Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - the touristy things

January 8th- today was my first (full) day back in HCMC after my first time back, in 2002. We met up with Annette (our professor) and did a quick walking tour of "downtown" district 1, followed by an hour-long bumpy taxi ride around all these different districts. By different districts I really mean the places where Saigon residents actually live, such as district 4 where my family is originally from.

Unification Palace- for a presidential palace you'd think that they'd make the building a little more attractive, but whatever. It was really nice how there were all these parks around the Palace. There were even "Wonderfarm" vending machines in the park which is surprising for a city that has so many street sellers that such machines seem like utter ridiculousness! But I suppose those types of drinks cater more to Western tourists?

The post office, which is apparently quite a huge attraction for tourists - Caucasian and Asian tourists alike. There were all these tour buses outside and it reminded me a lot of how all those Asian tour groups always park their huge buses outside Lobby 7 at MIT. The next three pictures are of the post office.

The inside of the post office was just really cool! It reminded me a lot of train stations back in the USA.

But the BEST part of the post office was how there were all these famous french scientists' names were engraved around the post office! This is a result of the French influence on life in VN. Pasteur, Gay-Lussac, Descartes, you name it, if he did something noteworthy, his name is up there on that post office. Just like the buildings around lobby 10 :)

A nice juxtaposition of old and new- the church is the Notre Dame Cathedral, reputed to have the exact same dimensions as the cathedral of the same name, in France. The building to the left, Diamond Plaza, is a new office building. Apparently a lot of foreign investors came into VN during the last 2 decades and are really trying to up the economy. Look at all the cars around the cathedral- it's busy!

And finally, a photo of a delicious Vietnamese drink- the guy really overcharged us but hey what can you expect? Coconut juice is absolutely delicious when it's fresh out of the coconut- they chop the top off the coconut right there in front of you and stick a straw in it. It's delicious and refreshing, just what we needed in the 90 degree weather!
Later during the night we went to Fanny, a french/VN ice cream shop. Holly, who has previously stayed in Hanoi, had been to this ice cream place before and had some rave reviews about the place. The cool thing was that every couple of fridays (monthly I think) they have an all you can eat ice cream buffet for 75000 VND (18400 VND ~ 1USD)! It was like ice cream heaven! Amazing. I have yet to eat some "real" non touristy Vietnamese food, but I'm sure that will come soon :)

Will write more when I can!

The small things

Literally. Today the DC region had its first major snow storm since the blizzard of '96. Around 3:30 pm I suddenly became very antsy because it had been such a quiet day. The snow had been falling since around 10 pm the night before and even the snow trucks couldn't keep up with the snow plowing.

Hey sugar, snow falls
White covers the world today.
Let's make snow angels.

I had a craving for some sort of chocolate chip cookie or a brownie, but seeing as we were out of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I decided to scavenge through the fridge/pantry to see what we had. And I ended up deciding to finish up the coconut chips and sesame seeds by making coconut macaroons and a sweet sesame loaf (recipes courtesy of my "Baking: Easy to make home bakes" book).

Snow trucks come and go;
But snow falls much too swiftly.
I don't want to drive.

And surprisingly enough, it was a lot of fun!

Now, for those of you who don't know me, I'm not the kind of girl who will volunteer to cook. In fact, I'd much prefer staying out of the kitchen as much as possible. Only last year I messed up making Campbell's chicken noodle soup (well, I didn't catch it in time for it not to overflow when it boiled)! But something about measuring out the flour, mixing the coconut mixture with the condensed milk, and whisking my sesame flour with the wet ingredients was so nice. It was so therapeutic- it got my mind off of everything and all I really wanted was to make the perfect treat!

I suppose it really is the small things that make life worth living. Beyond all education and book-learning there must be something more out there.

TA: Teaching Assistant

This past semester I taught a recitation for 18.01, MIT's version of single-variable calculus. Two days a week, I stood up in front of a classroom and looked at around 20-25 blank faces staring at me, waiting for me to start rambling about some sort of math or another. By far, this was the single most worthwhile thing I've done this semester. That's due to the fact that I gained a lot of confidence through giving these presentations. The first day I was literally so nervous, I was sweating and my face felt so flushed. I hope they didn't notice. I tried to not give it all away. By the end, I had prep-time down to 45 minutes before class; that was apparently enough for me to research the topic, find some good example problems, solve them, and create a handout.

I like to think that recitations were useful. I wonder though, how much can you really do as a teacher? Because in the end, it's the self-motivation that drives a student to the top of the class. I know this from my own classes and from my past successes and tough times. But I think that I have to believe that I helped, if only a little. If only I was able to get through to some of them, then I will have considered this a success for them.

But as for me, I would not trade this experience for anything. I'm glad I was able to teach them. I'm glad that I'm not afraid to stand in front of a group of strangers and just talk and work at the board. I hope that they had a good semester, as well. I wish my R11 students the best.

Sometimes I wonder

It's funny how much of life is made up of tiny, small choices and coincidences. What would life have been like if I had chosen Y instead of X? For example, what if I had gone somewhere else for college? Scary to imagine what kind of person I would be like now. On not so much of a grand scale, what if I hadn't gone to one small event on one small day? I would never have met certain people, and life would be entirely different. What if I hadn't met the people I know? Everyone I've ever met has changed me in some way, and I shudder to think of all those other possible branches I could have chosen--but did not--how different would life be then?

Suddenly I'm reminded of Voltaire's Candide, where the protagonist is taught that that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." And I have to believe that this is true.

Fashion

Every now and then someone says something that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Today, Yicong told me that I have a very unique sense of style, but that it always looks good on me. I didn't think my outfit today (black top, the arms are made of a flimsy material, and there's a spot for a black tie; jcrew red holiday plaid skirt; black pantyhose; black boots) was anything particularly cute or noteworthy, but for some reason my Panhel ladies thought so. I guess if I had to describe my style it would be an twist on the classical preppy. It's true that I own more polos than normal shirts (excluding all my AXO or free tshirts), but at the same time, I have a lot of clothes that differ just so slightly from the typical, classical JCrew preppy.

I just know I love fashion a little too much, and if I had the money or time, I'd shop all the time. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but there it is.