How we went for a trip to Mekong delta

As usually during my two days free weekends we decided to go for a trip. In the beginning I want to recommend to all of you, dear people, who will in any circumstances appear in Vietnam to go for a trip to Mekong delta.

We booked our trip in one agency in downtown area for a really funny price. We came to the meeting place at 8 am in our morning mood (aka I just want to sit here and listen to music and finish my sleep mood). But as usually plans don´t go your way and we met "MA FAMILY" our tourguide, the happiest man at 8am. In the very beginning he told us that we were travelling as a big family so he usually yelled at us "Ma family kooom hir" (Vietnamese accent transcription). I told myself that I would believe that this is him and not just the role he made to entertain tourists. So he was basically talking all our way, in some point he finally stopped talking I guess but in that time I had already had headphones in my ears.

Our first stop was a handcraft centrum. It was pretty cool and the things they made from the eggshell were beautiful. They basically paint pictures using the eggshell. I think it is not very expensive when you consider the fact that it is handmade and these poor people work on sunday morning and we crazy tourist come there to stare at them while they are working. But "ma family" had fixed time for us so we continued to the next stop.

The next stop was pagoda with huge fat happy Budha (but I doubt that the Budha was more happy than our tour guide). Ma family tolds us to ask for good boyfriend (girlfriend) there because that Budha will help us to find him (her). But he also mentioned that he went there pretty often but that Budha still hasn´t given him good girlfriend so I don´t know where the problem is.

Then we took a boat that took us to the first island. They produced a special coconut candy there. It wasn´t like the best thing I have ever eaten but it was tasty. They had this special offer to buy 5 packages and get one free! The excursion continued with a ride in horse wain around a village.

We moved to the next island to eat and relax in hammacks or really activite people ride a bike. We saw crocodiles, there was also possibility to eat them actually but I didn´t. We passed through a narrow typical bridge passing above a lake with that crocodiles. 

After a break we moved to the next island to taste another typical thing and it was honey with some seeds. it was very good and healthy as everything in Vietnam. There was small garden with anaconda behind that restaurant. And when they asked who wants to take picture with that anaconda I thought what a great opportunity and jump for it as a first volunteer. It was kind of funny feeling mostly that the anaconda was alive and moving around me, I kind of didn´t consider this fact before taking her onto my shoulders. 

Then we moved to another island to listen to some vietnamese music sang by vietnamese women and eat some typical fruit. The preformance was ended with the song "if you happy and you know it...", very vietnamese experience. The last stop was a ride in a small boat down Mekong river. It was very nice they gave us that typical vietnamese hats. 

Then we went home with this extraordinary experience.

Ako obyčajne cez moje víkendy keď mám dva voľné dni sme išli na výlet. Tentokrát sme si vybrali krásne miesto, ktoré každému návštevníkovi Vietnamu odporúčam - deltu Mekongu.

Zabookovali sme si tento výlet v jednej cestovnej agentúre v centre mesta za veľmi smiešnu cenu. Ráno sme prišli na miesto stretnutie o 8 v rannej náladičke (dajte mi sluchadká do uší a pokojné miesto na dokončenie spánku nálada). Ale ako obyčajne všetko nejde podľa plánu a stretli sme najveselšieho muža o 8 ráno, nášho "Ma Family" sprievodcu. Hneď na začiatku nám povedal, že dneska cestujeme ako jedna veľká rodina preto na nás stále pokrikoval "Ma family kooom hir" (pridajte si tam vietnamský akcent). Ja som sa rozhodla veriť mu, že toto je jeho pravé ja a že to nie je len jeho divadlo pre turistov. Rozprával celú cestu, zdá sa mi, že sa na chvíľu aj zastavil, ale to som mala už slúchadlá v ušiach.

Prvé miesto bolo centrum, kde ručne vyrábali obrázky zo škrupín vajíčok. Tie obrázky boli prekrásne. Čo ma šokovalo bola cena, lebo na to, že títo ľudia ich tam vyrábali v nedeľu ráno a my turisti sme na nich pritom pozerali, bola cena veľmi nízka! Ale keďže "ma family" mal presne stanovený čas na túto aktivitu pohli sme sa ďalej.

Ďalšou zastávkou bola pagoda v veľkým šťastným Budhom (ale určite tento Budha nebol šťastnejší ako náš sprievodca). Ma family nám povedal, aby sme si tam vypýtali dobrého frajera (frajerku) a tento Budha nám ho (ju) pomôže nájsť. Tiež spomenul, že on tam chodí už veľmi dlho a pýta si ju, ale stále mu ju ten Budha nedal tak neviem kde sa stala chyba.

Potom sme sa už nalodili na lodičku a išli na prvý ostrov. Tam nám ukázali ako sa vyrába typická kokosová sladkosť. Chutilo to dobre, ale nejak ma to extrémne neohúrilo. Mali sme možnosť využiť super akcošku kúp 5 balíčkov a jeden dostaneš zadarmo. Potom nás vzali na okružnú jazdu v koči po typickej dedine.

Na ďalšom ostrove sme sa najedli a mali sme čas na oddych v húpacích sieťach alebo aktívni ľudia sa mohli voziť na bicykli. Tiež tam bolo jazero s krokodílmi a možno tieto krikodíli zjesť. Ja som si len prešla cez taký tenučký typický mostík cez to jazero.

Po oddychu sme na ďalšom ostrove ochutnali medový nápoj so semiačkami. Bolo to zdravé ako všetko vo Vietname prakticky. Za touto reštauráciou bola veľká anakonda. Miestna pani sa spýtala, kto si chce túto anakondu dať na krk. Sámoška som bola prvý dobrovoľník. No nejak mi nedošlo, že anakonda je živá a hýbe sa, tak som sa trochu zľakla, keď sa zrazu začala okolo mňa ovíjať.

