All Day, All Night

Salut,

Little did I know that the term for a runaway train would be an apt description for how Fulbright seemingly has been going. I feel as if I have experienced a month within a week. What is the old saying? Lifetimes can pass in weeks?

I arrived in Hanoi on August 7, and despite not being out much or exploring as a tourist would, I am already drained and tired. I have little else but to say that it is all overwhelming, or as Jessica would say, "overstimulating". I much appreciated the pace and vibes of Peace Corps, where we had the time and energy and space to acclimate to things. Part of it matches Vietnam itself; Vietnam is an early riser, people wake up in the early hours of the morning, and the city streets feel alive and bustling by 6:30 am. The bright sun accompanies it, as do the UV rays.

Vietnam is a lot of things, but some recurring topics I anticipate already that have been rehashed by any tourist known to man, but I shall do again are the heat and humidity. I come from a drier heat, in both Houston and Austin. I know my way around heat, especially gross heat. I am more used to car-infrastructure cities in hot cities; you get in your car with AC and drive to another building or place with AC, and then eventually your home that also has AC. Hanoi is not quite like that. I was used to hot summers in Kyrgyzstan, and I was used to paper fans, electric fans, and disgusting sweat. I was warned early on that showering multiple times a day was the norm. This is in pretty stark contrast to my village in Peace Corps, as my host family and I usually showered every few days, once or twice a week in the winter. This was largely due to conservation of water. We carry around travel fans. Jessica is glued to hers.

Traffic is abysmal, and every day I get almost hit by a car or motorcycle. Vietnamese people adapt well, adorning a thin UV light jacket and a face mask. Entire droves of traffic are full of people covered, most head to toe in light outerwear. In such disgusting humidity, most of us young and hip Westerners choose to wear less clothing. Here, there is an aversion to tans and UV rays. Get too sunburnt, and people will make some interesting comments.

The first two days were hectic, with everyone running around Hanoi trying to be as touristy as possible. On the first night, Megan, Jessica, and I had Banh Mi. Banh Mi is a sandwich basically, and it can be very cheap here. Many of the ETAs here speak Vietnamese to varying degrees, and their language skills have been indomitably useful the past week and a half as we navigated Hanoi. Our cohort is fun and quirky. An unusually high number come from Texas and Georgia, and around 12 or so are Vietnamese Americans, or Americans with Vietnamese heritage, or Viet Kieu, who speak Viet with varying degrees of fluency. Much like Peace Corps, most of us are liberally minded, open and adventurous, worldly and experienced. Isabelle is the sole other Returned Peace Corps Volunteer in our cohort, where she served in Costa Rica, finishing her service this past summer.

Orientation for Fulbright is faster and more involved than Peace Corps’, running through everything in a way that can feel overwhelming. I often feel as if I have lived a year in 10 days. I often have heard it compared to summer camp, and while I personally had limited involvement in summer camps growing up, here the days are far longer.

Already, within ten days, there is deep lore amongst our cohort and a hilarity of stories. A few ETAs arrived late into Hanoi due to a storm in Atlanta that grounded and delayed their transfers. One ETA lost her bag after her tag was switched with a woman’s bag going to Cape Town, and only after around 9 days got it back. Another ETA had to have lower back surgery and missed our weekend trip to Hanoi Pedagogical University. Another was pranked at dinner and almost consumed a disposable hand towel while being cringingly watched by waiting staff. There is an array of dynamic personalities within our group, and I am hoping for little drama.

I have noticed an air of collegiate energy in our cohort that makes me feel old. Most of the cohort is aged 22-24, with a significant chunk having just graduated or being one year out of college. I am going on 3 years out of college (despite also being 24). I don’t have the same energy or desire to go out every night to bars and clubs. There are a few extroverted people in our cohort who rally constantly. I did not expect to feel old and want to go to sleep as often as I do now. The hours are long, and I find sleep where I can.

Skylar and Andy are two renewal ETAs who were in last year’s cohort and are the de facto mentors and leaders. They stay with us through the entirety of orientation and act as sort of shepherds, hanging out with us to answer questions (and also just enjoy our company), and also move us between events and places and make sure we get to places on time. Unlike Peace Corps, where we had a lot more autonomy once we had a host village during pre-service training, we do most things together as a large group. In my Peace Corps cohort, our cohort largely fractured. That isn’t to say it won’t happen in Fulbright; it probably will, but we broke up into groups fast, and we very rarely did large group events or dinners together beyond formal functions. Just within 10 days, and the many meals that come with it, perhaps more than half have been with most of, if not the entire, cohort. There is an air of not so much peer pressure but peer alignment. One person opts to do something, and for the most part, more than half or all follow. Taco Tuesday, where a large chunk of us went to a taco bar. Sports Wednesday, where we all played pickleball (and a small group went to go rock climbing). Fancy Thursday, where a large group of us went to the Halfington bar, a very fancy bar with a dinosaur carcass hanging from the ceiling. Karaoke Friday, where a bunch of us chilled in Andy’s room and ate pizza, and then did karaoke and went to a large club in Hanoi. This most recent Tuesday, where a large chunk of us went to eat at one of the cheapest Michelin restaurants in the world. The food was pretty good.

