It's Christmas Time in the City--Not Your American City That's for Sure

Elsbeth writing…

Okay, time for another update! Let’s see. Much has happened and I’ve been pretty busy these last couple weeks teaching, taking Vietnamese lessons, hanging out with people, and doing whatever else comes my way. It’s nice to finally, truly be settled in.

I did finally get my motorbike. I’ve had it for about two weeks now and it’s working as well as can be expected. I’m getting much more confident driving it. Except I, um, crashed it the other week. Ellyn, Tony (one of my roommates), and I were driving to the lap pool. I was trying to turn in front of a guy driving fast and I miscalculated how quickly and sharply I could turn, so I ran into two parked motorbikes. Oops. The people were pretty good about it and sent me on my way. But one of the older men followed me. I don’t know if it was to see if I was alright or what, but then I stopped to call my friends because I lost them—I told him this—and he drove off. Then as I was pulling into the pool another guy from the accident came and said his bike was damaged. He asked for 150,000 dong (about $8). I didn’t really look to see the damage and I already felt bad, so I just gave him the money. This is how accidents are sorted out here in Vietnam. You don’t want to call the police because they’re corrupt and in line with the mafia. So you just negotiate the cost of damage on the spot. No insurance companies involved. I wasn’t hurt or anything, just a bit shook up, but I tried not to make it a big deal of it. Anyway, I think that accident gave me a perspective on driving here. I’m much more cautious of my surroundings—you really have to be on your toes at all times here because there are crazy things happening around you at every moment. It’s nerve-racking, but I’ve grown to love driving my bike. Oh, I miss my baby back home now, too.

Thanksgiving was interesting to say the least. We had the most random Thanksgiving dinner at one of the ex-pat restaurants in town: mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, bread, pizza, rice, and two chicken breasts. We shared it family-style with some friends from work after a hilarious, to-the-point prayer by Jeff. After work that evening I talked over Skype with the family. Eli had Skype on his new laptop, so he gave me a tour of the house since I left. He showed me some of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and sat me down on the kitchen table while mom cooked dinner. The only sad part was that I couldn’t eat the food. Mom kept showing me everything she was making while I sat starving on the other side of the world. Nevertheless my Thanksgiving was complete after that three-hour long conversation.

Last weekend we went to HCMC for two days. It was like returning home to see some good, old friends. Surprisingly, it was a refreshing change from living in that small, quiet town. The opposite of what we thought a month and a half ago. We took the bus in on Saturday morning around 7:45. It didn't seem like the bus driver had his route mapped out very well because we keep backtracking. We went past ILA about three or four times. In the city we went to one of the fanciest hotels in town to get information for the 5k race the others were going to compete in on Sunday. Then we went to Bui Vien for lunch at one of our usual restaurants. We ate Western food all weekend. That was my goal--no Vietnamese food. It was so good, but we aren't used to that heavy, fatty food anymore :-). That day we also went to the Ben Thanh market. It's this big market near Bui Vien selling souvenirs, seafood, and cloth. I bought a new purse/bag, because mine was literally falling apart. The seams were going to split and one of the straps had already broken…. I bargained and got relatively good deals on everything. Then we went to dinner on Dong Khoi, which is the most upscale, expensive street in town. We met several of our old CELTA buddies for dinner at the same cute French restaurant I ate at before with Jenn and Alison. It was so nice to see them again.

Everything was also decorated for Christmas and for the first time this year, I actually felt in a Christmasy mood. I love being in a city during Christmas time and it reminded me of the Cities back home :-). On Sunday we got up early and went out to the HCMC suburbia. It's still vastly being developed, but nevertheless it feels like suburbia at home. Not like Vietnam. That's were the Terry Fox Run was held. It was a totally organized, Western affair in a Western area. It was so refreshing to have some order in life for a brief hour. The race ended up being 4k instead of 5k. I wish I had run, but I didn't really have any running clothes or my shoes along, so I couldn't. I should get up early to go running one of these days. It's nice to be able to go to the lap pool though. Nobody else has ever been there when we've gone there in the mornings, so that's nice.

Anyway, Kristoff obviously got first place in the race. I got this great picture of Ellyn and Steve as they sprinted towards the finish. Steve was joking that he would stay a step ahead of Ellyn the whole way and he was just a step ahead of her at the finish line. In his words: hilarious. We went to lunch at a restaurant along our old little alley where the Kim Hotel is. I had baked mac and cheese! Yum. Then we went to get body massages…. Ha. That was an interesting hour and a half. So we’re in this dark room with all guys (Ellyn and I were the only girls), being massaged by two young Vietnamese men. I tried to be relaxed but I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time, especially when they all started smacking our legs. It sounded like the rain game we played in Girl Scouts—a fleshy musical. The most awkward part, though, was when they pulled down our pants and gave us a bum massage. All I was thinking was “please nobody get up.” I couldn’t help bursting out laughing when he had me bend backwards over his knees. Haha, that was the most awkward position and I knew the others were watching.

After that experience we met Alison at our old hang out: Chi's cafe also along our Alley and had drinks. We also walked down the street and talked to a tour guide about a trip to Dalat for Christmas. That's what we're thinking of now. Leaving maybe on Christmas eve and spending the day in HCMC. Then taking the overnight bus to Dalat where we'd stay for several days. Later we went to the Refinery, which is this beautiful French restaurant that used to be the largest Opium factory in HCMC, or maybe Vietnam. We had drinks there and went to a nice Mexican restaurant near Dong Khoi. I had a burrito, but it was too small and expensive. Not quite as good as Chipotle. Then we went to Joe and Katie's house where they were hosting a rooftop terrace party. The next morning we got up and took the ferry back home in the morning. So that was our exciting weekend. Ahh, we should get out more often, but the costs add up….

This weekend I’m hoping to go shopping for clothes and Christmas decorations. There are three new teachers here as well and they are all very nice. It’s good to have some more friends to hang out with. Well, I think that’s enough of an update for now. I’ll post pictures of our house and my motorbike soon as well. Until then, I hope all is well at home as the snow starts falling and you prepare for the Christmas season!