Frances Joy is in Ha Noi

(I love that that rhymes)

I'm currently in Vietnam for five weeks, teaching English with Teach Overseas. We just got in yesterday, and here's the copy of the email I sent out. I will hopefully be posting some pictures later...

Xin Chau!

Well, we're in Vietnam. We're here in Hanoi, just got in yesterday, and luckily, no real sign of jetlag. So far, it's been amazing. We've had some wonderful food: pumpkin, ginger chicken, beef, rice, water spinach (my new favorite)... I'm one happy girl here. We stayed at a hotel last night here in Hanoi, and late tonight, we are going to take a train down to Vinh (pronounced Ving here in the North). We've been hanging out with Sandy Harrison, who's been here in Vietnam for seven years working with ELIC. She's been a great resource for us to get oriented. We went to the old quarter of Hanoi last night and crossed the street several times. Now let me back up and explain Hanoi traffic: it is a fluid mess of motorcycles, mopeds, cars, buses, bikes, and trucks. Traffic flows in all directions, and left hand turns make your heart leap into your throat. Everyone leans on the horn to let you know that they're coming through, and you're just expected to flow around them. It is seriously the most intimidating thing in the world. To cross the street, you're just supposed to make eye contact with the drivers and walk slowly across the street while the motorbikes flow around you. They kept whizzing behind me, but it was this moment of exuberant victory when I crossed that first street by myself, because it was my biggest fear. Today, we crossed streets left and right, and all was well. We tried to go Ho Chi MInh's Mausoleum today, but it was closed when we got there, so I'll have to come back to Hanoi for that. We also missed the museum, it was closing just in time for the siesta when we got there. However, we did get some more good food, and bought fresh coconut and sugar cane juice the former tasted like Puerto RIco, and the latter was absolutely delicious, this rush of cool sweetness in a plastic bag... The fruit here is amazing. We've only been here a day and a half and already I've had dragonfruit - pink and spiky outside, white with black seeds inside - it tastes kind of like kiwi, only sweeter, and really refreshing in the Vietnamese heat. I've also had lychee and rambutan (like lychee only spiky outside), and mangosteen - the most delicious thing ever... Last night I bought a donut from a street vendor; she was so sweet and it only cost me about 2000 dong, which is roughly fifteen cents. It was filled with a sweet bean paste, which sounds gross, but is actually delicious.

When people see us on the streets, they say Hello, then laugh and run away, which is really cute. I guess we do the same with our limited Vietnamese - people are really excited to here us using their language. It feels good so far. Anyway, we'll be getting to Vinh and meeting our school administrators today and tomorrow. I'm excited about that, but also nervous. It's an eight hour train ride down there, so you guys can keep that in mind. We hope that all goes well when we meet our administrators and see the school. I don't know much about the teaching situation yet, so keep that in mind also. I'm excited for what's coming, but also nervous.

Well, I guess that's it for now.