Spring Break - Days 1 and 2 (Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay)

Disclaimer - sorry for the lack of pics. I am blogging with my kindle and keyboard, so haven't figured out how to put pics on it. I will add more when I get home.

The day before we headed out for spring break, my tooth fell out. No, really, it fell out. So, I had to find a dentist relatively quickly. Come to find out, this was a crown that I had done in Turkey and the dentist did not attach it properly. My tooth is very small and the integrity of it is possibly compromised, so the dentist sealed it and we will make a plan when I get back. At least, I can eat and function normally.

So, we had this crazy idea to go to Vietnam and Cambodia for spring break. I started researching and we chose a tour for about 16 days. I have two weeks off and my partner, Simon requested leave from work. Since I am cheap, we chose to take three flights because we thought we had plenty of time. We chose low-budget airlines instead of the major expensive ones. Of course, they nickel and dime you, but I thought we could save some money and spend it on other things.  

Our first flight was from Dubai to Channai, India. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and went straight to the lounge. The nice thing about credit cards in the UAE is that they usually include lounge benefits. Simon's card gets us into even more lounges. The flight was fully booked, of course and there were lots of young, rowdy Irish teachers on the flight. The longer the flight got the more drunk they got and annoyed us. These millennials are something else. We managed to get through the flight and arrived in Channai. However, once we got there, the flight crew told us to remain on the flight and of course, I needed to use the bathroom and I was hungry. So, they herded us like cattle through the airport to ship some of the immigration process, but nothing was communicated to us. They even told us to stand in a single file line. I was pretty much fit to be tied at that point. Eventually, we got through security in single gender lines and waited for our flight to Singapore. The flight to Singapore was uneventful and immigration was really easy to navigate. We had to pull our luggage and recheck it, so we did all of that and had time to spare, so we tried some different food. 

The flight to Vietnam was uneventful except I changed seats halfway through because there were some empty seats and I couldn't sleep and then I was missing in action, which scared Simon half to death. Whoops! The visa was quick and efficient and we found the person picking us up. We did notice that the guy that helped us in the airport didn't seem to understand much English and neither did the guy that picked us up. We had better luck at the hotel, though. The rooms are adequate and the food is fresh. The exchange rate is 23,000 Vietnamese Dong per $1, so this is going to get interesting. The calculations are really difficult to manage, but we will figure it out. Tomorrow we have a cruise on the River. We are really excited about the cruise. 

The tour company picked us up at 7:30 and we met four other people in our group. Everyone was from the UK, but lived in different parts of the world and were all over 60. We loved talking with them and getting to know them along the way. On the way to Ha Long Bay, we stopped at a several places included a place where disabled people created embroidery. Of course, we had to buy a few pieces because the craftsmanship was utterly amazing. It is our hope that the money is going to them. We also took pictures with each artist. Afterwards, we stopped in Hai Duong Province where they make cultured pearls. I never knew how they were made, but it involved a very interesting process with seeding the ovaries, etc. I didn't ask many questions about that process. 

After the stops, we arrived at Lavender Cruises and boarded our one night cruise. There were ten other people on board including two guys from Germany, a family from France/New Zealand, a couple from Czech, and two girls from the Phillipines. Everyone was really nice and friendly. We were given a quick drink, a briefing, and then shown to our cabins. After checking in, we had a nice seafood lunch with a few beers. The first activity was kayaking followed by a visit to Table Top Mountain. The kayaking was quite short and honestly, I just took video while Simon paddled. I know I am super lazy, but it was fantastic. Then, we headed off to the mountain to climb thousands of stairs to a look out point. I am still out of shape, but it was worth the view. Once we came down, we began to notice all of the trash and pollution. The place was teaming with tourists and we have virtually spoiled the place. I feel sad that we didn't come earlier when the place was in a much more natural shape. 

After the activities and much needed showers, we came back to have a full seafood dinner and drinks. The food was fresh and abundant, although Simon could have dealt with having less seafood, but I was in heaven. I love all of the weird seafood including crab, shrimp, and fish. I was in food heaven. After dinner, I relaxed while Simon did some squid fishing. He caught two squid, but no one else caught any. I think he had the magic touch. When he caught the first one, I saw the spray of ink and didn't realize the squid still had ink in it. When we pulled it off the hook, my shirt was sprayed with ink. I guess it was a bit of a souvenior. After squid fishing, we headed to bed and crashed. 

