Me on my balcony

What a view!!

School's out for 2 days!!

Sapa is heaving with Vietnamese holiday-ers as every body has 2 days off work and school to celebration the liberation of Vietnam - the end of the Vietnam War when the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon (now Ho Chi Min City). There are an extra 10 000 tourists in Sapa for 4 days, with drinking, games, music, dancing and more drinking. It has a fantastic buzz about it but crossing the road is now a daily challenge, as is walking somewhere without being asked to buy an embroidered purse or skirt...

Yesterday (Monday) afternoon the few kids, who were hanging around at school, took us to the local village of Cat Cat where the river runs full and clear. We all swam, braved cliff jumps and splashed about in the water. Most of the kids could just fashion a doggy paddle, I suppose having taught themselves how to swim in the river. So, it was no surprise that they were tentative about jumping into the deep and dark pool.

Tom and Ngoc Chau, Jenna and Makayla

The, Kai, Cau, Chin and See swimming in river at Cat Cat 

The boys playing their bamboo flutes!

Most days are now hot, sunny and very clear and today I feel lethargic because of it. The rest of Vietnam is apparently at around 40-45 degrees so I should count my lucky stars that I'm not dissolving in a pool of my own sweat!

SAPA O'CHAU ON INVITE MR WRIGHT TV!

Mr. Wright is a British glob-trotting TV presenter who makes short and often funny documentaries about interesting things across the world, Sapa and the hill tribes who live there being one of them!
He came to Sapa last year and spent quite some time with Sapa O'chau, teaching the children how to take photographs and talking to Shu Tan about her visions and ambitions for the project.
The show was shown LIVE on Friday afternoon in the Hmong Sisters Bar in Sapa. We took all 35-40 students and staff from the cafe and squished them into the bar like sardines in a can. They sat there intently watching themselves on television as they snacked on rare treats of choco-pies, crisps and fanta.

What a strange paradox, I thought: such un-worldy children watching themselves broadcast on TV shown across the whole of Asia. These kids don't even understand the concept of fame and most have never even been out of Sapa. They laughed at themselves, at Mr Wright's silliness and intolerance to rice wine and probably from their own intolerance to sugary drinks and choco-pies!
Me, Jenna and Tom also enjoyed an afternoon off from teaching an something different out of the classroom.

Gawping at the television

A short walk through the Sapa mountain range

Here are some pictures from my homestay in Giang Tao Chai Village, with my student guide Miss. Zer. 

My loft room in the Homestay at Giang Tao Chai

Jess and Jasmine

My humble guide, Miss  Zer

I wish I'd brought my swimming cossie!

Ssssssnakes in Sapa

So far I have seen an alive snake whistling through the forest, thankfully in the opposite direction to me. I've also seen two dead snakes, one bright green one with it's head squished into the ground and another, larger, brown one crushed under a stone. I can only assume that they're not liked around here, because of their poisonous nature. There probably aren't 'many left either, given the number of snake heads I have seen in medicinal jars.

On Sunday afternoon I am walking through the streets of Sapa, enjoying the sunshine and laughter of the locals playing in the street. In the corner of my eye I see a large snake, flipping its body around the branch of a tree. Then I see another. Then another! "Arrrrrrgh!!! There are snakes on the loose in Sapa!" I think. I soon realise that theses snakes have been caught in the forest and their heads are tied to the branches, so that all they can do is flip their bodies about but are not able to escape. A small crowd of Hmong and Vietnamese gathers. A man then arrives carrying a large butcher knife and picks up the largest, brown snake with its head. He teases it and all the onlookers squeal and jump backwards. He then cuts deep into the snake's chest, revealing its still beating heart and proceeds to squeeze fresh blood that drips into a beer glass. The heart continues to pound inside the snake as he is squeezed dry of his own  blood.

I walk away at this point. Obviously drinking snake's blood fresh from the live animal is good for you! Who wouldn't think that?! Apparently if the "Snake Wine" is drunk directly from the snake it can cure everything from farsightedness to hairloss and is believed to improve health, virility and sexual performance. Poor little snakey. I think I'll stick to my Bia Hoi, thanks very much.

Here Comes the Sun

The sun is finally shining in Sapa and the strange cold has dispersed+, for now. It's too hot for my morning jogs around the lake and I now feel very lethargic, and more lazy because of the heat. This is heightened by the fact I no longer have a phone for an alarm, so rely my circadian rhythm to wake me - which is sometimes just 20 minutes before school! Run Run The teacher's late!!

