Bye, bye hair.

I didn't wait for votes about the hair. After I posted the blog, Lien called and asked if I wanted to run some errands with her and go to the nail shop. I interpreted this as the universe telling me to go ahead and cut my hair since I'd already be at the salon to have my nails done. Actually, I tried to ignore the "sign" to cut my hair, and told the girl to just to take off a little....but she ended up cutting it really short. And I love it! In fact I think might want it a little shorter. Not a problem since it costs about $1.65 to get a haircut around here. I swear, the thought of paying western prices for things just makes my stomach hurt lately. Anyway, here's the outcome. I haven't had short hair in about ten years, and this time last year my hair was past my boobs! (They won't tell you but most girls measure their hair in relation to their breasts. :)

Wellness, Thanksgiving, New Friends...

Firstly, I'm feeling much better and I'm absolutely thrilled about it. I'm hoping the problem doesn't recur.

Unfortunately I wasn't back to normal by Thanksgiving. Maryanne, a British volunteer at another college, and at whose house we were holding Thanksgiving dinner, was also a bit unwell, so our menu was modified a bit. We skipped the caramelized tofu, bought some green beans from a restaurant nearby, and only made pumpkin soup, mashed potatoes and some sauteed veggies. The soup was delicious--kudos to Chef Katherine--and really hit the spot. Katherine thus continued to supply nearly my entire diet. She's brought me soup, noodles, drinks, breakfast, all found hanging on my doorknob when I wake up. Being sick without her would be much more miserable!

It was a quiet meal among four friends--Steve, Maryanne, Katherine and myself--and didn't feel a damn thing like Thanksgiving. That's probably for the best, though. The fact that nothing here feels like the "holiday season"--even with the installment of christmas decorations at hotels and playing of christmas music in stores--makes being away much easier for me. My annual trip to my grandfather's home for Thanksgiving is one of my favorite things in life, and I was sad to miss it.

By Friday I felt much better, though, and went to class (pronunciation for first years) on Friday afternoon. Several students for this class had come to visit me while I was sick, and had called, texted and emailed all the time to check on me, offer to bring me food, take me to the doctor. Needless to say I'm getting quite attached to this class. :) And the session on Friday went especially well and felt especially rewarding. I like teaching pronunciation.

I was feeling so well after class that I decided to bike into town with Katherine for dinner at a veg place. We remembered that Charles, the owner of Texas restaurant, had planned to serve pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, and after dinner we decided to swing by to see if had any left. (My own plan to make "bakeless pumpkin pie" was abandoned due to illness.) To my joy, he still had some pie! After offering to heat the pie and serve it with icecream (yes to both, please!), Charles introduced Katherine and me to two young men who were also dining. The boy--twins, actually--have lived here in Nha Trang for three years and own a furniture exporting company here. We accepted their invitation to eat with them. It turns out they're American-Philipino, went to Berkeley and Columbia for undergrad, and dont fit the normal "expat" stereotype, which was quite a relief. Katherine and I enjoyed out desserts, they enjoyed their dinners, we chatted, Charles sat down with us to talk every now and then....It felt a bit strange to be talking with all Americans, in a very Western style restaurant...but the pumpkin pie was sublime. That's all I really wanted out of Thanksgiving, and somehow, in Nha Trang, Vietnam, half way around the world, I got it.

After dinner we went for a drink at Guava bar, a chill little place in the tourist district run by a Canadian guy. Had some wine, met some other expats (all men of course), talked, went home. Really a nice evening--just talking and a glass of wine. Lately I've wanted to find a place to just go have a drink and relax. Not a club, not a disco. It seems that I've found it! And I'm hoping I've found some new friends, as well. It would be quite nice to have some more young American friends.

I couldn't get to sleep Friday night--I was up til nearly 3am--but I woke up early on Saturday nonetheless and decided to join Katherine for breakfast with the manager of the Asia Paradise hotel. She'd talked about him a lot and I had been looking forward to meeting him. He's an older gentleman with a kind smile and obvious wisdom. He and a friend drank tea and talked to us about Vietnam while Katherine and I enjoyed breakfast. He also offered to look into NGOs in Nha Trang, since both Katherine and I would ideally like to stay in Nha Trang but we'd like to find some other work to get involved in, as well.

After breakfast we stopped in at Maximark. I've been wanting to have some dresses made, so I decided to look at the upstairs (clothes) section to get some ideas for what kind of dresses I'd like. I ended up buying 3 shirts (including a cool Che Guevara one and a left-over Banana Republic one) and a dress. Oops :) It was just so cheap, and in my sickness I haven't been spending any money lately, and I'm living so far under my budget anyway....Ok, I'm trying to justify, I know. I'm especially fond of the dress--a short brown eyelit smock to be worn with black tights. Lately I've REALLY been missing wearing winter dresses with tights and boots--my favorite fashion invention ever. Summer dresses and smocks with tights and flats will have to suffice until I relocate to colder climates. (Sam is in London now and said all the English girls--maybe even Anna Peacock? jeje :) -- are running around in dresses, tights, boots, and coats....sigh.)

While trying on clothes at Maximark--let me assure you that their dressing rooms are nicer than their WC--a Vietnamese lady kept opening Katherine's curtain. And then, while Katherine and I were outside of our little curtains, looking in the mirror and contemplating our prospective purchases, the woman stole Katherine's clothes that she was trying on and took them into her own curtain. Clearly there's some Vietnamese dressing room etiquette that I'm missing.

On our way home we spent a good hour on New Bridge watching a movie or something be filmed on the shore of the fishing village. We nearly had to run from the police, who came to clear out all the motorbikes that were parked along the street, but luckily another onlooker communicated to us that we, only bicycles, were fine. Phew! After watching nothing happen on the set for a while, we became more invested in the little children who were pulling around a crab that they'd tied to a string. Who needs Tonka when you have twine and crustaceans? We eventually came to the conclusion that the views from the top of New Bridge are some of the best in the city. We lingered for quite a while, watching, looking, absorbing all the activity and enjoying the strikingly pleasant weather....