Na ďalšom ostrove nám dali ovocie a popritom nám mieste ženy speivali typické vietnamské pesničky, ktoré ukončili pesničkou "if you happy and you know it...". Potom sme sa nalodili na takú malú lodičku a plavili sme sa po rieke.

Po tomto zážitku sme už unavení išli domov.

Yours

Veronika

The happy "MA FAMILY" tour guide

How I eat in Vietnam

Everybody asks me the same question "what have you eaten today" "do you eat well there?" "aren´t you hungry?". My amigos just know me and my apetite and that always hungry monster living in my belly. Well amigos it is ok here don´t worry but...

Food here is very cheap for like one euro you have huge lunch, for 50 cents the best coffee, I don´t do too much of grocery shopping because I mostly buy food somewhere on the street. But one just can´t eat rice three times a day! Only if you are Vietnamese and you can eat hot soup at the beach, then yes you can. Unfortunatelly I come from a country where we eat potatoes in all forms with everyhing and bread is our religion so sometimes I find it quite difficult to alliment myself. 

So Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC (not such a big fan because it tastes more vietnamese than our KFC) and ooo such a good baguets are my save camps! Usually when you go to these chains in Europe you will get some food on a paper plate or wrapped in a paper and that´s it. Here when you go to Pizza Hut they open the door for you, four people is taking care of your well-being and you are like a king. It feels kind of strange when you just want to grab your pizza and eat. The price is higher compared to other places in Vietnam but compared to Denmark is nothing (around 3 euros for menu). They will even give you cuttlery (fork and knife) in KFC.

I am trying to manage eating with chopsticks but hello eating soup with chopsticks is impossible, at least for me. I finally found out how vietnamese must feel when they see me eating with chopsticks because I saw a girl eating with knife the other day and it was quite funny. In general they don´t have knifes here, only in international restaurants, they "cut" with spoon. You can imagine me, I must look like a pig eating steak with spoon and fork. 

I have already tasted pho, rice soup, rice paper with some spices, rice with all the possible meat and fish, their amazing coffee with milk, more other things that someone gave me to taste and lastly not to forget mention rice again because just in case you would forget. To describe that rice (I really want you to understand my rice situation) is more like a big wet mass, not like the dry rice we prepare a home. I haven´t tried any of that weird stuff like bird embryo, dog meat nor snake blood or heart. Actually I am considering to try that snake heart, maybe one day. I am really trying to be open-minded in this issue but it is true that my mind or my stomach have some limits. 

So I told myself that exploring is very good and enriching but good wiener schnitzel is priceless! And to all of you clever people telling me "you should try vietnamese food and not McDonald" try to eat rice three times a day :)

and I will end this reflexion with a quote of one very famous colombian "so much healthy food can kill a normal people"

Všetci sa ma pýtate, že čo tu jedávam, či sa dobre stravujem, či nie som hladná. Vy ste proste kamkovci a poznáte môj apetít and tú príšeru hladnú, čo žije v mojom žalúdku. Nebojte sa o mňa je to celkom ok aj keď niekedy... 

Jedlo je tu veľmi lacné. Za euro sa dá kúpiť veľký obed, za asi 50 centov úplne super káva, moc tu nechodím do obchodov lebo si väčšinou kupujem jedlo niekde na ulici a hlavne v tých obchodoch majú také čudné veci, že ani neviem jak by som to pripravila. Jednoducho človek nemôže jesť ryžu trikrát denne! Teda iba ak ste vietnamec, ktorý jedáva polievku na pláži, vtedy môžete. No nanešťastie ja pochádzam z krajiny, kde jeme zemiaky vo všetkých formách so všetkým a chleba je naše svätý pokrm, takže je pre mňa celkom ťažké stravovať sa tu. 

Takže Pizza Hut, McDonald alebo KFC (aj keď to chutí tak viac vientnamsky ako naše KFC) a také dobručké bagetky z ulice sú moja záchrana! Normálne v Európe keď idete do týchto fastfoodov dostanete nejaké jedlo na papierovom tanieriku alebo zabalené v papiery. Keď som vošla do Pizza Hut otvorili mi dvere a asi štyria ľudia sa o mňa starali, či niečo nepotrebujem a vypytovali sa ma otázky, ale ja som bola len hladná a chcela som svoju pizzu. Ceny sú na vietnamské pomery vysoké, asi 3 eurá za menu v McDonalde, ale keď si ti porovnám s Dánskom tak pohodička. A v KFC mi dokonca dali aj príbor (nôž a vidličku).

Snažím sa jesť s paličkami, ale prosím Vás jesť polievku s paličkami sa nedá, teda ja to nedokážem! Minule som zistila ako sa musia vietnamci cítiť keď ma vidia jesť s paličkami lebo ja som videla takú slečnu jesť s nožíkom, akože sranda to bola. Celkovo tu nemajú nožíky v reštauráciach iba v medzinárodných. Tak si ma viete predstaviť ako jem nejaký steak s tou vidličkou a lyžičkou, ktorú si premením na nožík, no ako také prasiatko.  

Vyskúšala som pho, ryžovú polievku, ryžový papier s koreninami, ryžu s mäsom a rybou, úžasnú vietnamskú kávu s mliekom, všelijké veci, čo neviem ako sa volajú, ale niekto mi ich dal vyskúšať a aby som nezabudla jem tu tú ryžu. Aby som Vám tú ryžu opísala (chcem naozaj aby všetci pochopili moju ryžovú situáciu), nie je to ako naša suchá ryža, je to skôr taká kašovitá hmota ryžová. Nekúšala som žiadne také čudnosti ako embryo, pes alebo hadia krv. Akože toho hada zvažujem celkom, že možno niekedy to skúsim. Veľmi sa snažím byť otvorená a skúšať nové veci, ale aj môj žalúdok má svoje limity. 

