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I am now at Peace House, the volunteer centre I will be staying at for the next 3 weeks. It its located on the outskirts of Hanoi, near a village called Tay mo.
On Wednesday we were picked up from our hostel and taken to Peace House. The journey was amusing as the taxi driver had western dance music blasting out of the stereos and an underwear modelling catwalk show was being played on a tv screen at the front of the car-I was sitting directly opposite it, so didn't know where to look!!
All the volunteers here are really friendly and from all over the world- Australia, New Zealand, America, Germany, France etc.
After a tour of the building, all the volunteers had lunch together in the dining room. All the food is authentic vietnamese cuisine, prepared by the cook, who is aptly named Coc (pronounced 'cook'!). I found eating the rice with chopsticks really tricky and I was the last to finish by a substantial margin! However, as rice is served here twice daily, I will get lots of practice! I also had my first experience of eating a lychee- they have the texture of eyeballs (!) but were quite refreshing.
Having left the air-conditioned hostel, I am starting to really notice the heat. There is no visible sun to speak of as there is always a low could of smog in Hanoi, but it is really hot and humid.
For dinner... more rice!
In the evening most of the volunteers gathered on the steps outside the house entrance to chill out in the slightly cooler air. I had my first taste of Vietnamese beer, which tasted a bit like Carling! A game of beer pong was also set up with aussies vs kiwis- very entertaining!
Setting up my mosquito net over my bed was a mission as I had to attach it to the ceiling (I'm on a top bunk) by pushing the ceiling tiles up and tying each corner to the metal frame within the ceiling!! I'm sure you can imagine the scene- me totally caught up in the net, all sweaty from the heat, close to falling off the bed, and generally looking a complete fool!
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