The weather has been quite lovely lately--relatively dry, cool, breezy. Perfect temperature during the day and even a bit crisp at night if you're just in short sleeves. My students, however, all bundle up in furry jackets and scarves. Everything's relative, I guess.

One last hooray for feeling better! :)

And, finally, I'm heavily considering chopping most of my hair off. I can't make a decision about next year, so I'm making this decision instead. Maybe. I'm taking votes, so cast yours! :)



Currently listening: Words and Music, by Aqualung

Still sick.

I'm doing a lot better than yesterday but still nowhere near 100%. But today wasn't without its positive moments. A group of students came to check on me twice today. I had told my students that I would hold office hours (a pretty foreign concept here) this week, in case they needed extra help for upcoming exams. I arranged to be in the office at 9am, but since I was sick yesterday, I set my alarm for 7am this morning to see how I was feeling. Still shitty, it turned out. I thus called my boss to ask her to let my students know I would re-schedule. I didn't even know if anyone would show up since it was my first morning of self-arranged "office hours". For some reason, though, my students who did show up didn't get the message that needed to reschedule. They did find out, though, through the grapevine, that I was sick, and thus came banging on my door around 9:30 to make sure I was ok. I was slow to get up and answer the door as I was sleeping, and when I answered the door, I found three students who looks like they'd just seen ghosts. When I hadn't answered the door at first they assumed I had collapsed in my room. I assured them it wasn't that serious, thanked them for visiting, and they sent me back to bed with their own gambit of medical advice.

Their knocking on my door, though, lead me to find that Katherine had brought me from the market two of my favorite things: vegetarian soup from xoi bap (corn sticky rice) woman, who sells this delicious soup only on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month; and vegetarian noodles and tofu from "vegetarian lady" who's only at the market on those two lunar events, as well. I took my charcoal pills and ate what I could of the soup for brunch, and it totally hit the spot. The noodles were good for dinner, as well, and I nibbled on some bread in between.... I'm trying to eat even though I dont have an appetite, because last time this happened I didn't really eat for a few days and I think that made everything worse. Today, then, I owe my entire nurtrional intake to Katherine, who brought me such tasty food without my even asking! I dont know what I'd do without her.

Lien also stopped by and kept me company for a while. I was supposed to go to lunch with her and her boyfriend yesterday, but obviously those plans were canceled.

Around six pm I found four more students at my door, including two--Carrot and Mia, from my class of first year students--who had also come this morning. Between her two visits Carrot had texted me saying that she'd heard that yesterday I had continued teaching even though I was "seriously ill". Again, I'm really not as bad off as the rumor mill would have it. She had brought back two more of her classmates, Rachel and John (these are the English names they chose). These kids are really outstanding students in the classroom, and, as it turns out, outside of the classroom as well! They stayed with me for a couple of hours, chatting, telling stories, looking at pictures of my friends and family. It was nice to have some company! After they left, Rachel (whose real name is Chau) emailed me, wishing me well and suggesting that I go to the doctor/hospital tomorrow.

It seems that some students already think I'm already there, as I student friend of ours asked Katherine today about how I was doing in the hospital. Everyone must think I'm worse off than I am!

And, best of all, I unexpectedly got to talk to my mom and my sister tonight! Mom called my mobile and we talked for quite a while. I haven't talked to her in weeks. Then I caught my sister on gchat, and I haven't talked to her really in so long...I miss her so, so much. In the past couple of years she's gone from just my "kid sister" to a dear friend, and I'm increasingly sad that I'm missing her first, and maybe her second, year of high school. And I feel almost a parental connection to her, given our family's past. We dont' get to talk much these days but I'm finding myself thinking about her all the time.

I'm a bit sad about missing Thanksgiving with my family--my mom, my sister this year (sometimes she's at her dad's house), my grandfather and his wife, usually Sam--at my grandfather's home in Ohio. It's one of my favorite events of the year, to be surrounded by some of my favorite people in the world. And I always see my lovely cousin Molly on the day after Thanksgiving--we go to this shopping area in Columbus called Easton, walk around for hours, catch up, and inevitably leave without buying a single damn thing. Being away for the holidays is a bit harder than I thought it would be. I think it would be even harder if the seasons here corresponded to what I associate with "holiday season" at home...

But, if I wake up feeling ok tomorrow, we're going to do our best to recreate thanksgiving here in Vietnam: caramelized tofu, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, pumpkin soup, salad. If I wake up with even the slightest bit of pain, I'm going to the doctor. Here's hoping to the former!!

Rain + Stomach Ache + Internet =....

It equals "stuck inside with minimal connection to the outside world." The stomach problems that I had last week (and while Sam was here, and once before Sam was here) returned this morning with a vengeance. I woke up around 7:40, feeling ok and ready for my 8:40 class....but while I was walking to class I began to feel terrible. And by the time I got to class, I could hardly stand up. My torso felt like it was being shredded from the indside. My boss, who I was co-teaching with, could tell something was wrong but I tried to push through it. Which absolutely backfired. A few minutes later I was puking in a trashcan (which I'm pretty sure had algae growing in it) outside of the classroom, in full view of most of my students and definitely my boss. I did my best to be dainty about it--holding back my own hair and cream-colored, lace scarf--but let's be honest. It's gross.

Of course, my boss sent me home, assuring me that it was "serious" and that she'd bring me some medicine later. I'd already descibed my symptoms to her, before I vomited for everyone's entertainment. Walking home, though, I thought I was going to pass out. And I'm not the type of person that passes out. Thankfully I made it back to room, rushed to the toilet, and then just absolutely collapsed. I was shaking, freezing but covered in sweat, could barely stand, and, worst of all, doubled over in pain. I wanted to sleep but the pain kept me wide awake, so for several hours I just dozed in between waves of pain.