All this to say that I am both excited and in awe of our cohort cohesion, and I’m praying it endures and lasts. Of course, I speak in generalizations, and we certainly don’t do everything together, but we have such a good camaraderie after such a short time that we are all super open to hanging out with each other and not being ostracized. Honestly, a few people told me that they go along with things we do mostly because of FOMO. I think it is inevitable that once orientation is over, the rose colored blanket encompassing all of us will fall apart, and we will be alone by ourselves. Unlike during training in Peace Corps, where we all had our own host family in separate villages, here we all are in one large hotel, and I am right next to Jessica and a short elevator ride or staircase away from everyone else. I appreciate open invites as someone who often struggles socially in large groups to be “on” and involved, as I often get lost in my own head.

Speaking of Peace Corps, there are indeed Peace Corps Vietnam volunteers. I haven’t met or encountered any of them, but Andy tells me we might get the chance to meet them in the fall. Vietnam PCVs have different restrictions than we do. Back in Kyrgyzstan, I learned that there is a general PCV ban worldwide on driving vehicles of any kind or riding any motorbikes of any kind. If you know anything about Vietnam, then you would know that motorbikes are extremely ubiquitous across Vietnam, but they cannot ride them. Being Fulbright, we are free to, and I have twice. The Vietnamese version of Uber is called Grab (Kyrgyzstan and broader Central Asia’s was Yandex), and you can use Grab to call a car/van or to call a motorbike, but just for one. You can also use Grab to deliver fast food/dinner from restaurants, or have general things delivered. Public transit here in Vietnam is ok, so I have heard. I haven’t gotten the chance to ride the bus, but Jessica says it takes forever, and because we all travel together, it is faster to use cars. It is mandatory to wear a helmet while driving or riding as a passenger, and Grab motorbike drivers carry helmets with them. In the beginning, I was fairly anxious about riding on a stranger’s motorbike, but all the girls hyped me up to do it. It’s not cheaper than splitting a car ride, but it certainly is very fun. Both times I rode one were at night, and a large advantage is a much more open view of the area and city. A few ETAs love riding the bikes, but they do come with disadvantages. In Hanoi especially, the pollution and roads can make the journey feel far less safe, and you need a mask. My limit so far has been 20 minutes on a bike; longer, it is far smarter to take a car.

On an average day of orientation, not including some special activities, we wake up early, eat complimentary breakfast, then 3-4 of us order Grab taxis to get us to work. We split into large groups for lunch (a few times we had large group lunch orders of 17+ people). After the trainings and work are over, we go back to the hotel, where some people shop, sleep, or generally dither until dinner. Someone usually chooses a restaurant beforehand, and then after dinner, we usually go to a cafe, or go to a bar for drinks or otherwise do something else. Some of the cohort have recurring Catan games going on. This openness and large group energy certainly won’t and can’t last forever, but I will cherish it while it lasts.

The first two days of orientation we spent at the American embassy, already a huge departure from Peace Corps. Our Country Director at the time actively discouraged us from visiting or having any affiliation with the embassy. I got the chance to talk to and meet some really interesting diplomats in the embassy. One had spent some time in Kazakhstan, so we talked about that. One who was present at my Fulbright interview even paid us a visit. In 20-30 minute increments, diplomats swung into our room to tell us about their jobs and their services. Next for orientation, we have been spending time at the Language Link, a TEFL training center of sorts. We have had two different trainers. To be honest, I mostly have found myself growing bored and disinterested, having sufficient experience. Not to say I don’t pay attention; a good mindset for a teacher is to always learn, but I admit I grow lazy on occasion and want to fall asleep or skip entirely. All the info is really useful for people with minimal teaching experience.

This last weekend, we visited Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, actually where my friend Jessica is going to be placed. I’ve known Jessica the longest, since we linked up after my friend from college, Michael, introduced us in the spring. She is close to the airport, which I’m really jealous about, and she has spent more time in Vietnam than most people here (she slayed Vietnamese trivia and won Bingo night back in DC). It was a so-called “cultural familiarization” weekend, as it was meant to introduce us to university students and live in their accommodations for the night so we can understand the lives and situations our students will have. 

Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 is on the outskirts of Hanoi (about 1.5 hours from the city but near the airport), and we were each assigned 1-3 students to hang out with. I got assigned a 3rd year girl, Lina, and we hung out with a few other ETAs and their students. Lina’s English was excellent, and we walked around the university dorms and grounds, ate some Korean food, chatted in the dorms, etc. The school had some great sports facilities, and I got to fail at pickleball with some of the teachers. I taught Lina to play, but she and her friends schooled me in badminton. We had a large cohort dinner with all the Fulbrighters and students, and we sang lots of fun karaoke songs. 

As a sidebar, karaoke and pickleball seem to be Vietnamese pastimes, so they’ll come up a lot. From August 7-15, I participated in karaoke 4 times. I really need to up my karaoke game if I am going to be doing it this much. On Sunday, we wrapped up our time with the girls, who gave us shawls with the Vietnamese star on them. We also went to a photobooth, which, unlike in the US, where it is often a small box found in malls, carnivals, or cinemas, photobooths in East and Southeast Asia seem to be like actual places, albeit small, often in close proximity to schools or colleges. You pay for a session, where you can pick from a large wall of props, hats, and jewelry to wear in your pictures, which are printed for you. Anya made the comment that it’s fun how here people say they “do” photobooths and karaoke, seeing it as a distinct social activity. Once we returned to Hanoi, we had some incredibly mid (but expensive) pizza.

Immediately after that excursion, we took a trip to Ninh Binh. For some context, I am unfamiliar with Vietnamese geography and am actively trying to remedy it by staring intently at maps. But regardless, Vietnam recently consolidated its admin and government, shrinking the number of governmental provinces from over 60 to now just 34. This all just happened last year, so I have heard there has been a lot of movement as government workers move and former provincial cities shift and shrink. Anyway, I was born in Nam Dinh city in Nam Dinh province, which no longer exists as of last year due to this change. Now it has been merged into Ninh Binh province, with the capital now Hoa Lu. 

The internet is a little ambiguous about whether Nam Dinh is still technically a place or its name, but regardless, Ninh Binh is now the province I am from. I think Kimberly and I are the only Fulbrighters in our cohort with roots in North Vietnam. Upon arriving in Ninh Binh, I realized we were only an hour drive from Nam Dinh. The province and area in general have exploded in recent years due to tourism. Skylar and Andy said it has changed a lot just in the year since they last visited. We were visiting Ninh Binh mostly for “team building” exercises, which just meant we played charades, Jeopardy, musical chairs, and building towers with our shoes. American taxpayer dollars at work! Haha, in all seriousness, it was fun. After said team-building exercises, some wanted to go swimming, while a few girls and I wanted to go see the pagoda outside. We took a taxi out there, only to be met with a torrential downpour and forced to be driven back to the hotel, all while the taxi looked to be nearly hydroplaning, jets of water accumulating on the roads making the car look like it was about to be surfing.

Eventually, we managed to go swimming once the rain had cleared. I have heard that it rains a lot here but often in relatively short bursts (30 minutes-1 hour). Kyrgyzstan had earthquakes; Vietnam has monsoons and flooding. It is a bit funny to go from one of the most landlocked countries in the world to one of the most coastal. At night, we went to the town square, where we joined some women who were doing aerobic dancing. Like in China, it is common to find middle-aged or elderly people in parks or even just open spaces on the roads doing dances or exercises, and it's easy to join in. We went out to the historic old town area, which is open until late as a night market, with lit-up flowers and pagodas. Colorful lanterns are hung along bridges overlooking the water. The area is gorgeous, and souvenir shops, street food, and cafes stand next to the view, and it’s a relaxing place for a coffee or drink. I rode a motorbike back to the hotel, my second trip, and I’m convinced motorbikes are best enjoyed at night, when it is cool, and the view from a motorbike is far more open than one in a car. The wind in your hair and the breeze as you zip by can feel like you’re floating on clouds. A few people told me they were going to go play ping pong at a bar after that, which is crazy to me. Some people have relentless energy. I say that, and then I hung out in Andy’s room with a few others telling funny stories until 2:30 in the morning. Only for me to wake up at 5:30 to go hiking. 

There was a mountain hike less than a ten-minute drive from our hotel, which is a gorgeous, GORGEOUS view of the city, behind it swaths of rice fields and lotus flowers. The hike itself is short, and there are two “summits”; the one on the right, our group made it up to the top in less than 10 minutes, with a small pagoda and flag at the summit. The second is higher and longer but has a dragon statue at the top. When I first heard “hike,” I imagined rock formations and gravel dirt from my hiking experiences in Kyrgyzstan. No, this had actual stairs. Vietnam for tourists isn’t for the weak or unprepared, but Kyrgyzstan, by contrast, most certainly isn’t. Nearly everything here feels more catered to tourists and foreigners. Which makes sense, considering Vietnam had 21 million visitors last year. By comparison, the internet tells me 3.5 million visited Kyrgyzstan in 2024 and over 5.5 million in 2025.

