Sight Seeing

2012-07-21

Today I decided that I did not want to stay in my room so I after I went to seen an apartment, I think I might sing this apartment.  The real estate agent and I went to see if I like it, what I would like to change in the apartment.   The previous tenant wrote to me and indicated that I should ask them to change the bathroom as it is pretty old and it was there before they moved in, that was like 4 years ago.  Also the kitchen has holes, these holes needs to be fixed. We made the list and the real estate agent will give it to the landlord. 

 

After I met up with one of my colleagues.  We went to a place to have lunch.  The food was okay. A bit tasteless, but the place had air conditioner and I was hungry.  After lunch I wanted to do some sight seeing so I decided to go to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.  On my way there I saw the Hanoi Pagodas and Temple.  I spent a while there looking inside the place. According to my travel book, the Pagodas were built in the 6^th century and what you see in this picture was renovated in the 17^th century and during 1812 as well. Lý Thái Tông was an emperor who ruled Vietnam from1028 to 1054.  It’s a very nice place. There is a Buddhist Temple the premises as well.  After much time exploring the place I continued my journey to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. 

 

By the time I got there, the Mausoleum was closed. I took a bit of a walk through the garden, but I was too tired so I decided to see the outside of the Mausoleum itself and come back another day to explore the place. 

It was still very hot so I decided to go home.  I looked into my bag for the address to my hotel.  I realized that I did not have it.  I know the name to my hotel, but my pronunciation is not so good, so people cannot understand me.    I sat at park looking for the hotel in my guide book, could you believe that I could not find it.  And for those of you who have traveled to a developing country, you know that there are always taxes, motorcycle taxes who always insist that they can take you to where you are going for three times the price that it would cost you and won’t leave you alone.  Well here it is no different. After much bother I decided to leave the park and walk until I know where I am going. I crossed the street to get to the other side, behind me, I heard a loud bang. There, two people on a motorcycle had collided. One got up and fell right back on to the ground while other got up all bleeding. While I was watching this, a motorcycle taxi came up to me and asks me to get on so that he can take me home.  It’s funny eh? I was like I think I will take the cab today. 

  

I ended contacting my colleague who I had just had lunch with to spell the name of the street that I live on for me so that I may provide the cab driver. 

Once I got home, I wanted to take a cold shower, however, due to the sun; I took a hot shower as the cold water was just hot.  I spent the rest of the day in the hotel, later I went to eat at Highway 4 restaurant.  I will attempt to go to the Mausoleum tomorrow

Easy day

2012-07-24




Today I went to work. I was not as much in pain as I was yesterday but still I have not slept. I took naproxen last night in addition with Tylenol. Yes I was in that much pain. My walk to work was the same old. For once since I been here, I did not care nor did I indulge in the people looking at me. I guess pain does that to me. Work was nice; I presented a log frame to the team manager, something that would make the life of project managers easier. I need to do a little tweeting here and there to perfect it.

After work, my colleague Dan and I went out for a dinner. At this point, I was starving as I stayed in the office until 18h00 for Kien; a real estate agent was supposed to pick me up to go see an apartment. He called and said tomorrow would be best.

We went to a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was nice and the waiters were very nice as well. One thing that I realize here is that when the waiters knows that your are a foreigner, and you know for me it is very very difficult for them to tell. Right! So yes, when you are a foreigner and speak English, they come and try to speak English with you. Nothing against that, it’s just something I have notice.

So while talking to Dan a waiter came and had like 30 minutes conversation with us about what we were doing in Vietnam and how she would like to perfect her English. I think I should start doing the with my Vietnamese. Trust me I suck.

After dinner Dan took the cab home from the restaurant. The restaurant is by the hotel so I walked to the hotel.

Madame, Madame, Madame, Madam

23-07-2010

Monday hmm, well nothing much happen today I went to work wearing my Ghana outfit. I got some compliment from the workers at the hotel as well as from co-workers. While I did not take a picture today, this is an old picture of me wearing it.

There is a man whom I took a picture of while walking one day as he kept looking at me. Every morning now, he waves and says “Madame, Madame, Madame, Madame” and waves again. It’s funny but also odd that he repeat's it four times every morning and afternoon.

Beggars can’t be chooser. This way is better; at least he is not just staring at me. But I must say it is nice to see him when I pass by.

