Apple Pie and Misundetstandings

The weekend started early on Saturday morning with a drive to my language school. After my failed attempt to visit the climbing school a couple of weeks ago, Viet and I decided we would walk there during our afternoon time in the city. We went to lunch at our normal place, Koto; Viet and I both had fried rice though he just had vegetables in his and I added chicken. I've realized that fried rice is a comfort food for me because it tastes the same no matter where you are.

After lunch we began our trek to the climbing gym, Vietclimb. As has happened often recently, we had a storm on Friday night so the weather on Saturday was very cool and clear. The temperature still hovered around 85 degrees but with no sun and in comparison to the typical weather, it felt like the perfect temperature. Vietclimb is in a part of the city only accessible by a bridge that goes over West Lake - the biggest lake in Hanoi that connects to the Red River Delta - so Viet and I took the bus to the same stop I used the first time I planned on going to the gym. It was good to navigate from there because that was

where I got lost last time. As a native Hanoian, Viet was a helpful navigator but even with his knowledge of Vietnamese streets, we had to stop for affirmation that we were headed in the right direction. We found Vietclimb at the end of the road and it was much smaller than either of us had expected. When we went in, there were just a few kids there with their parents. I started talking to the gym employee and he asked where I was from; I told him, "Seattle," and he pointed to the woman near the rock wall who was from Seattle too! She grew up in Seattle then moved to San Juan island with her husband to teach. After they had kids they moved to Burien and just recently decided to come to Vietnam for a change of pace and to teach at the international school in the city. I told her I was from Ballard and it turned out that her Uncle is the Head Firefighter/manager at the Ballard fire station! Our meeting was a true manifestation of the phrase, "it's a small world," and it was amazing to meet someone

from so close to home when we were both so far from home. After we talked for a little while, Viet and I headed out; the woman was there with her kids for a birthday party so the gym wasn't open for public climbing.

We decided to walk back from Vietclimb and ran into some nasty traffic crossing the bridge. There were about 120 buses lined up on the road heading to the city; all were filled with military men who were getting ready for the celebration on September 2nd, commemorating Vietnam's 70th anniversary of independence! All sorts of military men and women could be seen on Saturday and we walked past many who sat in the park, waiting for their ceremony practice to begin at the Ho Chi Minh complex. As we were walking past all of the buses on the bridge, I got many smiles, waves, and "hellos!" from the men on the buses. I waved back to as many as I saw; they all seemed very excited to see a Westerner, and Viet even commented that he felt like he was "walking with a celebrity." It was very amusing. As we walked along the bridge, Viet pointed out the lake on the east side - it was the lake John McCain's plane fell into when it was shot down during the war. It was cool to see a piece of history like that and also connect it to my visit to Hoa Lo Prison, where I went with Dung about 6 weeks ago. On the west side of the bridge, built over West Lake is the cities' oldest and largest Buddhist Pagoda. Because it's a religious destination, we didn't have to pay

any entry fee and walked in through the right side of the elaborate gate. Viet informed me that in Buddhist culture, you must always walk on the right side and exit through the opposite way you entered. We walked through and found a Japanese tourist group hearing a spiel about the pagoda and its tradition. I walked into the temple myself and it was completely empty of people. The altar was amazingly decorated with gold designs on each shrine of worship and it was cool and quiet scene. After seeing the temple, we went back outside to the garden where the pagodas stand. I learned that when the leader of the temple dies, he is cremated and built into the pagoda in a new level. There were many pagodas filled with the ashes of ancient leaders but the tallest, most beautiful one (and I'm assuming the original) stands in the center of the garden and is visible from the bridge where we walked. We exited on the right side of the gate and walked back along the bridge past the still-waiting

buses full of military men. I continued to wave and greet them until traffic started moving again and they drove past. We ended up following their path to the heart of the city and to the presidential palace which stands directly next to the Ho Chi Minh complex. I started to take a picture in front of the palace but the security guard scolded me and said, "no pictures!" Viet and I walked a little ways away and got a photo from there instead. In the heart of the city near Ho Chi Minh complex and the presidential palace are the parliamentary buildings as well as the international embassies. We walked past many embassies and crowds of soldiers before we made our way back to VietVision at 4. When we arrived, the driver was already waiting so I got in the car, and headed back to the Ecopark.

Right when I got back we decided to go swimming! Usually we go on Sunday but for whatever reason we went on Saturday instead. The pool was very crowded as they were hosting a group from VTV - the country's top news TV channel. Many kids and adults hovered around and in the pool but we still had a fun time swimming and because of the cooler weather, the pool was a nice temperature. We finished just in time because as we were heading back to the apartment, it started to rain. The rain turned into a downpour and then a storm which ended up lasting the whole night with occasional, huge claps of thunder and frequent flashes of lightning.

