End of Teaching

Dong. Dong. Dong.

With three booms of the drum, my teaching career ended. I finished writing my final note to my final student and stepped out of 11 Math. It was HOT- but I was done!

I've been getting a lot of messaging asking how I was feeling. So- here it is.

I'm feeling incredibly sad and nostalgic- because I'm leaving CLC, Lao Cai, and Vietnam. This chapter of my life is closing.

I'm feeling incredibly happy- because I'm going home to see my friends and family that I haven't seen since December or even longer. I dream of challah and sushi and a decent hamburger. I'm going home to a land where I can understand most of whats said. Definitely excited for that.

I'm feeling excited- the more I learn about law school, the more fun it seems like it will be. Columbia has lots of cool opportunities and I can't wait to try them out. New York City seems like it will be super fun.

I'm feeling nervous- Columbia will definitely be my biggest academic challenge so far. I've never been to law school and I'll be working alongside people infinitely more talented, more experienced, and hard-working than me. How will I do? I feel nervous!

As you might imagine, having all these feelings inside is quite overwhelming! Transitions are hard! Only way to deal is to take it one day at a time (so thats what I'm trying to do!)

The last week of teaching was pretty emotional. I had no expectations of what the students might do. I knew they wouldn't want to work, so I planned a yearbook type activity. I gave each of them a sheet of paper and let them write one each other's papers (nice things- although I saw lots of sarcastic insults!). I offered to write letters to students, and I had a sheet in the corner where they could write letters to me! The students surprised me with their thoughtfulness. I got two cakes, a video, a box of notes, a scrapbook, tons of candy, and many, many, many hugs. The last week was definitely emotional.

I never thought I would be a High School teacher. I never trained for it. I remember thinking in high school that public speaking was so difficult and scary- how could teachers do it all the time? Now that I've spent one year as a public school teacher, I'll definitely never be scared of public speaking again! I also realized how much of public speaking is about the audience. I realized how much of teaching is about the students. I had to make lessons that the students would find interesting (which was tough because most of them were interested in Japanese and Korean culture, not Western culture). I'm not sure how I did, but I think I did ok. Definitely, there were lots of lessons that I'll learned moving forward. While teaching was incredibly stressful at the beginning, it got much easier and was actually fun by the end. I heard about how the 1st year of teaching was the worst- definitely true. But now that is done.

Onwards. Always Onwards.
Daniel

Dien Bien Phu and International Communist Labor Day

Due to International Communist Labor Day (which I've been told is either April 30th or May 1st)- I had a 4 day weekend (Friday-Monday). Flights to Can Tho (my preferred destination) were very expensive and then sold out. I decided to save money and just make one big southern trip (ideally is to Can Tho, Mui Ne and Quy Nhon/Cao Lanh) later in May. I only have one destination left in the North/Central and it is...Dien Bien Phu.

For those of you who, like me, had only heard of Dien Bien Phu from the "We Didn't Start the Fire" lyrics, Dien Bien Phu is the site of the last battle in the 1st Indochina War (in which the Vietminh lead by Ho Chi Minh defeated the French, ending in the Geneva Accords in 1954). After "Dien Bien Phu falls" the French withdrew from Indochina.

I'll admit, I knew little about the 1st Indochina War- I knew Dien Bien Phu was famous and (I'll confess) no one in the Vietnam ETA co-hort had made it as far west as Dien Bien, so I would be the only person to go out there.

Dien Bien is a small, somewhat poor mountainous province. There are only a couple flights per week-mostly filled with locals.

If you are going to visit Dien Bien Phu, I recommend reading up on the history before you go. Seeing Colonel de Castries bunker won't mean much to you if you don't know who Colonel de Castries is!

There are three main books on Dien Bien Phu (according to my research). The first is called Hell in a Very Small Place, by Bernard Fall. This is the classic book- the definitive opinion. Sadly, its not available on kindle. It inspired a longer, more immersive (but less based on first person interviews) book called The Last Valley by Martin Windrow. At over 700 pages, its reviews recommend it only for people who are French military history buffs (which I am not).

