Hello from the comfort of my home in Lincolnwood, IL. I have been home for a little under a week, and I am finally getting around to doing this.

Here is the photo montage I made for IHP during the retreat.

Enjoy!

Massively revised game plan!!! YAY for Brazil!

New game plan, final revision. Ask me in person about Vietnam, I am going to talk about Brazil now.

Whatevs, I am lazy.

Brazil:

Brazil is a wonderful country full of color, life, and sunlight (stark contrast to Hanoi b/c of the pollution). Sao Paulo is no different. I will admit, it is an odd city with crappy sidewalks, and it is HUGE, but it is also really beautiful in an unexpected, hodge-podge kind of way...

My host parents are interesting people. My host mom is an IT journalist and French-Portugese translator. My host dad is a retired high school philosophy teacher and avid astrologist for the past 25 years; he still studies as well as teaches astrology. The two of them are eccentric, but nice. They just moved apartments, and apart from periodic spats with the cable company over the TV, internet, and phone line, they are moved in. She is a wonderful cook with an affinity for schnitzel...? Whatever, it tastes good.

Our country coordinator Glenda is Ballin! She is a translator professionally and has gotten great stuff lined up for us. She is married with a small daughter who is sooooo cute and never seems to run out of energy. Her assistant is Sylvia, a linguistics student about to graduate, and she is so helpful and young and energetic and willing to show us stuff to do. The two of them are a fantastic duo that have logistics down pat. They are also no-nonsense, which is soooo0 nice as IHP students are so rediculous some times (as students are wont to be... I admit it...).

Our first full day in Sao Paulo we went to a churascaria, sooo much fun. There were endless skewers of meat in rotation, and although some of it was actually legit raw (or as close to raw as possible while stil not entirely raw), the rest of it was delicious. I also discovered a dessert beer, Brahma Malzbier. It is so sweet and delicious and dark (I missed dark beer sooooo much in Vietnam, land of the Pilsner)! There are a number of good beers in Vietnam, and I will get there in a moment.

Actually, I will get there now... The first weekend we were in SP (Sao Paulo) I met like half the group at this bar in Vila Madalena (fun place to hang at night and on weekends) and we went to this great bar that only serves beer if it is a domestic micro brew. With one or two other people we would share 600 ml bottles of various brews so that we could try as many as possible. I split a REALLY good dark (don´t remember what kind) called Cheers. We also tried a Thank God, which was really bad and tasted kind of like bananas and beans. The last one we shared, I forgot the name, wasn´t bad either. Fun, early night for a bunch of exhausted travelers.

That Wednesday night the Med School we are having our classes at, Santa Casa, threw a party at a bar and club, and we all got invited. Fun night, lots of dancing and all. They had a live band that kind of sucked, but they had a good dj and things picked up. Odd students, we left at like 2 or 3 because we had class the next morning... not the culture in SP, here it is party till 7, don´t go to bed, and go straight to class... Students here are insane. But in a good way. And they throw good parties. There is another one in May, but we won´t be here. Too bad.

There have been other fun times around Sao Paulo after class and on weekends, last vignette on the matter is what I have come to consider my after class hang out spot. So I live in Oscar Friere st, two blocks from a street called Teodoro. A number of students are in homestay off of Teodoro street, and it is fun times. With Joel, my home stay room mate, I go and meet Alex, a girl from the program who lives near us, and we meet at this bar attached to a Japanese restaurant on Teodoro. Two days ago I discovered the Xingu, another dark beer that is tasty and less sweet than the Brahma Malzbier. Anywho, every so often we (Joel, Alex, and I) meet up after class for drinks there and just hang. It might be huge, but Sao Paulo is a very accessible city.

Speaking of managing a city, The Metro is wonderful. It is R$2.65 per entry, and it runs all over the place. That is how Joel and I get to class every day and back, and how I get around. We live off of the Clinicas train stop on the green line. Class is at Santa Cecilia on the red line. Everything is on the red line, the green line, or the blue line that connects them plus extending further in each direction. Also, they are fast and efficient trains, even if at rush hour they are like cattle cars... So much better than the bus as far as I am concerned.

