Vietnam: Second week (My birthday party & District 1 at night)

Hello everyone, and thanks for passing by again! My stay in Vietnam is going great, as you can tell by my last post and my infinite posts on Facebook/IG/Twitter :B So yesterday (as you guys know) it was my 22nd birthday, and my Vietnamese family organized this beautiful birthday party for me! But before that (which was late at night) let's start from the very beginning of the day... :B

It all started like a regular day: Woke up at 6am (that's how we do it here, yes!), have breakfast with the fam, have a shower... After lunch Peter and I went to our room (as always) and we stayed there chillin and hanging out. Peter told me not to come down because the family was opening durians (a huge and SUPER STINKY fruit that I totally hate... Actually it's illegal in some hotels in Southeast Asia for how much it smells!). And since Peter knows that my nose is pretty sensitive, it worked like an alibi for me to stay inside :B

An hour later I saw that Sy Anh (Peter's 10 year-old cousin, who terribly reminds me of my cousin Alex, since they have the same age and like similar stuff) uploaded a picture of the house decorated with pink balloons... Sy Anh got an iPad very recently, so all he does recently is uploading all kinds of pictures on Facebook: From the floor tiles to the lunch's leftovers, lol! I was pretty confused so I asked Peter why the fmaily was decorating the house like that... When he saw the picture his face went :\ "W** is wrong with this kid!" he said with a mad voice... Yeah, it seems Sy Anh had ruined the surprise, haha!

Around 6pm Peter told me to finally go downstairs, and it's when I found the kids of the family singing Happy Birthday to me and welcoming me with sparklers! And well, I had to pretend it was a big surprise but it was actually a big surprise, since I didn't expect all this at all! Lots of people (Even neighbors and Peter's second cousins that he had never met! XD), lots of food, cake (I GOT THREE, THREE CAKES!)... But everyone was so kind to me ><!!!

Hola gente, gracias por pasaros por mi blog otra vez! ^-^ Mi estancia en Vietnam está yendo de fábula, por lo que podéis ver en mi último post y los infinitos post en Facebook/IG/Twitter :B Ayer (como sabéis) fue mi 22o cumpleaños, y mi familia vietnamita organizó ésta pedazo de fiesta para mí! Pero antes de eso (que fue por la noche ya) vamos a empezar por cómo empezó mi día... :B

Mi 7 de Julio empezó como un día normal para nosotros: Levantarse a las 6, desayunar, ducharse, estar con la familia... Después de comer Peter y yo hemos subimos a la habitación y nos quedamos allí. Sobre las 4 Peter me dijo que no bajara abajo, porqué su familia estaba abriendo durians (una fruta enorme, del tamaño de una pelota de rugby que hace una peste espantosa... De hecho en muchos hoteles no la permitan por la peste que hace!). Y como sabe que a mi los olores fuertes me tocan, pues le hizo caso :B

Una hora después veo que Sy Anh (el primo de Peter de 10 años, el que es la versión vietnamita del Alex), que desde que le han regalado el iPad hace fotos de todo... Desde los azulejos del suelo hasta de las sobras del almuerzo, pone en FB una foto de la casa con un montón de globos rosas... Se lo enseño a Peter y dice "Me caguen el niño este..." Total, que el nene me ha fastidiado la sorpresa haha! 

Al final cuando bajo ya (sobre las 6) me encuentro los pequeños de la familia cantándome feliz cumpleaños y dándome la bienvenida con bengalas! Y yo bueno, disimulando un poco pero también flipándolo en colores porqué vaya fiestorro! Con montones de comida, pastel (TRES, TRES pasteles que he recibido!), regalos y gente que ni siquiera conocía (Primos segundos de Peter, incluso vecinos!), pero todos fueron muy amables conmigo ❤

VÂN ANH / Stephanie and her mother with sparklers

VÂN ANH / Stephanie y su mamá con bengalas

All that food!

Toda ésa comida!

