Apartment Searching

2012-07-11

Today I made the trip from home to work. Once again it was not much different. People would point to their friends to look at me, while motorcyclist would turn around and look at me as well. How did I feel? Same old. I would hold the gaze of some so that they would turn away while others felt no sham and just kept looking. Does it bother me? Of course it does. More than I want it to. But now that I am writing it down, I don’t think I should be bothered.

As for work, I worked all morning and went to look at apartments all afternoon. This went from 13h30 until 19h00. By that I got to the hotel I was thirsty, hot, and hungry, I could not wait to get to the hotel. Once I got to the hotel. I ordered food as all I wanted was a cold shower and relax on my bed.

For the apartments, the first real estate agent showed me two different apartments. One I wanted to see as I like it before. We checked it again and I realized that it was the kitchen that I did not like. It was very small and old in some ways. It had an oven, so that was good. We checked another one, very nice and great view but it did not do it for me.

The second real estate agent showed me two okay places but the third was very nice. It is in the expatriate area. It was very nice. I like the view and the place. The washroom is very very big and nice. Ideally, I would have liked a two bedroom. And the balcony is small. It’s like a one meter box. My workmate live two apartments down and his balcony is very big. Once we were leaving from this apartment I saw a brawn person. I was really really excited. I am such a loser eh? Well if you have experienced what I have been experiencing you would feel the same way. Of course I said hi to him.

The third real estate agent took me to the same area as well. All the places I saw were very nice. But the views were not the best.

Until next time

I don’t like the stares

10-07-2012

Today 10-07-2010 I woke up early yet again. I am actually surprise that I woke up early since Alex and my Mom called me while I was asleep. I went to bed early as well because I was too tired and still very jet legged. Walking to work was another uneventful journey as I got some gawk and laughs. But I realize that once you look back at people then they look at way. I don’t know how I feel about this. I am mostly annoyed by the ignorance and the lack of decency. Like I said earlier, the children are much better as they glance and go about their business while the adults will stare at me when I am coming and continue to stare after I pass. Bloody ridiculous.

I went to look at an apartment today. It was an apartment that had potential if it was to be cleaned up and painted. However I did not like the fact that one has to pay internet, cable, utility and other benefits separately. In Canada I would need to do that, but here they rent it all together and this is the only apartment that was separated. Also if I pay it separate, it would come from my pocket however if it is together, it would come from the organization. The agent was nice, very young girl who has just graduated from university. I asked her to look around for a two bedroom apartment or a house for me.

We went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. It was very nice. I met one of my colleague Steve* who was in the field. Very funny man. He asked me about my experience with the people so far and explained to him about my discomfort. He informed me that if I would feel more comfortable if I would stay in the expatriate areas. This is an idea that I am considering now. I told myself that I would never lived in expatriate areas or only visit expatriate bars when I work abroad, but sadly I am considering it in this case. We will see how I feel as I get use to this country.

 

After work we walk home. I walked with Antoinette home. Well the stares were the same. This time people laughed very loud and I was not comfortable at all. But like I said earlier when you look at people they look away. And this time I stared back. According to Antoinette, they “lose face” once you stare back at them. But I attempted to hold the gaze of people who looked at me while they were walking towards me. I felt a bit of a satisfaction if I have to say.

After I got home, I wanted to go out to find something to eat as the hotel only serves breakfast. It was raining heavily and the gust attendant informed me that perhaps I can order in. That is what I did. To be honest, I was happy I did not have to go outside. Not because of the rain but because of the people and the stares. Now I am in my hotel room eating my Italian food. Pretty good actually.

Let’s call it a night... Until next time

First Saturday in Hanoi

2012-07-07


Today (Saturday July 7th 2012) I spent the first half of my day looking for an apartment to live in. I informed the real estate agent that my limit is $750USD. He took me to see some apartments between the ranges of 600USD and 1000USD. I informed him that some of the apartments were nice while others were well, not so pleasant. I was looking for a two bedroom apartment so that I may have one just in case any of my friends visit. Hint! Hint! Hint! (This means it would nice to have visitors here).

Inside the last apartment of the day we saw, my colleague John* lives there so I called him up. John* decided to take me into town. John* is a very nice guy. He has been there for three months. As a colleague, he has been informative and helpful with things inside and out of the office. I am very grateful to have met
him.

We I took a stroll through the city. We went by the Ho Kiem Lake in Hanoi. The city itself is very nice. It is very modern city. Nothing like what it has been recently portrayed in western media. But let’s be realistic, when western media portray developing countries they are not the best, i.e. assuming that African live on trees etc. I was told to take some landscape pictures. I hope these help.

So back to the stroll, we later went to a coffee shop. Very nice place. Here one can see over the lake and a view of the city as well. We talk about each other, family and friends back home and such. After this we walked back to his apartment so that he may drive me home.

