First Day

Sunday- chu naht
Vietnamese Word of the day: Motorbike-xe moto

So I've just finished my first full day in Hanoi. I arrived late last night and, despite my jet lag, decided I would get up and try to find a Catholic Church. Vietnam is about 8% Catholic (probably about the same as Lancaster County), and I knew that there were a number of cathedrals and churches in Hanoi. My hotel directed me to St. Joseph's Cathedral, and Twee, the lovely girl at the front desk, gave me a map to get there. It was just a few blocks away, so how hard could it be?

Thus began possibly the most devout day of my life. I don't think I've ever prayed to God to spare my life before today, but I must have done so at least 15 times. I had been told that crossing the street in Hanoi would be ridiculous, but I figured that 5 years in New York had prepared me for crazy drivers who didn't stay in their lanes or obey traffic lights. I was wrong. Vietnam doesn't have lanes--or any type of law enforcement when it comes to the thousands of mo-peds and bicycles that came throttling towards me at every cross street. About halfway through the 15 minutes it should take to walk to St. Joseph's some man offered to help me with my map. Of course he was a mo-ped driver, who then expected me to get on his bike with him and go to the church. Being exhausted from dodging mo-peds on foot, I decided to get on with him--a mistake. He didn't know where he was going--we turned around about 3 times--and my life felt even more in danger than it had on foot. Alas, we finally arrived at the church. Mr. Mo-ped wanted to wait for me (and get another ludicrous $4 out of the deal) but I told him, assertively, NO. This was after he only accepted 4-$1 dollar bills without any tears or wrinkles. Unbelievable.

Despite the journey to get there, the mass really was quite lovely. The cathedral had definitely seen better days. I think it was probably built by the French in the early 1900s and took a few hits in the war, but the music was just really beautiful, and there was more singing than in mass at home. I could tell what was happening most of the time, and I did know 2 words: Hallelujah and Amen. They also played Ave Maria at communion: obviously I cried.

The rest of the day was an ongoing struggle between life, death, and mo=peds. I took a tour of the Old Quarter with another Fulbrighter I met named Corinne. We saw a lot of street restaurants and one killer old Banyan Tree. I got better at crossing the street--you just can't look either way: you just have to go and the drivers will dodge YOU.

Then tonight 6 of us Fulbrighters went out to BALCONY BAR a few blocks away. The beer was cheap, the gin was good, and a mix of Fergie and Christmas music was booming all night. There were also some lovely posters of Angeline Jolie adorning the walls...

Its a pretty cool crew here, and I think we're all excited about getting started. Tomorrow orientation starts at the US Embassy at 8:00. Gotta get some sleep.