Motor bikes and sunrises

For the past few days I've been waking up at ungodly hours. It's crazy how long the day becomes when you aren't sleeping until 3pm. Ok fine, 4pm. On Friday at approximately 6:34am I was startled from my slumber by someone attempting to get into my hotel room. I had bolted the door from the inside (having heard some stories about how the Vietnamese can be pretty resourceful with their thievery) so the person on the outside was having a hard time getting into my room. I jumped up and opened the door to find one of the hotel staff on the other side. He looked almost as scared as I was but managed to blurt out the following sentence, "Your friends tonight." Just like that. I guess it's more of phrase. My friends tonight? I churned it over a couple of times in my head and still couldn't manage to figure out what he was getting at. He noticed my blank stare and gestured for me to come to the front desk where the ladies speak moderately better English. So I do, and find out that three of the teachers who had picked me up from the ferry had stopped by the night before after they got out of work to see how I was getting along. A lovely gesture, but sadly futile since I had passed out cold around 8pm and didn't hear their knocks, calls, or the doorbell they rang which is loud almost to the point of being painful to the eardrums. Needless to say I had been pretty exhausted from all that had happened in the previous day and there was no waking me. I'm sure most of you are familiar with this facet of Caolan Sleeper. So I then started putting the pieces together and realized that the hotel probably thought I was dead and came to check on me at 6 in the morning to make sure they didn't have a lifeless American on their hands. Well, luckily I was alive and in retrospect I do appreciate their concern. My friends had come up with three options for me not answering the door. 1)I was at the cafe down the street. 2)I was passed out. 3)I was an insane party girl that decided to go bar hopping my first night in a foreign country where I don't know the language nor any bars to which I could hop. 

The Vietnamese have a very different timetable than Americans do. They wake up at 4 or 5 am and are busy at work. Not just fluffing around work, but real loud work. Like chopping and drilling and cooking and cleaning and basically being as loud as possible as early as possible. So for the hotel staff to come to my room at 6:34 is basically equivalent to 10am or so. I guess that's acceptable. 

Since I was up, I decided to go exploring. After my shower in which the water wasn't cold but still not hot enough for it to be enjoyable, I headed out with my red hair and backpack to the sea and walked along the sidewalk for about half an hour until I found a bench in the shade. I sat and thought for a while. I smiled at all the faces that gawked at me and politely refused all the vendors that offered me stange fruits, peanuts, scorpions, unidentifiable objects, and tourist photos. I did accept the offer of one vendor that was selling water. She gave me a bottle, a straw, and then plopped herself down right next to me. She had the face of a 12 year old and her hair was going gray. We didn't speak (not that we could), we just sort of sat there, enjoying the shade and the nice winter morning. Then, assuming I must have been hungry, which was not far from the truth, she took it upon herself to feed me all sorts of treats. First she pulled out these small eggs that were hard boiled. She peeled one for me, dipped it in what I later found out was a salt-like concoction (read straight up MSG) and gave it to me. I ate it much to her joy and peels of laughter erupted. I laughed too. She gave me another. And another. And another. Each time, she laughed and laughed. The eggs were good although I have no idea what animal had laid them. Then she stopped one her vendor pals and bought 2 "oi." I made up that spelling so don't try to google it. Oi is a fruit I have never seen before. It is somewhat like an apple in that it is green and crunchy, but other than that the fruits share no similarity. We sat and ate slices of oi dipped in a chili powder sauce which was really good. Then, I had an idea. I whipped out my iPod and clicked on the free Vietnamese language application I had just downloaded. I pointed to the line that read "What's your name?" "Zoom!" She pronounced as she pointed to herself and smiled her yellow toothed smile I had to find so endearing. I pointed to myself and said, "Caolan." Then we were stuck again. Being a free application it only had about 3 phrases. The other two being "Where is the bus station?" and "Can I have the check?" Sooo we ended our conversation pretty much where it started. It was then time for me to be on my way because I was meeting some friends for brunch. We said our goodbyes, and I left, feeling not hungry at all.

I met my two friends Ellyn and Elsbeth at a cafe near my hotel and we dined on omelets, fruit, and this amazing cafe latte thing which I really can't explain, just believe me when I tell you it is fantastic and I would live on it for the rest of my life. We then tried to go to the bank to retrieve my ATM card, but since the Vietnamese are up at 5am, they like to take naps at midday. As we arrived at the bank, it was closing. So in a nutshell, I'm still without money, but not having any problem with that because I've been living off of about 2 dollars and 50 cents a day, and because random Vietnamese people have taken it upon themselves to feed me.   

My orientation started at 2pm. I met some of the other teachers and the academic manager, Connie. We sorted out all my Visa and contract paperwork, and then I learn that I'll be teaching my first class within 48 hours. Yikes! I thought I was going to have a week of mental preparation before I was thrown to the wolves. That's Vietnam for you. And the wolves aren't even cute little pups or old aging blind wolves. They're teenage wolves who will actually eat me alive.

Oh and I forgot to talk about my means of transport these past few days. You'll be happy to know that my dream has finally come true...sort of. I rode on the back of a motorbike! Yes mom, I wore a helmet. Initially my dream was to ride on the back of a Vespa with an Italian man at the wheel as we twisted and turned on the Amalfi Coast. In reality, Ellyn drove me, which was just as nice, if not better since she can actually speak English and she won't send me unwanted squilloes fifty thousand times a day. When I first got on I was flipping out because the Vietnamese drive like crazy people. They keep one hand on the gas and one hand on the horn. They honk instead of braking. They honk instead of signalling. They honk instead of using their mirrors. They basically honk at all times. There are traffic lights, but nobody obeys them. There are also traffic rules, but you wouldn't realize that by watching the Vietnamese drive. One way streets? Don't be silly. Pedestrian crossings? Never heard of it. No right turn on red? Actually alot of drivers obey that one. That's Vietnam for you. When they do use their blinker, which is a rare occasion, the noise is loud and blaring. When  I first heard it I thought there was something wrong with the bike, like it was low on gas, or the oil was leaking, or I should immediately jump off and run for cover because the bike was about to explode. That's the kind of sound it makes. There are cars on the road too, but not many of them. Those people that have a car are either a taxi driver, or exceedingly rich. This means that all the cars are really nice, but they also think they own the road. Actually, everyone on the road thinks they own the road. And it's not so much a "road rage" thing, but more of a "this is where I'm driving, and if you get hit it is entirely your own fault" type thing. I'm excited but secretly scared to own my own motorbike and drive it by myself. But I'm sure my fear will be quickly replaced with an affinity for horn honking and a disobedience of traffic signs. 

I'm going to post this now because I've been writing it for the entire day and even though I'm not finished, I'm going to set it free. When I saved it in word I think it was 5 pages single spaced, so sorry for the length. That's Vietnam for you.