I bought (and read): Dien Bien Phu: The Epic Battle America Forgot by Howard Simpson. At only 300 pages and with little military jargon (like "CP" or "DZ" or stuff like that) it is much more accessible. It outlines an arrogant and cocky French military- backed up against the wall incredulously. They are losing and the French government is trying to pull them out. America won't support them without British help (and the Brits won't help). They are pushed farther and farther back by a former history teacher turned General named Vo Nguyen Giap- leaving them less and less space to  get aid packages (Dien Bien Phu is under siege and so can only receive aid by air,but as they lose drop zones, more and more of the supplies fall into Vietminh hands. Hilariously, Colonel de Castries is promoted to General, but the package with his general stars falls into the Vietminh hands).

Anyway- on the first day, I got a hotel (in a scary twist, due to the holiday, the first four hotels I tried were booked, but found a motel (nha nghi) just off the main drag (named after the Vietminh General). I went to Colonel de Castries' (the commanding officer) former bunker, then a rather large history museum with an hour long English language film (much to my surprise. In fact, all the 4 tourists I encountered were French). After lunch, I went to a cemetery and climbed A1 Hill.

Dien Bien Phu had 8 "strong points" or defensive positions around it. They were named A-I (no F) and all given female French names (Annemarie, Beatrice, Claudette...Isabelle). Supposedly, they were named after de Castries 8 mistress....Anyway, A1 hill was part of the "Annemarie" strong point. There were lots of tanks and howitzers and military equipment- most of it in disrepair.

The next day, I visited D1 hill (named after Dominique) and just wandered around the town for a bit. I saw the famous bridge (Muong Thanh) and some interesting restaurants. For example, we've been told all year that Vietnam imports its dog meat from Laos. I saw a sign for a restaurant that its dog meat is from Lang Son province (far to the east, and home of Karen). So...maybe not?

I was somewhat underwhelmed- Dien Bien is a big town in a valley- I wanted to see where the battle had taken place- but it was more of a siege, and the numbers involved are huge. Its not like a Civil War battle where you can imagine it taking place. General Vo was firing 120mm Howitzers from a mile or more away. Hard to get a sense of a battle like that- especially 60 years later.

To those of you considering a visit to Dien Bien Phu: I recommend only going for 24 hours and with a book on the history of Dien Bien Phu (major players and events and stuff).

Sadly-I've been trying to post pictures but the blogsite won't let me. I'll try again later, but for now look for them on my facebook!

Onwards. Always Onwards.
Daniel

Tam Ky and Ha Long Bay (part 2)

In the first part of April, Diane, Josh, Paul, and I decided to head down to Tam Ky- to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site, My Son- and maybe also visit our friend Erik!

Josh and I flew down to Da Nang on Thursday, then took the train into Tam Ky on Friday morning. Josh and I met with Erik and his teachers for lunch. I was struck by some of the cultural differences between the North and the South. For instance, after drinking, in the North you always shake everyone's hand. To not shake hands is a sign of disrespect or exclusion. In the Tam Ky, people seemed confused when Josh and I went to shake their hands. Further, in the North, it is a kind of game to make everyone drink. ("Oh, its not alcohol, its beer!" or "When you said you wanted one glass, this is still the same one glass!"). Its almost impossible to not drink-at the very least takes 10 minutes to play "the game" to the conclusion. (Here is another ETA's post on drinking in Northern Vietnam.) In the South, when I said I didn't want to drink, everyone said "Meh. Ok. What do you want instead." A very different experience!

Over 90 people for the "special class"

After lunch, we headed over to the school (Paul had joined us) for a special class. Erik had prepared an amazing lesson: lots of speaking practice and games. The students had a lot of fun with Josh's looks, Paul's hair, (and my height). Weirdly, they really enjoyed "shipping" the three of us (and Erik) together in relationships in one game. (One story ended with Erik and Josh crying and holding each other in a hotel room, if I remember correctly). 

The next day, we met with Diane (coming down from Hue) and headed to My Son. My Son is over 1200 years old. It is an old Cham temple complex- tons and tons of temples from 800-1200 C.E., when it was abandoned. The Viet Kinh (the dominant ethnic group in Vietnam) ended up conquering the Cham as the Viet Kinh moved south. It was incredibly cool to see a very different (and old) culture up close and personal. Lots of Hindu iconography and cool weird old scripts.