Sick

2012-07-22

I did not go to the Mausoleum today. I was a little sick last night so I stayed in the Hotel the whole day sleeping. Around 15h00 I decided that I needed some air so I went out for a walk. It was a fairly nice walk. I have seen a Samsung shop around my area one day while with some colleagues; I decided to look for it. I want to invest in a smart phone. After much looking and exploring I did not find it.

I managed to walk around the area several times and window shop. Now I know where to go and get some plane fabric should I ever need any. I came back to the whole and crashed. Did I tell you it was yet again very very hot and humid today?

Do you see the fan outside?  This is how humid it really is in this country. There are fans outside.  

The Experiment

2012-07-20

Now today was a fun day, I decided that instead of getting annoyed with people when they looked at me, I would turn my camera on them and take their picture.  In other words them being the object. This experiment was fun.  Some people did not like it, as they turned away while others were very happy to oblige.  Some even asked me to come closer so that I may take a picture of them

 This was not clearly what I expected but of course I had fun with it.  So in these pictures you see people laughing because they see me, while you will also see others because well they were happy that I was taking their picture. Either way you will see some teeth. You know how I clearly encourage that.

These girls turned around when they saw me pointing the camera

this guy was just plane old laughing and embarrassed 

These guys turned when they saw my camera

  

I see these women every day and they look at me everyday

  

When I got to work, I was informing my colleague Jonathan about what I did on my way to work.  He informed me that culturally I should be more careful when taking pictures of old people as they think of it as taking some aspect of the soul. As for the young children, there is issue with child trafficking here so people may assume that I am taking their pictures to sell them.   Note to self!

I love it when people wave 

While walking home I did the same.  Some even called me to take a picture of them.  

The Best Day

2012-07-19

Today was by far one of the best days that I have had here. I walked to work and yes I got the
same stares but I was not as bothered as I am typically. I got to work, and work was okay. I am
still trying to find my footing. I hope I find it soon. At lunch we went to a local place to eat. You
know a food is good and cheap when you have to go through many alleyways to get to it. So this
is what we did. However the food took a long long time. The reason as explained by one of our
Vietnamese counterpart is because it is the first day of the Lunar month.



After lunch Quan Anh, the real estate agent picked me up from the restaurant to look at some
places. The places we saw were alright. I wanted to get a two bedroom apartment but now I will
just get one bedroom, stay in there for six months and take my time and find a good one. Reason
being is that I am really really tired of staying in this hotel, I like to cook and eating out is getting
very very costly.

After that I came back to work and did more work. At 17h30, another real estate agent came to
pick me up so that we may look at other apartments. On my way there I filmed the crazy road
of Hanoi and the traffic. While in traffic a lot of people were staring at me, so I decided to start
filming as well. Then a guy who was staring saw me point the camera at him, he was so excited
that he decided to wave and gives me the peace sign. It was funny, I was laughing so hard, and I
hope I did not move the camera. The houses that were shown to me were way above my budget
and out of the area where I wanted to be. so for now I think I will sign with Quan Anh and get the
one that is close by my work colleague, I want to take a taxi with him and another colleague who
lives in the area but is currently in Canada to work. After looking at the place, the agent got me a
motorcycle taxi cab home as he lived in the Tay Ho area.

I was going to go up to my room and order some Italian food but I thought it would be best if I
go to Highway 4, a restaurant to eat as it is cheaper and also I saw a friendly face the last time
I was there. I was very happy that I went. The guy that I saw last time was there and he was
very happy to see me. Tomorrow I have Vietnamese class, so while waiting for the food I thought
I might brush up on my lesson but then the waiter came to me and decided to find out what I
was reading. He helped me with my pronunciation and greetings. He also taught me more
words. This went on for the whole dinner. After he indicated that we should talk more so that I
may improve my Vietnamese so that he can also improve his English.

I left the restaurant to go home. I received the same response, people looking at me and
signaling their friends to also take a look and laughing. I saw Antoinette, one of my colleagues
again. They said that they have just come from the movies. It cost 70,000 VND which is really
really cheap, around $4CDN. We spoke a bit and now I am in my hotel room.

The guy at the restaurant made my day I guess

I hope it continues to be like this

Just Another Day

2012-07-18


Today was like any other day. I went to look at some apartments in the afternoon. I think I found
some apartments that I want. Well not really, I will just take the one beside my work colleague.
The furniture is not so good and I asked them to change it. They at first refused but now they
said okay. Kien the real estate agent said that he would like me to come and sign it. I will sit
on it until tomorrow. I feel kind of bad as Quan Anh has been taking me around to look at some
apartments. Also she tried to ask them to change it but they refused.

