First Week Update

  Things are starting to get better and I am starting to (slowly) get used to everything about Vietnam. I started exploring the area the apartment and even ducked into a small Korean market to pick up a few food goods so that I could cook meals at the company apartment that I am currently living in. Not going to lie, it was nice seeing some familiar things. Even just the other day, when we (my roommates and I) went to a bigger general grocery store nearby, there were still a lot of Korean brands that I recognized, as well as affordable cheese! Grocery stores are always very fun to visit when you are in a different because there is always something familiar about watching people sort through vegetables and peruse all the different aisles to see what there is to buy, no matter what language everyone is speaking or the signs are written in!! Plus there is also the chance that you can find some local treat that you have never seen before, or learn that in order to buy produce, you need to have it weighed and stickered before you go to the checkout counter or you leave a whole line of people waiting for you to run back to the produce section to get your green peppers weighed!

  But yeah, I am definitely not scared of being here anymore. I'm not going to lie, the first few days I was here, I was seriously questioning why I was here and if I had just made a horrible mistake. The city confused me, my head hurt from language overload (because I was focusing so hard on what people were saying in hopes that magically I could understand them), I was terrified for my life every time I had to cross a street because traffic laws are more of a suggestion here, plus I can't read anything so it was almost impossible to find anything. It is still a little difficult adjusting to life here? Yes. Am I as dramatic or overwhelmed? No! I still can't really understand everything and am a bit nervous about going out and exploring on my own, but I have figured out a lot of stuff that was scary/overwhelming when I first got here. I have (kind of) figured out the currency, crossing the street still makes me a little nervous but I can do it, now that I have data I can google map places and use translate to figure out what things are, and I have become a master at Uber! All in all, I feel like I am going to really like it here once I get used to how the country works.

   One thing I will never get used to though is going to a doctor's office in Asia. No offense to the doctors that I have been to though, they have all been very nice and very good at what they do, but what I will never get used to is how shocked and concerned they get about my weight. While I am a bit over the recommended weight category for my age and height (a category that was created in the 50s and is based on the idea that everyone's bodies are the same), I am by no means in danger of having poor health/health issues because of my weight (I have talked to my healthcare provider in the US), I just hate the fact that the doctors I have seen in Asia act like I am about to drop dead of a heart attack at any moment during our consultation! After all the tests were run at the hospital here in Hanoi, the doctor pulled me aside and told me everything was great, that I had nothing to worry about, but that he was extremely concerned about my weight and wanted to put me on a diet plan. While I do trust his opinion and am planning on eating better while I am here, I keep having to remind myself that I am not like the Vietnamese people that he sees every day. Out of all the Vietnamese women, I have seen here in Hanoi, on average they come up to my chest and have smaller frames than me. So of course to him, my weight would be something to be concerned about, because if a small Vietnamese woman has my numbers, yeah she would be in trouble of having health problems! I don't know why what the doctor told me bugged me so much, but just hearing him bring up my weight as a big issue, not once, but FIVE different times during the conversation, really ticked me off. I've really been working hard on body positivity and self-love for a few years now and so to have him tell me that was a real set back. But like I said, I just need to take it all with a grain of salt and keep on doing me! 

  So I know I kind of turned this into a big long venting session, but I promise this week was actually pretty fun! I have two roommates in company housing who are from the UK, so we have been staying up late a lot just talking about living abroad, training, our fellow trainees, and the differences between our two countries. We get along great, which is making me wonder if I should look for a room in a shared house rather than look for a single apartment when I move out to Hai Phong. But then again, I have a feeling I might need to have a place where I can get away from the world and recharge on my own. Most of the other people in training that I have talked to are thinking about renting rooms in shared houses, so maybe they'll rub off on me (we'll see). 

   Now that the first week of training is over I'll have a day to just relax and get to see Hanoi before I start up my second week. For next week, I will mostly be training for my admin duties and shadowing other FMs/Headteachers and then getting ready to head out to Hai Phong the following Monday. Then I will be meeting with the teachers that I am replacing and the BM to figure out what is the best course of action for the branches. So by the sounds of it, I should be working full time in my position by the 30th! But for now, I just need to get through my second week  T^T

First Day of Training

   So the first day of training is down, and curriculum wise, I feel great. The subject matter is a bit different from the material that I taught back in Korea, but the methodology and focus are the same, so it was not too hard to switch over to the new program. I just got to remember that the students are going to be a lot lower level than I am used to.

   Adjusting to life here in Vietnam is going to be hard. I feel really lost and can't seem to figure out how the city and life here works. I can't even figure out what stores are banks and which are telephone stores (both of which I need to find soon). It might be partially that I am a bit scared to get out and explore the area, mainly because it is just so different and intimidating. Apparently, the city that I m going to be moving to will be a lot less intense than Hanoi, so maybe once I am there I will be able to be a bit more adventurous and proactive about getting out and figuring stuff out. Plus, by then I will be a lot less tired and jetlagged.

   I still have to get my documents together to go to the embassy, but thankfully I was able to make an appointment for this Thursday. Now just got to keep my fingers crossed that they accept all my documents that I am bringing from home!