Last week IHP took a trip to Ituverava, a town in Sao Paulo state five hours out of SP city, home of the owning class of the local farms and sugar cane processing factories as well as the population that has grown about that faction. We were special guests of Mayor Matsubara, which was awesome because they were having a Rodeo and Festival and we got full access to the events for free as well as space in his box at the Rodeo for concerts and for the Rodeo itself. I had never been to a rodeo before, and it was a lot of fun. Nobody was hurt. The cutest is when the 4 year olds ride the sheep, it is so funny... There were also concerts, but no artists I had ever heard of (to no surprise). They were fun anyway. Things went way early into the morning. I was hosted by a lovely family. The mom was an administrator for the hospital (and actually gave a presentation), the sister was 24 and worked at the hospital, the son was 17, and the dad a truck driver. They had a huge family, and one night we had a bbq at a cousin´s house, who as it turned out was hosting IHP students too. Was it necessary for the Brazil leg of IHP? No. Was it worth it anyway? Most definitely. Ituverava was a ton of fun.

I am out of stuff to say for now, I am going to go back to working on a project for my methods class on the social marketing of condoms in Brazil...

Adios,

ME!

Okay, new game plan

So my blog post a day to catch up failed in epic proportions. So here's the new idea: fold old stories into new posts.

So first, here's Yen Tu. Then I'll post on my weekend.

Yen Tu was the first sunday I was in homestay. With Francis and Yoshi from a different homestay family, my host brother, and Trang from the ceramics village, we went by van to a place called Yen Tu. It's a big place to go for Buddhists, and we had a nifty time. There is a gondola part way up the mountain, and after that it's all on foot. We climbed to the top very slowly as there were tons of people surging uphill, including old ladies with walking sticks and little children. There is a shrine on top, and that is the place to go. The top of the mountain is cloudy, so you couldn't see how far up till the top, how far down to the bottom, or where people were. It was very windy. Francis and I accidentally walked almost all the way down the mountain instead of taking the gondola. If you are reading this, mom, I know... good exercise.

Now, this past weekend: HALONG BAY!

So IHP took a weekend trip to Halong Bay, this amazing spot where 250 million years ago enormous rocks and mountains were formed sticking out of the water by glacial erosions (I think). We had a boat that took us around, served us meals, we slept on the boat, and there was Karaoke. It was a lot of fun and a great break from class, especially since this past week had been really busy.

*NOW, SPECIAL DISCLAIMER FOR MY LOVING MOTHER: slow internet connection=pain in the ass to upload photos=I'll show you when I get home.

TTFN.

Tea party and chop sticks

The first Saturday we were in home stays (two saturdays ago) my host mom sent me to the ceramics village outside Hanoi (possibly part of Hanoi? Recently the city expanded area-wise five-fold, so I think the village is now actually part of the city...) with a family friend, Trang. Trang's friend came too. Trang and her friend are both in their early thirties and studied Translation and Interpretation for English at Hanoi University, making them excellent conversationalists compared to many here as far as I am concerned. They both work for different NGOs.

At the pottery village was a lot of exquisite work. Mind you, most of it I found gaudy and ugly, but even the gross stuff clearly took time and effort. And there was a lot of pretty stuff too, don't get me wrong. As some people on my program might say, it was a hot mess. It was also the type of thing where it looked like everyone was selling similar stuff, but when you looked closely it was clear how different items were in terms of quality. I bought a tea set for myself, and something nice for my mom (shout out to Sherry!).

Upon returning my host mom sought to stuff me like a thanksgiving turkey for lunch, in which her success was incomplete. Then I met Eddie and Joel and we wandered the old district. This is where chop sticks come in. You see, I had this odd idea that I wanted to buy a set of chopsticks in Vietnam. Sounds pretty simple, right? I mean, chop sticks are everywhere. But it is actually harder than you think as you need to find a design that is aesthetically pleasing, and there are many designs for chop sticks. Finding the perfect fit took a little while. But I managed it. I also got a "Good Morning Vietnam" t-shirt for $1.50 USD (yay purchasing power). We wandered the old city for a while, and while sitting at a street corner bar drinking domestic brews we saw other IHPeople. We then met up with more IHPeople at the nearby lake. Then my story abruptly ends as I had to return for family dinner. But all in all it was a good saturday.

Task List

Okay, I am behind in blogging. I have many things to tell. Here's what's up:

I'm gonna make a list. I hate lists, I'm not a list person, but I am making a list. Each item on the list will be a blog post, and that way I'll be able to catch up. Foreshadowing for all of you, helpful for me.