Tak som si povedala, že toto skúšanie je dobrá a obohacujúca vec, ale taká šnicla to je na nezaplatenie! A všetci vy mudrlanti čo mi hovoríte "nejedz McDonald a jedz vietnamské jedlo" skúste jesť ryžu trikrát denne.

a ukončím to tu výrokom jednej slávnej kolumbijčanky "príliš veľa zdravého jedlo môže zabiť normálneho človeka"

Yours

Veronika 

How I went for a trip to Vung Tau part. 2

This part won´t be so exciting as previous part so if you expect more ladyboys sorry ma frend, but you will find a lot of cultural information here. Because yes I have come here to explore the culture.

After our rush night we decided to take it slowly and start in a beautiful french style cafe where they served panini and mexican chicken sandwich, but whatever Europe/Central America is not Asia. After this moment of awesomeness and hot chocolate we took a cable car to an amusement park.

There was everything you can imagine in an amusement park. Big budha, 5D cinema, carousels, swam boats, budhist temple, swimming pool, ostrich, slides, goats.... Basically everything that fitted in that hill. So we got stuck in that 5D cinema because of heavy rain, we saw alcohol (uncle Ho) park, we didn´t have time for swam boat ride, we saw a lot of chubby kids, we prayed in a budhist temple and we danced on old love songs in the rain (Vietnamese are obsessed with 80s/90s/00s love songs that nobody listen anymore, sometimes they even have a vietnamese version).

After this experience and cable car in rain somewhere in Asia (I felt very safe in that moment seriously) and a lot of pictures of us taken by random people, we ate another non-asian lunch and were ready to go home. 

The day before we asked a receptionist to book a bus for us. At 16:45 as she told us we were waiting for another overpacked bus to come. The driver (pretty nervous guy) opened the door and we saw completelly luxurious place, not million of Vietnamese, AC on the fullest, place for your legs (not normal in Asia and my height is 160cm). This man pushed us to get in, please one more time Vietnamese people, it is not necessary to touch each other when we are sweating and in general you don´t need to touch me, ok?! We completelly freaked out! This receptionist apparently recognized a well-off tourists in us (because we chose a 8 dollars hotel of course) and booked this piece of luxury. We were trying to talk with the driver and planning what we will do if he asks for millions dong, half of kingdom and kidney included for a ride. In the end a nice Vietnamese lady who spoke english told us the price, we calmed down and arrived happily in HCMC! 

And one interesting information: I was completely surprised to see nazi symbol on the buildings. So after some clarification and research I found out that originally swastika (that is the name of the cross) has been a symbol of eternity, destiny, prosperity, protection againts devil in hinduism, budhism and jainaism. Then the nazi party took it as a symbol for their flag and the cross completelly changed the meaning for most of the western culture countries. How sad !!! They took this positive symbol and changed it in one of the most negative symbol in the history. (if I made any mistake while explaining this issue pls correct me) 

Druhý deň výletu nebol taký prudko vzrušujúci ako prvý, tak keď očakávate ďalších ladyboyov sorry, ale nejaké tie kultúrne pikošky tu spomeniem, však preto som sem vlastne aj prišla, že?!

Tak sme ráno začali pekne pomaličky v kaviarničke vo francúzskom štýle, kde predávali panini a sendvič s mexickým kuraťom. Tak ale Európa/Stredná Amerika nie je Ázia. Po tomto úžasnom momente a horúcej čokoláde sme šli lanovkou do zábavného parku. 

V tomto zábavnom parku bolo asi všetko čo si viete predstaviť. Veľký Budha, 5D kino, kolotoče, labutie lodičky, budhistický chrám, bazén, pštrosy, tobogány, kozy,....asi všetko čo sa pomestilo na tento kopec. A tak sme zostali uviaznutý v 5D kine lebo začalo pršať, videli sme alkohol (uncle Ho) park,nemali sme čas na labutie lodičky, videli sme veľa tučnučkých vietnamských detičiek, pomodlili sme sa v budhistickom chráme a zatancovali sme si v daždi na staré love songy (vietnamci sú dosť posadnutí ľúbosnými pesničkami z 80tych/90tych rokov, ktoré nikto už nepočúva a často majú aj vietnamskú verziu).

Po zážitku z lanovky v daždi niekde v Ázii (veľmi bezpečný pocit ináč), milión našich fotiek, ktoré si urobili cudzí ľudia a ďalšom ne-ázijskom obede sme teda išli domov.

Večer predtým sme pani recepčnú poprosili, či by nám neobjednala autobus. O 16:45 sme pekne nastúpené čakali ako príde ďalší preplnený autobus. Autobus pristal, vodič otvoril dvere a my sme zrazu videli úplne luxusný interiér, klimatikácia na plné pecky, miesto na nohy (dosť velký problém tu a to mám len 160 cm). Vodič nás zase pobúchal aby sme sa išli dnu, ako fakt by s tým mohli prestať, nie je normálne chytať ľudí keď sú úplne spotení a tak! Totálne sme spanikárili, lebo pánko nevedel po anglicky, my sme nevedeli sumu. Už som si predstavovala ako mu dám celý môj majetok a polovicu kráľovstva a obličku. pani recepčná si asi myslela, že cestujeme luxusne, áno kamka preto sme bývali v hotely za 8 dollárov za noc že?! Našťastie nastúpila vietnamská slečna, ktorá vedela po anglicky, pekne nám všetko vysvetlila a my sme šťastne dorazili do HCMC!

