Hanoi ... he's so hot right now!
After arriving in Vietnam on August the 14th, the education abroad program (EAP) group from the UC has had a whirlwind couple of weeks. We arrived in Hanoi in the midmorning on Sunday. We met our program director Gerard in the terminal at the airport and changed money there.
Noi Bai International Airport itself made a striking impression on me as my first point of contact with Vietnam. Immediately I noticed that the tarmac was veined with cracks and fissures, green with weeds growing out of the ground beneath the cement. It gave me the sense that the jungle was moving in, trying to reclaim its lost land from this foreign, inorganic installation. Ducking out of the plane (as I am forced to fit my 6'4" frame through doors made for normal sized people) the first people I saw were Vietnamese military soldiers with pea green uniforms and red trimmed hats. These men are part of the same army that was fighting desperately against Americans of my father's generation - and just more than thirty years ago. It was only about 10 years ago that the US and Vietnam had no official diplomatic relations, and there I was smiling and being greeted at the doorstep of the country. We passed through customs and passport inspection with no problems except for the expected language barrier for those of us who don't speak any Vietnamese. We were waived through the customs despite having filled out our declaration forms incorrectly (thanks to Vietglish translations). The officer looked at us - knew we were no trouble and just waived us through. That simple. There was less bureaucracy getting into this supposedly backwards, communist country than there is getting through the US customs and declarations barriers.
When we finally left the air-conditioned terminal we felt the full effect of the oppressive heat and humidity. Vietnam has heat and humidity that is unheard o fin California. I wasn't really prepared for how hot and muggy it was. We hopped on the bus and rolled towards our new home of the next four months. The views out the windows of the bus were amazing for me, having spent my whole life in the Bay Area and never really having gotten out of the country tha tmuch at all. Unhelmeted Vietnamese families whizzed by, four to a motorscooter. Construction spreads into the suburbs of Hanoi. Small houses for farmers and workers, huge houses for the owners of industry and (probably) party leaders. People casually cross freeways on foot. Vietnam appears to be leaping from the third world to the first thanks to the indomitable work ethic and unbreakable spirit of the Vietnamese people and the opening of the country to FDI and less fettered domestic and international commerce.
After dropping our stuff off at the dorms we all went out to dinner together. We had an incredible meal at a restaurant on the top of a Hanoi roof. The food was great - the people were better. This was the first time we could sit down and talk to each other. People gradually came out of their shells as the shots of rice alcohol kept coming out of the kitchen. The group is really cohesive and everyone has something to contribute to the whole. Granted, I'm a very easy going person, but I can honestly say that I genuinely like and enjoy the company of every person in our group. Even now, two weeks after the program began, we still haven't really splintered. I see the first signs of cohesive groups being formed around central elements of lifestyle like comfortability with partying and drinking and academic intensity, but luckily these cleavages are largely cross-cutting. None of the roommate situations have presented problems yet either - thankfully.
Speaking of roommates: Gerard had us pick our roomies largely blindly. We had all known each other for a few hours at most and we were picking our roommates for the next four months. Better than the random assignment in the dorms but shy of ideal. However, my roommate situation couldn't have gone any better. My roommate, Sean, is a fun-loving, Berkeleyite who is extremely considerate and respectful of me as a roommate. We differ on political viewpoints (he is a staunchly conservative Republican) although I think that we can learn a lot from each other. It's good for me to get out of the echo chamber of one-sided Berkeley political discussions. Plus, we share a love of country, music, and booze that bridges most of the cultural gap. I think, god willing, we'll be friends for a long time after the program ends in December.
Over the next few days, Gerard took us to visit a number of restaurants that showcased the best cuisine that Hanoi has to offer. Everywhere we went there was great food, cheap booze and lots of fun. We toured the area around Ho Hoan Kiem (lake of the returned sword), which is the heart of the city, the French administrative quarter south of the lake and some of the Vietnamese shopping district to the north of the lake. Hanoi is a charming city that has something to offer everyone. It has clubs for young people, museums for fogeys and academics, lakes and picturesque scenery and architecture for artsy types, food for gastronomic conneiseurs, and lots and lots of shopping for, well, women.
