“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius
Thought I want to remember: Everything in life is temporary, all we have is here and now. Don’t hold onto things in this world that can’t bring you true happiness.
DESMOND TUTU! He is going to be coming into my classroom right after India to speak with my class of about 20, so we can ask questions and see his opinion on major topics such as religion and more. I am so happy to have this opportunity.
I am debating on buying a Safari in South Africa or not, it’s something I really want to do but it comes with a large price sticker so if I do it I will have not a lot of budget wiggle room. Eep I don’t know. I don’t want to regret not doing it.
February 13th
We woke up at around 9am, went to Angela’s room and watched her pack and get ready for her aunt’s house. Since I hate mornings I packed the night before and didn’t have to get ready. She took a while so we just sat and chatted, Angela was pretty nervous because she hadn’t seen her aunt in over 5 years. After she got ready I went with Angela and Chelsea to the shuttle into the city and once in the middle of the city we took a taxi to her aunt’s house. The taxi is so cheap. It costs around 60,000 Vietnamese Dong. Which 20,500 dong is 1 USD. It was about a 10 minute taxi ride. So for about 2.50 we got to take a taxi. This is really for all of Vietnam that everything is very cheap. Most meals were less than 3 dollars and a bottle of water (which we bought a lot was 10,000 dong). So anyway, we got to her aunt’s house at around 11am. Her aunt’s house is on a narrow street in a district in the city. When we first got there it was overwhelming because of all of the people and the homes. The taxi driver pointed us in a general direction of the house and we had to find the right one. After asking locals we found the house and her aunt, niece and cousin came and greeted us at the door. The entrance of the house is very “outdoorsy”. They don’t have A/C so they have a large gate in front of the house which can close if there is rain. On the ceiling there was a large fan, even though there was no A/c in the house it was still cooler than the outside which was nice.
We sat down at her aunts table and we took in the house. There was a table for 4 in the front, their two mopeds were in the entrance (the dining room also) so they would be safe from anyone trying to take them. Two of the major things I first noticed was there in the dining room there was two alters. One was dedicated to the Buddha and was decorated with flowers and offerings. The other was dedicated for ancestors or otherwise called an “Ancestor worship” alter. They had pictures of deceased relatives with flowers and offerings to keep them happy. It was so different for me to be in this kind of household because it’s different than what we are used to. We all sat down and Angela talked with her aunt (who spoke very little English), while me and Chelsea sat and smiled for a good hour. We spoke a little through Angela and we munched of coconut candy her aunt gave us while Angela’s cousin lest and came back with fresh produce to make us lunch with. We were shown up to our room on the 4th floor, we had two queen beds and a twin for the 6 of us to share (our friends were coming over later to stay). We laied on our beds and took in everything. Soaking in Vietnam and enjoying the view of the city from our balcony. It was so beautiful. A house like this is considered middle class. Angela’s Aunt’s income is about 150 American dollars a month, but the house is paid off. This salary is about the average for those in Vietnam, but since the cost of living is much less, they can get by on that much.
We laid in our beds and talked while her family made us a homemade traditional Vietnamese lunch. We were so lucky to actually have this experience. Her niece came and got us when they were ready and presented us with an amazing lunch. Everything was prepared so nicely. They made us a pork chop seasoned with a Korean style bbq sauce, white rice, soup and for dessert milk apples which was all amazing. I will show the pictures because that’s the only way to show how much they really went out of their way to not only make it taste good but look good. They decorated the plate and everything. After we ate, we helped clean the table and then went back upstairs so her Aunt could nap before an afternoon of shopping and dinner. We relaxed before heading out, because of Tet (Lunar new year) we didn’t do a lot of shopping but we did head into the flower festival and enjoyed the city, including ice cream J. Her Aunt was so sweet and tried to help us bargain with the locals as we bought things. I didn’t buy much though because I wanted to save money. After shopping we headed over to a place with traditional beef and noodle soup and we also got mango smoothies which were freshly made and fantastic! We got back to the house and met up with our friends who were staying over also so we would be together for the night. Doing this would make it easier when the bus would come to her Aunts the next morning to take us to the beach! Se we all took showers and went to bed early. But first let me explain my “shower”, to say the least they don’t have a western type shower in Vietnam or toilet paper in many places. In her aunts bathroom was a faucet over a large bucket of water, next to the large bucket is a little bucket and you manually pour the water from the small bucket over your head and all over the floor which has a drain for the water on the other side of the room. It was actually very refreshing because of the heat. Not having hot water was different but at the same time it’s not really needed for them.
Tomorrow (today) is Vietnam and since I am out of time I will blog about my rest of Vietnam after! Keep an eye out for pictures!
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