Hanoi

Although all of Vietnam was really great, Hanoi was by far my favorite place. The French influence is really strong and the streets have an authentic, cozy feeling that loud and powerful Ho Chi Minh City really doesn't have. That said, I met a lot of people who still prefer HCM so it's really up to the person.

All of the above taken at the lovely Ngoc Son Temple - must see!! Kyoto aside, one of the most beautiful temples I have seen in a while.

At 87 Ma May - the address of one of the only ancient Vietnamese houses built in the 20th century that still remains today.

Souvenir shopping.

Opera House in the French Quarter.

Decorations on the street in the French Quarter.

Cathedral.

At the Temple of Literature everyone was getting a wall-hanging done with a particular Chinese character for the New Year - chaos!

Also at the Temple of Literature.

Streets of Hanoi.

A shop I went to multiple times to pick up lanterns for my apartment. :)

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is simply a must-do for any trip to Vietnam! I opted for a 3-day/2-night tour and was really impressed by everything. Plus I met 4 really cool British people on the boat and made some really good memories together.^^

Ship patio.

My room for the night - bed/shower were amazing.

Cruising away.

Arriving in Halong Bay.

Our ship.

Much clearer on day 2.

Me!

Day 3 at Monkey Island

Relaxing by the beach, spent a night in a bungalow - serenity!

Ho Chi Minh City

Some pictures from my days in Ho Chi Minh - a really humid, vibrant, and interesting city.

Rereading a favorite book with coconut juice at dusk.

Took a 4-hour "Contrasts of Saigon" motorbike tour with Saigon Riders.

Met up with Hung, a friend from my time in Japan.

Lunch with Hung @ Wraps N' More

Visiting Chinatown in Ho Chi Minh (temple entrance, thank you notes, and hanging incense trees)

Coffee on the terrace at Kita Coffee

Hours and hours spent just exploring around.

Cathedral.

Post Office.

Dong Khoi - When French and American soldiers were in HCM, this was THE place to be seen.

Fresh Semester -Resolutions

Next week starts the next semester at the middle school I currently work at. This will be my fourth semester as an ESL teacher, but only my second at this school. The start of the semester is the best time to implement new classroom ideas & strategies. Here are the two main things I want to work on:

1. Write down specifically what each class has finishes. This may seem like a no-brainer but it will take a bit of will-power to actually remember to do this because most classes are around the same place. The only reason I want to do this is to avoid repeating certain sections of a lesson because students are too shy to tell me we already covered it last week.

2. Remember more names! I teach 400+ students a week. If I can learn 100 student names, I will be ecstatic! What I plan to do is take pictures of all my students and turn it into a laminated picture book - like a yearbook but in English and divided into smaller sections - so I can identify names with students on the spot,  quickly.

Taking fashion week into the classroom, err kind-of.

I'm excited to get back teaching next week. I have a new group of 7th graders coming in and I know a few of them are really excited to be in my class! :)

India Highlights

Hello everyone! I'm back from a fantastic 3-week volunteer/travel stint around India and want to talk about some of my favorite things about this mad, crazy, wonderful, and fantastic country.

Chai

I loved Western chai before I came to India and heard that Indian Chai was so much better and it certainly didn't disappoint! I drank at least 2 cups a day, at breakfast and afternoon tea time. Indian chai is usually made with loose black tea, milk, ginger, and sometimes cinnamon leaves. Here's a fun link on how to make some authentic Indian chai on your own. 

Indian Kids

Oh my gosh, Indian kids are so funny! Living in such a bustling and diverse place with hundreds of quirks definitely requires a sense of humor. Everyone, from elementary kids to full-grown adults, addresses you as "Mam." Indian kids also seem to have it ingrained in them that white people love handshakes. Every morning at the day care I was at, moms would make every kid shake my hand and say "hello." As the kids grew to be more comfortable with me, they would run up to shake hands when I came and left. :) 

I also fell in love with the four girls I taught English to in the afternoons. The four girls are neighbors and best friends, which meant we all got along really well and had tons of fun. They taught me Hindi dance. One day while we were having our lesson on the roof (because it has the most sunlight), some wild monkeys hopped on our roof and scared us to death! Other fun memories include throwing a birthday party for one girl on my last day and playing hide-and-seek running around huts in their village. 

Golden Temple

Another one of my Indian road-trips was to Amrtisar to see the Golden Temple. Walking around barefoot with our heads covered, listening to meditative prayer music and watching people prepare to cleanse themselves in the holy water, it was a really nice Indian experience.

Himalayas

It was simply incredible to wake up to the Himalayas every morning. My first weekend in India I did a 2-day trek and spent the night up in an Indian hut. The views were stunning and the weather was perfect. Coming from the Midwest where its basically flat everywhere, mountains always seem super special to me.

Indian clothes

It was really cool to travel around a country where traditional clothes still appear in every day life. I had my own pink salwar kameez made and wore that quite a bit to blend in a little more. I also bought a Kullu shawl that can only be found in my area of Indian, which kept me warm on my rough 12-hour overnight bus back to Delhi.

Indian food

I have a feeling that soon I will really start to miss eating home-cooked Indian food a day. I say "will" because I had a bout of food poisoning that left me feeling a little bit off Indian food for a while. Nonetheless, I did enjoying eating lots of lentils, chutney, chapati, thali sets, paneer, barfi, and kaju katli.

Indian music

As part of my volunteer program, we had Indian men drive us between our locations since they were very spread out. Every drive featured different Hindi or Punjabi music blaring with the windows down - in other words, freaking awesome!

Henna

Henna looks so cool, is completely natural, and dirt cheap! I'm already planning an Indian-themed party with my girlfriends complete with doing henna, making chai, and watching the latest Bollywood hit.