Noi Bai International Airport itself made a striking impression on me as my first point of contact with Vietnam. Immediately I noticed that the tarmac was veined with cracks and fissures, green with weeds growing out of the ground beneath the cement. It gave me the sense that the jungle was moving in, trying to reclaim its lost land from this foreign, inorganic installation. Ducking out of the plane (as I am forced to fit my 6'4" frame through doors made for normal sized people) the first people I saw were Vietnamese military soldiers with pea green uniforms and red trimmed hats. These men are part of the same army that was fighting desperately against Americans of my father's generation - and just more than thirty years ago. It was only about 10 years ago that the US and Vietnam had no official diplomatic relations, and there I was smiling and being greeted at the doorstep of the country. We passed through customs and passport inspection with no problems except for the expected language barrier for those of us who don't speak any Vietnamese. We were waived through the customs despite having filled out our declaration forms incorrectly (thanks to Vietglish translations). The officer looked at us - knew we were no trouble and just waived us through. That simple. There was less bureaucracy getting into this supposedly backwards, communist country than there is getting through the US customs and declarations barriers.
When we finally left the air-conditioned terminal we felt the full effect of the oppressive heat and humidity. Vietnam has heat and humidity that is unheard o fin California. I wasn't really prepared for how hot and muggy it was. We hopped on the bus and rolled towards our new home of the next four months. The views out the windows of the bus were amazing for me, having spent my whole life in the Bay Area and never really having gotten out of the country tha tmuch at all. Unhelmeted Vietnamese families whizzed by, four to a motorscooter. Construction spreads into the suburbs of Hanoi. Small houses for farmers and workers, huge houses for the owners of industry and (probably) party leaders. People casually cross freeways on foot. Vietnam appears to be leaping from the third world to the first thanks to the indomitable work ethic and unbreakable spirit of the Vietnamese people and the opening of the country to FDI and less fettered domestic and international commerce.
After dropping our stuff off at the dorms we all went out to dinner together. We had an incredible meal at a restaurant on the top of a Hanoi roof. The food was great - the people were better. This was the first time we could sit down and talk to each other. People gradually came out of their shells as the shots of rice alcohol kept coming out of the kitchen. The group is really cohesive and everyone has something to contribute to the whole. Granted, I'm a very easy going person, but I can honestly say that I genuinely like and enjoy the company of every person in our group. Even now, two weeks after the program began, we still haven't really splintered. I see the first signs of cohesive groups being formed around central elements of lifestyle like comfortability with partying and drinking and academic intensity, but luckily these cleavages are largely cross-cutting. None of the roommate situations have presented problems yet either - thankfully.
Speaking of roommates: Gerard had us pick our roomies largely blindly. We had all known each other for a few hours at most and we were picking our roommates for the next four months. Better than the random assignment in the dorms but shy of ideal. However, my roommate situation couldn't have gone any better. My roommate, Sean, is a fun-loving, Berkeleyite who is extremely considerate and respectful of me as a roommate. We differ on political viewpoints (he is a staunchly conservative Republican) although I think that we can learn a lot from each other. It's good for me to get out of the echo chamber of one-sided Berkeley political discussions. Plus, we share a love of country, music, and booze that bridges most of the cultural gap. I think, god willing, we'll be friends for a long time after the program ends in December.
Over the next few days, Gerard took us to visit a number of restaurants that showcased the best cuisine that Hanoi has to offer. Everywhere we went there was great food, cheap booze and lots of fun. We toured the area around Ho Hoan Kiem (lake of the returned sword), which is the heart of the city, the French administrative quarter south of the lake and some of the Vietnamese shopping district to the north of the lake. Hanoi is a charming city that has something to offer everyone. It has clubs for young people, museums for fogeys and academics, lakes and picturesque scenery and architecture for artsy types, food for gastronomic conneiseurs, and lots and lots of shopping for, well, women.
posted by S D at 12:13 AM
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