As promised, my boss, Ms. Hong, hand delivered a batch of meds to my door. She had told me earlier that she had a "great chemist" that always fixed her stomach problems. After a couple hours in the fetal position, I had texted my boss to skip the chemist and just take me to a doctor (after all, this is the fourth--and worst--time this has happened in a little over a month), but she'd left her mobile at home. When she arrived, I agreed to take the medicine for two days and see if the situation improved. She kept saying that the pills would help my "destiny", while rubbing her stomach. I'm assuming "destiny" in this case means "digestion", but if they help my destiny, I'm ok with that too.

One goodbad thing about Vietnam is that I can walk up to a counter and get medicine here that, in the states, I could only get with a prescription or a gun to someone's head. For example, I easily and cheaply bought some antivirals here that are expensive and hard to get in the states. Another difference is that, here, you dont buy a whole package of medicine, but you just buy the number of pills you need. The pharmacist just cuts up the blister pack and gives you x number of pills for x number of days' treatment. Great, right? Well, kinda. It's great when you know what kind of medicine you need and how much of it to take, like with those antivirals that I've been taking since the first time I got shingles when I was 12 years old. But when your boss is buying your drugs, and the drugs aren't sold in the packages but just in the little blister packs, without the information pamphlet, medicinal consumption becomes a bit more scary. I didn't know what exactly I was taking or how it would react with any other medicine I take. I tried to google the names on the backs of the blister packs, but that plan met only partial success since on of the blister packs didn't have the full name on it (it had been cut off).

I learned, to my relief, that 2 of the 3 drugs Ms. Hong brought me were of French manufacture--always a good sign with medicine here. One was just activated charcoal, and I was told to take two of those pills before I ate. The second turned out to be a French variety of a drug called Metronidazole, which is used to treat, among many other things, protozoal and anarobic bacterial infections, including those from heliobacter pylori (which, thanks to my senior year bio class, I know causes ulcers). Two of those pills after I ate. The third pill, one of which to be taken after eating, has yet to be idenitified, but the first two seem legit so I'm not too worried.

(Edit: Since writing this blog, further investigation has revealed that the mysterious "third pill" is most likely Pancrecarb, a medication that contains digestive enzymes to help break down and digest fats, starch, and proteins in food. Seems harmless enough)

The bottom line is that I'm starting to feel better. Some of the pain has subsided and the frequency of bathroom trips has been reduced. Since the last time these stomach problems occured, they lasted for days, I'm willing to give some of the credit to the drugs. Last time I just self medicated with hot water and mashed up ginger. I hate taking a lot of medicine though, especially without knowing the cause of the problem, and 10 pills a day is really not my thing. Hopefully this round of meds will permanently get rid of whatever is causing my problems.

In addition to the fact that I hate being relegated to my room and curled up in the fetal position for days at a time, the stomach problems are getting in the way of my work. I missed a couple classes last week, and today I left my morning class early and canceled my evening class. The semester is nearly over--in fact, today was the last day of my morning class before the exam--and it's not an optimal time to play hookie.

My dear students are so sweet, though. Three of them brought me my umbrella, which I'd forgotten as I stumbled out of class this morning, and sent me back to bed with their own gambit of medical advice.

Aaaand, one of those three students just got an interview for a scholarship I told her about. I'm SO excited for her! If she gets it, she'll be able to study in the states for 6 months, which, for many students here, is a dream that will probably never become a reality.

Another student, Carrot, the girl whose English name I so defended, has changed her name to Holly. All my efforts were for naught. Yesterday I received an urgent-sounding text message, followed by an even more frantic email, from her, saying the following:

This afternoon I heard you saying something like, "I'll leave on the 8th"..... You aren't going to leave us, are you? Please answer me as soon as possible ( T___T )

Carrot

She seems to be continuing with 'carrot' as her pen name, at least. I assured her that I was only going to Danang on the 8th and that I would be back, much to her joy ("ohhhhhhhh....... thanks !!!! I was in a very bad mood since the afternoon. I didn't want to know that you will leave us that SOON :):):) thanks a lot, Miss :):):)" ). She continued to ask me if I was "really a vegetarian", and when I explained that i was, she said she was surprised since most vegetarians are pale and weak but I always have so much energy in her class. She added that I needed more sleep, though, since I yawn sometimes. :) It turns out that Carrot was also the artiste who made the hand-made teacher's day card that I received from her class. You know, the one that had 'We love you so much!" written on it about a billion times, in addition to "Please stay with us as long as possible!" beside a sad face. I bet this girl is a master of peer pressure.

Even with the care of my boss, Katherine, my students, a mysterious person who just texted me to ask about my health since she "saw [my] face turn pale today"--I swear, the walls here have eyes--being sick on the other side of the world isn't my favorite thing. And the chronic nature of this problem is just frustrating. I'm vagina-crossing my fingers that a little charcoal, metronidazole and mystery drug clear it all up before rainy season ends and beach season starts again. :)

Around town.

With no obligations today (other than an English Club rehearsal that we found out about after the fact), Katherine and I spent a lovely day biking around the city. We've been so busy lately that we haven't really been into the city in over a week. And we've become quite accustomed to our normal "path" in the city: Dinner at one of our favorite veg places, followed by bubble tea or smoothies. Normally we're on a bit of at time crunch, as well, since normally one of us teaches until 5:15 pm, which means that we can't leave the uni until 5:30 or so, and we'd like to get home at a reasonable hour. But today, we biked around with little or no objective, and it was lovely. We discovered new streets and areas of town, explored an appliance store (I saw the first ovens and vacuum cleaners I've seen since coming to Vietnam four months ago!), tried to get my necklace chain repaired, looked for a backpacking pack for me. The latter two goals were not achieved but I wasn't particularly invested in either.