Sort note for today (since it is only about 4 pm), I am going to relax and study for a bit before I either go to sleep or attempt to find food.

Welcome to Vietnam!

I finally made it!

   I was originally supposed to arrive yesterday ( it is currently 3:45 pm Sunday, January 7th, 2018), but because of a frozen tarmac in Atlanta, I arrived in Seoul after my connecting flight to Hanoi had already left the airport. Delta was great and put me on one of the first flights out the next day (today) and got me a (really, really) nice room at the Grand Hyatt for the night. I actually did not mind having the night in Seoul, since it gave me a chance to stretch and get some real sleep. Plus the fact that it was Seoul helped a lot too since I lived there for 3 years before and speak the language. So after a (relatively) good night's sleep (I woke up a few times because of jet lag and stress about not wanting to oversleep) I talked with my mom a bit and caught the airport shuttle bus to the departures gate.

   I thought I would be fine getting there about an hour and a half before my flight, but boy was I wrong! Not only was it super crowded, everyone in the whole country seemed to be using my airline, so the line to check bags was almost out the door after snaking around the lobby a few times. I barely made it to the service desk before the last call for my flight! And to top it all off, the line for security was almost just as long and I only had about 30 minutes to make it to my flight! I was just about to give up as a security woman pulled me aside and had me weigh my backpack and carry one roller after which she said both were too heavy and I had to consolidate down to one bag but after one look at my stressed face and glassy eyes, plus the fact that I showed her my ticket and told her that I was about to miss my flight again, she took pity on me and gave me a pass that let me skip the security line and have an expedited security check (usually only reserved for flight crew members and higherups). I made it 10 minutes before they closed the doors, but I got on the plane!

   The flight itself was pretty normal. I was sitting in the window seat of an emergency door so had plenty of legroom and no neighbors for the first half of my flight (an older Korean couple moved up to my row because of the leg room). Other than reading and sleeping nothing much else happened. The couple next to me were trying to set up their son with the flight attendant who was sitting across from us during landing. It was actually quite funny since none of them knew I understand Korean.

    After the flight landed was when I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and if I should just get back on the plane. When I accepted the job, my company went through the process of applying for my visa and got me a letter of sponsorship. I knew that I had to turn in the letter and somehow I got a visa once I arrived. Well after standing in line for about 30 minutes I get up to the immigration officer and he then tells me I need to get out of line and go to the back of the room to pick up my visa. Well, the line to turn in your letter/apply for the visa was just as long as the line to get past the immigration officer! So I stand in line and then am given another form to fill out. Once done, I have to wait around for another 20-30 minutes while they are making my visa and putting it in my passport. I had made a few friends (fellow female American travelers and one guy from Mexico) in immigration who were going through the same, stressful process as me. Kind of wish we had exchanged information before we parted...

   Once freed from the prison that is immigration, I got down the stairs to baggage claim to, thankfully, see that my bags had been taken off the belt and placed near the wall since it had taken me so long to get to baggage claim. I felt so bad for the driver that my Airbnb sent to pick me up because, by the time I made it through immigration and customs and withdrew some cash from the ATM, it had been almost 3 hours!

  To be honest I never really felt like things were final, that I was actually moving to Vietnam until today. The drive from the airport to my place was so visually overwhelming that it has finally hit me that I am here in Vietnam, that this is where I am going to call home. Everything is just so different than what I am used to. Just from one day, I already have a slight headache from my brain trying to read all the signs but not being able to (also partially because I might be slightly dehydrated since I have been drinking water like a fish all day). The noises from the cars and scooters were jarring at first because it seems that most people do not signal or really follow any traffic laws that are more common in the Western world, rather they just honk to let others know where they are and then go off doing whatever they want, which then, in turn, means you have vehicles coming from every which way and the constant sounds of honking everywhere you go, but you soon get used to it. Plus I learned today that there is a curfew (while still loosely enforced) that does help cut down on the noises at night.

   I never really left my Airbnb today (I took a much-needed nap) other than to go out to dinner with my regional manager and her boyfriend, both of whom had taught in Korea (at the same company that I had) before moving to Hanoi about a year ago. I had been messaging my RM for a few weeks now and had wanted to meet up with her to ask her and her boyfriend questions about life in Vietnam and about the branches I will be overseeing. They had me meet them in one of the more touristy areas of Hanoi, at a place called the Lantern Louge. Inside was absolutely gorgeous! It was dark mood lighting and floor seating, but the whole 2nd floor (where the restaurant was) was covered in paper lanterns in every jewel shade imaginable!!  Plus the dinner was really good! We had the local cheap beer with Bun Cha (rice noodles dipped into a broth that had herbs, veggies, and charred meat), Lemon Peper grilled chicken, some sort of pork dish that had a dipping sauce, and also Bo La Lot (ground seasoned beef wrapped in a slightly marinated leaf that has been lightly fried in oil). Everything was so good, but I did feel slightly embarrassed when they asked me if I knew any Vietnamese food and all I could respond with was pho. Just means that I am going to have to be more adventurous when it comes to eating here!! 

   Well since I still have to finish prepping for tomorrow's class, I better go. Will make sure to update again soon!!