Me being overwhelmed by presents ...! @_@
Estresada con tanto regalo ...! @_@

Mi monkey-shaped birthday cake, hehe! The monkey is my Chinese horoscope's animal, and just like in China, Japan and Korea in Vietnam they believe more in the Chinese horoscope than in the "Western" one. But I love being monkey! ^-^

Mi pastel de cumpleaños en forma de mono, hehe! El mono es el animal de mi horóscopo chino, y como en China, Japón y Corea en Vietnam se cree más en el horóscopo chino que en el "Occidental". Pero me encanta ser un monito! ^-^

Me giving a little "Thank You" speech, and VÂN ANH / Stephanie (Peter's 14 year-old cousin) translating to Vietnamese for me

Un mini discursillo dando las gracias, y VÂN ANH / Stephanie (La prima de Peter de 14 años) traduciendo al vietnamita

Me posing with the 3 most hard-working women in this family! From left to right, Peter's aunt (married to Peter's brother), me, Peter's aunt (his mother's sister) and his grandmother. Great cookers and great party organizers!

 Posando on las tres mujeres más currantas de ésta familia! De izquierda a derecha, la tía de Peter (cuñada de la madre de Peter), servidora, la otra tía de Peter (hermana de su madre) y la abuela. Cocineras y organizadoras de fiestas fenomenales!

The youngest of the family, enjoying the meal

Los más jóvenes de la familia, disfrutando de la comida

All that food... Ugh! We'll have leftovers until next year!

Toda ésa comida... Ugh! Tendremos sobras hasta para el año que viene!

Mi beautiful VÂN ANH / Stephanie! I love this girl so much already, she's the sweetest thing!❤

Mi VÂN ANH / Stephanie bonita! Me encanta ésta chica, es lo más dulce que hay!❤

With my Petey Boo ❤❤❤❤❤

Con mi Pedrito ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Now ugly selfie time :B
Ahora selfies feas :B

The pink balloons I saw on Facebook... Haha

Los globos rosas que vi en Facebook... Haha

Photo with Peter's youngest second cousins

Foto con los primos segundos más jóvenes de Peter

Picture with Peter's youngest second cousins. Two of the girls were Mai and Thuy (two little heads in the back, haha) who are studying college in Connecticut and Boston... Wow! They spoke perfect English and finally we got the chance to talk and meet natives around our age! After some chit chatting during the evening they asked us if we felt like going for a walk around District 1 after the party, just to see the night view of Saigon... And we obviously said yes! ;)

Foto con los primos segundos más jóvenes de Peter. Dos de las chicas eran Mai y Thuy (dos cabecillas de las que no se ven) que están en la universidad en Connecticut y Boston... Wow! Hablaban un inglés perfecto y por suerte hemos podido hablar con ellas y finalmente conocer a nativos de nuestra edad! Después de charlar durante la noche nos preguntaron si nos apetecía dar un paseo por el Distrito 1 después de la fiesta, y así ver la vista nocturna de Saigon... Y nosotros dijimos que sí! 

We took a cab and we started our route in Notre Dame, the Saigonese version of the famous cathedral in Paris. Ironically, this one is bigger than the original one LOL! I tried to take pictures of it but the night light was not on my side...

Once we entered District 1 (the city center) we realized that wasn't the Ho Chi Minh City we were used to... That was completely different to the District 4 where we live: Bvlgari, Chanel, Hotel Sheraton over here, Ritz over there... We saw several touristic places in the city that I'm just gonna mention, since I'm gonna visit them in the day very soon. Hope you like the night shots :)

 Tomamos un taxi y empezamos nuestra ruta en Notre Dame, la version saigonesa de la famosa catedral de Paris. Irónicamente ésta es más grande que la original! Intenté tomar fotos de la iglesia, pero la luz nocturna no jugaba a mi favor ésa noche...

Una vez adentrados en el Distrito 1 (el centro de la ciudad) nos dimos cuenta que eso no era la ciudad de Ho Chi Minh a la que estábamos acostumbrados... Aquello era completamente diferente al Distrito 4 donde vivimos: Bvlgari, Chanel, Hotel Sheraton por allí, Ritz por allá... Vimos varios lugares turísticos de la ciudad que sólo voy a mencionar, pues voy a volver a visitarlos de día muy pronto. Espero que os gusten las fotos nocturnas! :)

A beautiful vintage café we found on the way to Ben Thanh Market

Una cafetería estilo vintage que encontramos de camino al mercado de Ben Thanh

Vincom Center, one of the fanciest malls in the city

Vincom Center, uno de los centros comerciales más caros de la ciudad

Saigon Opera House

La Ópera de Saigón

Statue of Ho Chi Minh with Saigon's City Hall in the back

Estátua de Ho Chi Minh con el ayuntamiento de la ciudad detrás

You see how this doesn't look like Vietnam anymore?!

