Prologue

Heya Folks,
I realise I left the last post hanging somewhat, total avoidance tactic on my part. Trying to write a Farewell post while still in Hanoi seemed like a premature admission that the adventure was over...trying to write it now, back in the UK, seems impossibly detached. But I'll give it a go!

Trying to sum up the past year of my life in a medium as futile and inadequate as 'the English Language' is a near impossible task, and I've already made my peace with the fact that whatever I write below about my experiences in Hanoi will fall monumentally short of describing accurately the crazy, random and amazing adventure of the past 12months.

Leaving my job, home and life in the UK and heading out to Hanoi with only a volunteering contract and a handful of contacts was one of the wildest, most daring and, as it turned out, most successful risks I've yet taken. As is the way with things, it was completely unmonumental in the moment of happening; getting on the plane at Heathrow was merely the formality of 6 months of planning, packing and hard graft at the YHA.

The first few months passed rapidly, despite long days of boredom in which I started to question my motives and reasons for coming out here at all. Could I really stick this out for the next year? Memories always filter out the crappy bits, so I was reminded again how frustrating it can be to work with teachers, systems and languages unfamiliar to you. I had met a handful of Vietnamese friends and other foreigners, but annoyingly many of the other volunteers stayed only for short contracts, never more than a month and sometimes as short as two weeks.

In trying to summarise the shape of my year I'm pretty sure that I will miss out and forget bits, which will later be re-edited into the post. But in the short space of a few weeks between New Year and Tet (referred to in Hanoi expat-lingo as 'Actual' New Year and 'Vietnamese' New Year respectively) I came into contact with two groups of people who would jointly transform my life in Hanoi for the better and make the next 10months of my trip the most incredible fun they could possibly be.

Firstly, through fellow volunteer Emma and indirectly through this website, I met some fantastic Vietnamese students who ran a weekly conversation club at a local cafe. Unlike many other situations I've found myself in in Hanoi, I never ever felt like the token foreigner-attendant at the club, and it was barely a few days before these guys became firm friends.

A 12-volume encycolpedia dissertation wouldnt come close enough to singing the praises of these guys. Having friends 'on the inside' was invaluable in a city where everything is foreign and unknown. They went out of their way to help me with shopping, jobs, getting haircuts, bicycles, translations. fixing computers and even took me to the local dentist when I couldnt afford the international one.

More than that though, over time these guys became close, very close friends. Quite aside from the trivialities of 'getting on' in Hanoi, I found myself completely a part of a Vietnamese social scene that included karioke nights, cafe lunches, trips in and out of the city, street eats, films, parties and consumption of vast quantities of ice cream. I gelled really easily with the Vietnamese attitude towards socialising and having fun; the ease and spontaneity of social events, the (without exception) openness, warmth and compassion towards new and old friends, and the seemingly radical notion of nights out without alcohol. I loved every single minute of it. If the future of Vietnam is in the hands of such intelligent, hardworking, open, earnest, friendly and compassionate young people that I was so very very lucky to meet, then its got nothing to worry about.

Secondly, from a chance meeting in Sapa and again indirectly through Couchsurfing, I met Ashton, Pavi and a whole host of awesome ex-pats who were staying in Hanoi longer than the average volunteer I'd thusfar encountered. Hurrah! I'd loitered awkwardly on the fringes of the ex-pat scene since I'd arrived but from February onwards I got stuck right in. Having new and awesome expat friends to hang out with, suddenly Hanoi's social scene was fun, friendly and 'exciting'. ['exciting' needs air-quotes as the expectations are diminished somewhat by Hanoi's limited options for hang-out spots]. The group was fantastically diverse and ever-changing and through them I discovered so many favourite places to go that most weeks we hung-out 6 or 7 nights out of 7. The Top hang-out and default centre of operations became Jomas Cafe on Dien Bien Phu; I do believe that between us we tried every single item on the menu and filled up loyalty cards in rapid succession. The R+R Tavern Tuesday Trivia became a staple ingrediant on the social timetable, and a major resource in the quest to mingle and make friends and contacts. I never thought that I would eventually co-host the quiz, but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed doing so. [I still maintain that 'Famous Facial Hair' and 'Characters by Mr Potato-Head' was the best table round in trivia history]

I couldn't possibly list all the awesome things we did together, the rest of the blog is testament to that, but some nights remain truly legendary. Indulging in what we nicknamed the 'Hanoi Crazy' during the Autumn Festival and later the 1000yr celebrations was particularly memorable, for the surrealism of what we were experiencing as well as the awesomeness of having such great friends to celebrate with.

