What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies. – Jack Kerouac
The eve of Christmas is upon us already, and I could not be further from England’s Yuletide traditions.
The school is, in fact, the main anchor point of Christmas for me. True, there are a smattering of Christmas trees, festive lights and Santa displays across Hanoi, however, they are mostly in the Business district and there are none of the winter-market mulled wine, warm-your-heart with each dram, dress-in-lederhosen spots that are essentially Christmas distilled.
The other distinct difference is the weather. Hanoi has been hot and humid recently. Sweating on your way to work, whilst overdressed in teacher attire, sat on the back of a Grab Scooter is not a typical Christmas scenario for me. Nothing, it seems, however, is typical in Hanoi.
Recently, though, the school has been in full Christmas spirit and it’s not just us teachers welcoming it. I’ve caught plenty a colleague humming a Christmas tune secretly.
Yesterday, after my lessons, there was a marketing event, where I had to dress as Santa. PGL came flooding back to me, partly in horror, partly with fondness. One can’t be afraid to don the clown in this profession from time to time.
I was invariably shuffled between “the photobooth”, a Christmas display with cotton wool for snow, and room 2.2, which was like a Christmas ball-pit party. There were thousands of these tiny polystyrene balls, which served as snow, and the kids were going crazy for it. Every now and again it’s fun to embrace your inner child, and I’m not ashamed to say as an adult, it was a good laugh. Some of the other teachers got involved as well, and the teaching assistants, whom are all Vietnamese at Apollo, had a great time.
There was this one demon, wild-child who kept filling my Santa hat with these pieces of polystyrene and flogging me with it. She kept jumping on my back too, the only consolation being, it provided ample photos for the cameraman who kept his DSLR pointed at me.
Anyway, I digress.
My life has been a hive of activity recently. In full swing.
A deposit for a flat; moving out of the Luxury 6 Senses Red River-View Apartments and back into the Guesthouse; a few Christmas gatherings; Adam departing for Cambodia; a new teacher from Greece arriving – a new friend made – altogether it’s been a whirl.
Last night, I had to move out of the Luxury Red River View, which is now fully booked, and back to my old haunt. All this before I move into my new place in Tay Ho.
The Red River view is a mock hotel-hostel Guesthouse. It had a much more Christmassy feel and I did dig this, as well as the Smart TV’s. Of course it feels like a Hotel, but it had nice decor lining the shelves, a big plasterboard display full of photos showing the many groups of Travellers that have stayed there over the years, and, best of all, a huge Bavarian backdrop on the wall of the living room.
It was nice. A good week spent there. I liked the sociable atmosphere of the place. Linh threw a little Christmas get together the other night, and I met a Romanian teacher named Alex and his Vietnamese girlfriend, an Italian teacher called Erica, my Greek friend Daphne and three German travellers.The german travellers told me they travelled a different Asian country every winter. They were a young couple and a mother. They were friendly people and shared with us German bread and spirits as aperitifs. Erica was hilarious, ridiculously Italian and we had a good laugh that night.
So this is Christmas 2018. I was thinking back to this time last year. I was in Europe. Another year, another continent I suppose.
Google photos has this function for those of us who have a soft spot for Nostalgia, where it sends you a photo with the title ‘Remember this day”.
I was with Carlos and Mikey. Incredibly, we had made it to Tarragona in Catalonia. However, my main memories of Christmas that year was in Bruges, Belgium. It was a much more festive affair. Those Christmas markets were in full swing. Cold air. Frost on your lips. All the right ingredients.
I had spent my time mostly with Nastya, my Russian friend, and we enjoyed the markets and spiced wine which eventually lead us to a Jazz bar and my dearest Christmas friend; a glass of Bourbon. If memory serves me right, and this is always hard through the haze of drink and time, it was a glass of either Jack Daniels or Monkey Shoulder. I remember it being extortionate, and as a penniless traveller back then, my most expensive purchase for a time.
It seems the holiday season can still be entirely surprising. The holidays are celebratory, yes – but also funny, sad, sacred, lonely, maddening, beautiful, and so much else. It’s a complex experience. Best to drink your way through it. And if you can’t do that, eat your way through it.
If you’re after a good read, the New Yorker compiled a good Christmas list, and I highly recommend this, Chicago Christmas, 1984.
It starts with the great opening:
At twenty-six, at the embarrassing end of a series of attempts at channelling Kerouac, I was beyond broke, back in my home town, living in my aunt and uncle’s basement.
I’ll be spending my Christmas Eve at the Old Quarter after work, hopefully going to meet a few friends, and the Old Quarter will be bustling full of activity. I’ll get myself some Scotch and enjoy. I’ll also head to St Josephs Cathedral to get something of a Christmas atmosphere. For Christmas Day, Paige and Tara at work have organised a meal, Turkey and everything, so I’ll be heading there.
So enjoy your Christmas 2018. It’s been a blistering year in many ways. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah!
This is the first blog post of many. I’ll be keeping it updated with all my intrepid and ridiculous adventures.
The picture below is from a trip I took a few weeks back to Mai Chau. Really amazing, picturesque scenery. There’ll be more on that later.
For now, Ciao xx
An Englishman in Hanoi 