It's a Small World After All

Hanoi is a city of 7 million people half a world away from Northeast Ohio.  And yet, on Friday we ran into two people that had been to Hiram, Ohio many times.  And on Saturday, while walking around the alleys across the street from us, we met a man wearing this shirt (given to him by a friend):

"America #1! Vietnam #2!"

We had a very entertaining taxi ride on the way home from the Big C grocery store today.  The man driving us only knew about 30 words of English but was eager to learn and try out his skills.  For instance, he was asking how to say "right" and "left" in English and laughing when he was getting them wrong.  

Then he asked where we were from, and when we said "America" he acted surprised we had come this far.  Then he very emphatically said, "America #1!  Vietnam #2!"  We laughed, and he put his hands together and said, "America, Vietnam, good!".  He was also quick to point out that "Obama good" and "Bush bad" (I liked him already) and that the current president of Vietnam Trương Tấn Sang is "very, very bad".

This man was in his mid-to-late fifties, which means he would have been about Noah and Ellie's age at the height of the Vietnam War.  He probably had family members who fought in the war.  And yet, here he was with a car full of Americans laughing and saying our two countries are friends.  We've noticed this all over Hanoi, we read about it before we got here, and even U.S. Ambassador Osius pointed it out to us when we met him: the Vietnamese are forward-looking people who have very little (if any) animosity toward Americans.  The limited polling here indicates that somewhere between 75% - 90% of Vietnamese have favorable opinions of the U.S. In the States, the Vietnam War is often misunderstood, and as Americans we still struggle with what our role was and what exactly happened.  In our limited time in Hanoi, it appears to us that the Vietnamese have moved on.

A storm is coming

The view outside our kitchen window, Sunday morning, 5:30 am:

Reception with Ambassador Osius

A whirlwind week ended with a reception at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius.  The event was for some of the Fulbright recipients in Vietnam, especially the 14 Fulbright English-language Teaching Assistants (recent college graduates) who have been in Hanoi the last two weeks studying Vietnamese, culture, and teaching methods.  Today they are leaving on their teaching assignments in rural parts of Vietnam and will teach English for nine months.  Libby was also included and announced as the first Fulbright Distinguished Teaching Award recipient for Vietnam.

There were probably about 40 people there, between the ETAs, embassy staff, and us.  We spoke with the Ambassador for about 5-10 minutes about his family, living in Vietnam, etc -- a very gracious man who had a long day but still made time for everyone.  His mother and sister were also there, both of whom had been to Hiram, Ohio (!) to visit a math professor there, Wendell Johnson, who was married to the Ambassador's aunt (mother's sister) but retired before I got there and is now deceased.

The taxi ride to the Ambassador's residence was unreal -- Friday night rush-hour traffic in the chaos of Hanoi, and we had to go from one side of the city to the other.  Very memorable.  But once we got there, the food -- delicious appetizers and a buffet of American and Vietnamese specialties -- and the company were great.  And really, it was such an honor to be invited.  Who would believe that we started the week in small-town Hiram, Ohio and ended the week eating oysters and focaccia at the home of the US Ambassador in Vietnam.

Here's Libby with Hanh Nguyen, Fulbright Program Assistant in the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy. Hanh has been Libby's contact at the Embassy since she was awarded the Fulbright and has been wonderful in helping us get ready to come to Hanoi.  Although we had exchanged many emails with her, this was the first night we finally got to meet her face-to-face.

A picture on the wall of the Ambassador with his husband and children:

Outside the Ambassador's residence:

The 14 Fulbright ETAs with some of the Embassy staff that helped them with their training.

Another side of Hanoi

Each day we've been here, we have attempted to go exploring in a different direction from our apartment.  The first two days we spent walking along busy, crowded roads with lots of traffic, looking at office buildings and stores and going grocery shopping.

Friday we headed out due east and discovered an amazing collection of small streets and alleys and little mom-and-pop shops selling everything from housewares to chickens to fashion to hair styling to food stands.  It was an amazing discovery and completely unexpected being right across the street from our apartment.

In the middle of those alleys and streets, this is a pagoda that we saw for the first time.  You can see from the picture how close it is to our apartment, yet we missed it:

It is not uncommon to see the live animals and the butchered meat all in one stand. At least you know it is fresh!

I love how the wires are all exposed and just hang everywhere. Very common on the side streets of Hanoi.

This woman is paying tribute to her deceased relatives by burning fake paper money, a tradition in many Asian countries. We saw this a lot today.

