Last rock show, first music video, and news about where I'll be living in Vietnam

Somehow, all of this is working out. I love the serendipity of the universe. Having originally applied for a position in Korea, I could not be happier that I'm now going to Vietnam instead. And to top it off, I just found out that I will be living and working in a beautiful resort town on the southern coast, a city called Nha Trang. Woo hooo! This is exciting for a couple of reasons, at least. First, I didn't think I would know where I'd be living until I got to Hanoi for orientation. Not knowing where I'd be living was going to make packing a disaster, and I'm glad to be avoiding that. Second, this city looks incredible. I wanted to be in the south, and on the coast...and that's exactly where I'll be. Maybe I manifested it? This wouldn't be the first time...


Everything I'm reading about the city makes me more excited. Miles of beaches with year-round warm water, friendly people, small town atmosphere, little islands to explore off the coast, and a tropical climate (I'm doing better with the hot weather!). The city is popular with international and domestic tourists. The water and beaches look gorgeous...


The city also boasts impressive historical and cultural sites, including the Po Nagar Cham towers. Built sometime before 781 AD, the towers are dedicated to the goddess of the country (Yan Po Nagar):

(Po Nagar)

(detail of the goddess)

There's also the Long Son Pagoda, a Buddhist temple:

I'm also excited about the Thap Ba hot spring:

(private little mud baths!)

I'll be working at Nha Trang University, which apparently overlooks the ocean . You can visit the website (which has English translation) here. The university has an entire school of Marxism and Leninism, and I'm brainstorming ways to convince them to let me work in that faculty. I've found a picture of what I think are the dorms (there's a chance I might be living in them), and they seem to all have balconies! I have to contact some folks at the university to find out more about my situation.

The news about Nha Trang was especially exciting to receive today, when I was feeling a bit down about Sam leaving on Sunday for a month in Europe, and about not seeing Sam play again for the next year. I'm definitely moving into the "lasts" of certain things before leaving. On Saturday I saw the last show I'll see for a long while, but it least it was a good one--Bonnaroo! I guess if there has to be a "last show" before Vietnam, Bonnaroo is as good as it gets. The boys played a great show, rocking out "as if none of us would ever die". Here's a clip of the boys playing "Free Coffee", a song from the upcoming album. (Warning: Video quality stinks.)



And another clip from 'Roo. (Warning: Video quality stinks and this is full of "grown up words" since it's a cover of an old Dr. Dre song. But Sam does sing the whole second verse :)



Bonnaroo was not as crazy as I expected. I do remember, though, walking around with the sun beating down, catching a whiff of funnel cakes and thinking "Wow, this feels exactly like being at Kings Island as kid". But then I started smelling something that didn't belong in that memory: marijuana. I'm still slow to identify that smell, so it took me a minute to sort through the memory and pick out the smell that just didn't fit before realizing this wasn't exactly like Kings Island, after all. Ultimately, it was a wonderful day. I was so happy to share the experience with Sam, especially since I'm going to miss the album release, all his performances on the late night shows, the album tour. Plus, the weather was great, I got some cool free stuff (new pair of crocs, a Revolve t-shirt), and met some cool people (Iron and Wine, the couple from the movie ONCE, the drummer from metal group Mastadon). Unfortunately I did not meet the Olsen twins, who were there for the weekend. As a joke (mainly), I was determined to find them and snap a shot paparazzi style, but I never spotted Mary Kate and Ashley. I think just I barely missed them, though. According to an article in the Village Voice, they were backstage at the Cat Power show--and I was too!! Maybe they were on the side of the stage. Or maybe they were just too skinny to see. It's hard to say.

To help ease the pain of not seeing Sam play another show for the next year, I went to hang out at the studio today while they filmed a music video that will come with the album (to be released in the fall). The whole process was a lot less exciting than I'd imagined--a lot of waiting, plus a lot of stuffy smoke and dry ice--so I eventually resigned myself to hiding in the control room, checking my email, and consequently googling Nha Trang for the rest of the afternoon. I am so excited that I'm going to be living in a coastal resort town in Vietnam!