my adventures in southeast asia

Day Eight

gerbertl — Fri, 8 Jul 2011 00:36:00 GMT

today we drove out the deep country to see where emily's future school is going to be! the kids were so amazing and we hugged them and loved on them. they were so cute i just love it!!! we also went to see some tunnels. during the war the vietnamese built tunnels to house people in order to keep them safe. literally they had birthing rooms down there. they expanded the tunnels for tourist and i still felt claustrophobic, i cant imagine living down there and having a baby in those tunnels!!! we had the womens union cooking class tonight... which they did not really let us cook for. we all kind of just stood in the way. they sang and danced so everyone was having a wonderful time even though we could not understand anyone. i have to lead the macarana... how awful! well we decided after that we did not have enough american singing so we all went to the karaoke bar next door for another couple of hours. it was so fun and laurie and i sang sweet dreams and just had a blast!

Day Seven

gerbertl — Fri, 8 Jul 2011 00:21:00 GMT

i am beginning to realize that my writings are not making is sound like i was as busy as i am claiming. when i write it down it is sounding kind of boring. let me just reasure you that it has been quite the adventure you will just have to believe me until you see the pictures. today we took the bus out to phong nha caves. it is beautiful and has been a unesco world heritage site since 2003. it was like a tropical jungle up there and i was practically drowning in my own sweat! jeans were such a bad idea! well we all knew about the 500 steps up to the start of the cave, what we were not informed of were the 400 steps back down into the cave which we then had to walk back up! it was a major workout! i also got really dirty taking pictures, but it was so worth it. i must say the pictures turned out pretty well. for dinner tony, jake, laurie, emily, quan lee and i went out for snake! first the weighed the snakes were were going to eat. then they brought out the blood mixed with vodka to take shots of. they also brought out some of the organs. jake and i split the heart... which was still beating when they brought it out! but after i tried cutting it for six min. it was no longer beating. literally it was six min and three utensils later... there is video to prove it. they also cut the liver and put it in vodka so we put our organs in the bile vodka and did shots... it was really not that gross other than the fact the heart kind of got stuck in the back of my throat. the bile vodka tasted much better than the blood vodka... and lucky for us we had a six course snake dinner to wash it down with :)

Day Six

gerbertl — Fri, 8 Jul 2011 00:10:00 GMT

today we when out to hung hwa to see the demo of the landmines. it is very close to the laos boarder and was a long drive out in the countryside. we also stopped at two kindergarten classes. they are the sweetest most adorable kids ever. i hope one day i get to adopt one! we listened to them sing and then we dressed them in new clothes and gave them candy. one of the moments that hit me the hardest was seeing the kids toys. they were old cartons that had been cut to look like a car with wooden wheels on them. they were attached to a stick so the kids could drag them around. it was so humbling to see these little kids who were so happy. marketing has an entire segment devoted to appeal to kids and their parents. that kids need toys to be happy and smart. these kids were just as happy as any other little kids and it just broke your heart because we can see the difference in poverty. after the kindergartens we went to khe sanh museum. it was the sight of a military base during the vietnam war. bill and don, two of the guys on the trip fought during the war so they were explaining everything to us and it was very interesting. we went to get clothes made after our excursion. i had one of the traditional dresses made. it is a beautiful royal blue with white and lime flowers... im sure you will love it dad :). we then had dinner and then i had to do some laundry so i was in the whole night. laurie, my room mate, lost her husband two years ago to cancer and today was his birthday so she showed me pictures of them and told me stories about the things they had done together. they had the most beautiful adventurous life. it is so sad they she lost a man she loved so much... and still loves him. she talks about him all the time and you can tell how much he was to her. he flew hot air balloons and the african government hired him to do tours so laurie and doug spent three years living in africa! how amazing!!! i ended the night reading my sherlock holmes book... it is fantastic.