A little different than the meat department at the Garrettsville IGA:

There are many, many of these mom-and-pop shops that consist of a bench with a few items on a table, and almost all of them have a collection of drinks such as this.  You order your drink and then sit down on a blue plastic stool while they pour the beverage into a glass with ice, and sit and have your drink.  No rush, no worries (unless you're worried that a motorbike might hit you...).

The Ladies Man

Finn has always had a way with the ladies.  Here he is hanging out with the woman who sold us drinks on our walk this morning:

Morning Dance

Libby and I are looking out our kitchen window this morning and most of the morning crowd have already left, but we see people practicing ballroom dancing. In the park. At 6:45 this morning:

Wonderful modern style for communication

On our way back from Libby's university today, we stopped at Lotteria, an Asian fast-food burger place to get a drink and cool down. On the wall they had a couple of sayings, obviously written by people whose native language is not English. This was my favorite:

Day One in Hanoi

Our first day in Hanoi was a series of highs and lows, which is not unexpected since we are experiencing everything for the first time and just trying to figure out what it is like to a) live in a foreign country, and b) live in a city of seven million for the first time in our lives.

We woke up excited on the first morning, just taking everything in.  Kids were contacting their friends via FaceTime (a wonderful invention -- thanks Steve Jobs) and we started really exploring and unpacking the apartment.



Things that came with the apartment: a rice cooker, 3 plates, 3 sets of silverware, 8 wine glasses (?), 3 lamps, 3 pots, and an iron.  Things that were not included: a broom or any cleaning supplies, towels, mixing bowl, and toilet paper. But at least we had 8 wine glasses!



A couple of things jumped out at us:

a) we were awakened by the sound of what we thought was a rooster.  No kidding.  And it WAS a rooster.  Our highrise apartment building is right next to what we think is a....well, we're not sure what it is.  A construction supply area?  a dump?  a little shanty village?  We're not sure.  But there is a rooster, chickens, and about 15 dogs running around.

b) the park right next to our house is amazing.  And at 6:15 am this morning, it was full of of people running, walking, exercising, groups doing yoga and other exercises.  It was busier than any park we had ever seen.  And then at 7:15 am it was almost deserted.  People went to work or went back inside to avoid the heat.

c) at around 7 am started hearing Vietnamese pop music outside.  We couldn't tell if it was playing in the park or the school across the street.  It last about an hour and then again stopped.

At this point in the morning it was time for me to find my first cup of coffee.  None in the apartment, so I took a couple of the boys and we went downstairs.  Rumor had it there was a coffee shop in the lobby.  And we found that, plus a small convenience store and a pharmacy.  At the convenience store the kids each picked out a drink and pad about $1.50 total (34,000 VND), which made them very happy.

My first coffee experience wasn't what I expected.  The Vietnamese love their coffee.  I know coffee is the second-largest crop exported next to rice, and there are many shops here.  I went to the coffee shop and ordered one black coffee.  What I got was a cup about 1/4 full of espresso coffee, iced.  Not exactly what I wanted, but technically what I asked for.

At 9 am we went to the management company offices downstairs with our real estate agent Ms. Anne, who had helped us the last several weeks while we were still in the States.  Lucky for us she spoke English pretty well and was able to navigate the contract for us and get questions answered with the company.  It turns out when we have any problems with the apartment, we will contact her first, not the management company.  We also listened to an animated conversation in Vietnamese amongst five different people just so we could get an additional three plates, small bowls, and spoons.  They would be delivered to our apartment.

We also had our first big setback of our Vietnam experience when we learned that the swimming pool, hot tub, and fitness center were not run by the apartment but by a separate company, and there are separate fees associated with that.  Uh-oh.  We stopped by the pool to discuss it with the staff, and while they were trying to help us and reduced the price, we still would have to pay $75 per month per person to use the facilities.  Ouch.  The pool and the facilities are beautiful, but the kids were disappointed to learn we weren't yet ready to shell out an additional $300 for our family to swim

And then, on to find some groceries.  We had a long list of stuff we needed, and while the convenience store downstairs was nice, it didn't have basics like milk and vegetables and brooms.  But we were told there was a big supermarket down at Keangham Tower about 3/4 of a mile down the road.  Walking down there was our first experience in crossing the busy streets of Hanoi -- quite the adventure.  And we appear to be the only Westerners around.  Keangham Tower is a very impressive structure -- the tallest in Vietnam -- but it appears to be an office building for Korean and other multinational businesses.  There are also a lot of high-end shops here, but the only grocery store we can find is a Korean convenience store very similar to the one in our building.  Where do people buy groceries around here?





