This week Ahoy Hanoi reached a milestone: 900 unique readers. That's right, according to google analytics, 900 different people have signed on and read my blog. Out of those 900, 55% of the people have visited my site more than 8 times (75% more than 1 time). That means about 495 people are reading my blog on a regular basis. That's like the whole state of Delaware!!!
Just a few fun facts:
Fun Fact 1: I'm now being read in 45 countries. In the order of most read: USA, Vietnam, Australia, Germany, Israel, Canada, Singapore, France, UK, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico, Cambodia, China, (a random country whose IP address isn't being recognized), Thailand, Hong Kong, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, Phillipines, Spain, Hungary, Norway, Austria, Denmark, India, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, Laos, Croatia, Egypt, Indonesia, United Arab Emirites, Ireland, Taiwan, Finland, Poland, Latvia, South Korea and Costa Rica.
Fun Fact 2: Ahoy Hanoi is being read in 40 US States. That's right, screw you Louisianna, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virgnia, Indiana, Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Vermont! I'm especially disappointed in Louisianna for not reading my blog. After Katrina, you would have thought someone in that state would have found my site looking into the Vietnam floods. How soon we forget...
Fun Fact 3: Most people are finding my site these days by googling "Ahoy Hanoi" into the search field of their search engines. "Hanoi Massage" and "Vietnamese Girlfriend" have dropped all the way down to the 7th and 8th most commonly searched words that led people to my site. Some other fun searches were: "sexy voice recordings", "I had to pee so badly", "flood in hanoi catch fish in the street", "hanoi bar girls" (which was next to "hanoi meeting girls"), straight up "hanoi sex massage", "massage hanoi happy ending", and of course "tighty whities locker room."
Keep on reading people!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My First Vietnamese Wedding
NOTE: This is two days late because my sister had to be born on November 22nd.
In America last year I went to thirteen weddings (technically twelve in America and one in Italy). You can say I'm a wedding expert. That said, I haven't experience anything like my first Vietnamese wedding. The wedding was for my former student Trang and her fiance/now husband Dzung. Trang is one of my favorite students I've taught. She's frankly hilarious in a half Woody Allen half Rodney Dangerfield way. I was really honored to be invited to her wedding and she seemed extremely happy that I came.
Anyway, I'm sure some of you are asking, "What is a Vietnamese wedding like?" Well, just based on this one experience I wold that the best analogy to describe a Vietnamese wedding is that it is like a sporting event. Here are some similarities:
1. People come dressed in whatever they want. Some people come right after work and wear suits and ties, others just wear jeans, sandals and t-shirts.
2. They have loud ear thumping starting line-up like music to announce the families (okay, we have that in the states too).
3. They have indoor fireworks.
4. They have a jumbo-tron of sorts.
5. People leave whenever they want. Literally there was a mass exodus as soon as the food was gone.
6. Like a game, it lasted about two hours.
Here's some classic video footage:
In America last year I went to thirteen weddings (technically twelve in America and one in Italy). You can say I'm a wedding expert. That said, I haven't experience anything like my first Vietnamese wedding. The wedding was for my former student Trang and her fiance/now husband Dzung. Trang is one of my favorite students I've taught. She's frankly hilarious in a half Woody Allen half Rodney Dangerfield way. I was really honored to be invited to her wedding and she seemed extremely happy that I came.
Anyway, I'm sure some of you are asking, "What is a Vietnamese wedding like?" Well, just based on this one experience I wold that the best analogy to describe a Vietnamese wedding is that it is like a sporting event. Here are some similarities:
1. People come dressed in whatever they want. Some people come right after work and wear suits and ties, others just wear jeans, sandals and t-shirts.
2. They have loud ear thumping starting line-up like music to announce the families (okay, we have that in the states too).
