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