First Impressions and ICM

It's been 2 weeks since i've landed in Hanoi and i still hadn't written a word until now. So here it is....

First of all, i should mention that I spent a wonderful week with Jen in Bacolod, Philippines. See Jen's blog http://www.jeninthephilippines.blogspot.com/ for more info.

I landed in Hanoi on 29th September along with the 7 other AYAD's posted in Northern Vietnam. We are a motley crew from all over Australia and are working in a range of disciplines, including environmental science, IT, gender equality, commerce and marketing. But so far at least, we are sharing "The Dream"...

These first 2 weeks have been set aside for us as In-Country Orientation (ICO) which has been run by our wonderful ICO Managers, Hanh and Hien. One thing I've noticed here is a lot of people's names start with the letter "H" (my counterpart at work is called Huong).

Anyway, our ICO activites have included meeting other Australian volunteers already in Hanoi, learning vietnamese (4 lessons down so far), learning how to cross the road (not as easy as it sounds), opening a bank account (definitely not as easy as it sounds), drinking (Bia Hoi - Drink cheap but pretty ordinary beer while sitting on tiny plastic seats on the side of a road while trying not to be hit by a passing motorbike, the driver of which has probably had one or two Bia Hoi himself!) and ofcourse eating loads and loads of fantastic Vietnamese food (including the national dish,"pho" - beef noodle soup)

...Oh yeah, and karaoke!

We have had a couple of sessions already but the highlight was probably singing "Smells like teen spirit" with a bit of dancing on the table thrown in for good measure. We hear that karaoke is a serious business pastime in this part of the world and i now feel suitably prepared to start work next week.

Actually, the karaoke shop owner ended up charging us more than the standard rate because we were, in his words, "ugly singers". Tough but fair.

But on to more important stuff and my first impressions of this unique city. Having never visited it previously, the street chaos was initially overwhelming but it's actually organised chaos and its just another amazing aspect of what makes this place tick.

However, my second impression, and one that still surprises me now, is how green the city is. All the streets are lined with trees and there are plenty of parks, botanical gardens and lakes where the locals can chill out away from the chaos.

I have been staying in a hotel since i've been here and it's right in the tourist part of town, Hoan Kiem. Walking around Hoan Kiem lake has been a great way to start the day. There are plenty of Thai Chi classes (including one group of all ladies with swords), as well as games of badminton and foot badminton.

Ok, that's probably enough for now. Tomorrow i move into my new house and I start work on Monday!