Update

Sorry for the delay in my update. I am very slow at updating blogs.

I have been doing my best to keep myself busy the past couple weeks.  I had a two week break from teaching to celebrate Tet, the lunar New Year. Many of the students come from outside Hanoi, so the long break allowed them time to spend with family at home.

I, however, was too far away to travel home for Tet, so I stayed in Hanoi. I stayed with the Cima's for the first two days of Tet. We had planned to take an overnight trip to the Ha Long Bay area to visit a friend of J.P.'s. There was a change in plans because Bella (J.P. and Aimee's 18 month old) was sick, so Aimee stayed home with her.  We also shortened it from an overnight to a day trip because the roads were so clear.

The third day of Tet, I spent time with Thuy, a student Sarah taught last year.  She took me to see the Temple of Liturature and the Vietnam War Museum.  Both were interesting, though I didn't learn as much at the War Museum as I would have liked since the signs were all in Vietnamese.

A few days later it was my birthday! I spent the morning with Sarah and a few of her former students. We went to the Hanoi Museum of Ethnography.  There was a ethnic group from the mountains that was having a demonstration day, so there was a lot to see and do at the museum that day. After the museum we made lunch together and had birthday cake! (Courteousy of Sarah).

And now it is back to teaching.

More Pictures

Check out pictures from Week 2!

Bát Tràng

I have a break from teaching for the next two weeks as Vietnam celebrates Tet, the lunar new year.  This celebration is like Christmas, Easter, 4^th of July (and any other holiday/remembrance day you can think of) combined. The only down side to this holiday is that practically everything has shut down since 4/5 of Hanoi’s population has left the city to spend time with family in the provinces. Fortunately for me, the Cimas and a couple other people from Church stuck around Hanoi so I had someone to hang out with on Monday.

Since I haven’t had the chance to see anything besides Hanoi so far, J.P. planned a trip to Bát Tràng, a ceramics village just outside of Hanoi. We were joined by his (almost) 4 year old daughter and two guys from bible study. We got a taxi and drove about 13 km outside of Hanoi (to the south, I think). When we got there we walked around the market area and admired the ceramics for sale. I am not usually a huge fan of pottery (mostly because I am clumsy and I am afraid I will break something) but I was impressed but some the intricate work I saw (and realize now I should have taken pictures of…). Bát Tràng is famous for its ceramics, and they export all over the world, but it is much cheaper if you buy it directly there. I found a tea set for 200,000 VND (about 10 US $)



After meandering through the market, we ate lunch and then MADE OUR OWN POTTERY!!! I was very excited because I have been wanting to use a pottery wheel for years (17 years to be exact), but I never had the chance until now! I made a bowl and painted it purple. Enjoy the picture because I pretty sure it will break before I get it home.



Happy Tet! - Hanna