Vietnam, July 2013- GEEO Tour

The first few days...

ckiernan1231 — Tue, 9 Jul 2013 20:41:00 GMT

On Sunday finally I met the people that I would be spending the next 2 weeks with. There are 6 of us total which is a nice size. Our tour guide is an adorable Vietnamese man who while he speaks good English has a very strong accent which often makes him hard to understand. I have suffered multiple headaches trying to listen to him and dicipher what he is saying. He's great through and is super concerned with telling us everything about Vietnam and making sure that everyone is happy. He has already said multiple times " if something is bothering you, don't keep inside, tell me and I fix it." We spent the first night going over the itinerary for the rest of the trip and then went out to dinner, my first Vietnamese meal! The food here has definitely been one of the highlights. They basically have noodles and some kind of broth with every meal. The first dinner I had fish and vegetables that were served in this small pan over a lighted charcoal pit. I then went and got a few beers with a few people from the group. They had a lot of these smal stools set up on sidewalks where both locals and tourists were sitting and drinking beer and that's what we ended up doing. The two most common beers here are Hanoi and tiger beer, I personallily like tiger the best. It's amazing how busy the streets of Hanoi

A rough start....

ckiernan1231 — Mon, 8 Jul 2013 16:28:00 GMT

The first day of my trip was extremely long, tiring and stressful! It was far from the ideal way to start a trip. I started my journey in the great state of New Jersey at newark airport. I had a 13 hour flight in front of me to Japan... That's the longest I've ever been on a plane! I was psyched when I found out that beer and wine were free and so were the movies (I hate when they make you pay for movies and booze on the plane!) However, I was not psyched that I had the middle seat. The flight was going pretty well until all of a sudden with about 4 hours left I felt really dizzy and got very sweaty and nauseous. I went to the bathroom and felt like I had to throw up. I literally could not get up from the toilet seat and was so dizzy I couldn't see straight so I hit the help button. When they came I opened the door then I passed out. I woke up probably a few seconds later to the flight attendant banging on the door. Once they got me out of the bathroom they put me on oxygen. I felt better within minutes but it was scary.... I have never experienced anything like that before. The good thing about the incident was that I got to move my seat to a seat with a lot more legroom and I ended up sitting next to a man in his 60's that was from the same hometown as me. He was going on a diving troop to Micronesia. I hope I'm doing things like that when I'm in my 60's!

When I got to Japan I had a 4 hour layover. I did some shopping at the airport... They certainly live hello kitty over there, I even saw an airplane with hello kitty all over it... Really?!? I ended up buying a green tea kit Kat bar, a sushi magnet and chopsticks. I really want to go back to Japan. I just got a really good vibe for the airport. The people there are so nice and happy... Almost unnaturally so. The flight was good. I pretty much slept the whole way, didn't faint this time.

I finally made it to Hanoi after almost 24 hours of traveling. I got my visa, went through immigration and got my bags fairly quickly, which were the 3 things I was most worried about. However the things that I wasn't worried about at all ended up being the most troubling. I was expecting someone from the tour company to be there to pick me up, that didn't happen so I got in a taxi to go to the hotel that I was told that I was staying at. When I got to the hotel it was around 11:30 pm and the hotel lobby was pitch black and locked. Thank god my taxi driver (who didn't speak a lick of English) called the hotel and they came out. They then told me that I didn't have a reservation for me. The guy the showed me the list of names the tour that were booked at the hotel and my name was not there so naturally I started to freak out. He ended up putting me in a room that I paid for and I immediately emailed the tour company to find out what the hell was going on... I was worried that I had been scamed. I immediately heard back from him and it turned out that they sent me to the wrong hotel... Thats's kind of a major mistake. As for to not being picked up at the airport, they picked me up at the time that I arrived in Japan. They next day I cabbed it over to the right hotel but nonetheless still a scary experience... Things are gonna get better from here!

Going with the flow...

ckiernan1231 — Wed, 4 Jul 2012 09:15:00 GMT

Yesterday I had orientation for my volunteer program in the morning. I met one of the other volunteers, Alicia, who is staying in the same house as me. Alicia is from Canada and is really sweet. Irma took us on the 20 minute hike to the office where the orientation was held (I´ve never seen a 70 year old lady walk so fast in my life) Irma actually reminds me a lot of my grandma... she is a bundle of energy always caring for everyone else and making sure they have what they need. The orientation was pretty basic. We got a schedule for when we would be working, they went over the rules for the program, etc. There were about 10 other volunteers there and I´m pretty sure I was the oldest one there but the only one who can speak spanish so ha!

After orientation, I went with Alicia and some of the other volunteers to the old town or the "centro historico" We had some lunch and I had my first ecuadorian cerveza... they really only have one beer called "pilsner" creative huh? The centro historico is absolutely beautiful! There are tons of old churches, shops and restaurants... it has a very old school European feel to it. We took a taxi up to "el panecillo" which translates to little piece of bread. It is a giant statue of an angel built by a local artist, sitting on the top of a giant hill overlooking the entire city. El visto fue spectatular! The story with the angel is that it´s back is facing the south where all the poor people in Quito live and the front is facing the north where the rich people live so the angel is literally turning it´s back on the poor people of Quito.