Verdad que no parece Vietnam?!

Ben Thanh Night Market: Basically a market where tourists can go buy souvenirs! Just that, haha

El mercado nocturno de Ben Thanh: Básicamente un mercado donde los turistas pueden encontrar recuerdos para llevarse a casa! Sólo eso... Haha

We had so much fun walking around District 1 at night! Mai and Thuy did us a big favor showing us around, it was so nice from them! We have plans to see each other again, so we won't lose contact with them. I had a wonderful day overall, a day I didn't expect at all! I hope someday I'm fluent enough at Vietnamese to tell my family hoe happy I am for all they did for me :) But Peter & I still have a lot of adventures to live here in Vietnam! So keep an eye on my blog, alright? ;)

Nos lo pasamos genial dando una vuelta por el Distrito 1 de noche! Mai y Thuy nos hicieron un gran favor enseñándonos la ciudad de noche, la verdad fue todo un detalle! Tenemos planes de volver a vernos pronto, así que no perderemos el contacto con ellas. En general pasé un día perfecto, un día que no me esperaba ni muchísimo menos! Espero algún día poder hablar vietnamita suficientemente fluido para demostrar a mi familia lo agradecida que estoy por todo lo que hicieron por mí :) Pero a Peter y a mí aún nos quedan muchas aventuras por vivir aquí en Vietnam! Así que estad atentos al blog! ;)

CL

Time with friends and family

Brace yourselves you readers... The K day is coming (K for Korea by the way, lol)! So all I've been doing this week is meeting friends and some relatives to start saying goodbye, and well... Also because we have free time and we want to see each other, haha! It all started with the lovely Sunday lunch I had ^_^ My parents didn't feel like cooking (actually we've been eating out for 4 days straight!), so we decided to go to this fancy seafood restaurant near the port of Barcelona. When I mean 2fancy" I really mean it, by the way! I mean, you stop with your car in front of the door and they park it for you ._.''

Classic (?) 

Beautiful view! ^_^ 

As starters, we had "pulpo a la gallega" (I had a HUGE craving for pulpo!) and "rabas" (fried squid). 

 Main dish,  "arroz caldoso"! Yummy yummy!

Last but not least... Profiteroles with hot chocolate on top! I couldn't eat them because I've been kind of sick these days and my stomach felt kind of weird... ;_; But I would've loved to try them! 

I was feeling super sick, but I was supposed to meet with a friend and I couldn't say no to her x_x This friend is called Nozomi, she's a Japanese girl I met on Couchsurfing.org Couchsurfing is a website where you can find a place to stay in the country you're visiting for free. In a nutshell, it's just people offering a bed or a couch you can sleep in while you're abroad! Not only that, there's also people willing to show tourists around and be friends with them (just like me!). So I messaged her and she was more than happy to meet me ^_^

She came with Joa, her Venezuelan friend. It was funny how different we were the three of us: The European, the cute and polite Japanese and the extroverted Venezuelan, haha! But we totally hit it off. I took them to Santa Maria del Mar, one of the most famous churches in the city (built in the 12th Century) and then we walked around the city. I wanted to take them to Caelum (one of my favorite cafés in the city), but it was Sunday so most stores and places were closed -_-''). We ended up in the city having a Fanta.

Honestly I don't regret meeting them, they were super nice to me and they were very curious about the city. We didn't stop talking and it was nice to see they were willing to get to know me too ^_^ Hope  I can see them someday! About Nozomi, I would've liked to speak Japanese to her, but Joa was with us so I considered it would be impolite. I'd like to meet her tin Tokyo when I visit next winter! Hope we can make it. Speaking of Joa, she's a wonderful girl! :) She's an exchange student in Crete (Greece) and he's been to Marseille (France) before! It seems she loves traveling as much as I do, I'm waiting for her to add me as friends on Facebook so we can keep in touch. I wish her the best! ^_^

 I didn't do much on Monday morning, my parents and I mainly talked about things to do before Korea and getting a new phone for me (since mine is the crappiest thing and the battery lasts 3 hours). We did numbers, considering that I NEED a new phone over there... And we finally decided a Samsung Galaxy S3 would be the best choice. That afternoon I finally bought myself a new phone :__D I was so excited! It was expensive (my bank account still hurts lol x_x) but I bet the investment will be worth it :') ♥♥♥ Later that day I met Mariona and we had a real MURRIKAN dinner together (um well no, the rations would be bigger XDDDD).

