clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: Summertime and the livin' is easy
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011/07/summertime-and-livin-is-easy.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Sunday, July 10, 2011. Summertime and the livin' is easy. Already Emily and I have hit four different stops along our journey North. Today, we're headed for Hanoi only to, hopefully, mosey along to Ha Long Bay once we get there. We've been at turns active and lazy, alternating our days for optimum adventure and chill time. This operation works well for us and we're having a blast. It is a town famous for it's tailor shops, lanterns and silk...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: January 2011
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My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Thursday, January 27, 2011. As an elementary school teacher, there are a lot of days where all I want to do is scream and kick and cry (just like my students). Little kids are terrors. They know all the ways to drive someone crazy and do so as often as they think they can get away with it, which is to say all the time. Times and expect them to do all this. Learning, after all, takes time. I have found (like many others before me) that most ...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: I Survived the Bus Ride from Hanoi to Vientiane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-survived-bus-ride-from-hanoi-to.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Sunday, July 24, 2011. I Survived the Bus Ride from Hanoi to Vientiane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. Sadly, the most eventful thing Emily and I did in Laos was the bus ride there and it wasn't the good, fun kind of eventful. Though, I will concede it was adventurous. The 4,000 Islands are possibly the most peaceful place I've ever been and I'd recommend them to those seeking peace and quiet on their travels, but two days was enough ...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: April 2011
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Thursday, April 21, 2011. You are awed by the power, thankful for blessed safety. Through the din you sense a sharp, sudden knock. It startles you awake. Someone is yelling but you can't understand them, the monsoon is drowning them out. And then there is light as your door swings open. Your housemate is standing there, yelling about how cold it is, and still- still. You will spend the next half hour ankle-deep in water, unclogging the drai...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: September 2011
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Thursday, September 1, 2011. Taroko Gorge the Hard Way. This post was written a week ago and left unfinished until now. I hope you forgive the fact I didn't edit it to account for time.). Sore doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. A more apt description would be a bit of an idiot. Poor Choices, thy name is Clara. And then it didn't. After peacefully making my way down the park for a few hours I came to the place where I was told I...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: Paradise (or The mind is its own place)
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011/08/paradise-or-mind-is-its-own-place.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Wednesday, August 10, 2011. Paradise (or The mind is its own place). I keep thinking about the word "paradise." What does that word mean, anyway? I looked up the definition and the first three given are religious. But is "heaven" the same thing as "paradise? I'm sure that heaven is paradise for some people, but is the opposite true? Maybe it is for the people who don't subscribe to the former sentiment. I don't know. It makes me cringe.
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: Natural Wonders: Castles of Sea and Sky
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011/07/natural-wonders-castles-of-sea-and-sky.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Sunday, July 17, 2011. Natural Wonders: Castles of Sea and Sky. You know all those beautiful pictures of junks with wings for sails protected by enormous, majestic rocks in a bay of cool, emerald water that always seem to represent the natural beauty of Vietnam on guidebooks and travel sites? Here's one to refresh your memory or in case you have no clue what I'm talking about :. The whole trip was permeated by a calm that seemed to hang in ...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: July 2011
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Sunday, July 24, 2011. I Survived the Bus Ride from Hanoi to Vientiane and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt. Sadly, the most eventful thing Emily and I did in Laos was the bus ride there and it wasn't the good, fun kind of eventful. Though, I will concede it was adventurous. The 4,000 Islands are possibly the most peaceful place I've ever been and I'd recommend them to those seeking peace and quiet on their travels, but two days was enough ...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: There and Back Again
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2011/12/there-and-back-again.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Sunday, December 11, 2011. There and Back Again. The bad and the ugly aren't what I want this post to be about. While they may be a part of me and this past year, what I really want to focus on is the good. So, here's a game I often play with one of my grandmas at the end of each year : the highlights of the year, in no particular order. The temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Twice. Dinner at the Banana Leaf A...
clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com
Keeping It Real: November 2010
http://clara-keepingitreal.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html
My adventures in Southeast Asia and teaching English in Vietnam. Tuesday, November 30, 2010. Both Friday and Saturday were overcast, so my pictures aren't stellar, but without further ado, I present my weekend in the form of a photo essay:. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go down into the fishing village, but the views from above were impressive. Close-up of fishing boats. I thought these small, round boats were just for holding the fish, but I saw a man inside one, using a long oar to move around. In cas...