Ešte mála pikoška nakoniec: bola som veľmi šokovaná keď som videla budovách hákový kríž. Po malom vysvetlení a výskume som zistila, že pôvodne je to symbol prosperity, večnosti, ochrany pred diablom a osudu v hinduisme, budhisme a janisme. Nacistická strana si ho neskôr zobrala za svoj a premenila ho na jeden z najhorších symbolov pre západnú kultúru. Akože dosť smutné keď niekto z takého pozitívneho symbolu urobí jeden z najnegatívnejších. (ak som niečo poplietla prosím opravte ma!)

Yours

Veronika 

     

How I went for a trip to Vung Tau part. 1

Last week I decided that I had enough of the noisy City of Ho Chi Minh so my lovely friend Alejandra and I went for a trip to the nearest beach Vung Tao. My colleagues planned everything for us and we left with all our beachy mood. I know it sounds very strange but when I mentioned my trip plans to them literally WHOLE office started to plan my trip, from bus through hotel reservation to activities you can do there. They even called me on friday about the reservations as I was not at work and they were affraid about my trip.

Bus ride was pretty vietnamese style. Small bus overpacked with Vietnamese, weird man almost sleeping on my shoulder, woman in leopard sweatshirt and sweatpants in almost 35 degrees. Then recently the bus stopped in the middle of the road and the driver started to bumb into poor sleeping Ale (We think he did it on purpose just to touch her overwhite skin) and asked us to give him money (for the ride of course). So we gave money to this man and took the risk of being kicked out or sold for meat. 

Then the magic moment happened and we arrived in Vung Tao. Our first stop was a beautiful restaurant with love birds taking their slushy wedding pictures there. Awesome saturday ahead! We decided to go to the only hotel my colleague found for us and hoping to find a free and cheap room. We took a taxi and this as*hole f*cking id*iot driver gave us ride around whole city where in the end we arrived like 200 meters from the place we had taken the taxi. Not good man! I started to argue with him but he didn´t speak english and was looking at us with that oo-you-are-not-stupid-as-I-was-suspecting-you-to-be-and-not-to-recognize-the-place face. It didn´t discourage us, they had that free and cheap room. Totally happy we changed into bikiny, because hell yes we are near beach (in Vietnam but whatever it is million degree).

We took another this time nice taxi and we got into beach! The beach was huge, dirty and overcrowded. If you think you know what overcrowded means you don´t (unless you live in some similar place as Vietnam where the density of population is more than twice higher than your homeland). There were people everywhere greating us, staring at us, taking pictures of us. Then we found out that wearing bikiny at the beach is not a good idea and we should have rather kept wearing jeans (YES wearing jeans while swimming in the sea is the vietnamese style) or space suit maybe. 

In the evening we decided to go out and have fun. After delicious dinner (burger with french fries to be precise) we started to look for a DECENT place to have fun. After some minutes of wandering we saw a big red sign "Tequila Sunrise". Heaven? Maybe...NO. We entered the bar and like ten women faces were staring at us. It looked weird for a bar but whatever. Suddenly one woman approached us with this completely not vietnamese woman kind of style (basically no woman would act like that) to ask what we needed. And that was the moment when I saw a ladyboy for the first time in my life (maybe I have seen her/him before but I didn´t know so this is concidered as my first time). ...and after that like fifty other times during following hours. The thought of good night was still in our minds so we were trying another and another and another places meeting lot of ladyboys accompanied with middle-aged white men (am I rasist here? but they call us like that in Pocahontas so I don´t think so), entering completelly weird night club where there was maybe ten people around us to offer something (you should stop doing that vietnamese people because I will never ever buy anything here if you won´t stop staring at me while checking your offer!).

In the end we gave up while drinking vodka in some weird place where we asked if we could go up to the dancefloor, it looked like there was a dancefloor, and the waitress informed us that they only slept upstairs. 

To be continued... (that was quite enough for one day anyways!)     

Tak som sa minulý víkend rozhodla, že už naozaj potrebujem opustiť toto hlučné mesto pána Ho Chi Minha a s mojou milou kamoškou Alejandrou sme sa vybrali na najbližšiu pláž. Moji kolegovia nám všetko naplánovali, ja viem znie to fakt čudne, ale keď som spomenula, že chceme ísť na pláž CELÁ kancelária začala plánovať náš výlet, hladať hotely and autobusy. Ešte mi aj v piatok zavolali, keď som nebola v práci, že čo teda budeme robiť s tými rezerváciami.

Cesta autobusom bola taký vietnamský štýl. Milión ľudí v tom malom autobusíku, taký čudný muž si skoro pospinkal na mojom ramene, čudná žena v tigrovanej teplákovej súprave. Zrazu v strede cesty pán vodič zastal, buchol do spiacej Alejandry (my si myslíme, že len chcel chytiť jej bielu pokožku) a vypýtal si od nás peniaze (za cestu samozrejme). Tak sme mu tie peniaze dali a podstúpili sme risk že nás tam niekde vyhodí alevo predá na mäso.

Nakoniec sme prešťastne dorazili na miesto činu. Hneď sme sa šli osviežiť do peknej reštaurácie pri mori kde si zaľúbené páriky fotili svoje gýčové svadobné fotky. No krásna sobota pred nami. Zobrali sme si taxík do jediného hotela, ktorého adresu sme mali od mojich kolegoval. Ten blbec nám urobili celú okružnú cestu po Vung Tao aby nás nakoniec zaviezol asi 200 metrov odtiaľ ako nás nasadil. On si naozaj myslel, že sme také hlúpe a toto nezistíme, ale keďže je to blbec a nevedel ani po anglicky tak sme to vzdali a radšej sme sa ďalej radovali. Našťastie mali peknú a lacnú izbu a tak sme sa prezliekli do bikín lebo hej sme pri mori (áno viem vo Vietname pri mori) a vyrazili sme.

