The calm before the storm

19-Feb-2018

One of the best, and overlooked moments on any holiday is when you get home, have a takeaway and take a breather from the adventure. Its such a peaceful moment where you can take stock of what to do next, reflect on what you have done, and really enjoy that current feeling.

This was not one of those holidays.

Yes, I had spent plenty of time reflecting on the holiday, and yes I was bound to get a takeaway afterwards, but I had a nagging sense that I had arrived one day too early. Few teachers were around and even less locals were around than ever before. Interestingly I took a bus back from the airport as opposed to a taxi, which were at inflated Tết prices. Transferring busses from somewhere in Kim Ma to Trung Hoà was difficult, but it worked!

The city was empty, and even a trip to the usually busy Vinmart didn’t yield much life either. This was that Christmas feeling that has been lost in Ireland in recent years. Escalators moved with noone on them, New Years Day by U2 was the only noise being made in the supermarket, aired in from the overhead speakers, and all fresh food was cleared. I made do with plenty of dry foods such as cashew nuts, crisps, cookies, pot noodles, the essentials…

Schools resumed on Wednesday, 2 days away, and after eating bland prepackaged food and listening to music in a largely empty House 5, I felt like I had made a mistake and should have arrived here on Tuesday. An extra day by the beach and with blue skies seemed a world away from a grey city where the mist didn’t lift even with the least amount of traffic Hanoi was ever going to get. I ended up spending the day drying clothes, recording a vlog, editing footage together and watching Its all gone Pete Tong.

Tuesday was much better. While many teachers were still not arriving until late, a few had taken morning flights and were settling back into the area. The city had more traffic than Monday, and people were starting to sell and serve again. Rebecca turned up while I was in a lazy mood and it was a good a time as any to just head out and see what the story was like. We headed to Paris Baguette and had some tasty sandwiches and cakes. It was the cooked lunch I needed frankly after nearly 2 days of shop food.

It was interesting wandering the Trung Hoà area with less going on. It had a Niflheim feel to it, a quality that life wasn’t moving forward and you were the only thing moving about interacting with the world. I crossed the large and emptier Trần Duy Hưng street to the other side of Trung Hoà and posted a few postcards at the post office. Following that was a time to eat something. After a bit of walking, I did find a bún chả place for dinner as well, though this one required coming into the persons house! I am sad to say it wasn’t as tasty as the usual bún chả, usually under a canopy of tents, but it definitely fit the bill for the day that was in it. Finishing up the meal was a walk to the lake, to have one of the Viet Ha beers. It was relaxing, and with less noise all I could do was see the busy lights as the Handico building sparkled in the distance, Eurowindow was lighting up, and men stopped fishing at the lake.

Returning to House 5, people were arriving and preparing for Wednesday. I had done a bit of cleaning and washing earlier so I wasn’t in a rush to use the machine or the mop. All I knew was that I didn’t feel like teaching on Wednesday. I felt like I would have enjoyed starting on a day which began in the afternoon rather than an early morning start. Still, it is what it is, and I got ready to sleep and relax. The madness was all ahead again.