Day Five

gerbertl — Thu, 7 Jul 2011 23:53:00 GMT

we took the bus to dong ha today which is the area that peace trees operates in. we met some land mine victims and heard their stories. chi cuc was one of the women who lost both of her legs and her story of loss and of hope was truly moving. we also heard a young man tell his story. he was about 8 when his neighbor was cutting one for scrap metal and he was too close. he lost his arm, part of his fingers on the other hand, and both legs. i also believe he is blind in one eye. he is only 21 now, and i cant imagine the life he has now. how grateful we all have to be just for something as small as walking. i mean we walk around every day without having to think about it, our brain just moves our legs. how would our lives be different if we struggled everyday doing something that to us is so simple. not only is he disabled, but in a country that does not care for them the way americans do. they dont have ramps, automatic door, handicap parking, or anything that could make their lives easier. another lady gave her story too. she was five and she lost not only both of her legs, but everyone else in her family except for her father. all of her brothers and sisters and her mother were killed in the explosion. there was not a dry eye during her speech. i am sure the pain i imagined could not even come close to the pain she felt that day and every day since. after the heart breaking stories we had a chance to do our part. we went out and planted trees. it was hot and sticky but no one complained because we all knew it could be so much worse. we had dinner with the woman union tonight and i got to meet viet and voo who were in high school. they were adorable guys and spoke very good english. after dinner we headed out for drinks. i spotted this massive rat running a crossed the sidewalk and i whispered it to laurie but she thought i meant it was dead so when is darted out in front of us her and tony screamed at the top of their lungs. it was hilarious. we finally made our way to this little red bar... well we thought it was a bar. we tried to get a menu but they guy was not understanding us. we decided to be simple and just order huda beer. well all of a sudden this guy on a moped drives up with a case of beer and what do you know, they open it and give them to us. instead of explaining to us that they did not have alcoholic beverages, he thought it would just be easier to buy beer and sell it to us... oh how i love vietnam! tony and i decided to take a walk from there and check things out. everyone was yelling hi to us because we were so clearly not vietnamese! we stopped for some doughnuts and then passed a guy who offered us beer. we turned him down, but then he offered us a quail egg. we took the quail egg and quickly thanked him and walked away. i thought it was raw so i wanted to hurry so we didnt have to eat them in front of him.... little did i know it was cooked... cooked with a baby quail inside!!!

Day Four

gerbertl — Thu, 7 Jul 2011 23:46:00 GMT

we flew to hue today. it was the most adorable little town ever. we dropped our bags off in the hotel room and then went on a little adventure to the thien mu pagoda, which means heavenly lady. it was really beautiful and perched atop this hill with a picturesque view of the purfume river below. we decided from there we were going to take a boat back to the hotel, so we all piled on the colorful boat for a trip upstream the purfume river to our hotel. after our boat trip we all headed out to dinner at la carambole which was a delicious little french place... reed's guide book always points us in the right direction. i had the duck with orange sauce and it was amazing. after the restaurant we went to the DMZ bar right no the corner. we shared a few drinks... some really disgusting ice cream, and a lot of laughs, then headed back to the hotel. laurie was already in the and she had seen a cockroach. we couldnt find it so we just hoped it wasnt going to craw into bed with us... we found the giant thing dead on our bathroom floor in the morning... it was pretty gross!

Day Three

gerbertl — Thu, 7 Jul 2011 23:37:00 GMT

wow! so can we say i am super behind on this whole blogging business!!! well get ready i have 13 days to cover tonight! lets just say i have not had a lot of down time, and that is a massive understatement. ok so where are we... ah yes, day 3. well this was supposed to be a day at ha long bay, but because of the weather, it turned into a free day in hanoi. basically all i did was walk around and take it all in. tony, reed, lesley, laurie, jake, and i all had lunch at this italian place that was just down the street from the huge stone cathedral. i also got a backpack because my purse decided to fall apart. it is awesome, a mocha colored northface pack... and the best part!......... 8 dollars!!! i love this place! well after lunch tony and i wanted to wander around and get lost on the back streets of hanoi. we started walking around and taking pictures and all of a sudden we ran into the market and i looked at tony and said... clearly we are not lost enough, so on we went. we actually did not get that lost and found our way back to the hotel with enough time to get ready for dinner. dinner was at a restaurant right on the lake by the old quarter. it was so beautiful and the dinner was fantastic. there was also a live band playing and they tried to make jake play a couple of the instruments... i got pictures of how funny it was. we also went to the night market this night. it was CRAZY! i have never seen so many people in one place. basically we were all really overwhelmed so we just looked at everyone, then made a loop and headed back to the hotel.