Vzali sme si taxík, ktorý nás zobral na veľkú, špivanú a preplnenú pláž. Ak si myslíte, že viete čo je to preplnený priestor, tak vás upezpečujem, že to neviete! (teda ak nežijete na podobnom mieste kde hustota obyvateľstva je viac jak dvojnásobná nech vo vašej rodnej krajine). Ľudia na nás celý čas zdravili, civeli na nás a fotili si nás. Tak sme zistili, že sme si radšej mali obliecť rifle (áno kúpať sa v rifliach v mori je také vietnamské) alebo možno skafander....

Večer sme sa chceli zabaviť a tak sme šli do mesta. Po úúžasnej večeri (hamburger s hranolkami) sme šli na prechádzku, že nájdeme nejaký super podnik. Zrazu pred nami veľký nápis, že Tequila Sunrise tak sme vstúpili. Zrazu na nás pozerá asi desať čudných žien, že čo tam teda chceme. Tak sme sa pekne opýtali a zrazu k nám pristúpila taká zvláštne na vietnamku vyzerajúca žena. A vtedy som prvýkrát stretla ladyboya (muža čo vyzerá ako žena), teda akože prvýkrát čo som o tom vedela, že som ho stretla (alebo ju?)... no a potom som ich videla asi ďalších päťdesiat v ten večer. No ale my sme sa stále nezvdávali a pokračovali sme v hľadaní vysneného miesta. Navštívili sme veľa potencionálnych miesto, ó áno, bar kde nás hneď pri príchode obkľúčilo asi desať ľudí ponúkajúc neskutočne drahé nápoje (ako títo vietnamci by mali prestať s tým ponúkaním a obkľucovaním lebo ja si tu asi fakt nič nekúpim!). Popritom sme stretávali pekné páriky bielych (to nie je rasistické, že?) mužov v sprievode ladyboyov.

Nakoniec sme večer ukončili v podniku, kde keď sme sa opýtali či môžme ísť hore tancovať (fakt to vyzeralo, že tam je parket) nám povedali, že nie lebo hore iba spávajú.

Ďalšiu časť ságy my na výlete očakávajte skoro...

Yours

Veronika

How it is to live in a city without public transport

Ok just to correct myself there are some buses that are promenading up and down here but I have seen like one bus stop and no schedule or something. Everybody rides a motorbike here so there si basically not need for much proper public transport (but they plan to build underground some time around 2030!). Their riding skills are really poor, there are basically no rules (or maybe they are but nobody follow them or these are rules and I totally don´t get them) and everybody rides like they please. As we all know how it is with me and orientation and big cities and maps in general... We are not best friends let´s say or better said we are the worst enemies and I don´t understand this concept of orientation in space at all!

This city has around 8.2 milion inhabitants (according to wikipedia). It is imposible to walk longer distances because of the really high humidity, after five minutes you get totally sweaty and disgusting. Not to mention that there are people around you so close near you that you really can smell every physical odor.

So now imagine me and desperation during first days (now there is nothing that would stop me!). I was standing near the street with a huge will to go to supermarket. It was nice day (the rainy season was not hitting so strong during my first week). I came to a crosswalk and stopped. I was standing there a long time when some random person came to me and helped me cross the street (thank you young man, God will repay it on your kids!). I bought everything (in that time I was convinced to cook for myself) and with two huges bags I went home. I came to crosswalk and stopped. After like fives minutes of self-convincing that I am totally a strong woman and one hundred milion motorbikes won´t stop me, I did it. I crossed the street, I was so proud of myself! These motorbikes don´t drive very fast but they drive so close to each other that it just look like big chain of motorbikes (mostly at 8am and 17pm). When I came home I has to take a very long shower. I don´t need to go to sauna, I just go to shop!

Next challenge came when I was supposed to get to one place because of my work. Till then I used to rely on nice friends who came to my place and picked me up. My host arranged xe om (motorbike taxi) that came to my place. It was very pleasant but as this man didn´t talk english and I didn´t want to bother my host or I didn´t know how to tell her because she doesn´t speak english and the first time my friend helped me, yes I really don´t need a group of people to survive here and I am totally self-sufficient woman, I catched a xe om on the street. This crazy smelly man (as showed up latter, my neighbour) went like crazy in that old half-destroyed motorbike, he took me through some small hidden shortcuts with awkward smell. In the middle of this ride I started to pray for my life and lifes of all the potential victims of this ride but we came happily in the end. The next ride was even more funny. As it is usual here nobody tell you "I don´t know" or "no" in general. As we went I have started to feel that the man kind of doesn´t know where we are heading (in this time I went to this place like third time so I remeberer that we really don´t need to go to the highway). Time to get from my apartment to the working place usually takes like 10-15 minutes in regular motorbike with a crazy driver. This took us like 35 minutes I discovered hidden places of my district but happily came to the right place. And one last story from yesterday. On our way in huge trafic our motorbike stopped working (the driver forgot that he needed fuel to make the motorbike work) in the middle of the motorbike flow, so he took the motorbike near the close pavement and I ran away walking home.

I am now looking forward for new experiences connected with the transportation, my friend had to stopped a taxi last time to take her like 100 meters from where she was standing because she just couldn´t cross the street. So this is sooo Vietnam!

