Saturday, July 23, 2011

Never have I ever...

Ever played this game before? I can honestly say I have not. So maybe that should be my first "Never have I ever...", too bad I don't have a beer to drink alongside this game we're about to play. See how many of these you have experienced?

1. seen a mother roll up a magazine and use it on her child.

That was my welcome into Narita/Tokyo airport. A screaming child, being dragged across the floor while his mother yelled at him and smacked him across the face. Thomas, a coach from another camp, and I just watched as we stepped onto their version of the air-train. Nobody else even seemed to notice. What shocked me more than the loud display of histerics was when the mother gave in and pulled out a magazine from her bag. She then rolled it up and smacked the boy with it...like a dog. I'm not exactly sure what the boy did to deserve such a punishment but everyone seemed to ignore it all together. From that point on though, all I saw were smiling faces and bowing heads as I made my way through the airport.

2. seen five people on a mo-ped...

My first five minutes into Ho Chi Minh City I felt like were straight out of the first five minutes of the India scene in "Eat, Pray, Love". How cliche, I know. But honestly that's what it felt like. The taxi driver honked at every driver and people were flying by in mo-peds. Not really any cars were on the road,aside from taxis and work trucks, but there were hundreds of mo-peds swerving in and out on the lanes. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw not two people on a mo-ped, nor three or four, but five people on this thing. A man was driving, two small children were wedged behind, a seemingly mother-like character completed the sandwich, with a little on holding on for dear life behind the rest. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen. To be honest, I'm not sure why there were lane-lines painted on the road either. And forget about installing a new blinker when the old one goes out, nobody uses them anyway.



3. woken up to a rooster...

I find it strange that I grew up in the Midwest, but have never heard a rooster sound at dawn. My first night in Ho Chi Minh City, I shared a bed with my new friend, Sophia. Later the next day, I would call it snuggle time-- even without hardly knowing a thing about her. Beside the point though. We set our alarm for 6:30 am so we could shower and repack a little before breakfast and the 8 am departure. However, I woke up to the sound of a rooster, a very stereotypically sounding rooster, and the sun shining in my face. I was terrified we had missed our alarms and it was already 7:30 or so. But, living in Miami for so long has clearly done me wrong...because everywhere else in the world the sun rises before 7 am. Checking my watch, I see that it is 5:12 am. And the sun was already rising. Clouds of reds and soft orange painted the sky and the rising sun glowed peacefully as the rooster cackled away.

4. eaten a loaf of bread for breakfast...

Madame Cuc Hotel offered a lovely breakfast of margarine, homemade raspberry jam, green tea, coffee, juice, and a loaf of bread. It was pretty hollow inside, but warm. We also feasted on bananas. I have eaten toast plenty of times, but never a piece of bread that looks like the five-dollar footlong bread. Tasty, but different. And apparently that will be our breakfast each day in Hoa An. The carb-lover can live on!!

5. had tea at three different times throughout the day...

Tea for breakfast, green. Tea on our boat tour, jasmine. With Vietnamese candies of course. It was a toursit tea-party. Seasame candies, peanut brittle, banana chips, ginger candy, and tapioca poppers. And then there was the jasmine tea...which I bought an entire canister of for $2. Yes, I said two dollars. Eat your heart out, Whole Foods. Our third tea-time was just before lunch with a huge serving of chom-choms (I like to call them fuzzy berries that look like alien babies inside), watermelon with chile powder and salt, jackfruit, and super-sweet lychees. So yes, tea three times before lunch.




6. drank snake wine...

If you think it's sexy when a girl can shoot whiskey, you should throw her a shot of snake wine...or seven. It starts out as rice, becomes rice wine after a fermenting and cooking process, and then for six long months King Cobras soak in the juices, making their own flavored wine. If you're not quite ready to take on something potentially poisonous and stronger than an Jack concoction you have had, then banana wine or plain rice wine might be up your alley. But of course, being the brave Americans we are, we all wanted to taste the snake wine. And my-oh-my, that was some strong liquor. My hat's off to you, Vietnam.



7. drank straight from a coconut...

Don't worry, the allergic reaction was only a few minutes long!! We stepped back onto our boat tour and we're all handed a fresh coconut with a straw sticking out. Then we found out it was real coconut water...and by that, I mean coconut milk with river water mixed inside. Nom-nom? Actually, it wasn't bad. Though one of the girls did compare it to something that tastes like B.O. water. After that, I wasn't as enthused to drink it down. Not to mention, my tongue was swelling at an insaenely fast pace. Needless to say, I tossed the liquid and the coconut over the side of the boat and watched it bob arounding the Mekong River.




8. eaten a fish that still looks like a fish.

I told myself I would eat fsh that still looks like a fish before I eat dog on this trip. Little did I know, that would happen on the very first day. My first real meal in Vietnam was an elephant ear fish wrapped in rice pape with cucumber and pineapple. I took two bites. Baby steps. Alongside the fish wrap I had a veggie wrap and a prawn. Yes, the waitress ripped the heads off on my corner of the table. Eesh. But then they brought out some rice (thank the Heavens! 'An com...') and a soup with noodles, veggies, and some kind of meatball. Which I later found out were fish balls. Joy. The platter that saved the day was the pork. Go figure. We devoured that dish, as well as most of the rice platter. But I can now say that I have eaten fish on a stick.



9. been so happy to drink 7-Up...

At our first dinner in Hoa An, we were served fried egg, rice, grilled pork, and tofu. But we had a choic of what we drank. And I had 7-Up. Forget that I haven't really had soda in months, but it was quite literally the best thing I've digested in two days. Maybe it's just because it felt comfortable, American. I'm sure that's what it was. All the food I've had has been so fresh, and incredible. But it doesn't feel like home. I guess that's the point of it all, right? Right.

10. taken such a cold shower...

Outdoor shower paired with the toilet. One shower head, and freezing cold water. Check, and check. Refreshing as hell, but shocking to start the day with. Peaceful, minus the spider webs hanging over my head. I used to hate Steve Erwin, but lately I find myself wishing I had paid more attention to his shows.

It's 7 am here, about to head out for another bread breakfast. Hair is wet, and bug spray has been applied. Orientation is today, so bring on the kiddies and barefoot soccer play. Until next tie, peace and love to ya'll.