While biking through the tourist area (in hopes of finding a backpack) we passed the Texas restaurant. Yes, there's a Texas restaurant here. We decided to see if they had macaroni and cheese--I've been craving it lately. As we approached the menu that was sitting on the podium outside the restaurant, and middle-aged man in the restaurant said, "If you like American food, you'll love this place. We import everything." He was clearly American himself, and I informed him that we were, too. We chatted for a few minutes--him on the stoop of the restaurant, Katherine and I on the sidewalk with our bikes. Turns out he's from California, not Texas. After a couple moments it started to rain, so he invited Katherine and me in for drinks on the house.

He didn't have macaroni and cheese, but he did offer a couple hours of conversation. Katherine and I sipped our tea and talked with our new friend Charles, comparing experiences here, etc. He's been in Vietnam on and off since 2006, was in HCMC for the past year and just moved to Nha Trang three months ago. And he plans to die here, apparently. He seems like a really nice guy, and he treats his staff really well, which I appreciate. It seems like that isn't the case with some foreigners in this town, who are condescending and rude to their employees. After a while, another middle-aged man joined us. I think his name was Larry but I'm not sure. An American as well, he's been on holiday here for 3 weeks but is planning to move here. We learned that he's a member of the screen actors' guild and used to be on The Bold and the Beautiful. Between our actor friend and Charles, whose wife (19 years his junior) divorced him a coulp years ago, Katherine and I made some interesting new acquaintances today. I was pretty dismissive of the expat community here, but these men seem genuine, generous, and not exclusively here to find women. Charles demanded that we "don't be strangers" and offered to take us out sometime. And between the vegetarian dishes he's promised to work up, and the pancakes with maple syrup he has on his menu, I'm sure I'll be back!

After leaving Texas and grabbing dinner, Katherine and I tried the second of two new bubble tea places we've discovered. Our drinks weren't phenomenal but I did manage to have a legitimate conversation in Vietnamese: How old I am, where I'm from, what I do, how long I've been here and how long I'll stay. Unfortunately that's about the extent of my vietnamese, apart from "No meat", "I'm a vegetarian", "One sticky rice and 2 soy milks, one without ice and one with," and "2 che, one with taro ice cream." and "What are you doing?" I'm embarrassed by how little work I've done learning Vietnamese....

While I had a lovely day biking in the city and making new friends, the highlight of my day occured back on this side of the bridge. Recently Katherine and I noticed that, in the building in front of which Monsieur Banana sits and sells his bananas, a new microbrewery has been erected. Yep, a full-on microbrewery with huge copper vats and pipes and such. And tonight, when we stopped for our nightly bananas, Monsier was sitting with a few other men and several huge cups of beer. He picked up his glass and offered it to me, saying "C'est superior!" And I thus shared a glass of beer with Monsieur Banana. I don't even like beer, but it sure made my day.

Our last English Club of the semester is tomorrow, and I can't say I'm sad about it. 7am on a Sunday morning just isn't an optimal time for me to be singing and dancing around. And I know that no one who participates really enjoys it--the students think it's boring and the teachers are sad to lose their one day off a week. I tried to talk to some students about how to improve the age-old tradition, but they unenthusiastically explained that there just aren't enough resources or money. I'm going to try to think of somethings, though, to improve on next semester, when apparently I will have more autonomy in planning it.

Before that happens, though, I'm looking forward to some traveling adventures. On 8 December the Embassy is flying me (and the other Fulbrighters) to Da Nang to do some seminars and such. I'm so excited to see the gang again! After Da Nang I'm heading up to Dong Hoi with Becca. I'll spend a few days there with her while she finishes up teaching, and then she and I will leisurely work our way back down the coast to Da Lat, where we'll meet up with everyone again for Christmas. Dong Hoi should be quiet and very "authentic", but there are some caves and other things to see. And the best part is that Becca and I are going to rent a motorbike and go exploring!!

Becca, it turns out, is also thinking about staying another year here, which excites me. "You, me, and some wine need to sit down and talk about this," she said. I couldn't agree more. Just another reason to look forward to conference in Danang.


Currently listening: Lost Songs, by David Gray

Adult Decisions

As the semester draws to a close, and I realize that soon I'll have only six months left as a Fulbrighter, I'm feeling pressured to figure out what I'll do after my grant ends next summer. I'm pretty sure--but not decided--that I would like to stay abroad for a second year. I'm leaning towards a developing country but I'm really open to any that isn't currently war-torn. Much deliberation has reduced my options to the four following ones. (I'm thinking that maybe writing all this down will help me sort it out.)

1. Stay in Nha Trang teaching at the university, but without sponsorship from the Fulbright Program, whose grants are only one year.
Pros:

• I'm already settled here, with a network of friends, reliable vendors at the market, favorite restaurants, etc. It's taken me three months to really get a hold here, and I'm not sure I want to take another three months to set-up again in another city.
• I love the city, looooove the beach. I'm so happy here. And I have a theory that to really even start to know a place, you need to live there two years. The first year as a "practise run"--figuing things out--the second year with everything under your belt. I'm a nomad, it's true, but I like having a good understanding of a place where I've lived.
• THE BEACH. Did I mention the beach? Did you know that there's a gorgeous beach about five minutes from where I live? Did I mention the calming effect that the ocean has on me?
  

Cons:

• I'd be making basically no money, and would actually be losing money by staying here. The university I think would pay me about $63 dollars a month, an amount that would have to be supplemented by me, of course.
• Teaching EFL, as it turns out, is not my passion. I love what I'm doing but I don't want to do it forever. Maybe I should move on to something more career-oriented.
• There aren't many, if any, other work options for me in Nha Tang other than teaching English.
• A second year of teaching here would be a lot more work for, and a lot less money. I'm not sure that's an equation I want when I'm not heart-and-soul invested in what I'm doing.
  