3. They have indoor fireworks.
4. They have a jumbo-tron of sorts.
5. People leave whenever they want. Literally there was a mass exodus as soon as the food was gone.
6. Like a game, it lasted about two hours.
Here's some classic video footage:
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Happy Three Months, Lilah!
Three months ago Lilah August, my niece was born. I haven't been able to see her in person yet, but I get to see her grow bigger and cuter every day thanks to my brother's emails. I've had a couple requests from friends to see more pictures of Lilah so here you go. Happy three month birthday, Lilah!!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Happy Vietnamese Birthday, Hannah!!!
Here's a short list of the things my sister is better at than me:
1. The SATs
2. Running marathons.
3. Helping to get Democratic senators elected.
4. Not eating meat.
5. Being a clutz.
6. Having imaginary friends until one is in their mid teens.
7. Being dependent on one's childhood blanket until their mid twenties.
8. Making spicy dips.
9. Patience.
10.Yearly/monthly resolutions.
11. Internet stalking.
12. Knowing people at Houlihans the night before Thanksgiving.
13. Singing.
14. Acting.
15. Dancing (we're tied though on making stupid frog-like faces).
16. Throwing up in cars.
17. Throwing up on boats.
18. Throwing up from smelling throw up.
19. Not leaving America due to a quarter life crisis (although she is leaving America exactly two weeks after she is turning 25. Hmmmm....)
20. Being amazing...and about a million other things.
Happy Birthday, Hannah! Have an amazing day and don't work too hard...it's not like the future of the world depends on what you're doing.
1. The SATs
2. Running marathons.
3. Helping to get Democratic senators elected.
4. Not eating meat.
5. Being a clutz.
6. Having imaginary friends until one is in their mid teens.
7. Being dependent on one's childhood blanket until their mid twenties.
8. Making spicy dips.
9. Patience.
10.Yearly/monthly resolutions.
11. Internet stalking.
12. Knowing people at Houlihans the night before Thanksgiving.
13. Singing.
14. Acting.
15. Dancing (we're tied though on making stupid frog-like faces).
16. Throwing up in cars.
17. Throwing up on boats.
18. Throwing up from smelling throw up.
19. Not leaving America due to a quarter life crisis (although she is leaving America exactly two weeks after she is turning 25. Hmmmm....)
20. Being amazing...and about a million other things.
Happy Birthday, Hannah! Have an amazing day and don't work too hard...it's not like the future of the world depends on what you're doing.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Vietnam Teacher's Day
Today is Vietnam teacher's day. My students yesterday gave me a few presents to honor my totally awesome teaching skills. I got:
1. A silver and white tie...exactly like a blue and white tie I was given by another student. I'm 90% sure both ties are from the Vietnamese equivalent of Costco.
2. A Vietnam travel book....which I'm 100% sure is from the Vietnamese equivalent of AAA. You know those books you always get free as a member? The ones that are 2% information and 98% adds for restaurants and hotels?
3. A dozen beautiful pink roses. This present was given to me by some of my former students. The present they gave their current teacher: one red rose. Yup, I win.
4. Two pairs of mittens from Huyen (she said everyone must appreciate teachers, not just their students).
5. A cup of coffee from Van, one of the three marvelous Language Link CSOs who are taking my Intermediate 1 class. I should mention that someone made Van the cup of coffee and she didn't want it so she handed it to me.
Ironically, I took Teacher's Day off today because one of my former students invited me to her wedding. Details on that tomorrow!
1. A silver and white tie...exactly like a blue and white tie I was given by another student. I'm 90% sure both ties are from the Vietnamese equivalent of Costco.
2. A Vietnam travel book....which I'm 100% sure is from the Vietnamese equivalent of AAA. You know those books you always get free as a member? The ones that are 2% information and 98% adds for restaurants and hotels?
3. A dozen beautiful pink roses. This present was given to me by some of my former students. The present they gave their current teacher: one red rose. Yup, I win.
