Good Bye Hanoi
This is my last day in Hanoi. I liked everything except for the work and I could gripe about the weather. I really can't teach children well and the job offers I had for adults bit the big one.
I made several friends who showed me around the city and chatted with me over dinner or tea. I taught a couple of them how to play Rummy and they picked it up fast. Some of them gave me gifts these last few days, and I was handing out books I didn't want to pack in my luggage to them.
Vietnam is a lot like China, but with a strong French influence that means a vast cafe culture and much better desserts and pastries. They also didn't have such a harsh Cultural Revolution so there are probably more temples, pagodas, and churches in Hanoi than there are in China (judging by personal observation). Vietnamese women also seem more independent than Chinese women in some ways, more willing to open their own small businesses or have children without bothering with a husband. It might have something to do with having a feminine-centered religion before Buddhism and Catholicism arrived. The cult of the Virgin Mary might be why Catholicism more successful in Vietnam than in China, but that's just a guess.
I made several friends who showed me around the city and chatted with me over dinner or tea. I taught a couple of them how to play Rummy and they picked it up fast. Some of them gave me gifts these last few days, and I was handing out books I didn't want to pack in my luggage to them.
Vietnam is a lot like China, but with a strong French influence that means a vast cafe culture and much better desserts and pastries. They also didn't have such a harsh Cultural Revolution so there are probably more temples, pagodas, and churches in Hanoi than there are in China (judging by personal observation). Vietnamese women also seem more independent than Chinese women in some ways, more willing to open their own small businesses or have children without bothering with a husband. It might have something to do with having a feminine-centered religion before Buddhism and Catholicism arrived. The cult of the Virgin Mary might be why Catholicism more successful in Vietnam than in China, but that's just a guess.