Old Cham Temple

After My Son, we headed back to Da Nang. Da Nang is by far my favorite city in Vietnam. We went to the beach, saw the Dragon Bridge up close, and had some delicious food at my favorite restaurant, Madame Lan's.

Special Visit to Lao Cai

On Sunday, I returned to Hanoi to pick up Dani and take her to Lao Cai. She had heard about Lao Cai for months, and so wanted to see it during her holiday (Lao New Year). She came to my school to help teach (and was probably more popular than me). Most of my lessons just involved letting her play 2 truths and a lie, or judge student debates. In our free time, I took her around Lao Cai, showing her the sights (Nhac Son Park, Ho Chi Minh Park, Thuong Temple, the Chinese border). We also went to Sapa THREE times (once for Cat Cat Village/Waterfall, once in an attempt to take the cable car to Fansipan and a third time when we actually took the cable car).

10 Literature was happy to have a sub teacher!

Cat Cat Village

Meeting with Pauline and Olivia

After teaching, we headed down to Ha Long Bay for the weekend. We saw a pearl farm, some great karsts and generally had a great time.

I can finally squat all the way down! Only took 9 months!

After returning to Lao Cai for another couple days (during whichI successfully indoctrinated Dani into watching "The League"), it was time for her to return to her Fulbright in Laos. 

Lastly- Pauline and Olivia have returned to Hanoi to finish their year abroad. They lasted for a while in Lao Cai but really just wanted to be in a bigger city. I'm glad (for their sake) that they are moving to a city they actually want to be in, but it will make my last month lonelier.

The Future

As April turns to May, I've started to turn to the future. I've started filling out loan paperwork for Columbia. I've started working on my final reports and my June travels. I've bought my flight back (July 1st). I'm headed to Dien Bien Phu this weekend, but as I enter the last month of my Fulbright, I've started to reflect on this year- what I've done right and wrong, how I've grown and all that. Expect those thoughts soon!

Onwards. Always Onwards.

Daniel

P.S. For those keeping track my camera broke in Tam Ky-so add that to my tally of broken electronics.

A Day in the Life

Some other Fulbrighters had the idea to write "Day in the Life" posts. Since I'm an unimaginative guy (and it seemed like a good idea) here is mine!

Also, my computer has broken again and in a new way- it no longer recognizes SD Cards/my camera. So, my next blog posts may be devoid of pictures for the last two months :/

A Day in the Life of a Lao Cai Fulbrighter

I wake up at 6:00 AM. Not because I need to (I could roll out of bed and teach at 7:00 if I needed to, but because I don't want to feel rushed in the morning). I check the social media updates, texts from family and friends, e-mails (usually from U.S. based people), and check that day's NBA games (I look to see if the Golden State Warriors are playing later). I go into my open air shower, checking for roaches (occasional), big hairy spiders (once), and snakes (apocryphal, but did happen to a guy two years ago in my exact room). Now, its nice and warm- in January, my open-air shower was freezing and miserable.

I dress for work and review my lessons for the day. Usually, I teach on 2-3 lessons per day (45 minutes each) but each lesson is unique and so I review what I will cover, any materials I'll need, and note any potential sticking places or successful jokes from previous lessons. I walk over to school, which is about 100 feet away. I nod cheerfully to sleepy teenagers, who greet me with a yawn-y "Chao Thay a." I head to the teachers lounge, where I chat with the male English teacher (Mr. Chinh) about how many miles he ran that morning (usually 10+, which I don't know if I believe) and have two male teachers grab my arm hair and play with it, and have two or three female teachers tell me how handsome I am today. I escape and find a female English teacher (Hoa) and discuss 10 English, who I will teach today and who are her primary responsibility. She has just selected the top 6 students for competitions later this year, and we gossip a little about the students relative strengths and weaknesses (my favorite students, the top speakers, tend to have lower marks on grammar and have mostly not been selected).

The drum sounds and I head to my first class, 10 Literature. They are a class of 35 (all girls) with a lower level of English. I try to slow things down for them, with lots of gestures and simple tasks, but it is a frustrating endeavor to even get them to talk to their partner in English for a minute or two.