2. Stay in Vietnam, but move to another city where I could find a more "career related" job, or at least a teaching job that pays.
Pros:

• I'd love to stay in Vietnam. See above "two year" theory. Plus, I like this place, and I'd like to have a second year to learn the language. (Since it's going so slowly this year!)
• I could possibly find a more career related job.
• I could possibly find another job that actually pays me.
  

Cons:

• Finding another job that is both career related and pays a living wage could be challenging, if not impossible. And I'm not sure I want to teach another year.
• I would have to relocate to another city just when I'm finally getting the hang of this one.
  

3. Go to another country to find a more "career related" job.
Pros:

• I'd get to live in another country for a year--chalk one up to life experiences!
• Theoretically I'd have a job I like.
  

Cons:

• I'd have to move to another country and totally readjust. I'm just getting adjusted here!
• Finding a job in another country would be much more difficult than finding another job here, where I have a network and where I can be on-the-ground for interviews, etc.
• I'd have to say goodbye to any chance of proficiency in Vietnamese.
  

4. Go back to the US and find a job.
Pros:

• I could see family and friends and eat at those restaurants I've been missing.
• I'm saving quite a bit of money here. Maybe I should get out while I'm ahead.
  

Cons:

• The economy, if you haven't noticed, sucks. I'm not optimistic about finding a decent job, since I only have a Bachelors degree, very little experience, and no tangible skill to offer.
• In addition to not having a job I don't really have a place to live, although that could be worked out.
• I also dont have a great idea of what I want to do, anyway.
• If I want to do any kind of international work, especially development work, I need at least a couple years' experience abroad.
  

Ideally I could find a job in Nha Trang, but I just dont know if that's a realistic possibility. If I came back to the US for the summer to work, or got a job at a language school in Vietnam that paid me, I could support myself for a second year. Plus I'm saving a lot of money right now to live on in case I decide to stay.

I think it boils down to this: I want to stay in Nha Trang, but I'm not sure if I want to continue this job making about 6% of what I'm making right now.

Two other factors to consider are that I need to do the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage in Spain, before I'm too old or too bogged down in the real world; and that I would like some semblance of financial security, including, perhaps, owning property, in the next 5-8 years.

I would also like to add that while this decision feels a bit intimidating at times, I'm approaching it calmly and logically. I'm not panicking about it like I would have a year or so ago. Maybe I just need to go sit on the shore, be quiet for a while, reflect, and let the answers work themselves out instead of trying to force them. The way I see it, I'm ultimately choosing between 4 pretty good options, and I feel like there are so many possibilities. And, most importantly, I am thankful for the luxury of choice. More and more, I understand what a luxury it really is. More on that later.

In the meantime, dear readers, I would love some advice. What do you think?

(Edit: Since posting this I received a card from my students, in honor of Teachers' Day, which was yesterday, asking me to stay here with them as long as possible. Beside that request was sad face, even with tears! Talk about emotional exploitation! )


Currently listening: Don't Let the Stars Keep Us Tangled Up, by Cortney Tidwell

Rain + Stomach Ache - Internet = ....

It equals "stuck inside without connection to the outside world." The rains have continued to be heavy, and I've had this blasted stomach ache that I can't shake. It seems to be entirely unrelated to food, and I've had it 3 times in the past month or so. It brings sharp, intermittent pains that feel like something is trying to claw its way out of my stomach. It's not the worst pain, but it lasts for several days, keeps me awake at night and keeps me near the WC/curled up in bed during the day. Really, more annoying than anything. And what I think was a case of mild dehydration (from not being able to retain any fluids, if you know what I mean) brought about the worst charlie horse I've ever had. I woke up from a nap yesterday with nearly unbearable pain in my left leg--my calf muscle had seized up and wouldn't release itself for several minutes. I've had plenty of such cramps but this one was on a whole new level...When it finally went away, I passed out back into sleep again, exhausted. A very strange day of internal maladies!

On top of this is a now 5-day run without internet in the building. My boss keeps saying it will be working again "maybe tomorrow", but I think she says that just to placate me.

This probably sounds like complaining, but even with the stomach ache and without the internet, I'm completely happy. Not much gets me down these days. Plus, I've had plenty to do when I'm not napping (I'm also super low energy). I've been reading, watching movies (Good Night and Good Luck, and some old Lost re-runs I found on my computer), studying Vietnamese, editing a PhD thesis about shared fisheries in the South China Sea.

I'm feeling slightly better today, due my friend Lien's emergency delivery, once she learned that I stomach ache, of fresh ginger and a pestle. She showed me how to make a strong ginger drink that should settle my stomach. It's still hurting but perhaps the ginger concoction takes a while to work? She left me with some extra ginger and the pestle so I'll try some more self-medicating later this evening.

With all the rains, the city is flooding some. The uni is up on a hill so the flooding is minimal--although the streets do still flood some--but in the rest of the city I've heard that people are having to use boats to get around. And, very sadly, three students from another college drowned in sea last week. The water is really rough this time of year, with strong currents and big waves. After a couple days, two of the bodies had been found, near where they died, but the third body was still missing. By Thursday, it was starting to rain again, which would soon make it nearly impossible to find the body. In desperation, the family of the boy consulted a fortune teller, who apparently asked the spirit of the boy where his body was. The boy's spirit informed the fortune teller that his body was in Cam Ranh Bay, out by the airport--a 40-minute drive from where the boys drowned. Later that day, around midnight, before the rains became heavy again, the boy's body was found in Cam Ranh Bay. The magic of this place continues to amaze me.

The rain seems like it will stick around for a while, but Lien told me today that after the 23 of October (in the lunar calendar) the rains subside significantly. Today is the 20th of October, so we'll see.

a flooded street and a fruit vendor

On the 20th of November (by the regular calendar), which means Thursday, is Teacher's Day here in Vietnam. This seems to be a pretty big holiday--classes are canceled, dinners are held, songs and dances (no doubt in honor of Uncle Ho) are performed. I have my first such dinner tonight. I'm struggling to eat even crackers or soup, so I'm a little nervous about eating a "real meal" in a restaurant where the facilities might be questionable!