Dobre tak aby som zase nepreháňala je tu pár premávajúcich sa autobusom, ale videla som asi jednu zastávku a žiadny jízdní řád. Všetci tu jazdia na motorke takže tu ani nemajú potrebu vybudovať riadnu verejnú dopravu (vraj planujú vybudovať metro v roku 2030). Vodičské schopnosti miestnych nie sú tiež veľmi exceletné, skôr by som povedala, že si jazdia ako sa im chce a nejaké pravidlá tu buď neexistujú alebo toto sú tie pravidlá a ja ich totálne nechápem. Nejazdia rýchlo, ale oni skôr tvoria takú dlhú reťaz motoriek že je ťažké to zastaviť a jeden druhého predbiehajú a sú strašne blízko pri sebe. A všetci vieme ako je to so mnou a orientáciou v priestore, mapami a veľými mestami, veľmi chabé, neexistuje tam žiadny spoločný bod kde by sme si rozumeli. 

Toto mesto má podľa Wikipedia 8.2 miliónov obyvateľov. A je nemožné chodiť pešo kvôli vysokej vlhkosti, za pár minút som mokrá ako myš. A hlavne keď ľudia tu príliš nerešpektujú nejaký telesný odstup (pani profesorska na NOSKE mala pravdu keď nám hovorila, že v Ázii sú tieto dištančné zóny dosť posunuté), tak v pohode môžte každého cítiť už z diaľky.

No tak si predstavte moje zúfalstvo prvé dni (teraz idem jak víchor nič ma nezastaví. tak sa som rozhodla, že idem do obchodu (vtedy som si myslela, že si tu aj variť budem). Postavím sa k tej ulici a stojím tam už pár minút. Zrazu ku mne príde nejaký človek a pomôže mi cez cestu (vďaka Ti mladý muž, nech ti to Pán Božko na deťoch odplatí). Tak som si urobila urobila veľký nákup a šťastná som sa vybrala vybrala spať. Znovu tam stojím asi päť minút a hovorím si že Veronika si silná žena toto dáš jak nič. A nakoniec po asi ďalších troch minútach som to dala! Taká pyšná som na seba bola. Keď som prišla domov dala som si takú dlhú sprchu. Tu nepotrebujem chodiť do sauny, tu je sauna skoro všade kde nie je klimatizácia!  

Ďalšia výzva prišla keď som sa kvôli práci musela presunúť na jedno miesto. Dovtedy som sa spoliehala na mojich kamarátov, ktorí ma odviezli kam som potrebovala. Tak mi moja domáca ráno zavolala xe om (motorkový taxík), ale keďže tento pánko nehovorí po anglicky a ja som ju nechcela zase otravovať lebo ani ona vlastne nehovorí po anglicky a tento xe om mi vybavil môj kamarát (áno som tu extrémne sebestačná!) tak som si na ulici jedného stopla. Taký milý smradľavý pánko (nakoniec som zistila, že je to môj sused) nakopol ten svoj polorozpadnutý stroj a už si to išiel jak strela. Cez nejaké tajné smradľavé uličky, v polovici jazdy som sa začala modliť za svoj život a život všetkých potencionálnych obetí našej jazdy, ale nakoniec sme šťastne dorazili. Ďalšia jazda bola zaujímavá lebo ako som už spomínala ľudia sa tu väčšinou tvária, že vedia kde sa čo nachádza a "nie" alebo "neviem" ako odpoveď neexistuje. Tak sme si teda šli a už s ami to zdalo, že tudy cesta nevede, no a neviedla, tak sme si pekne z asi 10-15 minútov cesty urobili asi 35 minútovú a spoznala som rôzne časti môjho distriktu. A posledný príbeh je zo včera keď nám to skapalo v strede toho prúdu aút (kamko zabudol, že na to aby tá motorka fungovala treba aj benzín), ak nás dotlačil na kraj cesty a ja som si pekne šla domov pešo.  

Teraz sa len teším na ďalšie zážitky. Moja kamarátka si minule musela vziať taxík asi na 100 metrov lebo nevedela prejsť cez cestu. Vitajte vo Vietname!

Yours

Veronika

How I ended up as a "teacher"

Last week my friend asked me if I don´t want to visit a language center to talk with students because they usually don´t have chance to speak with foreigners. For me it was the best experience and most eye-opening experience since I have come here. I have told you about people approaching me for a talk, but just in this moment I fully understood it.

Let me explain little bit the educational system in Vietnam. Kids have usually activities conected to school the whole day. They go to school in the morning and to afterschool activities in the afternoon. As good as it may sound the afterschool activities contain extra classes of math, english, biology etc. Basically the activity that their parents had planned them to shine in not what they chose to shine in. When I was small my parents supported me in every stupidy that came to my mind (not meant in a bad way). I used to go to swimming, lessons of english, russian, dancing, I even went to waterpolo like three times then I realized that it was not really for me. But the important things was that all this activities were chosen by me and they just gave me their support. Parents in Vietnam don´t have much time for their kids so they plan million activities for them but my personal opinion is that kids sometimes just need to spend time with their loved ones and not with a math book. Yesterday I talked with my colleague whose mum pushed her to study accounting however she hated math and found the job boring and not fullfuling (in the end she found completelly different job and she likes it, happy ending!). Another girl told me that she had had to learn by heart numbers about the american-vietnamese war (like number of people that died in the war, number of weapons used,etc). After reading an article from my new favourite blogger (check here) about the kids in Korea that lack creativity and they are usually depressed it totally touched me. The same is happening here! My colleagues do jobs for really small amount of money that doesn´t make them happy and they are brough up in this "system" so they don´t feel it like a huge problem and they don´t plan to change that (most of them). 

