English lessons in the park

 Sunday November 19

Turtle Island

I walked back to the hotel and the walk was a lot easier once I figured out I could cut through a couple parks and didn’t have to play in traffic some of the time. The best part is the all the major streets and most connecting streets are blocked off from vehicle traffic Friday evening until Sunday evening. Oh, there is the occasional smog producer but it’s almost exclusively pedestrians. There are families, and teens and lovers hand in hand strolling along.

At one corner, a “Y”,  Japan is having a expo. On the v part there is a stage and it was rocking last night with I assume J-Pop, but it sounds and looks like K-Pop to me. It was a great stop for 10 minutes to catch the acts.

Pretty, but not as striking in daylight

A little closer to the lake for a repeat of photos taken when I first arrived, and back to the room.

Morning came and I just stuffed things in whichever bag was handy. I need to completely re-pack for tomorrow. Get real shoes, my big purple coat, and blue jeans (that I never wore) out of the red bag and everything except pills, 1 undies and iPad into my carry on. The undies in case I get stuck someplace overnight with out my big red bag, the iPad because between it and my phone, my ‘life’ is on it. The red bag will be checked luggage and with luck will get to my home the same time I do. Not a hard guarantee though.

Breakfast and then some wandering. No egg this time, I couldn’t see murdering the egg again, and didn’t want to risk it.

Game store

A friend had sent me a photo of a board game he played and made me ask the question if there were boardgame cafe’s in Hanoi. It turns out there are several. The one that sounded the best was a longer than I prefer walk away. There was one within walking distance though.

Usually I stick to one side of the lake, and today the other side seemed unexplored so off I went. At the south end of the lake there is a wider the the rest of the park area. It was full of people, both Asian and Western. Lots of the usual couples and in the mix every so often a mom and 8 or 9 year old. The child would approach and ask if they could practice English with you. Sure ! I need all the practice I can get.

The usual, exchange names, color preference, favorite food, animal too, place of residence. Some of the children are pretty good and some only fair. Of course the girls are better than the boys. I think the girls want to practice and the boys are forced to practice . One of the boys asked favorite foods. I said Hamburger since we Americans seem to have a burger rep. He said .. and pizza? He was right, one of my basic food groups.

Street side bike repair shop

One girl was a flippin’ genius. She was 9 and really knew her stuff. We went through the questions and for animal I showed her a picture of Dorothy and she said parrot. Then she asked if she could tell me a story. It was about her father driving them to a celebration one New Years Day and their cousin made a special cake and she was happy. I think she had to present this to class as a project, but she did really well. I talked to mom for a bit and she said it was her first time for Sunday lesson in the park. Lots of foreigners on Sundays and so it is well known for English practice. She said her daughter gets English in regular school hours, but is also enrolled in private lessons. From what I can see mom is getting her money’s worth.

Back to the mean streets of Hanoi and to board game nirvana. I found the address, but based on prior experience wasn’t sure. Tried to ask a stall keeper but she shooed me away. Number 72 was just a doorway to a stairwell. What’s the worst that can happen? Well lots of things, but carry on. On the 3rd floor I found it. Unmarked, but it was there. I took a quick picture and looked to see if anyone looked like they wanted to play. A quick trip for no payoff, but it was an experience.

Grab a coffee, leave a Post-It note

Back at the hotel I moved my bags from the room to the lobby. The reception desk asked how my stay was and I said Okay. She wanted to know why, and wanted a written review then. I told her I’d write it on booking.com. Seems that was the wrong answer. Things got very chilly from that point forward.

Changed hotels, went wandering some more. More J-pop. I waited for a family to move from their picture spot so I could use it to take my photo and the mature woman in the group without asking just wrapped an arm around me and forced to pose for a picture with her. I don’t know if this was a pickpocket situation or what, regardless it was more than a little awkward.

Back at the hotel beer finished might be time for some quiet room time.