 The view, which I like

After work I came home, I ordered some pizza and called it a night. I was too tired.

 The bathroom which I really dislike

I am sure you can tell by the length of this blog as well.

How will I manage my hair?

2012-07-17


Today while I was at work, I met a guy. He is a MEL person as well. He works for one of
the affiliates. He is here to do a few weeks of evaluations for the projects of the affiliates. Very
nice man. He has worked in Africa for 10 years and is currently doing his PHD at Oxford. He is
Canadian as well.

While talking about monitoring and evaluation and other things that has to do with our job. Also
about his stay and adventure in west, East, Southern and Northern Africa. After much of this
talk he asked me about my stay here and how I liked it. I told him it was alright. He said he
understood and is sure that I might get some glare and gawk from people. That is very true I
said. We continued our conversation along this line. he explained that his work could some times
be difficult on his wife and children, especially places where they are not use to black people.

The funniest question he asked me was my hair, how would I manage to maintain it. I was like
what?! He is like your hair, have I met anyone who may be able to do it for me. I told him I am
able to do my own hair so I will try to manage that. But I will also attempt to plan my vacation
around it. Its true, have you seen the amount of hair I have, and you know I like my braids small.

He told me that his wife is Malawian and traveling with her and their children, it could be difficult
for his wife and sometimes the children at times so he understand some of the issues that I am
experiencing.

In the mean time we talk about work, and I explained to him that I would appreciate some
assistance with MEL, as I am still not a specialist. He agreed and indicated that he would help
me out.

Today is a good day I must say. Yes I got the same reaction from people to day but this guy
made my day

Yesss!!!!!!!!

Snapped

So I just about had enough today.  While walking to work, I snapped at three people.  This was a surprise as when I left my hotel, I was like I am not going to be bothered, I am not going to be bothered. As I got to two blocks, a man kept looking at me.  He was looking at me from afar and when I got close he was still looking at me.  So I stopped beside him and I was like “Yes?” he looked at me surprised and realized that I was talking to him because he was looking at me.  He then put his head down very quickly.  I was shock of myself. And I was thinking, what have I done? Why did I even do that?  Two seconds later, the same, I stopped beside a guy and asked him what he was looking at?  He did the same.  Then I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh! What is wrong with me?  I should not let them bother me.  But then a block later I actually stopped and just looked at a guy while he looked at me as well. He also realized what was going on.

Now I am not sure why I did that, but of course I know why because I was tired and sick of it.  It is out of my character to have let this bother me, but of course I have expressed in every blog that I am very much bothered. 

I got into work and I felt disappointed in myself that I lost control. But I guess it was bound to happen.   I spoke to my mother, who happen to call me and I expressed what I had done.  She informed me that it solve anything and they would continue to look at me. But I knew this already and I continued to act the way I did. 

I expressed this to my work colleague and he said at least all I did was asked them what they were looking at.  He has done far more worst.  Either way it does not excuse what I did.  However, I must admit that I had some sort of satisfaction out of it. 

After work I walked home and well the stares were the same. No! I did not snap at them. While walking to my hotel, saw a restaurant and I walked in.  The restaurant is called Highway 4, very nice.  The waiter after staring at me for a while decided to make conversation with me. He was a nice guy and I attempted my best to speak slowly.  He understood me and I the same. 

After dinner, I went to my hotel and later went out with Ross, the guy that I met the night when I got lost, you know the “English Gentleman”.  I just wanted to get out of my hotel a little so we went to a restaurant.  We had a good conversation, more or less what he was doing here and how long he has been here. It is nice to meet someone outside of my work. 

I got home late and I went to sleep

Oh I hope this does not happen again 

Bonjour Viet Nam Hotel

2012-07-15

Hi,  

Today I spent the whole day at the hotel; I only went out to look at some apartments and also to eat.  Why did I stay home you ask? Well because I have been talking to my friends and family back come and I have not really gotten over my jet legged, I thought I would sleep it off today and get back into the time zone here.  Hopefully it will work.  This was not a good idea as my afternoon sleep kept me up. I ended talking to Bertha who is currently in Uganda doing a mission.  We spoke until like 2am time in Hanoi.  

Bonjour Vietnam Hotel

Overall it was nice to hear from her and all of the good things that are going on with her.  These good things could not have happen to a nicer person.  

