out of LAX to Seoul got canceled because of “mechanical” problems. Something about our plane's wheel falling off during the last landing? Of course, we didn't actually hear what was going on, but instead two Harvard guys that we had befriended in the airport informed us that the announcer guy was telling the people going to Vietnam to go see him. Thanks, Harvard guys.

We ended up taking a flight five hours later than planned and arrived in Seoul at around 1 am. I slept about 10 of the 14 hours of the flight, so it wasn’t that bad. When we got to Seoul airport, we found out that we had to spend the night in the transit hotel connected to the airport (small scare where the guy thought that they had skipped my name when booking the rooms, but my ticket had actually just fallen under the table), and the rooms were pretty nice. Actually, it's a really sweet airport in general; it takes up an entire island, and since all the transportation had closed by the the time we arrived, we ended up just wandering the airport for a couple of hours (...taking pictures...) and then played Hearts in my room until we decided to try and get at least an hour of sleep before our morning flight. The airline gave us all vouchers for food, so I got a cute little Korean breakfast sandwich and salad set with coffee. Thumbs up, Korea.

[Another note about air traveling: Asian airlines are SO MUCH NICER than American ones. Not only do you each get your own little TV screen and much more food (normally, there's an Asian and a Western option), but they also come around with coffee or tea about every 30 minutes.]

When we finally, finally arrived in Hanoi, my first impression, honestly, was that it was a lot like the Bahamas: hot and humid, with lots of palm trees and colonial-influenced architecture. After about five minutes on the bus though, the traffic and the landscape started to resemble more of Shanghai than Spring Break '08 (...except with a lot less people and not that many skyscrapers). It's also a lot cleaner than I expected.

Anyway, my room is adorable and on the top floor of the guesthouse (which is like a hotel -- there's laundry service, they clean our rooms, etc.), and it comes complete with a tea set and a balcony. We're actually essentially taking up the entire hotel with our group, and there's also apparently a group from Princeton in Hanoi that we're likely going to be meeting up with at some point during the summer (I think the fourth of July was mentioned). I picked the window bed since my roommate isn’t here yet and, not going to lie, the "wet bathroom" thing is going to take some getting used to. I also opened up my suitcase to find a nasty surprise: apparently my aerosol cans of sunblock and my tub of body lotion EXPLODED while on the plane, covering my other bottles with a thin layer of grime. How pleasant.

So far, we've had a group meeting for orientation, a delicious dinner, and then a group of us went on a night-time impromptu walk around the area. Our directors told us about how it's common for same sex people to hold hands, but that a guy and a girl holding hands means "serious commitment" -- but that it's also not uncommon to see lovebirds intertwined in dark little corners of the city/the park. They weren't kidding.

It was drizzling outside a bit and incredibly humid, but otherwise it was pretty nice. We actually have a lot of freedom to go around and explore as we choose. The city closes down a lot earlier than I expected though, and we have an 11 pm curfew for the hotel. Most clubs/bars close by midnight at the latest, and a girl on the plane said that a common custom is to go out to dinner and then just stay out for the night, which I guess makes sense too because breakfast every day is from 7-9 am. Which means I have to get up at 7 tomorrow morning to meet the 8 am group breakfast time. Eek.

Good night!

it's official

OBAMA 2008!

Confession: I'm actually really excited to follow the election while abroad and see how it is covered by foreign media, especially by a country that used to be Communist.

way to go

Great. I'm pretty sure I just addressed the head of the English department for the publishing house that I'll be working at this summer as Mr. [His First Name] in my email, forgetting the possibility that the Vietnamese probably follow the same custom Chinese do of having their first name come after their last name. I was hoping I wouldn't embarrass myself until I actually stepped foot onto Vietnamese soil, but apparently that was just way too ambitious of an assumption.

High five, self.

too bad i hate wearing glasses on principle

NEW SPECS.