1. First Saturday

2. Yen Tu

3. Truong Theatre

4. Sapa

5. Hot Pot

Of course, as I never give anything bland names, the titles of the posts might appear differently to y'all. But in essence this is it.

Go team

Play Date and Hanoi Hipster Friday

I don't know when the last time I had a play date was (excluding today)... But now I can safely say that at age 21, a junior in college, I had a play date today. Mind you, it took a little while for that element to become clear, but mark my words, it was a play date.

Two other guys on IHP are living with a family in Ha Noi that knows my host family, and last night it was arranged that they would come over today after class. They were unaware, and it was phrased to me as an invitation rather than a directive. This morning, I clued them in on the invitation. They called home and realized that participation in the planned play date was not optional, and my host brother Long sent a few texts to me during the day reminding me that we were meeting him after class.

We wound up going for some fried street food (chips, and I don't quite know what the other stuff is, though it is some kind of pork) with two of Long's friends from high school. Then came the fun part: getting back to my host home. Keep in mind that Long and I ride bikes to school every day (Long's school is a block or two from the Ha Noi School of Public Health), but Francis and Yoshi live much farther away and take the bus. This meant having them ride on the back of our bikes, which was attempted on an empty street, and didn't work. Yoshi and Francis wound up using a motor bike taxi to my host home, arriving a few minutes before I did on bicycle.

We ate a delicious dinner, and Yoshi and Francis realized just what I mean when I say Dung is trying to fatten me up... sooooo much food. It starts out a reasonable amount of food, and then new dishes come from the kitchen, and at some point you realize there's more food coming. After dinner they gave us some kind of fruit that looks like a big avocado when sliced, but tastes and has a consistency completely different from that of most fruit I am used to. Unfortunately my host family doesn't know the name in English of many of the native fruits we don't get in the States...

After dinner we drank tea and played cards for a while (a game called Attack/Defend), until their host family called my host family and Tang declared the play date over. It was a lot of fun, and it was cute how the Vietnamese host families arranged a play date for us youngsters. It would have been nice to know what was going on, but I gave up on that expectation back in Bushbuckridge, and everything works itself out.

In other news, Today was Hanoi Hipster Friday! which means nothing really, except some people in the class got a cake for HHF (the cake came from a tasty bakery across the street and cost 140,000 VND, or around 7 USD). It looks better than it tasted, but it wasn't bad, and was totally worth more than it cost in flavor and in meaning... Also, we walked past those cakes every single day, and it was really cool to finally have been part of a purchase of one (I think I gave the US equivalent of 50 cents to bring our cake dream to life).

Good night and good luck.

"Why is it that everything I sit or lay down on is hard?" -Abby, IHP student

Amusing comment, but good point. Cushions are not at all common here. Chairs are either plastic or carved wood, other seats are stiff, when sleeping mattresses are only a few inches thick and are stiff... It is odd to me, but surprisingly comfortable, so who can complain?

In other matters, the IHP program in Ha Noi is amazing. I know I've already sung some praise for the coordinators, and I will continue to do so. They have arranged access to such wonderful and informative resources...

Yesterday we went to the Hospital of Traditional Medicine, the leading TM hospital in Vietnam and WHO partner for the region. We heard from some of their top staff and a received personal tour of the facilities. This morning we had a speaker on urbanization, and visited a waste management facility (which was neat, even if it smelled and was full of flies). Tomorrow we have a discussion on Agent Orange and the Vietnam (or Anti-American) war... I don't know that I've been this impressed all semester, and Jeremy did a spectacular job in DC as country coordinator, so that says something.

In other news, my host mom is back from Cambodia. Her name is Dung (pronounced Zun? I don't understand the connection between spelling and pronouncing names in Viet Nam...) and is very nice. She also speaks no English and cooks mad crazy amounts of food... My first experience with her cooking involved a 4-eggs scrambled and 4 pieces of toast breakfast, of which I ate a third (much to her dismay). Her idea of a snack is half a watermelon, and then some. She is a wonderful cook, and she is being a wonderful host according to custom, I just can't eat that much and I feel bad. Slowly she is making more reasonable requests of my stomach in terms of quantity, and I am much appreciative. Of course, if she makes too much food, I just give some more to my host brother and he eats it, so it works out. Also, too much food is always preferable to too little food, so who can complain? It all tastes good and is good so long as I cut the quantity in half.

That's really all for now. I am safe, healthy, well-fed, and going to go read a book. Adios.