First time for everything

I am currently sitting in a café sipping on an iced coffee (trying to make the 4oz last more than 30 seconds) and watching the traffic on the street.  I wanted to relax before the big food tour I am going on tonight but I didn’t want to stay in my room all day.  I packed up my back sack with what seemed to be all the important items that I have here- I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or how long I would be gone.  My phone, computer, computer charger, camera, memory card reader, phone charger, wallet, and kindle.  As I walked the block and a half to the coffee shop the only thing I thought was – it would really suck to get robbed right now.  Well I am here and can stop worrying until the walk back home! 

Motorbike

On Tuesday after I taught my afternoon class the teacher assistant in the class with me offered to take me to dinner.  I went up to my room to get changed out of my work clothes, went to the teachers lounge to borrow a helmet and went out and hopped on the back of her MOTORBIKE!  I have talked about the traffic here a lot and it is crazy mainly because of the 1000s of motorbikes that flood the street with no plan on following any rules.  To really experience Vietnamese culture I decided that I definitely needed to be on the road on the back of a motorbike.

We took about a ten-minute drive to a more remote area of district one to a restaurant for dinner.  At dinner I told Dinh to order her favorite dishes.  She ordered two things and we split both of them. The first dish was Vietnamese chicken salad with lotus roots.  It was very good.  The chicken salad was not like we get in NY for chicken salad- all broken into small pieces.  It was two chicken legs surrounded by the lotus roots and different vegetables with a vinegar dressing. One thing I don’t understand about eating here- they give you huge pieces of meat and only chop sticks to eat it with.  How are you supposed to break off a piece of chicken with only a chopstick?  My chopstick skills have improved tremendously since I have been here, but I always feel like I am breaking so many social etiquette rules whenever I eat…oh well.  The second dish was BBQ beef with peanuts and materials to make a lettuce wrap- also very good.  For dessert we both had a coconut smoothie- coconut water mixed with coconut milk.  I wasn’t a big fan of coconut before I came here but it is growing on me. 

Then we took the trip back home!  I plan to try and go out one more time before I leave- maybe a little bit further if it is not raining!  

New Foods

Coming to Vietnam I knew I was going to be trying a lot of new foods.  I will always try everything at least once and I am not a picky eater- one of the only things I can’t stand is cilantro.  They put cilantro on everything here- everything is at least garnished with cilantro.  Sometimes it is only one little leaf on top of the most random side- it seems like they put it on sometimes because they know I don’t like it.   Not only have I tried all new Vietnamese dishes we have also been to Thai, Indian, and Korean restaurants.  With the exception of Indian all of these foods are new to me.    It is a running joke here that I am from Long Island and not from Queens like the rest of my coworkers.  Every time they are ask Michelle have you had this before and I say no their response is, “Oh that’s right you’re from Long Island.”  I will blame Long Island for not having as easy access to different ethnicities than Queens or the city but I also think part of it is because I am about four years younger than the rest of them. I usually have someone order for me and I have liked everything so far!  I’m happy I was able to have Thai and find a few staples that I like before leaving for Thailand. 

Helen, one of my coworkers here is Korean.  She found a Korean restaurant in town and we went last night.  She ordered for us and everything was delicious.  They brought the pork out to the table and cooked it on a grill in the center of the table, and the stew type dish we had was also brought out and cooked at the table on a portable burner.  Thank you Helen for teaching me about Korean food!  I plan to also try Moroccan food before I leave- there is a restaurant that has great reviews online.  

By the way a made it back to my room safely with all of my belongings!  I actually ended up using almost everything I brought with the exception of my kindle and phone charger.  I rushed out of the cafe to beat the rain and getting ready for my food tour.