Fortunately, class ends early today (the drum lady is frustratingly inconsistent) and I refill my water bottle before 10 Math. 10 Math is the best class in the school-to a person, they are fun, funny, motivated, obedient, and high-energy. They put 100% into everything, even if they don't understand and make class a pleasure to teach. The drum sounds again and I head to my final period.

Unlike my non-major classes (Math, Physics, and Literature), where I mostly follow the book, with some fun lessons thrown in, with 10 and 11 English, I'm encouraged to do whatever the heck I want. Right now I'm in the middle of a unit on American Teenagers. Last class, we made "Tweets" and throw snowballs around the room. Today, we will split up into boy and girl groups and pass notes on what is desirable in a boyfriend/girlfriend (an activity I stole from my 10th grade sociology teacher, Mr. Larkin).

Class goes well and I'm energized. I leave- done for the day!- at 9:45. I return to my room, change, get a bowl of rice and vegetables and turn on a pirated cast of an NBA games. A west coast game, it ends around 11:30. I saunter out and shoot the breeze with students during their 30 minute lunch, then return to my room for a nap. I nap, watch movies, nap, read, and nap some more. If I'm lucky, I skype a college friend who is still up at midnight or later in the States. At 4:30, school lets out.

Some days, I do "advanced tutoring" with the gifted students. Today, I play basketball. There is a crew of about 15 guys in Lao Cai city who play at my school. Usually, 10-12 show up and we play rotating teams of 4 until it gets dark at 6:30. While only one guy speaks any English at all, communication is not a problem-I know the words for points, team, basket, foul, travel, and check up. Pointing and hand signals accomplish the rest. I can call out screens (chai or phai) and usually end up on the winning team, due to my 30 centimeter height advantage over most people (note: in the States I'm a mediocre basketball player; its just in Vietnam that I can get so many rebounds).

After basketball, we walk down to the street to drink Fanta, beer, and smoke (note: I only do the first). Du (the English speaker) will sometimes translate for me, but mostly I sit in silence and enjoy the companionship of fellow basketball players, listening to them chat in Vietnamese. At 7, I take my Kindle to a restaurant and eat- usually more rice and some chicken or beef. After dinner, I return to my room, shower, surf the web, watch TV*, and prepare my lessons the next day. At 10 PM (or later, if I talk to Dani), I go to bed,

A note on TV. TV in Vietnam is insane; it doesn't make any sense. I get about 200 channels- mostly Vietnamese or Japanese/Korean with Vietsub. I have 10 English channels- 6 movie, 2 sports, 1 news and 1 cartoon. TV in Vietnam is censored, but that means that shows start at random times (7:08 pm, 9:24 pm, etc). Further, Vietnamese sports channels show esoteric sports (think: futsal, darts, curling, 7s rugby, etc) If it is a major sport, it is from 2010 or before. Often, its heavily edited (think watching a football game with no commercials, and seeing only one team's possessions).

Summary
My life in Vietnam is pretty simple: teaching, watching TV, playing basketball. I try to travel often: with friends, by myself, with classes from my school. I try to visit Lao Cai City (45 minutes away) often for dinners with Pauline and Olivia (my two friends). It does get boring; it does get monotonous. I do get lonely.

I'm trying to find the bright side on life here- this is the lowest level of responsibility I will have for a long time (no monthly payments on anything, only teaching 15-20 hours per week total).Life is simple and uncomplicated. My income/living expenses is the highest it will be for a long time (I make $1000 per month and need to spend about $150, not including travel). Coming from a very fast-paced college experience (and anticipating a similar experience in law school), I'm trying to see this year as a welcome break from the frenetic pace of my life. A chance to think about who I am, what I want, my strengths and my weaknesses. A chance to evaluate who my real friends are, and how I will maintain my relationships going forward (a year in Vietnam has proved an excellent filter for which college friends have made the grade to lifelong, I think).

Assuming my computer continues to work for the last 2 months, I'd like to do a final update on how I've changed and how I met my goals (sadly, I remain unswole). As quick preview: while this year has been really difficult, I'm glad I did it. I've gotten a lot out of this year, despite (perhaps because of) its challenges.

Onwards. Always Onwards.
Daniel

Hue and FELC

Its been quite a while since my last post- and there is a reason for that! Namely- Vietnam has been rough on my electronics.

A quick tally:
August- I ride my bike into a rice paddy and destroy my camera (I have to buy a new one).
October- I give my (new) camera to a teacher at my school, who drops it, cracking the screen.
February- my computer's motherboard breaks (not sure how). I take it to a repair shop- it last three days before breaking again.

Later in February- my kindle updates, but won't turn on. Not sure- it just won't turn on. I leave it alone for a week (checking every day). One week later- it turns on. No idea but weird.

End of February- my computer breaks again (same thing). I take it to the same shop- it lasts three days and breaks again.

March- in Hanoi, my computer breaks for a third time. I take it to a Hanoi repair shop with a woman from the Rising Dragon hotel to help translate. They tell me that there is a 95% chance they can fix it and 5% chance it will be broken forever. Also, it costs $60 either way. I tell them to go for it- all my stuff is backed up.

The next day, my phone charger breaks- no idea, it just stops charging my phone. I try every conceivable fix (checking online). With about 10% left on my phone, and no computer, I found a new charger from an "unofficial" Apple store (there are no Apple stores in Vietnam).

My computer was fixed the next day. Mostly. The motherboard works, but the mouse no longer does. Further, every 5 to 10 minutes it freezes and I can type and stay in the window, but not click on other links. I figured out that if I right click on my trashcan, I can reset it. Lets just say this: I'm looking forward to getting back to the States and getting all this stuff fixed for real (and maybe replacing my 5 year old computer).

On the positive side: my watch still works!

Hue

At the end of the February, I continued my travels around Vietnam with a visit to Hue: the Imperial city. Fortunately, (actually, the embassy requires it) an Fulbrighter was placed there this year. Diane, my friend, the "mom" of the Fulbrighters teaches at Phu Xuan University. Even Diane has taken many other Fulbright visitors around the sites, I was glad she was willing to be my tour guide too!

For those unfamiliar with Hue (as I was before actually going there), Hue is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the location of many massive Nguyen Dynasty tombs and an old Citadel (but huge- I'll come back to that later).

Sadly, there were no planes in the times I wanted to Hue, so I took the train. I wrote the test for the Lao Cai Provincial English Olympics, and was a judge. I left judging at 12 on Thursday. I took the bus to Hanoi, arriving at 5. I got to the train station at 6. My train left at 7:30. I arrived in Hue the next morning (13 hours later) at 9ish. One side effect of travelling in Vietnam is that I no longer blinck at journeys of less than 7 hours. 5 hours to Hanoi? Easy! 20 hours total time from Lao Cai to Hue-one way? Done. I'll no longer dread long car drives- I'm now a pro!

My first day in Hue was somewhat uneventful- it was cold and rainy. I was tired and cranky (I hate overnight trains when I just have a hard seat- not even a soft seat or bunk) and Diane was stressed- it was her first week teaching after two months off for semester break (from December to February). We mostly just wandered around. Then, it got even colder and rainier. So- we caved and watch Deadpool and Zootopia back to back. Interestingly, Deadpool was fairly heavily editted from the version I saw in Singapore- a lot less swearing and female nudity. Zootopia was of course excellent- I recommend everyone see it.

Saturday, we signed up for a tour- it was an efficient way of seeing everything! We spent the morning on a dragon boat hopping from site to site. We went to some pagodas (including seeing the car of the monk who self-immolated in Saigon) then had lunch. After lunch, we started going to Nguyen Dynasty emperors. The capital of Vietnam used to be in Hanoi. However, it was moved to Hue by the Nguyen Dynasty in 1802 and eventually moved back after it fell. (The Dynasty was coopted by the French and eventually was no more than a figurehead). These tombs are BIG (the guide- if you trust him- told me the inside was 25 square kilometers). They took over 20 years to build, and they had to encapsulate quite how wealthy these emperors were (for example, all had over 100 wives).

Dragon Boat

Car of theguy who self-immolated

We are DEEP DEEP inside the tomb complext (maybe 10 minutes walking straight back)

Tomb of Khai Dinh, known for its French influence. I didn't see it.

Ah. Here it is!

On Sunday, we went to the imperial Citadel. Sadly, the Americans bombed this like crazy in the war, but from what's left, its really impressive. Think Forbidden city type stuff (in fact, the inner sanctum is called the Forbidden Purple City). It took Diane and I all morning to walk around it. For a sense of scale: google map search Hue Citadel to see what I mean- it is basically a city!) The Citadel was used as a stronghold by Nguyen Emperors but now functions as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, in addition to having families living on the outside part.

Random (unimportant) gate in the Citadel

FELC (Fulbright English Language Conference)

In Hanoi, the embassy told us that we'd have grants to carry out small projects in grant. I thought-sure, whatever. A couple weeks later, we got urgent e-mails that we needed to submit our grant proposals. Wait, what!? One ETA, Olivia from Yen Bai, wanted the 6 northern ETAs (me, Chelsea, Josh, Karen, Chin Yee and her) to do a conference with our schools. I'm lazy and didn't have a better idea, so I went with it. I didn't do much planning- leaving most of it to Chin Yee (whose school hosted it) and Olivia (who has high-level Vietnamese and conference-planning skills).

The conference ended up consisting of 6 delegations (4 students each from Grades 10,11,12 and 3 teachers) for a total of 90 and 10 embassy guests and 70 or so local teachers. So- it was big!

Most schools left Saturday morning and arrived Saturday at noon. We had events all afternoon, then a dinner and dance party in the evening. We had events in the morning on Sunday and closing ceremony at noon. My school was too far away, so we left Friday. We made some stops at local temples (like Chu Van An's temple; a famous educator, we prayed for luck there, A note to be careful, the students and I saw these weird tunnels in the temple under the alter with people walking underneath. The students had no idea what they were! So- we went through. Turns out once you start you have to go through 36 times to get good luck! We skipped that- maybe that is why we only won one competition!)

We (the Fulbrighters) planned competitive and non-competitive events (skits, debate, quiz bowl; team work olympics, dance party, etc) for the students, and hosted some workshops run by American teacher trainers for the teachers. We got really good feedback- the students had an absolute blast at both the competitions and just getting in groups to do stupid, fun activities. One teacher remarked that "you should do this every year, maybe more than once a year!" Again, it was a fun, but exhausting weekend!

Lao Cai delegation at lunch on Day 0 (Friday, our travel day)

Chin Yee and I preparing bags for guests (mostly Chin Yee)

Setting up

ETAs relaxing after Day 1

Waiting for the conference by showing me and the other teachers youtube video

Workshop on creative thinking

During break times, we played 4 square!

Grade 12 debate. Not bad! (of course, I only teach Grade 10 and 11)

Lao Cai Delegation

Quiz Bowl competition

Closing Ceremonies

On a last note, the conference marked the beginning of my final quarter of my time here. As of writing, I have fewer than 10 weeks left. I will post an update soon on what I feel I have gained and what I hope to accomplish in the last 10 weeks. Truly, the end is in sight.

Onwards. Always Onwards.

Daniel

Lunar New Year

My return from Dong Hoi marked the beginning of the holiday season. Stores started closing, school ended after two very lackadaisical days. People were PUMPED for Tet Holiday to begin! From February 1st to February 7th, preparations were in full-swing. People cleaned their houses, bought peach blossom trees, and stocked up on lucky money (little red envelopes with maybe a buck or 5 bucks in them). I asked people how they felt about Tet and I got one answer (in caps): EXCITED

I waited around- many stores were closed, there was no school, so I was pretty bored. I was invited to many people's houses for dinner and lunch, but my social life mostly consisted of eating Chung cake- a Tet special made from sticky rice and pork. It is OK, I guess, until everyone forces you to eat it because you are the foreigner, then you have Chung cake for every meal for a week!

Dinner with students (one of many)

I spent the actual New Year (midnight on Feb 7 going to 8) with a student's family. I was firmly told to leave my school by 11 pm or so. The first person to enter my school after New Year's had to be selected to ensure maximum luck for my school in the upcoming year (shockingly, they made the most junior teacher drive an hour back from his house to enter the school for 5 minutes just after midnight, then drive back).

At the student's house, we had dinner (not before offering it to the ghosts), burned paper money, then watched the New Year's Eve show (which translates into apple in English, I'm not totally sure what was happening). Around 2 or 3 am, we drove around to the family's friends and drank with them. After 3 or 4, we decided to go to bed!

11 Physics gave a hilarious (I gather) Tet performance

English Club (I'll update on this when we've met more than once)
I just wanted to let y'all know I started an English Club!

Fireworks are traditional on Tet- I'm not sure who gave this adorable
little girl 2 fireworks.

Praying to ancestors and offering them food

PM of VN giving a speech

Dinner! (We offered it to ghosts first of course!)

Singapore

After Lunar New Year, people typically go back to their home village to visit their husband or father's parents, then go to visit their wife/mother's parents. Then, they visit their friends. Since people rarely plan ahead when visiting, apparently there is a lot of missing each other in the night! However, this meant I was totally alone- literally every shop on my street was closed-even the guards were gone! I decided to go to Singapore to enjoy my break!

How can I put this...Singapore was AWESOME. It was like New York City crossed with Disney World. Singapore's motto should be: "because we can." And why not? Singapore does awesome stuff because they can! Should we get a giant 50 foot tall lion that shoots lights out of its eyes? YES. Should we build the largest single aquarium tank in the world? YES. Should we build an amazing clean, efficient, and fast metro system? YES. (sorry to end on a weirdly nerdy note).

Singapore is at the cross roads of Indonesia, China, Malaysia, India, and other countries besides. Therefore, it has an extremely strong culinary repetoire. Dani (my travelling companion and now girlfriend) ate Chinese food (greasy), Indonesian food (delicious, if new to me), seafood (BBQ Stingray- that Dani and I decided was probably not endangered), and even paella and spaghetti! (Fun Singapore fact: Singapore is one of the only countries to get its independence against its will. It was given from Britain to the Malaysian Confederation. Singapore fought to stay part of Malaysia, but the dominant Malay-countries kicked out primarily Chinese-ethnic Singapore, despite its protests).

Singapore is a big 1st world country in many ways. We saw Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. We did a locked room escape experience. But it is also in the East. We went to the Sun Yat Sen memorial park. We went to Little Malaysia and Chinatown.We went to a Lunar New Year celebration. 

Mostly, Dani and I walked around and observed. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Fort the British used to control the island. We went to the National University of Singapore (accidently) and the National Museum of Singapore. We rode the cable car over the Universal Studios to the aquarium. It was a nice week!

Overall, Singapore was beautiful and awesome. If it were slightly cheaper it would surpass South Africa as my favorite country so far. If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of Singapore's vibe- the totalitarian aspect didn't come up much. Of course, we couldn't buy gum, and taxi drivers told us how great voting was, and complained about how the elite controlled the telecommunications industry. But hey, for a visit, Singapore was amazing!

Giant gardens with fake trees with restaurants at the top? OK!

80  foot tall Lunar New Year dude

Can I change my sign from the rooster to the Minotaur?

Mr. Dozier recommended I find Stamford Raffels. Of course I had to!

This is from Santa's Igloo. Its an "anti-cafe" with many board games,
wall to wall video games, and a giant movie theatre with only bean bags and the latest movies.
Also there is all you can eat candy and cereal (ice cream costs extra). It was pretty sweet

Architecture in Singapore is bananas

Mosque in Little Indonesia

View of Singapore from the giant Ferris wheel (imagine the London Eye)

Single biggest aquarium tank in the world (I think)

Giant lion THAT SHOOTS LASER LIGHTS OUT OF ITS EYES

Awesome food in Singapore!

Causally-a massive (world record) vertical garden shaped like the world

Marina Bay Sands Hotel (Singapore's landmark building)

BBQ Stingray. Delicious but spicy!

Dani, celebrating that Laos participated in the Youth Olympics in Singapore.

From the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. I'd say I'll be back here, but
that might take away some of the force of my sign of.

5 am at the airport. We were both very sad to be leaving

Onwards. Always Onwards.

Daniel