This is by far the shortest post I have had since starting this blog.  

Until next time  

An English Gentleman

2012-07-14

Hi, today I spent the better part of my morning looking at some apartments.  We went to mostly Tay Ho.  Typically the real estate agent would pick you up and take you to the place.  She asked me to meet her at her office.  I got into a taxi and the taxi drove me to Tay Ho.  Well it ended up dropping me off at a hotel where the girl met me.  She did not come with an extra helmet so I got on the bike without a helmet, this turned me off completely.  We went to see three apartments.  I called this real estate agent because I saw a flat online that I really liked. When we got the apartment which the flat was in, it looked very shabby.  Once we got in there, the apartment looked nothing like what I saw online. 

 Restaurant is in this area

She showed me two other flats, they were nice but the area was way too far.  It would take me a while to get to work, and also to get to the center of everything.  For now I have been here for a week and I have no bicycle or a motorbike.

After I asked her to drop me off at Clara’s place as she said she had cook lasagna and I should come over.  The food was really good. It was nice to have some food from back home.  I know I should not be complaining now, especially since I just got here.  But it was also nice to eat at a house instead of at the hotel or a restaurant. 

 Can you believe it? I found a ponytail shop

After, we went to walk around the city.  I cannot tell you the roads or anything as we were two blind mice walking around, exploring the city.  We went by the city market I forgot the name but it was nice, we did not go inside, we just went by there and I managed to purchase sunglasses.  Here it is very good to have one. One, because it is sunny as hell here; and two, because on a motorbike, it prevent the debris. 

We went to a place called Puku after; it is open 24/7.  This was a surprise to me as it is a general knowledge that bars closes at midnight.  I was informed that apparently, while they close at midnight, they will remain open as long as people are inside the establishments.  Note to self. 

While at Puku, Dan called me to ask if I wanted to meet up with him and an ex-colleague of the organization.  We met up at Mediterraneano; I suspect it is Italian as they mostly serve Italian food. It was nice and so was the food.  For the first time in my life I order Salad as the main meal.  The reason why I say this is because I personally believe salad is an appetizer to the main meal never the main one.  I don’t believe salad is a meal. That is just me.  But I order it today because I was not hungry as a result of the lasagna and I did not want to be rude and not eat.  The woman that we met was very nice and informative.  She is now working for a Canadian environmental company. 

After the completion of dinner I attempt to walk home.  Man was this an adventure!  The walk should have taken me 15 minutes, however because I did not know my way home and I am horrible at reading maps, which I was using.  Please note I have no sense of direction.  So I got lost for like an hour.  Why didn’t I ask for direction? I did ask for directions but they insisted on over charging me to drop me off. As I knew I was close to my hotel for I had recognized some land marks, so I opted out of this option.  Finally I went to a hotel to ask a receptionist.  He said he did not know.  Just when I was about to leave, and English gentleman drove up on his red motorcycle.  And I had a huge sigh.  He realized that I was completely lost.  He contacted his friend to get directions to my hotel. While waiting for his friend, I needed to go to the bathroom so we went up to his hotel; I used the bathroom and checked the directions on his computer.  After he walked me home to my hotel.  Now that I am writing this and reflecting on this, I realize that maybe I should not have gone up to his hotel room. In my defense, I really had to go to the bathroom and I consumed at least three liters of water that day.  Plus you know I always have to go to the bathroom so don’t be surprise. 

That was my day on Saturday 

My Confidence is Building Up

2012-07-13

Hey. 

Today was good. I walked to work with my heads high. I refuse to make anything bother me and that is exactly how I felt when I was going to work.  The walk. I am sure people looked at me, because I felt their eyes on me.  However I looked straight at where I was going and thought it would be best not to indulge them by holding peoples glance.  So I did not, but I did catch people’s eyes and well they looked away.  However, two people said "hi" to me on my way to work while some others nodded. Which I did as well.  

Work was nice.  I did a lot of what I want to do, and have some clear understand of my mandate.  More information was provided to me with regards to the steps that this organization including the forms used at each stage of their project.  These are nice and make it easy for me to know the organization a bit.  

I met a new girl today, very sweet, she work for one of the affiliates.  

I went to look at apartments today. They were well not what I wanted but it was nice to look at.  I am sure it was not memorable as I don’t recall how they look now. We saw two places.  

