Uncle Ho

This past week we had our practice teaching at the University of Diplomatic Relations in Hanoi.  We each taught two or three times to sophomore students.  I was terribly nervous to do the teaching because I didn't feel like three weeks of training was sufficient... but it went good and it was so much fun!  It will be so fun to get to know my students in Laos and to be able to see the same kids each week instead of only once like in Hanoi.  Friday night we had a little ceremony to celebrate finishing our classes and practice teaching.

Early tomorrow (Sunday) morning, we will fly to Vientiane, Laos!  We will start Lao language school on Monday where we will have classes a few hours a day for about a month.  It will be nice to actually be able talk (a little) with the fruit vendors and taxi drivers.

Since we have been teaching this whole week, we have not been as busy. So we took advantage of some of our extra free time and did some fun things before we left Hanoi.

On Wednesday a few of us headed to the Hanoi Zoo, which is very close to our hotel, and where Julia and I have been running in the mornings.

We saw hippos, tigers, birds, bears, lots of monkeys, ostriches, and more.

We didn't really know why the elephants had such short chains...

The monkeys were the best! I think they knew that if they did turns and jumps and twists on the bars at the top of their cage, they would be hand-fed Vietnamese Cheetos from the spectators.

We also heard about big plastic balls filled with air that people float in and roll around in on the lake, sort of like hamsters.  

Julia and I got shoved in the water by the workers

We're actually standing!  It was pretty hard to balance inside, but we had lots of fun rolling and trying to run on the water in the ball.

There were lots of funny statues and rickety little kids rides.  We didn't think it would be wise to ride on the roller coasters and other rides, but we still had plenty of fun at the zoo!

Elise and I and a little monkey statue

Steph in dinosaur land!

I also got to experience my first 3D movie!  We watched Step Up 3.  It was pretty cheesy, but the dancing was fun to watch and the popcorn was delicious!  I would definitely recommend watching movies NOT in 3D.  I felt like I was looking cross-eyed the whole time, but it was fun!

Steph, me, and Julia with our 3D glasses

On Friday, Beka, Julia and I went to get foot massages, or so we thought.  We ended up getting full body massages for about $7.  They did the reflexology something...  so sometimes they were pushing a little hard with their knuckles on my feet, but other than that it was pretty nice!

We even got pajamaish things to wear!

This morning we finally got to see Mr. Ho Chi Minh's body. Steph and Elise taught some Lao students in class on Friday who are in Hanoi to study.  They were pretty excited that Brad and Stacy, who are in Hanoi to observe us, but have been in Lao for the last four years and who are pretty good at speaking Lao, could speak Lao so well; and that we were all going to be going to their home country to teach.  We met two of the Lao students at Mr. Minh's mausoleum this morning.

Ho Chi Minh was a communist revolutionary, President and Prime Minister of Vietnam during the 40s, 50s and 60s.  He is a pretty special guy in here in Vietnam, especially in the north. He died in 1969, and against his wishes to be cremated, his people decided to embalm him so anyone can pay their respects.  We had to go through lots of security, and then we could walk quietly through a small room with a few guards to view his body.  He looks pretty good for being dead for 40 years.  Every September to November he is shipped off to Russia to fix him up a bit, so we just made it!

We then visited his home and study and garage and saw a museum about Vietnam.  It was interesting to see. And fun to spend some time with some people from Laos!

These are the girls that are headed to Laos standing in front of Mr. Ho.  Unfortunately I don't know much about him or what he did. From what we saw today and I've heard since being in Hanoi, he seems like a pretty decent guy... but I don't really know. There are statues and posters of him all over, and he really is looked at as the Uncle of the people. 

It has been raining for the past three days almost non-stop!  I think it has something to do with a typhoon that is/was on the coast. Usually it only rains for like a half hour and then stops. It's fun to see everyone riding their motorbikes in their ponchos. It is also a nice break from the heat and humidity...  but now we're wet with rain water instead of sweat, and I don't know if that's much better.