I am teaching the class Here Comes the Sun , as they seem to love Beatles songs and it's also appropriate given the pleasant change in weather. Folk songs are a huge part of the Hmong traditions, so every student is engaged and really enjoys learning new songs and tunes. Will this method work when I am teaching back home in Seondary Schools? I'm not sure somehow...

On Monday I  spent the night in Topas Eco Lodge, possibly one of the most spectacular place I've ever been to (LandMark Trust in Hereford was pretty good too, mind you). Check it out: http://www.topasecolodge.com/

At 6pm on Monday night Peter said, "Jess! Jess! I want you to come to Topas, my friend is having a party". I had 3 minutes to pack my things and get on the back of a scooter to drive the 18km there, along bumpy roads with the warm evening sun setting behind the glorious mountains. "this is the life" I thought.  A day here is never the same and life here is really teaching me to try new things and make the most out of new opportunities. I won't be eating the bugs, however freshly they are caught I'm afraid.

The evening felt very decadent, drinking gin and tonics and eating ice-cream before  the BBQ main course. I saw a bird moth bigger than my hand, ate some delicious chicken (oops), chatted in my pigeon Vietnamese and lost to Vietnamese cards.

The Food

I did see a puppy's carcass in the cafe we ate at last night, but chose to have the tofu and tomato instead - my daily bread and butter!
Most of the locals eat meat when they're at the market, or out for dinner, but it's easy and more delicious ( I think) to avoid the meat. I normally have vegetable noodle soup for lunch, at about 50/60p. Then for tea myself and some other volunteers and small children normally eat out and just share different dishes - rice is staple, fried tofu and tomato (mmmm), green beans and garlic, 'vegetable' (which is normally watercress in abundance), bamboo shoots, small but pungent mushrooms and then chilli sauce to dip. Everything is cooked in MSG, sometimes so overpowering that i get a headache and you can't taste anything else. Potentially all my dishes will taste bland as a raw potato when I return!

Miss Khu cooking at the cafe

The market is the most interesting place to eat - the food is cooked in front of you, often with a baby strapped to the  back of the chef. All the meat and veggies are layed out on the table that you eat from, so if you don't mind having a chicken's bottom in your face then it's the place to be.  The Hmong and Dhao ladies are crammed in cheek by jowl slurping their noodle soup and picking bits of tough chicken from their teeth.  

Tofu, spring rolls, mushrooms, cabbage...mmm

For breakfast here they eat rice or noodles here. I normally go for a whole pineapple (which I've learned after the 3rd time of eating it in one sitting that it gives me belly ache...) so now I buy an omlette or fried eggs in a French bagette from a Vietnamese lady who has a wee stall. It's the equivalent of getting your sausage and egg butty back home. They pack the omlette with fresh mint and coriander - Dad you'd love it! Things that I'd never think of putting in mine back home but certainly will from now on. 

SAPA O'Chau

SAPA O'Chau is the name of the residential school, created (mainly) for the Black Hmong ethnic tribes people to have the opportunity to come and learn English, with the hope to get a better job. Most of them are expected to help their family on the land (especially the girls), or sell crafts in the market for a small price so that they can get a bit of meat on the table.

Everybody at SAPA O'Chau

Mr Tee

There are 30-40 children ( I say children because they are all half my height and look about 12! The youngest is 11 and she is the same height as Jenna's 4 year old :) They range between 11-24 years of age and their ability is just as varied - some struggle with even using the alphabet, and others have English good enough to translate between Hmong, or Vietnamese.  They are all wonderful - bright, sparky, incredibly caring and tactile towards each other.  Most are eager to learn and respond well to games, creativity and variety in the teaching. They especially like it when the teachers make fools of them, so Jenna and I aim to do this as often as possible.

Miss May

Banoffee Pie @ SAPA  O'Chau
We tailored a cookery lesson so that they could apply the new words and terms from the theme of cooking. 30 of them learned how to make Banoffee pie, all helping with whipping cream and splattering it all over themselves. I think this was a first. We piled into the cafe and they each had a small taste of something very sweet and moreish. I have never seen so much patience from children making pudding - not one of them licked a spoon or a finger or a bowl! I would have eaten most of the mixture and felt so sick that even the word banoffee pie would make me retch...

Earth Hour 
We raised awareness of saving electricity and helping our planet with the kids last Saturday - spent an hour in the dark with only candles, body warmth and spooky stories  to keep us entertained! Everybody loved it (apart from Jenna's 4 year old who was terrified and buried her head into her mum's tummy to hide from the monsters) and  I especially enjoyed learning about the Hmong spirits that disturb their lives and have to be dealt with using a Shaman or holy water.