The next morning, we got up for breakfast and headed out to visit the beautiful Hang Sung Sot cave. The translation in English is "surprising cave" and the cave definitely surprised us. It didn't look like much when we came up to the island, but the cave was absolutely huge. Once again, the operation was a well-oiled machine with many tourists coming in and out in an orderly fashion. We spent about an hour in the caves and then headed back to check out of the boat so they could clean the rooms to get ready for the next round. We relaxed on the sun deck while our lunch was cooked and watched the beautiful rock formations float past us as we headed back to the harbor. The scenery was breathtaking, but again, very polluted because of us. We arrived back to the harbor and it was amazing to watch everyone dump their trash and laundry in these small little boats that ferried us back and forth. Everything works with amazing efficiency as they ready for the next group.

We arrived at the harbor, met up with our original crew and headed back to Hanoi. Once we arrived back at our hotel, we relazed, had dinner and decided to walk around a bit. The city is small, but bustling with motorbikes and people. It is a smaller city, but there are 7.782 million people who live here, according to Google, so I don't classify it too small.  We had a good walk around the neighborhood and stopped for a beer on the corner to do some people watching. The people are incredibly friendly and often said hi to us. My favorite was watching all of the motorbikes. They came in every fashion with riders to match...young, old, short, tall, helmets, no helmets. Even babies were on the bikes. It was definitely organized chaos. Afterwards, we had a walk back to the hotel and enjoyed a few beers on the rooftop. This is only day 2! I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

Life in Dubai

I have been living in Dubai for seven months now. It is absolutely the most advanced, craziest city I've ever lived and I absolutely love it. I have always loved adventure and have traveled and lived in some interesting places, but this takes the cake. From the sand storms to the lavish malls to the sandy beaches, Dubai truly has it all.

There have been some things that have taken time to get used to here.

1. My Job
I have shifted from being a teacher to being an administrator and it has taken some time to shift into my new role. I have always been a teacher and I love being a teacher. I mean, I really love it. It drives me and helps me get up on all of those early mornings. Schools are alive with enthusiastic, curious students who will lead our world one day. They are my driving force. But being an administrator means you don't have that kind of one-on-one contact with them on a daily basis. No student is calling you his/her teacher. It is almost like a death of some sort. But that connection is replaced with hard-working, eager teachers. Teachers who work day and night to make sure that every single child is making progress in his/her class.

You also have to make hard decisions that sometimes affect many people or cause sadness, anger, or resentment. Change is hard for most people. There are some hard changes we have had to make this year in my school for various reasons and it has been difficult to say the least. But we are making progress as we get to know each other and work together for the same purpose.

Being an administrator does allow me to get out and see things that are happening around the school. For example, we had a Dr. Seuss day where reading was celebrated.

I often find various posters up around the school celebrating initiatives from the government, in science, math, etc.

I also witnessed and participated in an inspection process here in Dubai. My school is accredited through NEASC, but every single school here in Dubai has to go through an inspection process with KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), our local entity, where a team of inspectors comes for a week and observes, meets, and discusses your progress compared to the previous year. The team was predominately American and I really enjoyed talking with them and share experiences. What I anticipated as being a scary, stressful process ended up being collaborative and rewarding.

2. The driving

Holy God, the driving...it is absolutely insane. From the roundabouts to the tailgaters, to the luxury cars to the 10 lanes of highway, I have had to get used to the way things are done here on the roads. One of the great things about being in Dubai is that you get a brand new car when you rent for a year. So, I have a Nissan Sunny that I rented for about $300/month, all inclusive. I absolutely love it. But seriously, the other drivers can make/break your day. I live in the school's accommodation, so it is very close to my school. It takes me five minutes to get to work. The problem comes when I have to drive to other places. Cars will come up on your bumper and honk and/or flash their lights while maintaining a "safe" distance of an inch or two. It is madness. Often these cars are worth more than a house, but it doesn't matter. Sometimes it is the crappiest cars and don't get me started on the mini buses for workers. They are the absolute worst! There are speed cameras at nearly every mile of the highway, so you would think that makes a difference, but it doesn't seem to make a dent in the problem. Imagine if there were no cameras? OMG!

I also can't get used to the traffic circles/roundabouts here. I can't figure out which lane to use and when you ask people or look online, you get different answers. Last week, a guy missed me by INCHES when get cut in front of me to exit the roundabout. In my opinion, you need to be in the right lane if you are exiting. But everyone has to exit, so I feel more comfortable staying in the right lane, but then I block people from exiting. It is a nightmare.