I've been happy, though, to catch Sam's Kimmel performances on youtube. The first is "You Don't Know Me" feat Regina Spektor, a single from the album, and the second is "Nobody does it Better", feat. Inara George of the band The Bird and The Bee, from the new James Bond movie.





More pictures and stories from our journey through the central highlands will come soon, I promise! Back in the States, Sam has fortunately recovered most of a memory card, that we thought had been corrupted, full of photos from the trip. For better or worse, though, most of the photos from one of the minority villages we visited were lost. He and I both had reservations about taking photos there, even though our drivers assured it was ok, so we're feeling peaceful about losing them. And as he said, it was something we'll never, never forget, so the pictures aren't even necessary. But here are some more photos that he's already posted online--my picasa updates will follow soon!

we stopped to walk in a little town, and a woman insisted that I hold her child. He was adorable, so I agreed :)
(By the way, if I could be assured that my child would look like a vietnamese baby, I'd definitely have one!!)

the little kitten we found, after I found him stuck in a jasmine tree in the rain

a run-down school in a minority area in the central highlands

one of many overturned trucks we saw on the drive

Our drivers and us, just before getting back into Nha Trang

at a waterfall in the mountains, climbing out of the rabbit hole

view from a petrol station somewhere in the middle of Vietnam

on a rainy stretch of drive....

Currently listening: "Heart" and "Set Yourself on Fire", by Stars

A not-so-brief, and incomplete, update.

Finally, a long overdue post. So much has happened in the past two weeks! But the last thing I wanted to do when Sam was here was sit in front of my computer screen, and since he’s left I’ve been busier than ever. But today, with my morning class canceled and the electricity off for the day (luckily I have some battery power in my laptop!), I’m at last finding myself with the opportunity to write a little.

I probably don’t even need to say it, but Sam’s visit was wonderful. Beyond wonderful. It had been three months since we’d seen each other, and even though we’ve been doing this long distance thing for four years, it was the longest stretch we’d done. And with his his busy tour schedule, the 12-hour time difference and our common lack of reliable internet, it was our most challenging stretch, as well. We needed some time together!

from our balcony on the first morning.

And for me, it was such a relief to just have my best friend here. Someone who really knows me, someone I’m so close to, someone who finishes my sentences or understands what I’m thinking without my saying a single word. I have many friends here, yes, and some that I’m getting quite close to, but really developing a deep friendship like I have with Sam takes lots of time (four years, in fact!) and lots of in-depth conversation.

On top of that, it was good to have someone here who really loves me. :)

Our first couple of days in Nha Trang were quite busy, with a wedding, retrieving his suitcase that arrived a day late, showing him some of my usual haunts and introducing him to my new friends. We really only had Wednesday and Thursday here before we left for Da Lat. It was so interesting for me to see and hear his reactions to everything. His first evening—he arrived around dinner time on Tuesday—I took him to a little pho/noodle joint down the street from my building. The place is really just the front half of someone’s house, which is a common business arrangement here, and the seating is just little plastic stools. It’s not very clean and you drink your tea out of communal cups (which aren’t very clean, either). All of this is totally standard for me at this point, but Sam’s eyes were wide during the entire meal. Of course, he had been traveling for an entire day so any situation would have seemed surreal to him, but I think he was definitely experiencing a little culture shock! Luckily he enjoyed his meal—round noodles (like spaghetti made from rice, called bun)—and he was equally shocked by the price. 12,000 dong, or 72 cents, for two big bowls of noodles and a demi-baguette.

Hopefully Sam will still be able to make a guest appearance at my blog, so I won’t talk too much more about his thoughts and reflections…

I wanted Sam to see at least one other city in Viet Nam on his first visit, so we planned a trip. After considering a few options, we decided to go to Da Lat. I’d never heard a bad thing about the city—it’s where the French built all their vacation villas, so I knew it couldn’t be too bad. We left on Friday morning around 6:30, but when we got to the bus station there were a few problems with our tickets. After finally getting all of that worked out, we encountered a much more serious problem. We had both forgotten our passports. I couldn’t believe it. We were already sitting in the mini-bus, ready to pull out of the bus station. After a few tense moments of heatedly trying to figure out what to do (during which I was little rude to poor Sam, very sorry dear!), we decided to get off the bus and go back for our passports. Actually, I thought we should just go on without our passports, but Sam insisted that we needed them. Of course, he was right in the end. We couldn’t go without our passports! What was I thinking?! But that made us even for a similar tense situation we had a couple of years ago at the train station in La Spezia when I insisted we needed to buy our tickets before we got on the train, and he thought we could buy them on the train, and we had to decide instantly because the train was leaving—and I was right. :)

But I digress. We decided to get off the bus. Luckily one of the bus drivers spoke pretty good English. He had helped us with the ticket problem and I recruited his assistance again for this crisis. I’m sure he thought I was a total idiot—a fair assumption since I had made such a stupid mistake—but he helped me nonetheless. Another bus was leaving in half an hour, and the guy threw me on the back of his friend’s motorbike, snapped his own helmet on my head, and instructed his friend to race across town so I could pick up our passports. All of this happened in about 45 seconds, and before I knew it I was speeding off on a motorbike with a stranger who spoke no English, leaving Sam behind at the bus station and yelling to him as I drove away, “Where’s the keyyyyy?!”

We literally had to get all the way across town and back, during rush hour, in half an hour. And we had to make two stops—one at the hotel to get Sam’s passport, and one at the university (just down the street from the hotel) to get mine. But at the hotel, the receptionist didn’t have the key to the safe where the passports were kept and had to call to get someone to bring her the keys, which took about ten minutes. I couldn’t believe it. Soon it was clear we would be late getting back to the bus station, but my impromptu chauffer had been making calls on his mobile so I assumed he was telling my bus to wait 5 extra minutes. When Sam’s passport was finally liberated from the GMC hotel safe, it was back on the motorbike for another speed-demon trip across the city….