Day Two

gerbertl — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:12:00 GMT

so after a very bad night of sleep we decide to go south to the town of ninh binh (i hope i am spelling that correctly). the 2 hour bus ride ended up being 3 hours on the way there, but it was well worth it (it was over 5 on the way home because of a traffic jam... wait till you see it!). we went to see the stone cathedral which was beautiful, but it is what a group of us did afterwards that made the trip so amazing. tony, jake, lori, and i decided to take a look around so we went over a little cannal into what looked to be a residental part of the town. we walked down dirt roads (that had turned into mud from the all day rain), passed little tents suppended over the water, and made our way past windowless houses. down one of that back dirt road a little girl ran out yelling "HI". being the very cultured people we are we yell back Xin chao (seen chow... its means hi). she giggled and ran back to her house. i asked if i could take their pictures and they agreed. after i showed them the pictures and they thought it was so cool. tony took a video of them and showed them and they giggled in delight. the mother invited us in for tea but we did not have time! i was so upset! how amazing that on our first real day of treking we got invited into someones house!!! the people here are so amazing and friendly. they all smile and wave and are just so adorable. well after we left the house we started our walk back to the bus and the little kids ran onto their dirt path and started waving goodbye! breaks your heart at how adorable these kids are and how little they have. hopefully we dont go to an orphanage or i might come back with a couple!!! well i am off for another adventure around hanoi. they were not kidding about monsoon season... its been pouring for the last 2 days here!!! wish me luck!

Day One

gerbertl — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:41:00 GMT

the first day started off early... well early for the 5.5 hours of sleep i had. we went to listen to this guy give a speech on vietnamese culture for an hour (he wrote 2 books... one called "wondering through vietnamese culture"). i feel so bad because everyone else found him very interesting... the lady beside me was taking notes even!... but i was so bored and only understood about 10 worlds out of the whole thing! i will try and post a picture of the dry erase board this guy was writing on and hopefully you will understand my boredom. after his speech we went to the ethnic museum. outside they have replica tribal houses that we could actually go into. they were so amazing!!! if i could just put ac in it and running water, i would want to live in it! we then had lunch at a restaurant next to west lake. it was delicious and the brought so much food we could barely fit it all on the table! and it pretty much looked the same when we were done, we didnt even make a dent. we had free time after lunch so tony, jake, and i took the chance to go to the market north of our hotel. it was all inside and stuffed with all sorts of nick-nacks, clothes, fabric, food, and just about anything else you can imagine. we then wondered the streets in the rain until we made it back to the hotel (without getting lost i might add)! by that time i was needing a nap so went up to my room with high hopes. well i did not have a watch and so i was really nervous about missing dinner so after a while i came down to get on the internet and check the time. i was here at 5:30 according to the computer and i needed to leave at 5:45... pretty good timing if you ask me. well no one else was down here so i sat down here for like 40 min. till i finally asked jake what time it was... the computer was an hour fast... so annoying, so i went back to my room to read. we had dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant (which is how most of them are here). our table was on the third story and we had it all to ourselves. after dinner we came back for about 30 min until we went to the famous water puppet show. it was so fun to watch, but i was so tired. as soon as we got back i crawled into bed for what ended up being a very bad night of sleep.

