Mekong Delta

Last weekend, Bill and I took a 50 mile bike trip through a part of the Mekong Delta. We were lucky enough to have an English and Vietnamese speaking guide named Van. Van was amazing!!! He knew everything there was to know about the Mekong Delta. It helped that he is originally from the area.

Oh...the Mekong Delta. What an AMAZING place. The landscape and the people were incredibly beautiful! The people were SO friendly. The food was SO yummy. We had an amazing time.

We started the trip in Saigon. It took about an hour and a half to get there. Once we arrived, we got right on our bikes and started peddling. As we rode past houses, the local people would run out saying, "HELLO! What is your name?!" They were SO excited to see Westerners! The especially loved my white skin and blond hair. When we would stop, they would ask us 4 questions: What is your name? How old are you (and they always guessed us to be younger)? Where are you from? Where are you going? They were so curious. They would blush if I said hello back or if we smiled at them. Many of the older teenagers and young adults were too shy to say hello, although they told our guide that they wanted to talk with us. One girl rode her bike closely behind me just to look at my hair. I stopped to say hello and all she could do was giggle! They were so endearing!

As we were peddling, we stopped at a cashew processing factory. It was very interesting to see just how much goes into processing a cashew. No wonder they are so expensive! The workers were so happy to see us and would giggle and laugh when we would take their picture. See the photos below:






This little boy is the son of the workers. He was so excited to have his picture taken.

As we were leaving the cashew factory, we ran into a group of lovely teenagers. Word had spread that we were there and they were anxious to check us out. They were so sweet. One of the girls was very fascinated with me and invited me back to her home. I just could not say no, so we headed over to her home. The houses in the Mekong vary from huts with palm leaf roofs to concrete homes that are open (very little furniture). Her house was concrete. She and her mother invited us in and offered us water. We couldn't drink it because it's not safe for our Western bellies. We sat and talked (the best that we could). They asked us the 4 questions and just sat and smiled at us. They thought we were so fascinating. I was incredibly humbled by the experience. They would say things like, "You are so beautiful" or "You are so handsome". Women would come up to me and compare their skin color with mine. It is considered very beautiful and exotic to have blond hair and pale skin. The women wear long sleeved shirts and gloves to keep their skin hidden from the sun. One woman even asked me why I would not cover my delicate white skin. I thought, "Because it's REALLY HOT AND HUMID here!" But, I just smiled. Below are some photos of the teenager and her friends who invited us into their home. Seriously, they made my heart smile. :)


They love giving the peace sign. Sometimes they would just see us and flash the peace sign. And, they mean it. They really are very peaceful.


The girl who invited us into her home is behind the little boy.

I really can not say enough about how amazing the people were. They are genuine and sincere. They are hard working, but do not complain. They are peaceful and loving. They are kind and generous. I was overwhelmed by their kindness. Some people would ride up to us and say, "Hello. Welcome to Vietnam." And, then of course they'd ask us the 4 questions. :) Most were so happy to practice their English. And, once they found out we were American, they were even more excited. I'm not quite sure why they are so in love with Americans, but they are. They practically jump for joy when they find out.


After we stopped at the house and rode for several miles, we stopped at a local market for a break. We had fresh lychee fruit. SO delicious. Below are photos from our stop:








After our break, we had the opportunity to stop by a factory where they make hats for the school children. They are handmade and the dyes they use are from local trees and plants. Below you will see photos from this stop:










In the Mekong, they bury their dead in tombs like the one above. You see them throughout the Mekong on farms and in backyards.



We stopped again to have some fruit but noticed that there were two women weaving mats, baskets and bags out of palm leaves. Van, our guide, asked if we could watch. They were very gracious and invited us to watch them at work. It takes them two days to make a large bag and mat. You can see the photos below:






For the rest of the blog, I'm just going to post pictures, a video and captions. It's really hard to describe, and I think the pictures do it more justice. Before I do, I wanted to mention where we stayed Saturday evening. We actually stayed in a local's home! They owned a large nursery, so we were surrounded by fruit trees, plants and flowers. It was amazing! They cooked the most unbelievable dinner and breakfast: fresh fish, fruit, veggies, spring rolls, rice, noodles, bread, eggs, fruit, fruit and more fruit. It was amazing!! Right outside our room was a very large gecko. Throughout the night it would make a loud noise and it kinda freaked me out! But, they don't harm humans and are actually pretty afraid of us. We slept under mosquito netting which was kind of neat! Anyway, enjoy the rest of the pictures:


Our guide, Van "The Man":


Missy enjoying the ride. If you look carefully you can see a
local's home (made out of palm leaves) behind me.


