Pages

Friday, 15 January 2010

Arrival in Ha Noi.

15th January 2010



Wow, what a week. I arrived in Ha Noi on the evening of the 11th January with three other VSO volunteers...two from England and one from America. The fifth member of our little group had arrived earlier that day and was already at the hotel. We were greeted at the airport by one of the VSO staff, escorted to the hotel and hence our adventure began.



I was put with Sarah as my room mate. Sarah is from Orlando so we immdiately had an affinity given my years of living in Bradenton. We were very polite to each other for the first evening while we sorted out our 'territory' in the room, had a great night sleep and woke the next morning both refreshed and ready to go. Since that time, we have had a great laugh together. I cannot have asked for a better room mate. She is just great AND she is picking up Vietnamese at an unprecedented rate. In that respect we are at the opposite ends of the scale as I am really struggling with anything more than hello, goodbye and thank you.



First impressions of Ha Noi? Friendly, noisy, interesting, delicious food, polluted.........love it. Luckily I had read a lot about the weather and so was prepared for the grey sky. It seems to be 'sunny' is used to describe a grey sky that is just a few shades brighter than the norm.



First impressions of VSO Vietnam? We have been looked after with such attention to detial that I am totally in love with everyone that I have met. They really have been just wonderful .... nothing is too much trouble for them.

The only sticky point so far is the language.......so watch this space!

2 comments:

Frank Pitts said...

Nice one Pat. Glad to see you have started sharing your exploits.

Punch said...

Good to hear from after this time.