Our second team-building activity in Ninh Binh was taking kayaking boats through caves (the tourism company is called Tam Coc- Bich Dong). The boats are small, and the kayaking is all done by manual rowers, by guides who use their hands or feet to row for an hour and a half through the water. They put us into pairs on the water, and Lauren and I chilled in our little kayak, sailing through the rising high mountains. It was actually a similar area to the earlier aforementioned rice fields, and we could see the same flag summit we hiked up in the distance. How did it feel to be in Ninh Binh again? So close to the place, yet still so far? Parts of me haven't quite processed it. I wasn't sure how I felt. Foreign soil but yet a part of me that is forever connected to it? I have never put much stock into soil or land as having much meaning beyond my feet being planted there. This, though, I could almost taste it. Smell it, feel it, and touch it with my fingertips. I plan to return to Ninh Binh one day soon, directly to Nam Dinh. Maybe then I can come back and say my piece. For now, it lies unfinished. 

With orientation half over, it hardly feels that way. I regret to say that I have spent an abhorrent amount of money (not actually, just more than I expected) on food and taxis. We have a very chaotic Venmo group money circulation going on. The first week was a wild high of frantic energy, days and nights of long meals, endless chatter, good vibes, and minimal sleep. I haven’t had any time to really read a book, crochet, watch a movie or show, or really anything. I get back to my room, and I shower, and I fall bone tired into bed. I had matcha for the first time in my life today, because I woke up so exhausted I was convinced I needed caffeine to stay awake.

As a random sidebar, I will probably talk a lot more about food in this blog now than I did in Kyrgyzstan. No offense Kyrgyzstan, but your food was ok. At the best of times, Uyghur and Uzbek food made me happy, and at the worst of times, it was terrible and meaty. I don’t have the room or space in this specific blog post, but trust, one day I will. Most of the Vietnamese Americans here have grown up eating all this food, and each new one to me is like unwrapping a Christmas gift. Kyrgyz food generally is potato-, meat-, carb-, and sugar-heavy, with a lot of rice, and a blend of Chinese, Turkish, and Slavic influence. Vietnamese food is pretty distinct, with a lot of rice, noodles, pork, chicken, and brothy soup. It is all delicious, and I am eating well, even if I miss the pastas I made back in DC. I also appreciate all the teas and juices here; the US is infamous for a profound lack of creativity when it comes to nonalcoholic drinks (you can only ever get soda, iced tea, lemonade, or water at an average restaurant).

I miss people back home already, even if I haven’t said as much yet. Sorry, it’s been a long 12 or so days. Skylar said quite poignantly, “this time is all we have.” I find myself relearning a lot of the lessons I learned in Peace Corps and even in college. All we have is now with these people in this place. The only way my friends and family back home will know what I am doing is through pictures, my stories, and this blog. This time in Hanoi is racing by so quickly, but soon enough, by my next blog post most likely, it will be over. I already feel like I know some people in my cohort far better than I knew a few in my Peace Corps one, even after only a week and a half. But none of it lasts forever, and maybe that is the beauty of it. Time races past, like a runaway train we are all riding with the destination fast approaching. But what is there to do in a moment like this but keep riding the wave, even after all the long days and long nights? 

Keep going, keep going, riding the motorbikes through the busy and chaotic streets of Hanoi. Keep eating food, like that one time I woke up Anna, who slept in at the Ninh Binh hotel at 8:20, ten minutes before we needed to leave, watching her stand in the buffet and shove noodles in her mouth as a waitress looked at us in confusion. Keep going, like that one time Anya and Sarah’s taxi dropped them off on the highway and they had to walk to their destination. Keep going, like Megan and Max seem to be doing every day, rallying after long nights and zero sleep. Keep going, like Davina, Trinh, Anna, and Guy, who are all doing med school applications in their downtime. Keep going, like Andy and Skylar who came out of a year of all this and decided they wanted more. Keep going, like Anna, who powers through sleepless nights. Keep going, like Chris who seemingly dislikes karaoke but joins us anyway. Keep going, like Tammy who seems to have not gone a day without shopping. Keep going, like Sarah, Max, and Will who host and play long nights of Catan. Keep going, keep going, until the end is here and these memories slip away from us.

À Bientôt,

Grace

PS. Some news for returning readers from my previous blog iteration: my school in Jalal-Abad is getting a new volunteer! Baktygul, my former counterpart and Peace Corps bestie, recently attended the Counterpart Conference in Bishkek. I hope I set some decent standards for the volunteer who is placed there, and I hope and manifest that she continues the work I did there. I hope she finds the school as wonderful as I did, and the students as dynamic and funny as I did. I'll probably have an update next post about if the new volunteer will be staying with the same family. If so, I am jealous. I miss Alihan, Adelya and co. SO much. I think about them almost every day. The village and school was small, but it was home, for a little while, like all homes are for me.