After dinner I got to make my first pie! Dung had talked about buying blueberries for the pie but we couldn't find any so I ended up making an apple pie instead. It was my first time making the crust (Lily usually makes pies, not me) so it was a little rough but the pie itself tasted great. Anh and Dung both enjoyed their pieces but Anna, being the picky eater that she is, picked at hers for a few minutes before giving up. Hopefully the next time I make a pie, she'll have more. Long after dessert I signed in to Skype to talk to my parents at home. It was nice to talk to them, as it always is, and I even got to see Emma! Usually she has to work on Saturday (and Sunday) mornings but she's been sick so she was home to say hi. We ended up chatting until 1:15 in the morning when I realized how late it was and how early I had to get up the next day.

I woke groggily on Sunday morning and got ready for my language lesson downtown. No one else woke up until after I left so I made myself a scramble using an egg and my leftover veggies from the dinner I cooked the other night. I headed downstairs around 7:15 for the ride to the city and arrived right on time for my lesson. We mostly did review today for the quiz coming up in my next class so we covered everything from pronunciation, to introductions, and bargaining terms. For lunch after class we had street food for my second time ever in Vietnam! The signature dish was "bun tra" - rice vermicelli noodles with grilled pork in a sour broth - which was not

only delicious but also much cheaper than our typical lunch. One serving of bun tra was just 25,000 dong, about $1.10 and the spring roll I ordered was 5,000 dong. Altogether, Viet's and my lunch cost less than $3! From the lunch place we walked toward the Old Quarter on the quest for sneakers and a drum pad. I had found a few music stores online but I wasn't sure if they would carry drum pads. Still, we saw a music store while we were walking and decided to check it out. When we asked about a drum pad, they brought out the exact practice pad I was looking for! It was a 6-inch Vic Firth double-sided practice pad and when we asked for the price I heard 120,000. That was very reasonable so I said okay but that I needed to get money from the ATM to buy it. The man responded that he could charge it on my card so I didn't have to go get money and I thought that would be fine. The only issue was after he charged it and gave me my receipt, I realized that the price was actually 1,200,000 dong! I paid

$53 for an item I can order offline for less than $15! The whole time I thought he had said 120,000 which is only about $5 and so when I realized the price I had just paid, I freaked out a little bit. I asked for a refund but the man said it wasn't possible because it charged to the card. After a few phone calls with the store owner, Viet was able to explain the misunderstanding with the price and my non-abundance of money (as a foreign exchange student). The owner made the store clerk refund me for all but the bank charge and I was able to get 1,100,000 dong back. I thanked Viet profusely for all his help communicating the misunderstanding and helping me solve the problem. Now I know that I should pay with cash all the time so that I know exactly what I'm paying and also to triple-check the price so that I don't get swindled! The whole ordeal left me a little shaken up but since we were able to resolve it, I felt a little better about it and I certainly learned a valuable lesson in communication.

From the store we went next in search of shoes. Like the backpack I purchased, there are many stores that sell high-quality shoe reproductions for very cheap. I found my favorite pair at the first store we went to but the woman wanted me to pay way too much. Even after trying to bargain, she wouldn't budge so we moved down the street to the next shop. This block had shoe store after shoe store lined up with all the shoes displayed on the street and so when we couldn't get a good deal, we just moved on to the next place. I ended up settling on a pair that wasn't my favorite but was still good quality and very cheap. I got the price down to 350,000 dong from 450,000, which is only about $16 - a great price for a pair of Nike's - even if they are bright pink... The shoe transaction ended up taking about an hour so by the time we finished it was almost time to walk back to VietVision. With the little extra time we had, we meandered around the Old Quarter; there were many tourists and people out on the streets in the nice weather so there was more traffic than normal but it was still a more enjoyable walk than the walk during our first weekend in the blazing heat. When we got back to VietVision I got back in the car and went with the driver to pick up Dung's parents from the downtown house. They had been staying there since Thursday evening so I caught up with them a little on the ride back to the Ecopark - before I fell asleep in the car..

Upon getting back I did some homework and laundry and after dinner, Anna and I were able to go on our first walk after the last few days of storms. We stopped at the slides but she didn't go down many times so we headed back to the apartment pretty quickly. It's 9PM now and I'm getting ready for the week. I hope to bus to the city on Wednesday for the huge Independence Day parade. The city has closed over 40 streets to accommodate the celebration so it would be awesome to go and experience the madness. I don't think they do big fireworks shows like we do on the 4th of July but I'm sure the celebration will be fun and a great opportunity to learn more about Vietnam's history.

Hope you're having a great Sunday, thanks for reading!