The day overall was good but I did not like the stares and the finger pointing that I got from the locals. I was very annoyed and somewhat disturb by the whole experience. People would point and tap their friends to look at me. Also some would point and laugh. I understand that there is limited exposure to black people in Vietnam, but the reactions were very ignorant. I was more annoyed by the adults as they would be the ones to point and laugh or tap their friends to look at me. The children are much better as they would just look and turn away to go about their business.

  

  

The television channels have western channels including MTV, the Diva channel, CBC, sadly CNN among other television channels.

Journey from Toronto to Hanoi

2012-07-06


The organization that I am working for book my flight for me to come to Hanoi. The flight was Air Canada. From Toronto to Vancouver is just over 5 hours. On this flight food was not served. If one wanted food they would have to purchase it. This is ridiculous as the flight is almost as long as going to London, UK. According to the flight attendant, Air Canada does not provide food on domestic flight. I understand if it is a short flight, but long flight, that is just cheap. For the next flight I will ask the organization not to use Air Canada.

A second disbelief that I had with Air Canada is luggage allowance. In international flight, Air Canada allow only on luggage while other airlines allow two. My contract is two years and my organization indicated that they would pay for two extra luggages; as a result I only made three luggages. I must admit one luggage contained my hair products. I am not high maintenance but I did not expect to find a lot of product for black people’s hair in Vietnam so I brought my own. Let’s stay on topic. So yes, when I got to the airport they said I had one

luggage and the two extra luggages I will need to pay for it. It was good that I made three luggages because I was still within my limit. But just so you know, the first luggage is $75Cdn and the second is $225. Very expensive!

The flight was a long flight and attempt was made to rest. But I did not sleep much as I knew I would arrive very late in Hanoi. Also I did not want to miss out on the movies on the flight. But disappointedly the movies were not that good. The foreign ones were very nice, so I spend my time watching Canadian movies and foreign films. I must say those were better than the Hollywood ones that were on the flight.

 Japan airport

  

Upon arrival to immigration in Hanoi, they saw that my visa had the date 29/ 07/2012 instead of 29/06/2012. The Vietnam embassy in Ottawa made a mistake. The immigration here insisted that I pay for a new visa. I insisted that it was them that made a mistake and I was not going to pay for a visa. After much
argument at the airport and my passport being passed around from one person to another; because only a few people understood what I was saying, they said I should take the flight back to Ottawa and get it changed as it is not the fault of Hanoi immigration. So we agreed that I pay $10USD and contact the embassy for my money back. So I paid and got a new visa. I will now call the Ottawa embassy for my money back. By the way this process took like an hour.

Upon leaving immigration, I went to get my luggage. When I got there two of my luggage was there but a third was not there. Where is this luggage I ask? Well it was not there. So I went to the lost and found counter. The person that was there was very helpful but had difficulties listing to what I was saying. He told
me the luggage was mine. I told him the luggage was not mine. He opened for me to look at the content in the bag and he believed the luggage was mine. He opened it, and I told him the bag and the content was not mine. We looked at the baggage tag number on my boarding pass and the tag number on the suitcase
which did not belong to me and discovered that it was the same. Apparently the ticket service in Toronto but my tag number on someone else’s baggage and vice verse.

After much standing at the airport I went to call the person who was meeting me at the airport to come with me to the “lost and found” counter. I was very happy to have called this girl in as she spoke fluent Vietnamese. Note to self, learn Vietnamese. So when this person came to speak with them we managed
to sort this issue out. This took another 30 minutes or so.

After this, we drove 45 minutes from the airport to my hotel in downtown Hanoi. At this point I was physically tired and mentally alert. 

Why this blog?

2012-07-06



I will try to be as forward in this bog as possible as I like to keep things to myself.
The word "forward" is loosely used in this context as those who knows me
knows that I am very straight to the point type of a person. I am a bit uneasy
about making this blog as I feel that I am inviting people into my personal life. As
well as talking about myself as I do not like talking about myself. But I love my
friends and family and they would like to know what is going on with me when
I am abroad. This is the main reason why this blog is being created. They do
not like the surprise emails that I send to them, especially when things happen.
Basically they do not like the shocking emails be it good, bad, experiences that
are completely bizarre or just outrageous.

With all of that said, let me introduce myself. I am from Canada and work for
an international INGO's. My previous works has mainly been in Africa. I have
had the opportunity to be in West, East, and Southern Africa. I love all of those
countries and the people. I met great people and have enjoyed my experiences,
both the good and the bad. Those experiences have made me the person that I
am today and I am very grateful for them. God has also looked after me and that
I am also very grateful.

This is my first time working in Asia and it is also my first visit. I am a bit nervous
in so many levels; I am starting a new position with a new organization and going
to a new continent. I agree that this experience would be interesting for me to
document and also for my friends a family to read about. So here goes...