Vietnam, Day 5 (Not wanting to leave)

 On our last day in Vietnam, we wandered around Hanoi. Checked out an art museum. Ate more delicious food.

 After dinner, we drank some beers outside on a street corner. This guy convinced me to let him re-sole my shoes. 

I got totally ripped off and paid way too much, but I really did need new soles. Vietnam was amazing and it was really sad to leave. I will definitely be returning for a prolonged trip and traveling south through the country. 

Goodbye Vietnam. I loved you.

Vietnam, Day 4

 Wednesday, we took another 3 hour bus ride to Hoa Lu-Tam Coc, the very first capital of Vietnam. It was moved to Hanoi 1,000 years ago. This year marks the 1,000 year anniversary of Hanoi as the capital of Vietnam.

 A young man and older lady took us down this river and through caves. Ignore the huge timestamp in the photo. I basically took over Rhonda's camera after the incident with mine, but all the pictures have this timestamp and this one just couldn't be edited out. Kinda looks like a picture from the 90s, right?

 That night, we arrived back in Hanoi to watch the madness that was Children's Day. There were so many people out with their kids on motorbikes. It was insane.

Yeah. All motorbikes. They have Children's Day in Korea also. Why don't we have this in the states? It looks like so much fun.

Vietnam, Day 3

 Our last day on the boat, we took a canoe ride to explore some coves or inlets (I don't know exactly what they were called, but they were really cool).

 Fishing Village

 Kids

 More kids

 Halong Bay

 Fruit Peddlers

Happy. Heather accidentally left her wallet on the canoe. We didn't realize until the boat arrived at the dock 30 minutes later. Our guide, Hi (thats his name), made some phone calls, and someone rowed all the way to the dock to return her wallet, with everything inside. They even hid her credit cards and large bills in a pocket so they would be safe. Pretty great.

Vietnam, Day 2

 We dragged ourselves out of bed the first morning on the boat to watch the sunrise and do some yoga.

 Halong Bay is the most insanely beautiful place on earth. After breakfast, we made our way to Cat Ba Island.

 Once we landed on the island, we were promptly taken to hike up a mountain. Our guide was crazy (and most likely high) and kept jumping and swinging from branches.

 At the top! Temperature: 87 degrees, feels like 107. I am not kidding. Rhonda's itouch told us so.

 After the hike, we checked into our hotel on the island. This is our view from the room. We had another amazing lunch and rented motorbikes to cruise around the island. Again, I had great pictures but did I mention my camera was stolen? Ugh.

 We parked the motorbikes and walked down to this beach for a swim. This is also where my camera was stolen later that night while we were night swimming. For the record, it was totally worth it!

 Sunset from our room

Next morning, leaving the island to get back on the boat. Trying not to be sad about my camera.

Vietnam, Day 1

 Heather and I arrived in Vietnam on a Saturday afternoon. Our new co-teacher, Rhonda, met us later that night. We stayed one night at the Little Hanoi Hotel, woke up early Sunday morning, took a 3 hour bus ride to Halong Bay, and got on a boat. This is the view from our room.

 The food was incredible. I had so many more photos, but my camera was stolen :( Kim, the owner of Little Hanoi Hotel, overheard Heather and I talking about vegetarian food and informed the boat ahead of time. We were so surprised! The amazing part is that we still got to eat all of the traditional Vietnamese food, but vegetarian versions. I ate some fish too.

 After lunch, we explored a cave in Halong Bay.

 View from the top of the cave.

After hiking through the cave and kayaking, it was time for swimming. And jumping off the boat.

Goodbye ECC, Goodbye Korea

 Next week is Chusok, a Korean holiday, and we have Monday through Thursday off work. We leave tomorrow morning for Vietnam and I can't get on a plane fast enough. Heath just went to bed so that it could be morning sooner and I'm sleeping in my bathing suit. Here are some toys I collected this week.

A fake gun, skull ring, nintendo. And the cell phones charms? Really? But the most ridiculous is the jump rope. It's always the kids with no pencil, no book, staring at me blankly or whining to borrow my pencils. In a fit of rage, I rummage through their backpacks to make sure they aren't just lazy. And I find a jump rope. Like they were at home and they were packing their bag, and they thought "what should I bring to English academy today? A pencil? No. Maybe my book? No. I've got it! That sweet jump rope. Perfect." 

That Hair

That Face. Remember Aron? He's become one of my favorite students. I'm probably not supposed to say that sort of thing, but whatever, it's true.

Geckos and a Bake Sale

 Last weekend, we went to Itaewon (yuck) to get some brunch and buy some baked goods for charity at a great place called Roofers. Unfortunately, they were a little slow on the opening for brunch and around 1pm we decided to try another restaurant called Geckos. Heather and I ordered Bloody Mary's and the waiter asked me if I wanted it spicy. I of course hesitated because I never know how to order a drink, and asked him if it was reaaaallly spicy? He looked at me like I was crazy and said "Well, I'm not the one making it." Okaaay. Heather and I shared tofu enchiladas and stuffed french toast.

 Delicious. After brunch, we walked back to Roofers and they had finally opened and were ready to sell us expensive baked goods. It was for an Animal Rescue charity and worth every penny because everyone brought their dogs and they all just hung out inside.

Vegan Bakery

Last Saturday, we headed into Seoul in search of this vegan bakery. While we are not vegans, it was thrilling to eat some delicious baked goods. Oftentimes, vegan desserts can be overly sweetened to make up for the absence of eggs and dairy. But these were moist, light, and not at all too sweet. And they have soy ice cream! And Santa Cruz Soda!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Every 6 months at ECC, they completely change the schedule. After warnings by our co-teachers to expect completely different classes and students, I started to mini-panic because I love my kids so much. I thought I might die if some other teacher got to yell at them everyday. THEY ARE MY KIDS TO YELL AT! By some miracle, I was able to keep mostly the same schedule, with the same students (actually my schedule got even better, but that won't last). This has made me incredibly happy and also nervous about being a hot-mess when I have to leave them all in February.

Plus, I finally found a good way to channel my little kiddos wild energy. Songs. And any sort of choreography to go along with the songs. Duh!! But, it's been life-changing. Obviously, they are hamming it up a bit for the camera, but they generally like to maintain a similar volume.