Banana milkshake & Chilli hot dog with fries. No regrets. 

...AND ICE CREAM YAYYYYY! ♥ I picked grapefruit & strawberry c:

Then we walked around the city center for an hour or so. She's leaving to Taiwan as an exchange student instead, so we shared our thoughts  about the experience,  the problems we might face over there, how crappy our dorms are (hahahaha)... We're both excited but scared at the same time. She's leaving later than me (September) but she's nervous too! Let's see if she can come to visit me during our winter vacation... I'd love to hang out with her in Seoul! ;_; Sigh, I'm gonna miss this woman... ♥

Yesterday I had a great day too: I didn't stop doing things from 8 in the morning till midnight! I talked to Arnau when I woke up on Kakaotalk, we talked about his experience in Kyoto (he's studying Japanese there for a month) and he seems he's having so much fun. I envy him >_< Can't wait to go to Japan too!

Later we decided we could go have Korean food for lunch! I was super excited about it, since my aunt, my uncle and my cousin (who are pretty skeptical about Asian food for some reason) finally said YES! ^0^ Our first restaurant was closed for summer vacation, so we went to one I had never been to. The food was delicious anyway! We had so many things and we ended up super full, hah!

My uncle struggling with the chopsticks lol

Dak Bokkeum (stir fried spicy chicken with vegetables)

 Japchae (sweet potato noodles)♥♥♥

Bulgogi (grilled marinated beef)

Mom said "Look, I totally look like this Korean mask! Pointed nose and drooping eyelids" Haha.

Later in the afternoon we napped at home and around 7pm we met again to go shopping, I didn't buy anything but I regret it so much x_x (I might go back today let's see what I can find, lol). Later we went bowling. I hadn't gone for a long long time (4/5 years?) and I didn't remember how bad I was. lol. I was the 6th of 6 in the first round and the 4th in the second round -_- My family is super competitive, ugh... 

When the two rounds were over we realized it was 11pm already! So we ran to a bar and we had a huge hot dog with French fries. We totally needed it after all the effort in the alley! 8D

Jelly, huh ♥

Today morning I didn't do much, honestly I just hang out in bed until grumpy mom told me to wake up, lol. Then we went to a shopping center since she wanted to find something cute for this weekend (I'll tell you later)! We had lunch and he found what she really wanted ^_^  I fell in love with one of the stores she went to, there was a huge variety of stationery and cute tape... I couldn't resist it! 

Since I am not writing more letters for a while I decided not to pick anything snail mail related, so I ended up buying myself this cute notebook :) (The cover is made of cloth! I love it) ♥ And oh! Also a shirt from H&M, and two t-shirts and a pair of jeans from Zara!

Can't complain, it seems I'll be a fashionista in Seoul haha IN YOUR DREAMS CLAUDIA. Before that though, I'm spending a few days in Ariza, a 1200 inhabitants village in Zaragoza province (430km from Barcelona). Some friends of my parents have a house there (a real house, like made of stones!), so it'll be great to disconnect and have some time for myself. Also I'll have the chance to take lots of pictures with my beloved Nikon! It's gonna be awesome getting lost in a tiny village like this <: Also we're pretty close from Calatayud, this super beautiful municipality with thousands of years of history :) I've never been there and I love traveling, so I'm excited ^_^

Well, my moment is coming very soon! Are you guys ready? Hope you follow my adventures from now on! It'll be nice to keep you updated with all my adventures in the Land of the Morning Calm :)

See you guys very soon!

Love,

CL

PS. Once I move to Korea I'll start writing my posts in bilingual! (English&Spanish) so more people can read them :)

PD. Una vez esté en Corea empezaré a escribir mis posts en bilingue! (Inglés y español) para que más gente pueda leerlos :)