So to continue my story I went to that school, I think it was kind of public school, not like these fancy language centers. A bell rang in the end of class like in primary school. When I entered that class started to ask me like million questions (from where I am from, through my marital status, to my best friend) in the end I even gave them my facebook I just couldn´t not give it to them. They were so interested like as I would be if I saw an allien. The compliments about my beautiful BLONDE hair (like seriously this broom is definitelly not nice) to my big eyes (a girl asked me if I was tired because my BIG eyes are getting smaller). The thing I didn´t like was that they seem to feel less pretty, less interesting according to their criteria. I asked them the same questions that they asked me, because I was also interested in their opinions and lifes but they replied me with another question about me.  These guys (they were different age) spoke english very well (some of them better than my managers) but they felt not good enough to speak. In the begining of every conversation they usually excuse themselves about their bad english. So I decided to go there more often to make this people not to by shy to speak english and their opinions (hopefully I won´t end up like Bridget Jones for this mission).    

Minulý ťýždeň ma jedna kamka poprosila či by som nešla s ňou do jednej jazykovej školy porozprávať sa so študentami lebo oni väčšinou nemajú príležitosť rozprávať sa s cudzincom. Myslela som si, šak dobre aspoň mám čo robiť v stredu večer. No tento zážitok sa stal tým najzaujímavejším oči-otvárajúcim aký som tu zatiaľ zažila. (neviem či slovné spojenie oči-otvárajúci je podľa pravidiel slovenského pravopisu ale neviem to preložiť a šak Matica Slovenská mi to odpustí, nie?)

Na začiatok Vám vysvetlím ako to tu funguje v školskom systéme. Deti chodia do školy a mimo školských aktivít celý deň. Možno to znie pekne ale mimoškolské aktivity zahŕňajú extra hodiny matematiky, chémie, angličiny atd. No bežne to nie sú predmety, ktoré si deti vyberú, ale ktoré im ich rodičia vyberú bez toho aby pozerali v čom sú deti dobré a v čom by mohli excelovať. Keď som bola ja malá/mladšia moji rodičia ma tiež podporovali v mimoškolských aktivitách, chodila som na plávanie, tancovanie, angličinu, ruštinu, moje slávne trojtréningové pôsobenie vo vodnopólovom tíme, no nikdy ma netlačili do niečoho čo som sama nechcela. Tuto rodičia nemajú moc čas na svoje deti (a mám trošku pocit, že ho ani nechcú mať), tak svojím ratolestiam vymyslia plány na celé dni. No podľa môjho názoru deti skôr potrebujú pekný čas s rodičmi ako s knihou matematiky a to im dá do života oveľa viac. Moja kolegyňa mi včera hovorila ako ju jej mam nútila študovať účtovníctvo pritom ona neznášala matematiku a tá práca sa jej zdala úplne nudná a nevedela si predstaviť tak pracovať (malo to šťastný koniec a robí prácu, čo ju baví). Iné dievča mi hovorilo ako sa v škole musela naspamäť učiť čísla o vietnamsko-americkej vojny, ako počet zbraní, mŕtvych a podobne. Potom ako som si prečítala článok na blogu mojej novonájdenej obľúbenej bloggerky (pozri tuto) ako deti v Kórei sú v depresii a nemajú žiadnu kreativitu úplne sa ma to dotlko. To isté sa deje tu! Moji kolegovia pracujú za veľmi málo peňazí a nie sú šťastní. Najsmutnejšie je, že oni sú tak zvyknutí na tento "systém", že to nevidia ako problém a nejak to neplánujú meniť (väčšina z nich). 

Ale aby som pokračovala môj príbeh išla som teda do tej školy. Nebola to žiadna z tých cool jazykových škôl, zvonil tam zvonček na konci hodiny ako na základnej škole. Keď som vstúpila, všetci sa ma začali pýtať na všetko (od veku, cez moje vzťahy po moju najlepšiu kamošku) nakonci som im ešte aj facebook dala lebo jednoducho som nemohla povedať nie. Citíla som sa asi jak to najzaujúmavejšie stvorenie na svete. Komplimenty o mojich krásnych blond vlasoch (akože táto metla na mojej hlave nie je moc krásna) po moje krásne veľké oči (jedna slečna sa ma spýtala či som unavená lebo že moje oči sa zmenšili). To čo sa mi nepáčilo bolo, že mi prišlo ako keby sa oni cítili, že sú menej zaujímaví ako ja. Ja som sa ich vypytovala na tie isté otázky čo oni mňa, ale oni my často odpovedali novou otázkou, ale mňa tiež zaujíma ich život a názory. Tí žiaci (boli rôzneho veku)  hovorili veľmi dobre po anglicky (niektorí lepšie ako moji manageri), ale veľmi sa hanbili rozprávať a vždy keď niečo išli povedať tak sa ospravedlnili za zlú angličinu. Tak som sa teda rozhodla, že budem do tej školy chodiť častejšie a donútim tých ľudí nech sa toľko nehanbia a nech sa prejavia (dúfam, že neskončím ako Bridget Jones za tieto moje snahy)  

Yours Veronika

PS:  My biggest fan (hey Djudju <3) asked me to write more often so I decided to write more shorter posts about one topic I found interesting. Do you prefer it this way? And it would be nice if you can comment down there so I don´t feel like writing for a computer.  

And to more positive note this is very famous song in Vietnam currently!

A jedna momentálne populárna pesnička vietnamská!

How I became an oversize person.

Last week I went to shop. There was a sale for shoes (something like 1 euro for a pair), of course I had to check it. I saw a beautiful pair of shoes. I started to look for my size. NOTHING! After few minutes of search I found one horrible looking pair of my size shoes that look like shoes for giant in the sea of small baby doll shoes. When I told this story to my boss she told me that I had very large feet. Thanks, madam! This is a completely new situation for me. I am tall for the first time in my life :D Not like the huge type of people that have to buy two seats in plane but when I talk with people they look UP when talking with me! Ok this was just my reflection of something unbelievable for me :) 

Today I woke up and I couldn´t log in on facebook. You know when you are far away from your natural environment and you miss everybody and everything including hens of your grandmother, you really need the morning check-in of their online lifes just to know that they live happilly. I always thought that this was just an urban legend about FB not working in Vietnam. Trully the quality is very poor in regular days but this has been (and still is while I am writing this post) the first time it doesn´t work at all. According to some agreements (blablabla....something with human rights... I really don´t know) the country can not shut down FB/Twitter/other social sites I don´t know just like that. But the vietnamese government (or some institution that take care of this stuff) says that they have problems to connect to american servers. I hope you understood my explanation and I am sorry if I don´t reply you for longer period but it is not me but the horrible american servers! 