I love how green everything is!


We were on a bridge and thought this was a neat shot. This is
how I pictured Vietnam.


Another shot from the bridge:


We were waiting for a ferry to pick us up and take us across
the river.


Bill took this amazing shot. The sky was so beautiful that day!


People fishing on the river.


Farmers working hard to take care of their crops. On the
left hand side, you can see a tomb.


Locals fishing in the river:



We had to ride a ferry to get to the other side of the river.
It was pretty neat!


I can not say enough about the Mekong Delta. It was an amazing experience. I will never forget for as long as I live. If you are planning on coming to see us, plan on this trip. You will not regret it!

We miss everyone very much and hope all is well. Please remember to keep in touch!

Love,
Missy and Bill :)

First full week

Missy has been doing most of the blogging, but I thought I should sit down and add my perspective today.

Well, it was our first full week of school, and it was full of fun and adventure. I have some pretty challenging names of students to learn. My favorite name to say is Ji Wook pronounced "Gee Wook". He is an interesting kid and likes to tug on my arm to get my attention while saying, "Mr. L, Mr. L." I am co-teaching an English and Math class, along with quite a few periods of Learning Support.

I pulled a student into my room that was having some issues with behavior and is on my caseload. I wanted to talk to him about teacher concerns and to offer him extra help in the classroom. I didn't want to start off by scolding him for behavior. I just wanted to start getting to know him before I imposed any consequences. As I pulled him in he kept saying, "Am I in trouble?" I asked if he had a guilty conscience, but he answered no. I told him not to worry about it if he didn't do anything. I then proceeded to talk about who I was and how I could help him out in the classroom. He immediately started saying, "Oh, are you going to torture me?" I asked, "Why would I torture you?" He then said, "I need to be tortured." I replied, "Why do you want to be tortured?" And he said, "Because I need help in Maths." It was then I figured out that he was trying to say TUTOR. I could hardly keep a straight face. I just told him that I would be able to help tutor him and tried to correct him by saying that torture and tutor have very different meanings.

I also bought a used Suzuki Epicuro 150cc Scooter. It is OK for the price I paid ($500USD). I probably over paid a bit, but the seller drove it out to my area. We live outside the city a bit and driving on the highway was something I wanted to avoid. And honestly I just really wanted a scooter to drive around An Phu (the name of our area in Ho Chi Minh). I took it to the grocery store today and bought a few things. It was nice to just jump on the bike and be at the store in five minutes. My next challenge is going to be finding a bike shop that will fix flats and change the oil. Here are a few pictures (the bike on the end):




The bike is fast for a scooter. It gets past 35mph no problem. I haven't pushed it any further, but look forward to taking it to the country side soon (as soon as I figure out how to get out of the city!) Well, that is it for now.

Getting into the swing of things!

Hello friends and family!

This week we started working with our students. They are great! Very respectful and excited to be at school. Bill and I have so much to learn about the International school systems and how they run the special education program. It's SO different than what we're used to. But, we're excited to start teaching the students.

We've had a great weekend. Friday night we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant and then spent some time with coworkers at another restaurant. Our coworkers so far are great! They are a lot of fun and there are some really interesting people to get to know. We work with mostly British, Australian and Canadian teachers. There are some Americans, but we are not the majority! We really are the rookie International teachers. Some teachers have literally been around the world! Saturday I had a spa day with one of my coworkers, Shannon. Shannon is from Australia and has a great sense of humor! We had a great time and all I will elaborate on the experience is, it was an experience unlike anything I've ever had! It was a lot of fun.

Bill and I then went into District 1 (downtown) for lunch. We got caught in a HUGE storm!! SO much rain, thunder and lightening. The streets of downtown were flooded from all of the rain. Bill and I were safe inside eating our yummy tapas. :) After lunch, we decided to go into District 7 for a movie. We pull up to the cinema and it was actually a HUGE shopping center called, LotteMart. It was 4 stories. It was a grocery and department store, but also sold appliances and electronics. On the top floor there was a cinema, bowling alley, arcade (think Lost in Translation), and TONS of places to eat. We saw Despicable Me in 3D. We were worried at first that the movie would be in Vietnamese because all of the advertisements were. We were excited to find out that the movie was in English with Vietnamese subtitles. WOO HOO! We'll be able to go to the theater. The best part of the movie??? FOUNTAIN PEPSI! It's the first place I've seen that sells it!

