Chào các anh các chį!

My Tam (First name pronounced 'Me' for you non Viets)

Yesterday...I got up, went to language class, grabbed some Vietnamese coffee, went to history class, and then the fun begins. Huy, Thai, Betty and I leave from D8 (our dorms) to go rent a motorbike for me. Here's the thing...How can I be here for over 4 months, and not have a motorbike? Motorbikes are an integral part of Vietnam and its culture. Everyone has a motorbike. Only stinking rich families and poor taxi drivers have cars. So yes, I have a helmet that I wear (even though no one wears helmets and I look stupid), and yes I am careful!! Okay, that was my disclaimer.
So we went to rent a motorbike. I crusied the city with Thai riding alongside of me. We had to get to class eventually (late Foreign Relations class) and getting there was a chore. Traffic was soooo incredibly bad. Don't worry about my safety with traffic like that. Like in the picture a few posts down. With traffic that bad, you simply inch along, and shoot evil glares at people that could potentially be in your way. Turning left onto Pho Tay Son (Tay Son Street) is this game...A game that might actually be fun if I didn't have a thousand exhaust pipes from every side blowing into my face.
Anyways, I made it back to Dai Hoc Nhung Van, went to class only to be reminded that there is a My Tam concert at our school! My friend Don got us all tickets, and I was sooooo excited. I knew about My Tam long before I came to Vietnam, and this was the night I would see her live!
So we get out of class, and get on my motorbike, to drive home (we stay at University of Foreign studies, but attend class at University of social sciences)...but once again, not because of rush hour, but because of the concert, traffic is HORRIBLE. I wasn't able to get home. So Mariana and Oren and I go eat some Pho as we wait for it to calm down. Okay, getting to the meat of the story, just wanted to give background. When I finally got home, oh, it was terrible. Getting the motorbike into the dorm...There is a steep ramp you need to drive it up. There are no hills in Hanoi...This was the first time I needed to use another gear on the motorbike besides the normal "4". I used the strongest one to get up the ramp... "1", and chaos ensued. I didn't realize how strong that one would be. I was walking the bike up, and giving it the gas...The motorbike went fast, and I tried to hold it back and got pulled on top of it, as it went sliding accross the floor. I was mortified. There were a whole group of my friends in the lobby area that witnessed it, as they were waiting for more people to come down so they could go clubbing for Diane's birthday (Happy Birthday Diane!!). I didn't realize how much I scraped myself up until after a few minutes of my embarrassment being the number 1 issue. Anyways, here is a picture of a little bit of the aftermath:

posted by Steffanie @ 1:15 AM