4. Two pairs of mittens from Huyen (she said everyone must appreciate teachers, not just their students).
5. A cup of coffee from Van, one of the three marvelous Language Link CSOs who are taking my Intermediate 1 class. I should mention that someone made Van the cup of coffee and she didn't want it so she handed it to me.
Ironically, I took Teacher's Day off today because one of my former students invited me to her wedding. Details on that tomorrow!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Six Months
On Monday I wore these pants:
(PICTURE A PAIR OF NORMAL GREY SUIT PANTS. MY CAMERA ISN'T WORKING AGAIN)
I had these pants made for me in Hoi An about seven months ago. However, the only time I ever actually wore the pants was on May 17th. How do I know that? Well, because it was my first day of work. While at school that first day I realized I was by far the best dressed and decided to scale my wardrobe down to dockers versus dress pants.
On Sunday night, while eating at the chicken speakeasy, I sloppily dropped about an eighth of a chicken on my legs. I was prepared to wear my pants again the next day but Huyen persuaded me to wash them. This was significant because my other pair of slacks was also in the wash. This left me with two options:
Option 1: Wear jeans. This is againt school rules. In fact, a teacher who wore jeans got fired on Sunday. Yeah pretty strict, right? (Actually he was fired because he showed up late like four Sundays in a row...while wearing jeans).
Option 2: Wear my dress slacks.
I went with Option 2. I know what you're thinking, "Is this really blog worthy?" Well, yes it is. I hadn't worn the pants in six months. Exactly six months. I wore them on May 17th and then again on November 17th -- the last day of my contract. That's right, I've officially completed my contract at Language Link. Six months passed in a blink of an eye. Some rough figures off the top of my head:
- I have taught over 400 different students.
- I have failed two students.
- I have skipped one student ahead a level. i.e "Skipped a grade."
- I have told eight parents their child is "naughty."
- I have told countless parents their child is bright and a pleasure to teach.
- I have received six gifts...but many more words and emails of thanks.
Although my contract has finished, I told Language Link I would continue to teach my Monday through Friday classes until the end of the month. After that...well, you'll have to wait for some upcoming blogs. But don't get too excited, I'm not leaving Vietnam yet.
(PICTURE A PAIR OF NORMAL GREY SUIT PANTS. MY CAMERA ISN'T WORKING AGAIN)
I had these pants made for me in Hoi An about seven months ago. However, the only time I ever actually wore the pants was on May 17th. How do I know that? Well, because it was my first day of work. While at school that first day I realized I was by far the best dressed and decided to scale my wardrobe down to dockers versus dress pants.
On Sunday night, while eating at the chicken speakeasy, I sloppily dropped about an eighth of a chicken on my legs. I was prepared to wear my pants again the next day but Huyen persuaded me to wash them. This was significant because my other pair of slacks was also in the wash. This left me with two options:
Option 1: Wear jeans. This is againt school rules. In fact, a teacher who wore jeans got fired on Sunday. Yeah pretty strict, right? (Actually he was fired because he showed up late like four Sundays in a row...while wearing jeans).
Option 2: Wear my dress slacks.
I went with Option 2. I know what you're thinking, "Is this really blog worthy?" Well, yes it is. I hadn't worn the pants in six months. Exactly six months. I wore them on May 17th and then again on November 17th -- the last day of my contract. That's right, I've officially completed my contract at Language Link. Six months passed in a blink of an eye. Some rough figures off the top of my head:
- I have taught over 400 different students.
- I have failed two students.
- I have skipped one student ahead a level. i.e "Skipped a grade."
- I have told eight parents their child is "naughty."
- I have told countless parents their child is bright and a pleasure to teach.
- I have received six gifts...but many more words and emails of thanks.