Today we took a boat back downtown to have lunch with Naill and Victoria (Scottish and British) at a restaurant called Jaspas. They cater to the Australian and British crowd. We got lost...and it was a bad day to get lost. It was SO hot and humid. We showed up at the restaurant soaked from sweat...gross! We cooled off with fresh fruit juice (Bill- watermelon and pineapple Missy-watermelon and strawberry). :) It was a lovely time! They are both so much fun and so funny. They are really experienced travelers so it's fun to get advice and hear their stories about where they've been. They have a beautiful daughter, Charlotte. We have a great time with them!

In three weeks, Bill and I (along with coworkers) will be taking a two day biking trip through the Mekong Delta. It's supposed to be beautiful! We can't wait to get out of the city for a couple of days and see the country side.

Well, it's time to get ready for the work week ahead. We miss everybody immensely! We hope you are all doing well! Please keep in touch!

Enjoy the photos below!

Love,
Missy and Bill


Rural land while on our boat trip.


A statue at a park downtown


Another view


A street vendor carrying various fruits and objects to sell


Charlotte and Naill


This is how the wires look all over the place! Kind of scary!


A random shot of people hanging out on the street. I took this in the taxi, so it's not very good!

Pho and Furniture

Good evening (or morning)!

Like I said in our last blog, work is keeping us very busy. We went in for a few hours today, but after that we did some shopping in the An Phu neighborhood. It was really hot and humid, but that's because it was very rainy today. We've really lucked out because we've had some amazing weather. We heard it was around 100 degrees in St.Louis. Yikes!

Anyway, we're working hard but in a few weeks we've decided we're going to take a weekend holiday to one of the beach resorts. We're thinking Hoi An. There are beautiful beaches there plus their historic district does not allow cars so it's nice and peaceful! I may have something tailor made when we go! We're going to drive there to see the countryside. I can't wait to see what the rest of the country looks like.

We also changed our plans for the October holiday. We were originally going to go to New Zealand. One of the Kiwi's that we work with told us that there are no direct flights out of Saigon and that it would take us 10 hours to get there. Plus, he told us, we don't want to rush New Zealand. So, we have narrowed down our choices to Australia and Bali, Indonesia. I think we're leaning towards Bali. SO exciting!

We got our new couch today! It's so nice having a comfortable couch to relax on. I've attached photos below. I've also included photos of our first authentic Vietnamese meal made by Hiep, our friendly Vietnamese cook. Bill has chicken pho (those are mushrooms on top). And I have vegetarian pho. She makes us two meals to accommodate our preferences! Love it!














We're now on the hunt for some art to fill our blank, white walls. We're going into District 1 tomorrow (weather permitting) to look around for some. I actually feel brave enough to take pictures of the city. I am starting to learn how the motorbikes work! Anyway, keep an eye out for those photos.

We miss everyone immensely. I heard Creedance Clearwater Revival on the radio at a restaurant yesterday and got misty-eyed. We're doing well though, so don't worry about us. Take care of each other.

I leave you with some pretty flowers we saw on our walk through An Phu today. Vietnam really is a beautiful place. I can't wait to see more of it!



Love you all,
Missy and Bill

Sorry for the lack of updates!

Hey everyone! No pics or videos today. We've started work (no students yet) and are REALLY busy! By the end of the day, we're so exhausted!!! Anyway, things are going well. Just busy with school. We've hired a cook who is Vietnamese and makes YUMMY dishes! She actually worked for a soldier during the conflict over here!!! She's really sweet! Anyway, she's already made us Pho and last night for dinner we had Vietnamese spring rolls. SO good.

We get our new couch on Saturday. I'll post pics then. I'll also post pics of some of the food Hiep has made us.

Once we get into the swing of school, I'll hopefully be able to update the blog on a more regular basis.

We miss you all so much and love you tons!
Missy and Bill

Quick update!

Hello friends and family!

We've been in Vietnam for almost a week. Things are still going great! We're starting to feel homesick, but we knew that would happen. Thank goodness for skype! If you haven't already signed up, please do. When you do, look us up: smsmissy and/or billy943skype.

We're starting to get more familiarized with our new neighborhood. We've finally figured out how to walk to the market and other fun shops in An Phu (the name of our neighborhood). We've also been to District 1 (downtown area) several times and are starting to learn where we are going. It's still going to take plenty of time to be completely comfortable, but we're getting there. The most difficult barrier so far has been language. We've started writing things down and that seems to help. I know I've said this before, but the Vietnamese are amazing. I love their spirit and sense of kindness and good will. They are so happy to help and always have a smile on their face. We've run into a few that have asked where we are from. When we say America, they get so excited! Oh! Did I mention that I FINALLY found a hair dryer that works! Thank goodness!!!