Arrival

gerbertl — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:17:00 GMT

The plane ride here was so long. Over 13 hours just to Soel. Then we had about a 4 hour layover and it was off to HaNoi. We had an unexpected wait once we arrived in HaNoi because the other group's flight had been delayed so instead of being the last ones to arrive and leaving straight away, we had to wait for an hour in what i thought was no air conditioning. Little did I know that the airport was air conditioned as we stepped out into one of the stickiest and hottest nights i have ever experienced. nothing could have prepared me for the humidity of Vietnam. the bus ride seemed to take forever, twisting around city roads and going in what seemed to be circles. finally we arrived at may de ville hotel and although i was tired, tony, jake, and i had to go out exploring. we walked around the lake that is just a couple blocks from our hotel and had this weird thing, it was like a fluffy roll, but white and shiny, and inside was stuffed with meat, sauce, and quail eggs. it was delicious and i am in fact craving one right now. after our little exploration i was relieved to finally be taking a shower and going to be at around 2 in the morning. vietnam is an interesting place. their buildings have influences from what seems to be all over the world. the buildings look european with huge beautiful wood doors that looks like something you wold see in bombay or bali and hanging from their balconies are chinese lanterns. there is something gothic and medieval about their structures as well, although i cannot decide if it is do to the lack of up keep and the fact the building are decrepit and seem to be crumbling or if the buildings were actually meant to reflect a sort of gothic architectural style.

airport, indy, anderson, mary kay

gerbertl — Tue, 7 Jun 2011 14:11:00 GMT

well today was just one of those days. i had to run my friend to indy which was fine, but i drove and every slow moving vehicle migrated to my lane. i had road rage so bad and was so very annoyed with the driving situation and all the road construction going on. i also missed the airport exit because of this massive semi in front of me blocking the road signs... not happy one bit. at least my friend did not miss her flight! then my aunt and i went to crate and barrel (i had a gift card for my birthday... two years ago)! i finally got some really cute dishes for my kitchen and i am so excited! we stopped at the casino in anderson on the way home and my aunt who is beyond what the average person would say is lucky, won over 200 dollars in 20 min. i on the other hand lost 60 in that amount of time... it was just another factor adding to my overly annoying day. i then had a mary kay facial to do, which i was not looking forward too. i actually was really hoping the women would cancel because i was just not in the mood to do this tonight, but they didn't so i went and set up anyways. i ended up having such a wonderful time and it was actually some much needed girl time and was just really what i needed (even though i didn't know it). i just think it is so amazing how God works, and how he places people in our lives when we need them the most. after the facials, i went to the flip house and blake and i worked on that till 11:50. so i got home, washed my face, brushed my teeth and headed to my room to type this blog. it has been a long day and i feel emotionally exhausted.

summer days

gerbertl — Mon, 6 Jun 2011 13:52:00 GMT

well it was a hot one today. after church, my best friend, blake, and i took our kayaks out on the wabash river and kayaked seven miles! my arms are exhausted but it was so worth it!!! we went to his sister and brother-in-law's house then to watch a movie and play with their adorable kids. blake then realized at 11:20 that he locked his keys in his car. we ran back to his house to look for spares but couldn't find any so we called the cops to come out and unlock them... his spares were in the cup holder... :). i am still feeling overwhelmed with everything that is going on, but today was a good distraction from the chaos that i feel is ensuing in my life. tomorrow i have to run a friend down to indy. its not that i mind at all, i love her and won't get to see her for a while, but it is a two hour drive each way and i have two books to read in what... two weeks, along with everything else. i need a personal assistant. and by that i mean... i need a maid. oh high school summer nights where have you gone. bonfires with friends. no worries. no cares. i wish i had that back!

another day, made better by an old friend

gerbertl — Sat, 4 Jun 2011 14:53:00 GMT

well it was just another day here. i spent most of it mowing and decorating the flip house my best friend and i own. he and i also tried putting my composter together... with NO luck. we finally gave up. i had dinner plans with an old friend and we had so much fun together, i am so excited to have her back in my life.we had an amazing time at dinner. i am kind of nervous about the trip to be honest. i am wondering what it is going to do to my friendships. i know i will only be gone a month, but to someone i am use to seeing on a daily or weekly basis its going to seem much longer. my house still feels like a wreak and it is stressing me out. that is priority one before i leave, priority 2... organize my garage. they both HAVE to be done before i leave or i think i will stress out about them the whole trip. tomorrow i am going up north with my parents to look at potential lake cottages... if they called for showings... i guess if not i will be able to get a lot done!