We grab a quick bite to eat at a Western-style chain bakery called "Tous les Jours" (Ellie and Carter are eating beautiful beef sandwiches on baguette bread) and go outside to eat.  We know there is another big grocery store about a mile down called the "Big C".  So we continue our trek in the 95 degree midday Hanoi sun to find the grocery store.  After almost giving up a couple of times we come across the building that has the grocery store as well as lots of other moderate shops and places to eat -- including America's favorite, KFC.  After hiking around, we decided to take a drink break before hitting the grocery store:



The Big C is what we need -- it is basically a Target on steroids.  It takes us a long time to navigate what everything is in Vietnamese, and do they have what we need and to figure out the words for everything (we can't find anyone that speaks English and so we do a lot of guessing).  And some things we just can't find, like a dustpan.  But somehow we manage to load our cart up with about $150 worth of food and supplies.

Since at this point we're about 2 miles from our apartment, and we're loaded up with stuff, we decide to take a taxi back to Star Tower.  The cost of the taxi was $3 (64,000 VND), very reasonable.  But the ride itself was more interesting than any attraction at Kings Island or Cedar Point.  I'm sure we will talk lots more about driving and the road, but for now, suffice it to say the "rules" for driving do not appear to involve lanes or yielding.  It does involve a lot of honking.

We got back in one piece, unloaded everything, and then we were ready for some dinner.  To take it easy, we decided to go downstairs to the restaurant in the apartment building....but it was closed for dinner.  So we headed out again and found a pho restaurant near the park.  Luckily our server spoke a little English and brought out some rice dishes and some pho dishes.  the food was excellent, and it cost us about $20 for everything.





Can anyone identify these vegetables?  No one at the restaurant could explain what they were in English.  At first we thought they looked like mushrooms, but they are definitely not that.  They are really crunchy, tasted a little like eggplant (?), but are delicious:





And to end our day, as we were finishing up dinner, it started to rain.  And I mean it was a storm.  It doesn't rain like this in Hiram -- a long, heavy windy rain.  We were stuck in the restaurant, and people there didn't mind because everyone had either walked or come on a motorbike.  But eventually we decided to head out because people said it might not let up for awhile.  And we discovered the streets were flooded:





We finally got back to the apartment, took showers, and climbed into bed after a long, exhausting, and exciting day.  I'm sure not every day in Hanoi will be this eventful, but it was a memorable way to start our adventure.

Travel Day(s)

August 24, 2015 -- the last day we would be in the United States until New Year's Eve.  The day started early with a 6 AM wake-up, and by 7:15 AM we were on the way to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport with twelve pieces of luggage to check, eight carry-on pieces, and one box of Maggie's Donuts.  We thought we were ready!

 After a quick 45 minute flight to Detroit, we were ready for the big 12 hour flight to Tokyo.  When we got on the plane, Finn saw the pilot and asked how he knew how to fly the plane in the dark.  That got him a guided tour of the cockpit, complete with wearing the captain's hat and taking the controls:

Buuuuut, any way you slice it, a twelve-hour flight is still tough.  They make it as enjoyable as possible, with constant in-flight entertainment on the screen at your seat, three meals, numerous drink brinks, blankets and pillows, etc.  But it is still tough on your body, especially since it is difficult to sleep on the plane.  We took off 2 PM Detroit time and landed 3 PM Tokyo time the next day.  Our bodies didn't what day or time it was, and several people fell asleep in the Tokyo airport waiting for our next flight:

Japanese Kit Kats.  I was very tempted to buy these, but I couldn't find a smaller box, and at this point we were not that hungry:

We still had a five-and-a-half hour flight to Hanoi left.  While Delta Airlines was nice, Japan Airlines was incredible.  For starters, the flight crew and gate agent all arrived at the same time and lined up facing the waiting passengers, then the gate agent bowed to us.  Almost ceremonial.  The staff were amazingly generous.  The flight attendants in the air would work together as a team, so much that the drink stations would go down both aisles at the same time.  And the food was delicious and different.  Here's a picture of my meal (eggplant, rice, sardines, vegetables with tofu, a creamy cabbage salad, etc):

And after 26 hours of travel, 3 flights, 5 meals, 1 visit to the cockpit, 2 bouts of a child's nausea, numerous catnaps and drink breaks, 1 Japanese bus ride, 1 train ride in Detroit, 1 dancing fountain, and 4 baggage carts for our luggage, we made it to Noi Bai Hanoi International Airport.  Let the adventure begin.