For some reason the memory of driving to the airport to wave off Raven as she set sail for the Philippinnes sticks in my head. There's a reason why xe oms dont go there. Yes it was crazy, Yes it was dangerous, Yes it was unwise, Yes we ended up with bugs/grit stuck to our face, Yes we nearly hit a cow on the airport road. But we did it with the best of intentions. And hindisght paints a lovely picture which I'll keep in my head for a long time yet.

I cant even begin to explain how much I miss these folk, so I won't even try. They Know.

There's more to say but I'm tired and this is reading like an essay. Congratulations on making it this far. I promise to add pictures, and more thoughts soon

SarahHeadsWest xx

Goodbye in words not-my-own

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes" - Henry David Thoreau

"Don't be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends"
- Richard Bach

Small Things I'll Miss

I thought it might be wise to compose a list of the 'smaller' things that I'll miss about living in Hanoi, as they will no doubt be overshadowed by tomorrow's 'Goodbye' post (which, by the way, I have yet to compose and whatever I do write will be hopelessly inadequate in saying all the things I want to say)

No less important, the following are a few of the finer details of my life in Hanoi that I'm going to miss so very very much...

• Eating with Chopsticks
• Nights out without alcohol
• Wearing flipflops
  
• My bicycle, and cycling everywhere
• Geckos on my wall
• Unashamed sentiment
• Being paid in cash
• Street breakfasts
• Iced Tea
  
• Cheap treats (thus necessitating frequent indulgences)
• Time for things and people
  
• Spontaneity and Ease of socialising
• Teaching in barefeet
• Fresh-tasting Fruit
• A million other things that will occur to me later today...

SarahHeadsEast xx

"A short and a long day"

...was how my friend Tan described our countryside roadtrip yesterday, a chance to see Vietnam that-is-not-Hanoi just one more time before I leave on thursday. I was looking around for things to fill my last week, and having pretty much exhausted my 'Hanoi bucket list' I decided to go to Hoa Binh, just for the hell of it.
We must have covered around 400km in total, much of it through backroads and dirt tracks, passing tiny rural villages that still constitutes the majority of Vietnam's landscape. I'd all but forgotten about this in the rapidly 'ascending dragon' that is Hanoi's development.
We dropped in on Tan's relatives, before meeting friends of friends, who took us to their tiny Muong village of Son Quyet. I was completely overwhelmed by a) the peacefulness and simplicity of life there, and b) the open-ness and friendliness with which they welcomed us. We had a fantastic lunch and then wandered around the village, including dropping by at the local school (*row of three classrooms). I'd forgotten just how much of an oddity a foreigner can be, but sure enough before long I had a pied-piper procession of children as I walked through the village.

Later in the afternoon we had tea in the family house of Cham, who is an English teacher in nearby Hoa Binh city. From seemingly nowhere, a singing game was started and we were encouraged to share songs. It would have worked great if I could think of a single appropriate English song on the spot....I sang 'Yesterday' and messed up the words.
I was rewarded for my efforts with this though...Cham's mother singing a traditional Muong song which was so beautiful it gave me goosebumps. You'll have to 'Ahenny' to see it but its worth it

How lucky am I?

On the way back to Hanoi, we stopped at the site of a giant statue of Uncle Ho, who simlutaneously presides over Vietnam's first hydro-electric dam, and an awesome nightscape of Hoa Binh city.
The whole day was just amazing and I left Son Quyet with a promise to all my new friends to go back and visit. Ooops.

SarahHeadsEast xx