bitter sweet

gerbertl — Fri, 3 Jun 2011 13:24:00 GMT

well it was another long day here, but an exciting one. my friend and i spent all day working on our flip house and today a couple came to look at it! she said they have looked at 30 houses so far, but they loved ours. i am trying not to get my hopes up because they have said no to so many and we will still have to settle on a price, but i finally feel like we are getting somewhere which feels good. it is sad at the same time. blake and i put our blood, sweat, and tears into this place and it is going to be very hard for us to let it go. every bone in by body aches... i pressure washed the back patio. the patio now looks new... however i am feeling very very old! :) i am also reading the book first they killed my father and am loving it. the author is very descriptive in her writing and i am getting very excited to see if cambodia is going to feel anything like how she describes it in the book!

just another day

gerbertl — Thu, 2 Jun 2011 13:11:00 GMT

well today was pretty much another boring day. to be honest i did not start my day off well. i sell mary kay and i had a facial this morning. i went to bed really late (4 am) because i went on a 6 mile walk with my best friend and then i had to stay up to get everything organized for my aunts facial this morning. since i stayed up so late, i tried to sleep in just a little too long and as a result did not have time to pray and meditate this morning. as part of the daniel fast i am really trying to establish not only good eating habits, but also good spiritual habits as well and today just felt so off because i did not make time for my normal pattern. i also noticed that my eating habits suffered because of it. i still ate foods within my guidelines, but i was pretty much constantly eating today, even when i was not hungry, which has not been the case for me since i have been on the fast. i don't know, today just felt weird. tomorrow will be better though.

i am getting really frustrated though. i just feel like i have so much going on. i am an independent sales consultant for mary kay and am supposed to have thirty facials this month and attend a weekly meeting, i own my own house that i am trying to not only clean up but fix up and also maintain, i own a flip house that is close to completion (and i want it sold before i leave), i have my summer class that takes up an enormous portion of my week just to attend not to mention all the homework i have for it, i have two books to read, friends that want to see me before i leave... and this blog to record all of the insanity... i mean seriously i am going nuts just thinking about everything i have to do! well i better get to the other million things on my list!

(and is this date thing wrong, because it is june 1st not june 2nd)

memorial day

gerbertl — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:51:00 GMT

well the only thing i got to do on my holiday was mow. i spent probably about an hour and a half push mowing my lawn (my dad was also push mowing the whole time with me... shows you what a horrible idea push mowing my lawn really was) in the almost 90 degree sun. after that i went to mow, trim, and blow at the house i am flipping. needless to say it has been a really long day (i just got to my house at about 11 pm) and i am exhausted. all in all though it was a great day. i feel like i got some stuff done and i was lucky enough to be out of the house most of the day, which i am always happy about. i am also currently on the daniel fast. it is a partial fast that daniel undertook in the bible. it is not only a fast from food, but also a spiritual fast to become closer to God. it is only day 4, but it has been going well. the food portion is very hard, just because the diet is very restrictive, but i am already forming some very good spiritual habits and am excited to see the final outcome of the fast in 17 more days!

playing catch-up

gerbertl — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:10:00 GMT

so as many of you may have noticed... i am a bit behind in my blogging. i have been lucky enough to spend time with my younger sister taryn though. normally she is at purdue studying, but she is home for the summer so we have got so spend a lot of time together. other than hanging out with my sister not much has been happening here.

first day blog

gerbertl — Fri, 27 May 2011 06:12:00 GMT

hey there. this blog is more a test than anything. i am required to keep a journal for this trip so i figured a blog would be my best option (you know how moms are... and this way she can stay up to date on exactly what i am doing)... love you mom :). i am not actually leaving until the 20th of june, but need to start the journal by tomorrow. hopefully my boring life in the states does not deter you from wanting to read the rest of my blogs. my plan is to keep this journal for me personally and for anyone who is interesting in what these other countries are like. i plan on posting pictures and maybe even videos on the blog throughout my trip. i hope you enjoy learning through my experiences!