Otherwise life is going great here! I have started to work. Trully I don´t have much work, but we went to meet customers two times and it was pretty cool. My task is to make them speak english. So I usually attend one and half hour meetings where they speak english first 15 minutes and then they pass to vietnamese and I am just sitting there. Give me few more weeks and I will be fluent in vietnamese I guess. 

Everybody is extremelly nice to me and want to be friend with me. I am still feeling like a superstar. Yesterday one girl came to me when I was sitting in a park and asked me if she could talk with me to practice her english. The same happens at work. People just come to me say "hello how are you" I reply "Great, thanks and you?" then they smile and go away because that was all they know in english. I am really affraid that I would speak like my favourite chinesse girl when I come back home!    

Some interesting things that happen (or I found out) this week:

• I don´t freak out when I have to cross the street (explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYAQ6fd5wMw)
• It is cheaper to eat outside than make your own food at home (but sometimes I really need non-asian food, hello McDonalds!)
• When someone in Vietnam tells you go right, go left! No one knows where the place you are looking for is, but they want to help you so badly that they tell you stupidity just to make you feel good. (I would like to thank for my yesterday one hour walk)
• I have started to feel that there is not such a thing like no people on the street and Denmark was just an illusion and everybody wears invisible cloaks there.  
• There are no normal postcards in the shops, so you should look forward what will arrive in your mail boxes :P

Minulý týždeň som šla nakupovať. Vidím pred sebou veľký nápis, že výpredaje (topánky za asi 1 euro, no nekúp to!), tak sa tam rozbehnem, začnem sa prehrabávať, že nájdem svoje číslo a NIČ. Tak idem čeknúť iné regále, tam na mňa svieti OBROVSKÁ topánka číslo 38 (úplne škaredá). Keď som tento príbeh hovorila mojej managerke tá mi povedala, že mám veľkú nohu. Díky kámo! Celkovo sa tu cítím ako veľmi veľká osoba. Prvýkrát v mojom celom živote ľudia pozerajú hore keď sa so mnou rozpávajú. Je to celkom čudné, keďže väčšinou som to ja čo si musí doniesť rebrík aby na niekoho dočiahla :D

Dneska ráno som sa zobudila, otvorím si počítač a nejde mi facebook. Keďže som niekde úplne ďaleko od domova a cítim potrebu byť v kontakte s ľudmi a vedieť čo sa deje vo vašich krásnych facebookových životoch. Ja som si celkom myslela, že to sú iba také rozprávačky, ale ono sa to naozaj deje. Vietnamská vláda to vysvetľuje tým, že sa nedá napojiť na nejaký americký server alebo čo, no zaujímavé. Čítala som, že to je proti ľudským právam, sloboda prejavu a slova (alebo niečo také).

Ináč je to všetko super. Už som začala pracovať. Popravde nemám moc práce. Dvakrát sme boli navštíviť zákazníka, to bolo super, ale ináč len pomáham každému a vkuse sa pýtam, čo mám robiť. Fakt nemám rada tieto druhy práce keď nemáš čo robiť, tak aspoň mám čas písať môj internship project. Mojou úlohou je donútiť ich rozprávať po anglicky. Preto sa bežne zúčastňujem hodinu a pol dlhých porád, kde rozprávajú prvých 15 minút po anglicky a potom prejdú do vietnamčiny. Dajte mi pár týždňov a budem plynulá vo vietnamčine. 

Všetci sú na mňa extrémne milí a chcú byť so mnou kamoši! Začínam si zvykať na tento superstar život. Včera si ku mne prisadlo dievča v parku, že by sa chcelo so mnou po anglicky rozprávať. Bolo to strašne milé! V robote sa mi stáva to isté, že každý ku mne chodí povie mi "Hello, how are you?" ja odpovediem "Great, thanks and you?" a potom sa len usmievajú lebo nerozumejú. Celkom sa bojím ako budem ja rozprávať po anglicky po tomto pobyte.

A ešte pár zaujímavostí čo som zistila alebo zažila tento týždeň:

• už sa nebojím prechádzať cez cestu (vysvetlenie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYAQ6fd5wMw)
• je lacnejšie ísť sa najesť von ako pripraviť si to doma (ale niekedy fakt potrebujem iné ako ázijské jedlo, hello McDonalds)
• ak vám tu niekto povie choďte doprava choďte určite doľava. Oni väčšinou sami nevedia, kde sa čo nachádza ale chcú pomôcť, tak vám povedia blbosť len aby niečo povedali :D (touto cestou sa chcem poďakovať za moju hodinovú včerajšiu prechádzku!)
• začínam mať pocit, že Dánsko a takmer žiadni ľudia na ulici bola len ilúzia a všetci tam nosia neviditeľné plášte
• je priam nemožné tu kúpiť pekné pohľadnice, tak sa tešte čo pristane vo vašich schránkach ;)

Have a very nice week!

Yours Veronika

Pho soup/ Pho polievka

Moving food/ Hýbajúce sa jedlo

My colleagues/ Moje kolegyne

Post office / Pošta

Theatre/ Divadlo

In the war museum/ V múzeum vojny

Notre Dame in Ho Chi Minh