After work I went to my hotel, I got in right before the rain.  I wanted to go out and eat but I was too hot and too tired to go anywhere. I am disappointed to say that I order Italian food again.  This one was not the best, horrible actually.  

 

For the rest of the night, I talk to friends and family and later watched a movie called Mooz-Lum.  This is one of the best movies I seen in a long time.  I now remember why I like independent movies.  

Until next time

It’s my birthday

2012-07-12


Today is my birthday and I went all the way. Well, as all the way as I can possibly go in a new country with no family or friends here. In the morning I had my blue jeans on and a t-shirt. But I realize it was my birthday so I wanted to make the best of it. I changed in to my suit dress. No not the one that got me in trouble in Zimbabwe but a different one. I wore the earrings that Emelia gave me and my beige shoes, only high heels that I do not have to stuff in order for it to fit.

Speaking of fit shoes, I need to buy lots and lots before I leave this country. Okay back to what I was say. Well I wore all of that and walked to work. My head was as high as it could possibly go because I know I looked good; and my high heels, for those of you who knows me can imagine that the heels enhances my walk more than I like, but I had no shame as I knew I looked good.

Of course my walk from the hotel to work was no different than any other day. Still people would look and so would I. Actually adults started saying hi. This was a first. Normally it would be children. So yes, people looked, and looked, and looked. I don’t know how I felt; I was a bit nervous as I though maybe my walk
was a bit of an attention getter, then my dress. But then I realize f$*% it, as if they don’t look at me everyday. As for my walk. I was very well blessed with it; it is not like I can help it either.
lol

At work, it was nice. I got some happy birthdays thrown my way. I contacted two of my work colleagues and two friends that I had met here to set a time for dinner. Mind you all Canadians, I met them through work colleagues.

I asked one of my work colleagues to go with me to the bank as I needed to get a bank card.

On our way there Tran*, asked me about my stay here so far; she wanted to know if I was having any difficulties. I was not too sure about being forward about my lack of comfort with the locals so I was going around the question. She is dating someone from West Africa so I asked her what her boyfriend thought
about being here. She said that he found it difficult but he is okay now. However his two friends are having some difficulties, one left after a year and the other, his wife and children left after three months. They found that they were targets of racism. According to Tran* as a Vietnamese dating a black person here, it is difficult but she does not care so much. People do comment and are rude to her. She tried to put it in a good perspective that few people have traveled to places where there are racial diversity. It was a nice way to put it, but I had considered that. It mad me feel a bit better but still, the stares and the pointing are uncomfortable. She asked me again. I told her to be honest, I was having difficulties as I did not like the reaction and people are not settling here. But I guess we will see how it goes.

But before that I went to see two other apartments from the expatriate area that I looked at yesterday. I think I might stay there. One reason is that I feel more comfortable there. You can take it anyway you like. Secondly the air is better there. This one is very much true, and that is one of the selling point.Oh and the
lake view. It’s crazy. I love it.

I was also thinking of taking some dance classes and I was informed if I wanted to play soccer in organized teams and do some of those extra circular activities, the area, West Lake has plenty. So I think it might be my new location. The apartments that I saw were nice but for one the bathroom did not do it for me
although the view was nice. The second there was no bathroom outside only in the bedroom. I will have visitors going to my bedroom to use the bath room. Hmmm, I don’t like that too much.

After that we went to the bank to get me a new bank card. It was a pleasant thing to do. I got stares at the bank but it was less. Something I like.

After work I went to my hotel to change and talk to one of my friends B. It is always nice to speak to her as she is a funny and honest. Something that I love. While talking to her my colleague came to pick me up for my Birthday Dinner.

One of my colleagues, a tall Caucasian from Canada as well expressed to me that he had difficulties being a tall white guy here. He got the same reactions, however admittedly, my skin colour make me stand out a bit more. And of course create more reaction. For now he has gotten over some of the things, but I should wait and see.

Dinner was nice. We went to an Indian place called Namaste. Very nice food and all. We had some great discussions and over all a good night. Later we walk to a drinking place called La Place. It is near the catholic Cathedral. This picture does not do it justice but it was nice from the outside. While I am in this
country I will attempt to go in for mass service. Apparently they have a service in English; this is good since my Vietnamese is none existent. The drinking café was nice we talked more about Canadian politics and how Stephen Harper is destroying our country.

My birthday could not have been better, I spoke with my mother, niece and nephew. This was the highlight of my day.

Until next time