KizCity

We went on a field trip yesterday to Kiz City.  It is a model city for the kids to play in- the kids loved it and I loved the concept.  The kids look at it as an amusement park, but they don’t realize how much they are learning while they are there.  It is set up like a main street of a town.  They have all different buildings that they kids can go into- a children’s clinic, a fire house, a fashion studio, the news station, an ice cream shop, a salon, the bank, etc.  Each kid has a “checking account” at the bank.  When you pay for the ticket they each get a certain amount of money to play with.  Certain storefronts are a “job” where the kids work to make more money to play with.  For example if you go to engineer school to learn about cars you make money, but if you go to driving school and drive the go karts you have to spend your money.  At the end of the day you can deposit your money in the bank and take it out the next time you come! 

I loved watching the fashion shows that some of the students walked in- partly because that storefront was air-conditioned!  I also loved when all of the students came up to me at the end of the day and we so excited about how much money they earned!  One student, Max couldn’t find his backpack at the end of the day.  Dennis took him around to all of the places he went to throughout the day and they couldn’t find it. Max was looking pretty bummed out so I asked him, “What was in your backpack?”  He said, “ Three books, a couple pens, and my eraser.”  I responded, “At least you didn’t have too many important things in there, do you think your parents are going to be mad?”  He said maybe, but he looked so upset I felt bad for him.  Good news is we found his backpack in the bank right before we left-wheww! 

I almost forgot- three boys from my group were missing when we lined up for the bus.  We knew they didn’t leave the park and there were very few people there besides us.  I wasn’t too worried and I left the stressing out to all of the people around me speaking Vietnamese really fast.  I helped by keeping the rest of my group quiet and in line while we were waiting.  About 15 minutes later the boys showed up- they were too busy playing to listen to any of the ten announcements made.  Oh well!  

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.

Mekong Delta

This past weekend we went on an overnight trip to the Mekong Delta!  We left HCMC around 8am and drove to Ben Tre province.  We took a motorboat ride along the river and stopped at a few different places to see how the families live.  First we stopped at a farm that made bricks.  Then we stopped at a farm that specialized in making honey.  The last stop was at a farm that specialized in making coconut candy.  After that we took at motorcart ride (video attached) through a small village.  Then we got onto a row boat and had a trip down a small canal to the restaurant for lunch.  As we walked up to the tables they each had a whole fish on them.  The waitress came over and showed us how to pick the fish apart and make a fresh spring roll from it. The fish still had the scales on and that was alittle hard to get past at first but it tasted pretty good! I can't remember what else we ate there but it was delicious.  We got back on the tour bus and went to Can Tho, where we stayed for the night.
We had a set dinner at the hotel and then went into the town via a shuttle from the hotel to explore for a little while.

The next morning we had breakfast bright and early and then went to the Cai Rang floating market.  This floating market is supposed to be the biggest floating market in Mekong.  Its the one that everyone from the smaller villages goes to buy wholesale and then bring back to their markets. We got there a little after 8am and market was winding down- it is the most crowded from 4a to 7a.  Our tour guide explained to us that during that time it is also very loud from the noise of all of the motorboats and it is more peaceful at this time.  I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed the loudness and boat fumes but I was really looking forward to seeing the market at its peak.  After the market we went to a fruit farm and had a sample of fresh fruit.  As a group we all tried durian together.  Durian is supposed to be very smelly (stinky smell) it was described to me as almost rancid.  In many hotels in Southeast Asia durian is banned because of the smell.   I wasn't sure how I felt about this but I'm always upto try anything once.  We peeled back the skin and I was waiting for the smell to hit me- but it never did!  Don't believe all the hype!  Durian does not smell that bad and it actually tasted pretty good.  I don't think I will be eating durian everyday but I definitely had a good experience with it my first time.  I don't have any documentation of us eating durian because my camera died but as soon as someone uploads their pictures/video I will update this post.  I also tried jackfruit, which I thought was stronger smelling than durian but it tasted pretty good.  I really like papaya and I've had it a few times since I've been here.  After the fruit garden we took a nice long boat ride back to the hotel and had about an hour to kill before we began the 5 hour journey home to HCMC.

Brick makers right off the river. 

Bee hive that makes the honey I tasted.

Honey and tea shot- very sweet but very good!

The family played some traditional music for us.

Motorcart ride through the village.

Luy our guide from SEAMEO rowing the boat.

Tara and Helen!

Carla 1 rowing the boat

Our whole fish that we picked clean!

Roll made from the fish.

Beautiful sunset at the hotel before dinner =)
Felt like home.

Pup- just chillin'

On route to the floating market.

Floating market.

This woman was selling jackfruit and she looked so happy- probably because she was ripping off all of the tourists.  I wasn't able to capture her big smile.

Fruit garden.

Sunday was the first day that I've been in Vietnam that it didn't rain- blue skies and fluffy clouds all day!

  PS- If anyone knows a way to make blogger format pictures in a nicer lay out please let me know!