Although my contract has finished, I told Language Link I would continue to teach my Monday through Friday classes until the end of the month. After that...well, you'll have to wait for some upcoming blogs. But don't get too excited, I'm not leaving Vietnam yet.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
The Blogger Becomes The Blogged
The other day I got an email from one of my former students:
Dear Ben,
I'm Long, Do you remember me ? I took your course at Language Link (PRE-INTER3). I very pleasure in studying with you and meeting with your family in the last class. I like you to send me some photos which you took that night in order to upload it to my blog. Please send it for me !
About my blog, I have created and written blog since September. I write blog when I have free time and it seems to be a relaxation. More over, writing blog regularly helps me keep a bright brain, do you think so ? And if you also have blog, can you share it with me ?
My blog address is : http://konansite.co.cc or if you can't access it, please try direct link : http://konan.vnjoomlas.com .
I write my blog in Vietnamese, but I have English corner where I publish my article in English. Also, it's one of the way to improve my English skill. However, I have only one article which wrote about our class at Language Link when I finished my course because it is not easy for me to write an English article
. In addition, you can also see our picture in my album.
I hope you will enjoy reading my blog !!!
Regard,
Long
Yup, the blogger has become the blogged. In case you can't access Long's link I've cut and pasted it here:
Dear Ben,
I'm Long, Do you remember me ? I took your course at Language Link (PRE-INTER3). I very pleasure in studying with you and meeting with your family in the last class. I like you to send me some photos which you took that night in order to upload it to my blog. Please send it for me !
About my blog, I have created and written blog since September. I write blog when I have free time and it seems to be a relaxation. More over, writing blog regularly helps me keep a bright brain, do you think so ? And if you also have blog, can you share it with me ?
My blog address is : http://konansite.co.cc or if you can't access it, please try direct link : http://konan.vnjoomlas.com .
I write my blog in Vietnamese, but I have English corner where I publish my article in English. Also, it's one of the way to improve my English skill. However, I have only one article which wrote about our class at Language Link when I finished my course because it is not easy for me to write an English article
I hope you will enjoy reading my blog !!!
Regard,
Long
Yup, the blogger has become the blogged. In case you can't access Long's link I've cut and pasted it here:
By now, I have free time to write an entry about my first course at Language Link. There was a coincidence because my teacher was also my interviewer when I came LL for the first time - Mr.Ben. He is an interesting person and I can see him a lot of good point such as generous, honest, open-hearted when he's talking with each other. Also, he is great of fun, he sometimes tells us jokes to make something funny in our class.
I feel very comfortable when studying in this class. Mr.Ben seems to be concentrate on speaking and listening skill in our class. It's all of thing that I need because I'm not good at both of these skills. Talking a lot with each other helps me improve most of weak points that I encounter when I study in my university. Some people in my class think that it's not good for us to focus only two skill, but I think they are very important skill we need when we communicate with foreign people. Another skill I can learn by myself.
One point I like in my class is every body was so friendly. Almost of them was easy-going, easy for to me make friend. Even more one of the most active people in my class is Mr.Hoang, he was talkative. He always asks Ben everything he don't know without brainstorm to find out the solutions to solve problems. Another people usually makes me pay attention to him is Mr.Quan. I can only say that he is very interesting people like Mr.Ben. He usually tells us joke, like Ben, andl his jokes so fun that I laugh a lot. But, beside the fun of his stories, I can learn something which have a valuable experience. In general, friends is one of the point I like best when I study in Ben's class.
In the last class, I had the meeting with Ben's family include his parents and his cousin. They was so friendly and this thing has changed my mind about foreign people, especial the people come from the USA. And I was really impressed by Ben's cousin. He was a stylish man, and may be more handsome than Ben :D It was very lucky for me to sit near by him, and we talked a lot about everything such as family, favorite, even Internet technology because both Ben's cousin and I like World Wide Web ^^! Perhaps, that was the first time I communicated naturally with foreign people. I won't never forget that night, and I want to thank to Ben for making a chance for me to practice English more than ever.
In conclusion, I value highly Ben's class and I am really satisfied with my fisrt class at Language Link. I hope I will take the same class in the future.
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