We've visited our new school and so far the staff/administration have been wonderful and extremely helpful. We've also met some very nice people. We've met a few British, Australians, Scottish and Canadians. No Americans so far. Everyone really looks out for each other. For instance, we were invited to have lunch with a couple (Victoria and Neil) we will be teaching with. We ate and parted ways in the city. At about 9 pm, we got a phone call from Victoria making sure we made it home safely. The phone call made my day!!!

We bought a couch today to replace our hideous furniture. It is a custom made sectional. I won't give you an exact price, but we got a great deal and we're SO excited to have comfy furniture. I haven't talked a whole bunch about the food yet...it's great! There are many restaurants that cater to Westerners and the Asian fare is delish! One of my favorite things so far is the fresh fruit juices. They are freshly squeezed and are absolutely to die for. My favorite so far has been the watermelon and pineapple juice. I ordered one from the cafe next door and it took him 15 minutes because he was chopping and squeezing everything fresh. SO GOOD!!!!!And everything is SOOOO cheap! I got a 70 minute, full body massage for $6...I tipped $4, so I got that massage for $10! Crazy!

Nothing too exciting just yet. We're still trying to get our bearings. We'll post pics soon enough. Bill and I are planning a quick weekend getaway in about a month to one of the many beautiful Vietnamese beaches. I'll post pics of that. In the meantime, here's a video of sunset on the Saigon river. Once I'm comfortable taking pics in the city (dodging motorbikes!), I'll post some of those as well.

Love to all!
Missy and Bill

A great day in Vietnam!

First, Justin and Carrie- I tried to post a comment to your comments but blogger wouldn't let me. :( Justin, no, we didn't buy Fruity Pebbles...yet. Give me a month. Also, the music's not bad, although we've heard that Jason Mraz song, "I'm Yours" about 500 times. I thought I'd be able to escape it once I was here, but nope. Oh, and we heard Lady Gaga in the Korean airport!!! Carrie- thanks so much for the well wishes. xoxo

What an awesome day! First, we went to our new school and met a lot of very nice and helpful people. I met my new principal and saw we saw our new classrooms. My classroom is temporary until October when the construction of our school will be complete. One of our co workers drew us a map of places to go in the area and we decided to venture off on a great walk in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is very hip and there are LOTS of cafes, shops, markets, flower shops, and salons. We found out that one of our co workers favorite spots for a massage is VERY cheap. She was there for 90 minutes and spent about 10 dollars! Can't wait to give that a shot!!! We decided to go shopping for a new couch. We haven't decided yet, but I think we'll be getting a sectional because we found one for a very reasonable price.

We also went to a store called, "Decosy". There we bought a beautiful ceramic water pitcher, a ceramic soap pump and two ceramic bowls and spent less than $15. What a great deal for such beautiful pieces!

OH WAIT! I forgot to tell you about what we woke up to this morning! The doorbell rang and in came the housekeeper! We had no idea that our apartment complex provided weekly housekeeping! She changed our linens and towels, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the kitchen, etc!! It was a dream come true! I'm not used to this kind of treatment, but I don't think it will be hard to get accustomed to!!!

We are really enjoying Vietnam so far. The people are so nice and friendly. I'm such an American though! One man at a cafe/SIM card store did not understand us. Instead of trying to relay the message in another way, I just said it again in English, as if he were going to understand me the second time! I'm going to have to TRY to learn some of the language. We now know "hello" and "thank you". We are getting Rosetta Stone: Vietnamese, so hopefully that will help with some of the basics of the language. We are also learning how to use the currency a little better. Hopefully by the end of our time here, we'll be pros!

I am attaching some more photos we've taken from around the area. No real "city" pictures yet. It's awfully hard to take touristy pictures here because it's pretty crazy and busy on the streets. Pedestrians have to constantly be on the look out for motorbikes and scooters because they are EVERYWHERE! See the video below!

Love and miss you all!
Missy and Bill

Scooters in Saigon (and this is MILD):

A pretty boat on the Saigon River:

The water taxis for our apartment complex:

The Saigon River at Sunset:

Our pool:

Our pool again:

The bar at our apartment complex:

Bill walking along the Saigon River:

A pretty courtyard (where, by the way, we saw bats):

Bill: