jet lagged goodness

after a two-day farewell tearfest and a bit of plane hopping from ho chi minh, to hong kong, and to los angeles; i finally find myself safely back on canadian soil, in the comfort of my own room at home in good ol' mississauga, ontario.

first thoughts when we landed: what happened to all the snow?! and whaddaya mean +2 degrees celsius outside?!?!

snow or no snow, it's definitely great to be back home... even more so to be greeted by 40+ of my family members in a typical gonzales-cajilig fashion - meaning, food, food, and MORE food. all the weight that i've lost back in vietnam is going to eventually find its way back to all the wrong places in just a matter of hours :o) but ohhh baby, was it a divine meal... err... meals :oP

and now, i officially declare this blog closed :o) oodles of thanks to everyone who took the time to read this shtuff and keep up with my adventures in saigon!

have a very peachy and blessed 2005, and i'll see ya when i see ya :oD

always,
estelle

"goodbye teacher! see you... again!"

and so the countdown finally begins...

how wednesday could find its way to me so quickly is beyond me, but sadly enough it did. my last day of teaching at the high school was rather an emotional one, but i mustered enough energy to refrain from making niagara falls look like a wet napkin; even after all the goodbye notes, presents, and surprisingly even through the unexpected grade 11 male-student chorus of "nothing's going to change my love for you" at the end of my last class. in all my life i never imagined that i would be here in vietnam teaching conversational english to these students, nevertheless being well-wished by over 300 students and acknowledged for having such a huge impact in their lives - quite an overwhelming feeling for this ordinary suburbian-raised girl from the cold depths of canada... but it's a feeling that definitely leaves warm tinglies and yet at the same time an un-helped feeling of saddness realizing the harsh reality that it's finally all over.

one more evening class to go, and that about ends my 4-month teaching term. i've retired all my class material ready to pass the torch onto the next teacher. for the rest of this week: thursday i plan on spending the day packing and probably re-packing up a storm, and a final round-about the city at night with my dear friend jenny. friday at 9am i'll be heading out to the airport and start the long journey back home to canada. everyone here's been asking me if i would consider coming back to vietnam to teach, and i think at this point it's a strong possibility. God has placed such a burden in my heart for this country and its people, and it's just amazing how i've seen Him working - not only in me, but just in everyone and everything that i've been so blessed to encounter.

no worries, no regrets... well, maybe just a little smidgen of stress thinking about how i'm going to fit everything into my suitcases without causing too much of a ruckus ;o)

on tangent: if you're ever in the city, the ho chi minh city museum in district 1 is definitely a place worth going to. not only is it a famous wedding photo-spot, but it's got a lot of interesting geeky-history stuff to feast your eyes on too ;oP also, the cyclo drivers that hang around there are some of the nicest ones in town, so if you want a nice, relatively cheap, slow, scenic ride around downtown saigon, then this would be a good place to check out :oD

'twas a warm warm saigon christmas

chuc mung giang sinh (merry christmas) to everyone back home! i hope and pray that all of you are resting easy during the holidays and that your christmases this year are just filled with wonderful times of good eats and great fellowship with close friends, family, and other kin-folk :o)

it's been quite the experience over here in ho chi minh city during christmas - christmas eve alone was quite the adventure. my teaching team and i (who all looked just fabulous by the way - especially the girls who were decked out in their fancy shmancy ao dais ;oP) attended our church's annual christmas dinner - and believe me, it was beyond satisfaction. they had everything from turkey, to mashed potatoes, to pumpkin soup, to roast beef, to yule logs and apple pies - definintely a nice change of dining atmosphere. the night's festivities also included a pastor's reading of the christmas story from luke, a surprise visit from santa claus himself (of whose vietnamese speaking skills i was quite impressed by ;oP), and a 1 hour and a half walk in district 1 amidst hoards and hoards of people - and when i write hoards, i MEAN hoards... it was insane. i was warned earlier that it was going to be a challenge to get home amidst the traffic, but it wasn't until i turned the corner on le loi street that i understood how much of a challenge it would be to get back home. and let me tell you, it was enough of a challenge for me to walk an hour and a half in 3 inch heels ;o) the streets were fully lit with streams and streams of lights, with bands playing christmas carol after christmas carol on almost every street corner, and every lane was either packed with people or motorbikes, and confetti thrown all over the place. i think i probably saw 10 motorbike santa sightings in a matter of just 10 minutes... definitely not your typical north american christmas eve... :oP

this morning, the team gathered around the christmas tree and opened our gifts while sipping our instant tim horton's french vanilla cappuccinos (courtesy of kim - THANK YOU AGAIN! :oP) of which were well-enjoyed by myself and my team - it was quite a nice touch of home... and also, for christmas, liz even gave me my own "little can of snow" to help relieve my nostalgia of missing the cold white stuff ;o) *sigh* faboo times indeed - then again, all christmases are pretty faboo regardless of how you celebrate it, aren't they? :o) i had been worrying about how i'd feel spending christmas away from home and even further away from anything familiar to what i'm usually used to... but i can thankfully say that any insecurities or doubts that i had lingering about it all prior to this point have all been forgotten this weekend.

... and the party doesn't stop there. tomorrow will be my farewell party with most of my friends that i've met here in vietnam - and of course the only proper way to say goodbye is to say it with a bangin' karaoke session at saigon star hotel... VIP style :o)

hmm. 8 months ago i wasn't sure about coming here - what i would do, who would i meet, how i would adapt to all the new sights and cutlure of this strange country... *sigh* one week left before i head home, and i'm not sure i want to leave...

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

so... i am now at the 3-week stretch. in a matter of a few days i'll be back on a plane heading north-bound for canada. today it finally started to sink in how distinctly different my life has been in the past 4 months and at the same time how different my life is going to be in the following 4 months once i set foot back on canadian soil. oy.

i'm a little disappointed because the ministry of education in ho chi minh city decided to switch the students' holiday to the week after i leave... meaning, it looks like i'll be working up until christmas eve. *sigh* so much for my long-awaited one-week holiday. but work or no work, fortunately christmas plans are still coming along nicely, and as each day passes, the more and more it truly is beginning to look and feel like christmas. the children's christmas program at our church was last sunday (the 5th) and it was just so cute to see all the children dancing and singing along - of course, there was the random boy who would constantly wave at his mom throughout the entire thing, and even more so be the same boy who would sit down when all of the other children were standing and standing when all of the other children were sitting :oP it kinda reminded me of the kids back home... all the hard labour and strife the kids had to go through each practice was beautifully rewarded with a plethora of cookie-candy houses (not gingerbread because there is no gingerbread in vietnam :o( ) - once again, happy times :oD

the city is also transforming into christmas mode. district 1 looks like a completely different world... this is more widely known as the "tourist district" - it's where all the pish posh hotels are like the rex, the sheraton, the park hyatt, etc., and also where all the small shops and tourist-priced goodies are. the fake snow in some of the displays that i've seen almost look convincing, especially in places like diamond plaza, and along hai ba trung street; and some of the lightshows that are exhibited in some of the hotel lobbies that i've seen (as beautiful and as impressive as they are) make me wonder about how big the electricity bill is going to be afterwards - but i think this may be a possible answer to why certain areas of ho chi minh city have been experiencing blackouts in the past week ;oP

liz and i had a nice surprise the other day too, courtesy of bill, who in my books, is one of the most wonderful people i've ever had the pleasure of knowing :o) after a long hard day of teaching at the high school, liz and i came home to our room to find christmas lights gleaming along the rim of our balcony door - it was simply fabulous. definitely hit a soft spot with me :o) and to relieve the rest of our christmas nostalgia, liz and i decided to relax and spend a whole afternoon making paper snowflakes to put up on our window. and now our room is a winter wonderland :oD i absolutely love it! our christmas festivities also include the esi teaching team avec autumn, thuong, and loc in our own secret santa... i've been trying to figure out who got me, but everyone's actually pretty good at being tight-lipped about it (...doh - hehe).

and to get ourselves boosted in the christmas spirit, liz and i have decided to add a little christmas spunk to our lesson plans for the week of christmas - santa hats, presents, singing carols, reading and sharing Christmas stories, and the whole lot. i just need to figure out how i can supply 330+ students with presents without burning a hole right through my wallet :oP

on a totally random note, vietnam has amazing team spirit and immense national pride. the other day while kim (my TA) and i were motorbiking around the city, there were hoards and hoards of teenagers and adults in the streets wearing red bandanas and making a lot of noise. rather confused, i asked kim what all the fuss was about, and she told me that it was because vietnam was playing against singapore for the Tiger Cup. The Tiger Cup (appropriately named by their sponsor, Tiger Beer) is a soccer tournament held within asia - vietnam really takes this seriously.. and i mean SERIOUSLY. in all of the parks within the downtown area there were jumbo flatscreen projections of the live game broadcasted, and the parks were completely surrounded by lines and lines of parked motorbikes with their drivers and/or families watching in complete anticipation. it was nuts. just imagine the toronto mapleleafs winning the stanley-cup IN toronto x 500 - that's just how intense it was. motorbikes, cars, bicycles ringing their bells, honking their horns; drivers yelling and screaming whenever the ball would come metres near the goal line... yeesh!

and among other things, the english geek in me was very much delighted when i stumbled upon a collection of english books while walking around in backpacker's alley - it's located at the back of this tourism office along the side of pham ngu lao street - the place is small, but the shelves are overflowing with books from your classic authors like joyce, hardy, eliot, and austen; to your popular authors like clancy, crichton, king; to even your baby books, do-it-yourself advice books, etc. the prices were pretty reasonable, but at the same time tourist-intended, but it was quite refreshing to be in the presence of a plethora of english literature :oD

hmmm. in the remaining three weeks i have here in ho chi minh, i plan on making the most of it by checking out the city's museums and shifting gears to full tourist mode. that's right, i'm breaking out the maps, i'm revvin' up the camera, and i'm going to sightsee like i've never "sightseed" (err... sightsaw?) before :o) word of mouth has it that the historical museum, the war remnants museum, and the ho chi minh city museum are definite must-sees, along with the reunification palace where the former presidents of the regime held their secret functions and meetings during the war (kinda like the vietnam equivalent to the US white house). and of course, somewhere in my busy schedule of teaching and last-minute sightseeing, i have to get all my christmas/souvenir shopping done :o) wowie! looks like sleep might not be an option in the next few days ;oP but really, who knows - likely anything can happen on the spur of a moment. as max always says, "embrace the mystery" - and that's what i intend to do for the next few weeks :oD.

... can i get a woot woot!

ahh... and of course, what better way to end this entry with a little more eye-candy :o) (thanks to matt for these pics!)


taxi cramming
front seat: max, liz, matt
back seat: me, bill


pho'in it up at our fave joint: bill, minh hung (our driver), mercy, aaron, me, liz, max

hen gap lai! :o)
(see you soon!)

happy december!

one month to go - where has the time gone?!

just when you think that stability could actually be considered a norm around here, our schedules have shifted once again. on a sad note, my conversational evening classes ended a week ago, but will restart once again on december 13. till then i have been slightly bombarded with lack of sleep, lack of planning, and a plethora of extra classes, including an overly-hyper 6th grade class that appeared to be on an exclusive sugar-high. but life is still wonderful here in vietnam, and even more so because we set up our christmas tree on monday - none of us have had the time to decorate it yet, but the feeling of christmas is lingering in the air, despite the 32 degree celsius weather. the weather seems to be the only difference from how it would normally look back home... the shops have begun to set up their christmas decor with the stuffed santas hanging outside the window, the entranceways of buildings are aligned with christmas lights, and the palmtrees are heavily decorated with lights and garland - yep, it's december, all right.

and so once again i'm here to give y'all the latest update with my antics in ho chi minh city and around vietnam in the past few weeks...

november 17
our last evening class of the semester. what better way to celebrate than have a pizza-party. bill, matt, and i thought it would be a real treat for our students if we ordered a whole whoppin' load of pizza and just watched movies and got to know our students a little better, while playing music, and just sharin' good times all around. during the party, the kids wanted to learn how to dance - in vietnamese culture, they don't really have dances or proms or semi-formals, but they love music. so, i decided to only do what i thought was the best solution to the problem - i taught my students how to LINE DANCE. my family would have been so proud to see me in action. none of my students had never line danced before, so as their teacher i thought it would be pretty interesting and enjoyable to teach them. :o) they actually got a kick out of it, and even bill decided to join in on the line-dancing fun. so now all of my students are starting to teach their friends how to do it... way to start a legacy here in vietnam :oD 'twas indeed good times all around :oP

november 20
teacher's appreciation day in vietnam. lemme tell you, when they show appreciation for their teachers, they go all out, and i mean ALL out... apparently in vietnamese culture, this event is the second biggest thing to a student's graduation, and it was just so amazing to be a part of it all :oD. for the full week i was given presents from my students from home-made star jars to wooden nick nacks, to cards and cards of appreciation, and the amount of flowers that i received were endless. for the full week my room literally looked like a florist's shop. i was so overwhelmed with all the warmth and gratitude my students showed me, words just couldn't describe how incredibly amazing it was. every classroom i walked into i received a huge applause - i was so touched. the friday before, each class had their own small party in their classrooms, which was then followed by a teachers-only party in the evening that included speeches from the principal, the head of the student body, and some performances by the students themselves. of course, liz and i sported our au dais and looked just smashing. the foreign teachers even got a special recognition for being such an encouragement to the entire student body - hmmm... all those hours of planning and losing sleep suddenly all became such a small sacrifice. :o)

november 26-28
"dalat is dalat of fun!" - this was our catch phrase throughout our entire weekend spent in dalat. dalat is a mountain-city about 6 hours away from ho chi minh city. so, imagine the distance from mississauga to montreal - kinda reminded me of the roadtrip the critkids took in the summer to see the jazz festival, only this time there were 13 of us packed into a mini-van, and team spirit had a vaguely similar smell to stale cheetos... :oP but nevertheless, it was awesome. i was particularly happy because i finally got a taste of cold weather. in dalat, they have 3 seasons, and it was nice to walk in the brisk crisp air of the mountains. the scenery was awesome, and the sights were all worth the 6-hour drive.
on friday evening when we arrived, we were able to ride the electric cable cars that gave us a city-wide view of dalat, followed by an hour spent at the truc lam pagoda - i wanted to take a picture with a monk, but unfortunately i scared the monk off with my camera (oops!) - in vietnam, it's always important to ask permission before you take pictures because some people (if not most) believe that if you take a picture of them, it'll capture their soul... probably not a good thing if you want to make friends here :oP and of course, the first night wouldn't be complete without a quick karaoke-session. i'm also proud to say that it was my first time to sing a vietnamese song :o) wooot!
saturday morning we took a few jeeps up the langbiang mountain. there's a romeo-juliet type of story behind the mountain, and it's popular for it. the view from the peak of the mountain was just beautiful. it would be such an awesome place to have quiet time in... and for miles and miles, all you could see was mountain peak after mountain peak, dotted with trees and trees... just gorgeous. it felt really good to have the mountain wind blowing through my hair. after a long drive back down the mountain, and after another 30 minutes of sitting in the van, we finally found ourselves at the base of this waterfall (the name of it escapes me at the moment), and after hiking a few (read: a LOT) of metres down, we set our eyes upon once of the most peaceful sights i've ever seen. it was like it came right out of a magazine photo... and to make it all even better, the water was fresh and pure... *sigh*
once night fell, we went to hell... "hell market", that is :o) it's a night market that happens in the center of dalat where all the shop keepers come out selling anything and everything from fresh strawberries to beautiful woven blankets made by the mountain tribes - they call it "hell" because it's just so insanely busy, and it's at night. it was really interesting to see all these people come out and just walk around the parts of the city because almost all of them were wearing WINTER JACKETS... IN 17 DEGREES CELSIUS. they all thought our group was slightly out of whack because we were just walking around in thin shirts and hoodies while they were all trudging around in their parkas and yes, even snow pants :oP
sunday morning before heading back to ho chi minh city, we came across a herd of water buffalo and stopped to take some "national geographic" shots - autumn wanted to ride one of them, but our group scared the poor things and they were nervous around us... after the buffalos, we visited the famous pangour waterfall - i thought that the previous waterfall was gorgeous... but this one took the cake. apparently it has a story behind it too - that the water coming from the top of the waterfall are actually the tears of an elephant who lost his master, and whenever the rainy season hit, the waterfall would overflow - some of us were able to hike up the waterfall (completely ignoring the "do not climb waterfall" sign), and some of us decided to just take every photo op we could find... i think that throughout the whole trip i must have taken at least over 60 photos with my camera :oP
final conclusions about dalat: YES, it IS as romantic as people claim it to be; YES, it's a beautiful city; YES there are flowers everywhere; YES it's cold; and if my future-husband to be is somewhere reading this out of nowhere, this could possibly be a good honeymoon destination :oP

i haven't gotten any pictures developed yet, but thanks to jeremiah, here's a lil sump'in sump'in for y'all!


morning in dalat


the girls n' the jeep: kim, me, liz, thuong, autumn (check out the view in the background!)


on the way back home to ho chi minh: jeremiah and me :o)

... finally. a little visual stimulation.

some of you thought i was joking about my little encounter with "python joe". well, it took a while, but now you can see the evidence :o) hope you guys enjoy these, cuz i sure did ;oP


an unforgettable embrace: me and "python joe" :o)


paddling peacefully along the mekong delta: matt, autumn, me


our awesome tourguide giam, me, autumn, and liz before heading back to ho chi minh city

back from the jungles of mekong...

it's been a while, but here i am again to give y'all a brief scoop on my latest adventures...

first off, i think the locals are now going to have a hard time determining what nationality i am, because at this point i could be anything from cambodian to african... yep, methinks i spent a little too much time in the sun in the mekong delta... :oP

hmmm. well, the jungles of the mekong were simply fabulous (pictures to be posted up soon... hopefully *cross fingers*)... and the tour that we took was pretty sweet. but to keep it short, everything about that weekend was just wonderful, and the vacation much needed... i've come to the realization that i'm SO ready for the next one! btw, fyi: during our trip i encountered a 6' boa constrictor of which we named "python joe", and took pictures with it - i got a little pannicky when it started to wrap around my waist, but it was good times :oP... so after that experience, i have been labelled as the "jungle queen" hehe. and yes the floating markets and monkey bridges look EXACTLY like the postcards i've sent some of you... :o) some things words just cannot describe. it was indeed a surreal experience...

hmm... and then there's the nostalgia. as christmas is vastly approaching, i miss all of you guys back home more and more... i think that for this past week, the homesickness really kicked in (perhaps delayed culture shock?). i really appreciate all of the emails, phone calls, and snail mail that i've been receiving from you guys, and it helps me to feel not so out of the loop :o) i've been trying to find things to do that are similar to what i would have been doing back home around this time of year, and so i've decided to help out with the children's christmas program at the church i go to here. our first practice was yesterday, and it felt really good to be singing christmas songs with the little kiddies ;o) cristina and mama esta have informed me that ontario was blessed with the first flurry of the winter season not too long ago. *sigh* as crazy as it sounds, what wouldn't i give to see one snowflake fall over here... hmm. well, maybe not so much ;oP but hopefully you get what i mean :oP

so now i must return to my regular busy teaching schedule and all the other fun stuff that goes with it. while i was marking the tests of all my students, i did the math, and apparently i'm teaching about 330 students a week... my goodness! however, all the busy-ness from the crazy class sizes and endless hours of planning, to certain young adolescent boys professing their love for me in class (man, remind me to tell you stories when i get back, folks!) life has been treating me so kind here, and as i've told some of you, despite all the chaos, i have been able to find a sense of peace amidst it all :o) ... what else is there to say, but God is good :oD

"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another..." John 1:15