But when we pulled into the bus station, a guy yelled something at my motorbike driver and we pulled out of the station again without even stopping. Basically just did a u-turn! I had no idea if Sam was still at the bus station, waiting in the lobby, or if the bus had left already and I was going to meet it somewhere. I figured everything was ok, though. The men at the bus station knew that Sam and I were traveling together and they had helped us out so much already. I trusted them. As expected, five minutes later we pulled up to the bus, stopped on the side of the rode. Sam was standing on the sidewalk looking distressed, trying to talk to the driver who spoke no English but was gesturing for Sam to get back into the bus. He was visibly relieved when he saw me. I had assumed what was going on and trusted the bus drivers to reconnect us—I’ve had plenty of experience with such magic of Vietnam—but Sam, having only been here for two days, was panicked to be on a bus, on the way to Da Lat, without any idea where I was. He seemed like he was about to cry. But after a few minutes were settled into our seats on the mini-bus (think fancy 15 passenger van), snug between an emotional 20-something girl and a monk. Ok, so maybe we won’t win the Amazing Race anytime soon, but if nothing else we solved our passport problem with creativity and speed, and started out trip only 30 minutes late but with lots of energy!

the monk at the window

About 30 minutes into the drive, the girl beside us yelled to the driver to stop. She climbed out of the bus—we were in the middle of the countryside at this point—and just walked away, down the barely paved road. The other passengers were visibly concerned, and we waited a while to make sure she was ok. But it looked like she was crying. Eventually we drove off, leaving the girl behind. There were plenty of houses around, and she had a cell phone she had been talking on, so I assumed she would be ok, but I thought about her a lot during the trip and hoped everything worked out for her.

The drive to Da Lat, which is in the mountains, was breathtaking, if at times a little scary. We took the “new road”, which only takes 3 hours, instead of six hours on the old road, and with the unfortunate departure of my young female seatmate, we actually had enough room to be comfortable and look out the window. Despite the bumpy ride, I even fell asleep on Sam’s shoulder for 20 minutes or so, during what Sam said was actually the bumpiest part of the entire trip. It was a perfect power nap, and by the time I woke up, we were already driving in Da Lat city, past the flower farms that the town is known for.

a favorite photo I snapped during the drive, a boy walking on piles of bricks

The city is amazing, a blend of European charm, with its French villas, winding streets, and even a couple cathedrals, and Asian flare, with its bonsai trees, Vietnamese aesthetic and school children wearing red sashes and high school girls in white ao dai. Absolutely lovely, and the weather is fabulous! We checked into our hotel, Dreams, which has two locations on the same street and is run by very maternal woman named Ms. Dung (pronounced “yung”) who speaks great English and treats all her guests like family. In fact, there’s a family style breakfast every morning, with eggs to order, fresh coffee, home-made passionfruit juice, piles of fruit, fresh bread, cheese, Da Lat strawberry preserves and even crunchy peanut butter. And all this is included in the price! Our room, which itself was very nice, even had a Jacuzzi tub. All of this for 20 dollars a night.

After a delicious lunch at one of two veg restaurant conveniently located down the street from the hotel (another plus), we started our sight seeing. A pagoda nearby to start, followed by a pretty epic journey to a still-active convent where all the nuns reportedly spoke French. It took us a while, but we found it eventually—and it was well worth the time and effort. The place was beautiful, with a combination of French and Vietnamese influences, a surprisingly pleasant pink color and flowers everywhere on the well-groomed premises. As we arrived, it started raining heavily, so we sat on a bench near the courtyard, which was also full of flowers, and watched the rain. I felt like I was in Europe!

buying a rosary from a sweet old nun

evening in Da Lat, where hot soymilk is popular and delicious!

We poked around for a bit before I stopped in a little room where an old Vietnamese nun, in her 60s or 70s, was overseeing a small cabinet of pins, postcards and rosaries to sell. As predicted, she spoke French, and as I was looking at the rosaries to buy (I kind of collect them, strangely enough since I’m not religious), I asked her in my increasingly broken French if she had lived at the convent her whole life. She explained that, no, she had come only 30 or so years ago and had joined the convent because she loved to serve the poor. She was so sweet and gentle. I wanted to talk to her more, but I’m realizing how quickly I’m losing my French. It’s all just coming out in Spanish! I paid the woman for the rosary, necklace, pin and card (all together, less than 2 dollars), and then we went to buy some of the rumored ginger candy that the nuns make…
After exploring more, it was time for dinner, but all the electricity was out in our area of the city. We eventually wandered into to one of several restaurants called Peace Café, and we were seated at a table lit by two red candled in empty 333 beer cans. A man, wearing the jacket of the local motorbike tour guides who always approach tourists, came up to his. We quickly explained that we had already talked to someone about a tour (which was true, and we had even planned to take a motorbike tour of the countryside the next day), but the man responded that he just wanted to talk, not sell us a tour. I felt like an ass. We invited him to sit down, but I was even reluctant to do that as I was looking forward to a quiet dinner conversation with Sam, and not an effortful conversation with a stranger. But by the end of dinner, I felt like an ass for that sentiment, too. We ended up having one of the best conversations I’ve had since coming to Vietnam, as Thai, our new friend, waxed philosophic about the meaning of life and how different cultures need to share with each other because “people everywhere not the same each other, except for circle of life”. Sam and I wished we could take the motorbike tour with him, but we’d already committed to other people.