3. The sandy weather 
I thought when I moved to Dubai, it was going to be luxury everything and lots of sun. I mean, I live a few minutes from the beach and it is always hot...or so I thought. The past few days we have had blinding sandstorms and then a deluge of rain. Once the rain comes, it seems to clear out all of the nasty, sandy weather. I have no lived in a desert before, naturally, so I didn't realize the amount of says. Sounds stupid, doesn't it...but I am serious. Dubai was built on a desert and I live in the middle of it. And as you can imagine sand gets on everything...balconies, inside windows, cars, eyes, etc. I had eye surgery last year to correct my vision and I still have some dryness here and there, but the desert has made it ten times worse. I use Visine quite often!

One of the local newspapers posted this worker trying to keep the sand out of his eyes and these guys crossing a bridge.

4. The diversity

The diversity is utterly amazing here. At last check, we had over 50 different countries represented in our school. The teachers in my school come from Lebanan, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Ireland, Canada and the UK. It is the most diverse place I have every worked and it is glorious. One of the things I have learned is to ask a lot of questions instead of making an assumption. For example, if I see something at work with a teacher, I first ask about what is happening instead of assuming. I also have to be careful as I am the only U.S. trained teacher in my school and I need to learn more about how U.S. curriculum looks in our context within the mission and vision of our school. Honestly, it is about respecting one another and giving other the benefit of the doubt.

5. The services

I am not going to lie, I do have someone clean my house and do my laundry. I have someone wash my car. I have groceries delivered and sometimes meals. I have water delivered every week. I have someone do my nails and take care of my body (massage, etc.). I have a newspaper delivered every morning. Even my new car was delivered to me. I often have food delivered. We have tons of workers at school who immediately help with the call of a name. I seriously don't lift a finger. You can get anything delivered here including: laundry, groceries, spa services, Souq packages (like Amazon), and food from nearly every restaurant (including Dunkin Donuts and Cheesecake Factory!). If it deliverable, it can happen. 

6. Separation of genders, dress code 

My school is mixed, but the majority of schools have separate sections for boys and girls. Additionally, all of the government services here seem to be separated, especially if there is some sort of contact. Yesterday, I actually saw an ambulance especially for women with a female EMT. The gyms and beauty services are also mostly separated. My gym has a mixed area and an area for all females. I have to say, I love the all-female gym. It gives me some sort of power feeling to see a bunch of strong women working out. This has been especially important for me as I get back into shape. Even some of the taxis are by gender like this pink one in front of our school.

The dress code is also a bit different. I am amazed at the women who exercise completely covered because of the heat. I am always dying in my t-shirt and capris. You see a range of different types from completely covered to barely covered (at the beach), but for work, government and normal day-to-day activities, I try to keep my shoulders and legs/elbows covered. One of my favorite stories is Banana Republic and it is very different here. They have the same type of clothing you would see back home and then they have culturally appropriate clothing. I have bought several dresses for work from there.

Well, I guess that is for now. I will try to blog a bit more especially as I am leaving for spring break tonight to Vietnam/Cambodia. 

Cyprus and Amasra

Since I only have a few weeks left, I wanted to make sure I included Cyprus (the Turkish side) in my travels before heading back to the U.S. The flight is only about an hour, so I knew that I could do it in a weekend.

I booked a sea view at one of the hotels my colleagues recommended and asked for the highest floor. The hotel did not disappoint. They gave me the top floor and the hotel is located on a stunning piece of real estate with dramatic blue seas as far as the eye can see. I am fascinated by the water. I think it stems from the fact that I grew up in a land-locked state and I rarely saw the ocean. But the Mediterranean is my favorite. I can't get enough of the gorgeous, turquoise-blue water. It is just stunning and what I crave to be near when I am stressed or have too many plates spinning in the air. I don't even need to get in the sea, just being close to it is enough for me.

I had to change rooms after the first night because the bathroom was backed up and was leaking into my shower. So, they placed me on a lower floor with a gorgeous sea view. The pic to the left is that view.

The town of Girne is very small and easy to navigate. It was mostly tourists with a small harbor. People are very nice, but clearly rely on tourists for their income. I didn't venture out much except to the harbor and a few shops.

The sunsets are amazing from the balcony of my apartment, but they were even better here. I watched the sun set both nights and it was just glorious. I imagine I could just rent a place here for a month and spend my days swimming in the sea and reading in the afternoons.

I had a little work to finish, so I spent a few hours a day writing, but overall, it was very relaxing.

During my last full weekend here in Turkey, I decided to go to Amasra, a beautiful coastal city on the Black Sea about three and a half hours from Ankara by bus. The bus ride was fine, although not for the faint of heart because of the mountains.