Beautiful

For my last full weekend in Hanoi, I decided to finally hit up some of the many museums that Hanoi has to offer. My first stop was the Vietnam Military History Museum. They had so many old jets, tanks, and other military equipment!

Next, I went to the Temple of Literature, which was a temple of Confucius. The temple hosts the "Imperial Academy", Vietnam's first national university. It temple was built in 1070 at the time of King Lý Nhân Tông. 

There were many "Doctors' stone stelae" which were erected between 1484 and 1870 for engraving the names and birthplaces of those who attended the university. This sit on top of turtles, which are one of the 4 sacred animals of Vietnam. 

That afternoon I went to spend some time relaxing at Hoan Kiem lake. The name means "Lake of the Returned Sword" or "Lake of the Restored Sword". Turtle Tower lies in the center of the lake. 

In true Vietnam fashion, I ended up chatting with some local university students that were looking to practice their English. This was the original group, but I ended up sitting there for almost three hours talking to their friends, and their friends friends, and friends friends friends. :D

On Sunday I headed out for a bit more exploring. I visited the Hanoi Opera House and the Vietnamese Women's Museum. 

I was consistently amazed by the items people managed to carry on their motorbikes. 

The propaganda posters were fascinating. Here are a couple of examples... 

"Transporting for the army to liberate the nation"

That afternoon I attended a mid-Autumn festival party with the staff and clients of Hagar Vietnam (the organization I volunteered with), CORE and Humanitarian Services for Children, which are two other organizations. I’ve had the joy of celebrating two key Vietnamese holidays during my time here—Vietnam’s Independence Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn festival is a time to celebrate coming together and to express thankfulness. My favorite activity was called “Build the Moon tower” where each team was given a set of plastic straws and tape, and challenged to build the tallest, nicest and firmest tower. It had a great Destination Imagination ring to it. :D After the party, I even got a tour of Hanoi and night from one of my lovely coworkers. :D It was quite the night of parades, lights, dancing and songs. It was such a great day. I'm going to miss it here.