Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking with Mom on Skype! She asked what was new, and I said, "Oh nothing unusual, everything has been pretty ordinary. Class, then homework."
Later, I realized that my circumstances are anything but ordinary at the moment...Here's some basic details about "ordinary"!

Though organized nicely, Vietnamese streets do wind a bit. Most streets have names of famous leaders, like U.S. streets named "MLK" or "Washington." However, to save my life I cannot even begin to memorize street names here. I am starting to really love the Native American way of naming places - "Big Hill Place", "2 streets east of bridge street", "Yellow Sign in bottom-left-hand-corner-of-convenience-store-on-corner-Street", or "Street with many appliance stores street" all seem like fine names to me!

As I said in a previous entry, streets here used to be organized by trade. In the past, "Street A" for example, would be lined with vendors selling food, "Street B" with people selling toys, and "street C" known for tailors and seamstresses....you get the picture.

To this day, many stores sell just one product. So, for example, there is a "toilet store" that sells nothing but toilets, and a "sink" store that sells nothing but sinks. Thus far, the kind of store that has caught my attention most are the Mannequin stores! I have seen 3 shops filled to the brim with mannequins , all with creepy facial expressions, some without makeup, some with wigs or simply bald...but every one of them blaringly naked and staring strangely out into the street. I'm sad I didn't take a picture!!

Real estate used to be priced based on a storefront or house's width against the sidewalk - with no limit on how many stories a building could be. As a result, most shops, homes, and stores sit very narrow, but stand 3-7 stories high. Restaurants often walk their customers up 3 flights of stairs, where patrons sit and eat with a nice view.

Many people here dry their laundry on their porches on clotheslines. I kind've like seeing people's laundry strung about the city and up high on porches - it gives me the feeling that there are people, not just buildings, in the city. You can see this man standing on top of his house! Many people's roofs serve as a deck.

Bicycles and Mopeds are the main method of transportation here. I rode on the back of one with a woman once, against my better judgement, but no harm came of it and it was really fun!! There are also "siclos" - the bicycle-powered cabs that seat 3 small people (Beth, Nicole, Aften) or two larger people (Dad, Granpdpa).

To beat the heat, I like to get ice cream. Here, I get either Coconut, Taro, or Mung Bean flavor. Taro is a plant/root. So delicious....(sigh) Mung Bean and Taro both have a rich, creamy taste like coconut or Chai, but also have a bit of a nutty flavor like almond. Taro flavored things are lavender colored, and Mung Bean foods are green.

       A/C's are a novelty here, and one mainly used for tourists. Outside of my hotel room, I find myself sweating at the strangest times. For example, the group eats breakfast upstairs, and by the middle of breakfast, a nice, reflective sheen of sweat forms on everybody's forehead. Upon arriving at the airport in Hanoi, Tucker, Jessy, and I stood at baggage claim for about 15 minutes. I hear Jessy say, "Is anyone else sweating?" I laugh-- standing in an "air conditioned" building, without moving or exerting myself, my clothes had started sticking to me with sweat about ten minutes prior. Another distinct time I remember feeling like I was in some weird, hot dream was at a gravestone of a revered leader. The dead man was very important...but it was sooo hot outside, and I began to drift off. I whipped out a fan and started fanning myself. Is it disrespectful to fan yourself at a gravesite, over someone's dead body? Who, in this case, has more serious problems?

 Fortunately, our hotel has a swimming pool! It is sooo nice!!

The scenery here is beautiful - mountains on every side, trees, jungle, greenery everywhere. Banana leaf trees are my favorite! They spread out like big, wild, fluffy fans

So, that is ordinary life here in Viet Nam! Hopefully I will be able to take more pictures of food and other common scenes.

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Here is a video of some of the beautiful Vietnamese landscape! We drove through the mountains to get to Hoi Anh, and had to turn the A/C off...in 100 degree, humid heat...

Here is a video showing a lot of typical Vietnamese countryside! Rice fields, middle/upper/poorer houses, business, food stands, dirt roads, paved roads, water, mountains...Professor Giebel offers some information, shortly followed by a lovely commentary by Mr. Hao...