leaving our room at 6am for our day-tour of the countryside around Da Lat

The next morning, though, different drivers showed up at our hotel. One was the father of the young driver we’d met and committed to the day before, and the second was a friend of the father. We agreed to go anyway, feeling a little disappointed. But I think we ended up with a better deal than we had originally. The men, who work with a group called Easy Rider, had been giving tours of the area around Da Lat, and in fact the entire country, for well over 20 years combined. We spent an incredible day visiting pagodas, coffee plantations, silk warm farms and a traditional silk factory (where I ate a boiled silk worm—eek!) flower farms, mushroom farms, waterfalls. At one point, early in the day, the men stopped their bikes (Sam and I were each on one), and told us to get off the bikes. One driver, Peter (he’s Catholic), said pointed to a very large hill/small mountain beside us. “Go up to the top, and then turn left and come back down so that you make a treetangle. We’ll meet you.”. And they drove away. Sam and I looked at each other, a little confused—there was nothing to do but climb to the top, turn left and make a treetangle. So we climbed. And climbed. At one point I just stopped and laughed our situation, hiking up this seemingly 90 degree hillside, in the middle of Vietnam, with no other instruction than to “turn left” at the top.

But when we got to the top, all the climbing proved well worth it. Standing on this mountain, with hardly any sound but the wind, looking out over the mountains and valleys and houses and farms and all the people, who we couldn’t see, living their lives as best they could….Everything seemed in balance. Sometimes I have these moments where I’m so happy, and at peace, and satisfied, and everything seems to make so much sense that I feel like I could just melt into my surroundings, morph into whatever grass or trees or stones or water or buildings are around and become part of it all. Not die, just…melt. All the atoms of my body would just rearrange and merge with the atoms of everything around me. And on top of that mountain, in the cool silence, I had one of those moments.

(I told my friend Jess about these “moments” once, and she said that if I turned into a palm tree she would keep me in her room and water me every day. What a friend ☺ )



We lingered on the mountain for a while before “turning left” and making a “treetangle” to walk back down the mountain, return to our motorbikes and continue our adventure….
Sam, throughout the day’s adventure, kept telling me that this was the most incredible thing he had ever done. He was a rather easy sell, then, when Peter started talking about the possibility of us ditching our bus home and taking a three-day trip by motorcycle into the central highlands and then back down to Nha Trang. I wasn’t fond of the idea at first. It was expensive and time-consuming. But the more Peter talked about it—what we would see and do and eat—the more interested I became. And if Sam is good at nothing else, he’s exceptionally good at encouraging me to take once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. (He was the one that got me to eat the silk worm, in fact.) He reminded me that I would most likely never again have the chance to take a three-day motorcycle trip with him through the mountains and minority villages of Viet Nam. The outcome of the story is probably pretty clear: I agreed to the trip. The day tour with Peter and Tam (the other driver) had been absolutely fantastic—majestic waterfalls, coffee trees, a snack of silk worms and a delicious lunch (sans insects). I had some money put aside for travel and, as Sam had said, I would never have this opportunity again, to take such a trip with him.

And, as with the passports, Sam was exactly right about the trip. It was the journey of a lifetime. (At least so far!) This post is exceedingly long already, so I’ll save the details of our epic adventure for the next post…

elephant falls

at a flower farm

Back in Nha Trang, though, we had a few more days together. The weather wasn’t great most of the time, so we spent a lot of time just relaxing and talking and catching up, going to the market, eating delicious food. We even rescued a kitten. We found him screaming under some souvenir stands near the Po Nagar towers, and we brought him back to my building where we left him outside with some fish and rice before going to get dinner for ourselves. It was hard to just to leave him out in the “wild”—he was pretty tiny, and I was already pretty attached, but I just can’t have a cat right now as much as I love them. When we came back from dinner, it was raining and I wanted to check to see if the kitten was still in the garden. When I went to see, I could hear it meowing, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I stayed out in the rain for 20 minutes or so looking for the kitten. Eventually, with the help of an onlooker, I found the cat perched at the top of a jasmine tree, stuck, and soaking wet. The kitten thus secured itself a dry home for the night as there was no way I could leave it out in the rains of monsoon season. I brought it in, washed it off with warm water, dried it, played with it, and eventually got it to go to sleep. I put it in the bathroom for the night, but I slept lightly as I seemed to be constantly listening to see if the kitten was crying. I felt like I had a baby or something, hoping to god it would sleep through the night. Around 6:15 am, though, the cat woke up and started screaming again. I went out to buy it some tune and frantically started texting anyone in my phonebook who I thought might want a cat. Luckily, an English teacher agreed to take it—everyone else said they didn’t like cats. She said she’d come get it at 11:30. Around 10:30, though, the kitten fell asleep in my lap, and since it was sleeping I decided I should sleep too. As I said, it was like I had a kid! So the three of us took a nap. But we were startled awake by the arrival of the English teacher, who took the cat away in what seemed like a very sudden, swift retrieval. After the cat was gone, Sam and I really missed it. I’m just happy it has a dry, safe home, though.

Sam and I even had one day of sunshine, which we spent lounging on the beach at the Louisiane Brewhouse. It was his last day here and was a perfect way to spend it.

Of course, I was a big teary mess when he left (much like I was when he arrived, in fact). But I snapped back into my routine pretty quickly. His being here, though, made me miss things more than I had missed them. I’m still sorting through all the effects of his visit…

More news about my 3-day motorbike adventure, and pictures, coming soon. I’m busier than ever—more classes, more social activities, and I’ve just agreed to help a student who’s getting his PhD in Tromso edit his thesis—and the internet has been poor lately (in addition to the fact that we’ve been without electricity and running water for 3 days this week) but I’m determined to document all of this! I've had to start a new picasa account for my pictures, because I'm out of space on the other one. New photos can be found at picasaweb.google.com/malloryimler2 . It's a work in progress, though.

And, last but definitely not least, OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another instance in the past two weeks when I was a big teary mess (out of joy, of course!). More on that soon, too. ☺



Currently listening: Missiles, by The Dears