I learned to navigate the public transportation system a little bit too. They have buses and trolleys. I guess the trolleys are supposed to be like a metro but they don´t go below the ground. However, I have to say that the trolleys are pretty efficient. Navigating the streets is super confusing because everything pretty much looks exactly the same but hopefully I´ll get the hang of it in the next few days!

Today was my first day of work. What a long confusing day it was! I thought that I was going to be taking spanish classes in the morning and teaching english in the afternoon. However, it turned out that they wanted to me to go to the street children program in the morning so that in the afternoon there would be someone to show me the way to the place that I would be teaching english. The street children program takes place in one of the mercados in Quito. The children of the people who work in the market come to this area that they set up with tents to play games and learn basic skills to help prepare them for school. The children are really adorable but also really needy! They love any attention that you give them because I´m sure they don´t get much from their parents because they are working all of the time. I had one little girls attached to my hip the entire time... she was probably around 3 years old and would start crying if I left her. However, strangely enough she didn´t really seem to care that much when I left for the day.

After I went to the street children program, I went to the place where I would be teaching English, which was at another market about 40 minutes away. Right next to the market there was a big room where the classes were held. It was super disorganized today! There were children from all different age groups and they seemed to be coming and going as they pleased. There was basically no emphasis on teaching them english except when the head teacher told me to teach them a lesson on colors so I did a quick vocabulary lesson and game with them. I had to teach a lot of it in spanish at least to give the directions because they didn´t know a lick of English. I told her at the end of the day that I would be preparing an English lesson each day for the rest of the week and she was thrilled. The kids at the school are also really cute and some of them are so eager to learn. There was one little girl who was trying to tear up the place but I wasn´t having that... needless to say she didn´t like me very much but I made a lot of other little friends so I´m good.

So the first day was a long and a bit confusing... however I´m just gonna keep going with the flow and see what tomorrow brings!

Almost lost in Quito!

ckiernan1231 — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 08:34:00 GMT

Ah the first day in Quito ! It was a pretty uneventful day. I slept until about 9 still feeling exhausted from the trip yesterday (and the crazy high elevation here doesn't help either) My host mom, Irma, made me breakfast and we got acquainted. She is the world's nicest lady! She takes in a lot of volunteers and thinks of them as her foster children. She spent a solid half hour showing me pictures of the volunteers who have stayed with her. Her husband, angel and her two sons (both in their 30's) also live in the house. They also have an adorable dog named asha. Their house is very quaint and homely. My room is a little oddly decorated as I had mentioned in my previous post with the picture of the little boy and Jesus staring at me as I sleep (pictures to come) I am going to have a roommate who is set to arrive Monday night. I hope she's cool because it's pretty close quarters in here! The roof is my favorite part of the house... There is a great view of the whole city. There is also a cement soccer field behind the house and I actually woke up from the whistles and yelling (could've done without that)

I went to the centro commercial today which is their giant mall and supermarket. I wasnt too impressed. I picked up a few items that I needed as well as a really strange cafe con leche and headed home. It was not easy to get home! Irma sent me off with just her address I really had no concept of where it was, what the major cross streets were or anything. It turned out that I had to ask 5 taxis before anyone actually knew where this place was... Almost got lost on my first day! (I was sure to ask for more thorough directions upon arriving home)

I used the rest of the day to read, nap, unpack, study some Spanish, and map out the trips I am planning on taking. I also found out that I don't have to volunteer on Monday's (they give everybody a long weekend) so just need to go to orientation tomorrow.

I had a late dinner with the family. We ate mote which is a soup made of giant corn kernals and onion along with chuletas (porkchops) it was pretty delicious.

The long trek to Ecuador!

ckiernan1231 — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 07:15:00 GMT

I woke up on Saturday morning with mixed emotions. I was feeling really excited about the adventure and journey in which I was about to take but also a little nervous and apprehensive about all the unknowns.

My day started by trekking my 35 pound backpack through the subways of new York (where it was about 95 degrees!) to the new jersey transit at penn (had broken out into a full out sweat by the time I got there!) I took the nj transit to Newark airport. Then I finally ditched my giant backpack and was greeted by a bagel sandwich and large iced coffee from DD (which I really savored knowing I would not have another DD coffee for 3 weeks!)

Soon after breakfast, I boarded the plane to Miami. Once I was in Miami I had a 2 hour layover so I grabbed some beers and a sandwich at a bar. From Miami I got on a plane to panama city. I really would like to return to panama city at some point; every man working at that airport and lots of men on the plane were gorgeous! Of course I didn't get to sit next to any of the hotties. Guess who got the middle seat next to two smelly old men?!?! Yup me! Made it to Ecuador safely despite the fact that both of those dudes kept hogging the armrests!

Once I got to Ecuador there was a humongous line for immigration. It took about an hour and a half. However, once I got off the line both my bag and my ride were waiting for me! The man who picked me up brought me to my host family's house. It was about 2 in the morning at this point so I met and talked with the mother for a little bit and passed out in a bed with a picture of Jesus and a painting of a really creepy little boy who is crying to protect me.