Traffic, and other questions

As per request of my mom and her students, here is a post to answer all questions.

As I said before, the Vietnamese drive on both sides of the road. Which side do I use? The one devoid of trucks and other large moving objects. Hehe, there's really no set place to be. There are lines on the road, but they are primarily for decoration apparently as they are ignored by anything with wheels. I assume there must be some written rules of the road, but they are undiscernable (indiscernable? whatev), and thus, they are not obviously enforced. There are many guards around, but they do other things to keep the peace, not concerning themselves with the flow of traffic.

As far as the flight goes, yes I only counted the LA to Taipei branch. Silly me. I didn't really count Dulles to LA because I took those flights a day apart and, selfishly, I really don't consider it much of a trip because I've done it so much. As conceited as that sounds, that's it. Hehe...yeah..ignore that.

Other candy...uumm..they have Hershey bars...I think they have Snickers too. I know they have Dove bars, because they are muy delicioso. I haven't really had much opportunity to buy candy yet. That will probably change come Valentine's day though. I'll let you know more in depth then.

What kinds of restaurants do I go to? So far just Pizza Inn. I think I mentioned it before. Quite fabulous pizza. The new thing here is Pizza Hut. Saigon just got one a few months ago. All my school friends were very excited about going out there one weekend. I wasn't quite so enthused. Here I am in Viet Nam and they want to go to Pizza Hut?! When I shared the fact that in WV I was like ten minutes from such a place with Adam, he rolled his eyes and said "We can't all be as lucky as you!" Haha, he has been living in different parts of the world his whole life! Wow!

Alright, must dash dearies. Hope I have answered all questions. Post more if you want! I enjoy it!

Learn the Language of the Dream

HAha, here's a story for you.

This morning on the way to school, I was perseverating on my sore legs (swim team, don't ask) and my flat bike tires and not really paying attention to much more than that. Anne was beside me and we were nearly to school, when we heard this American voice recording saying loudly, "I find this very interesting." We turned around to look, curious, and saw a garbage truck and several garbage men listening intently to a tape that we learned was an English language lesson. Not only was it English, it was American! As Anne pointed out, the language of money. Haha, I guess that makes sense. If you're going to learn English, might as well be that of the American Dream. Go figure.

What I've learned So Far

Alright, this is a small fraction of everything that I have found out since coming here in January.

How long is the plane ride?
~ About 18 hours or so. My advice? Music, and sleep.

What kind of money do they use in Veit Nam?
~Dong. There are about 16000 dong to one US dollar.

What side of the road do they drive on?
~Both. The number on erule of traffic to remember in Viet Nam is: The bikes will swerve to avoid you. The cars will run you over and not look back.

What's the time difference?
~ Twelve hours exactly. This makes calculating WV time easy. Good for phone calling purposes.

What kinds of foods do they eat?
~A lot of rice. There are no Reese's to be found. Anywhere. Pizza Hut is new, so that's the hot place to be on weekends. Unfortunaltely, it's very expensive.

What else?
~ You can buy pirated DVD's for like, one US dollar
~Motorbikes are FUNFUNFUN!!
~Uuuhh...that's all I can think of, but trust me, there's lots more. I have learned an unbelievable amount. You wouldn't even believe it.

Pics

Alright, that one is me and MY BUDDHA! You can't see him very well in that one, I'll try to load the other one of him.


There he is! The image of COOL!

Well, I don't know what order these end up being posted, but enjoy them. The one with the strange writing was in the air port in Taiwan. I'll do more pics next time, I have a few more.

Seasons of Love

Guess what?? In Chorus, my friend Helene (Belgian, it's pronounced el-EN) and I are singing Seasons of Love! From RENT!! I"m so excited! She doesn't know the song, but I basically showed her that I have the sheet music, said it was a fabulous song and it was easy, and she agreed. She wanted to sing something French, but that would have been tricky. Haha.


Also, this part is for my mom's students.

Dear fabulous ones, (haha...yeah)
I just wanted to thank you all for the nice comments. It's been really cool to hear from you. Truly, when I left I expected that only my mom would read this blog. I have been very pleased with the volume of commenters. I am an attention hog, I admit, I love to write for an audience. So, thanks.
Keep reading!

La Vie Boheme, and Mono Scandalo

Aunt Cay, you are officially fabulous! Not only did you know RENT, you knew the song, scene, and who sang it! Yes, I have the soundtrack! It's all I ever listen to! Haha, I am a RENTHEAD!!!!

Also, Mono Scandalo means scandalous monkey and it's in SPanish. Haha! Which I have dropped! FABULOUS!!

"What a way to spend a day..."

That's from tick, tick...BOOM, in case you wondered. Jonathan Larson. Oh come on, he wrote RENT!

Anyway, my favorite time of day in Ho Chi Minh City is definitley twilight. When the sun is just below the horizon...so the air has cooled down, but it's light enough to see...great for biking. You wear a tank top and light cotton shorts...and helmet of course..haha..and then just..ride. You feel the wind caressing your bare shoulders (and no, there's no better word than "caress"). It's heaven. Aaah...

Yesterday Sol and I went out at just that time to go to Pizza Inn to order dinner. I loved it. THe ride, I mean. The pizza was good, but not good enough to blog about!

What else did I do yesterday...? Uuh...oh! Lonny and I rode home Vietnamese style with him on th eback of my bike. It was great. People didn't stare any less (weird Americans), but it was cute.

Gotta go..sin-chow! (Spelling? eh. This word is like "shalom", it means hello and goodbye.)

"Dearly beloved..."

"Dearly beloved,
We gather here to say our goodbyes,
Here she lies,
No one knew her worth,
The late great daughter of mother earth..."

If anyone can tell me what that's from, I'll lov eyou forever. If you can't... I suppose I'll forgive you this time. Anyway, our internet is back up. Hallelujah.

The reason for the quote at the beginning is that one of Tibby's companions was found dead this morning. Cause of death? Tar rat trap. No tears were shed by humans. Ehehe. We're glad to be on top of this. We ARE superior to the rodents!
MWAHAHA. I must dash. Dinner time!

"Lunar tourism might be in your future."

Haha. That quote is irrelevant to everything, but it's great. That is the Pete way of responding to Sol's and my lofty thoughts of moon travel without going into science. Haha.

THis post will be about...MY ROOM. You have to love it. Even though you haven't seen it. Ahaha, and won't see it unless I take pics. Anyway.

My room has become homework central. It is the place to be. With the large bed, air conditionoing, and excellent music (RENT, duh), it creates the perfect environment for studious endeavors. Aaah, relaxed.

My room is also gecko central. Very cool, as the geckos eat the mosquitos, my only uninvited guests.

Ooh! Buddha! I almost forgot about my BUDDHA! He is really the image of cool with his fat belly and magnif beads. I rub his tummy every night for luck. Love Da Buddha. THere are shrines to him in Cambodia, bu tI haven't actually seen any here. Ah well. Maybe I'll make one...gotta love Buddha. Research Buddhism if you have time. It's pretty neat.

Alas, I have to go. Love to you all! Miss you!

Third World Market

Sorry it's been so long. I really hope our internet at home gets up soon. I feel like I'm neglecting you guys.

Anyway, I had an interesting experience today. I rode Vietnamese style with Pete, Sol, and I all piled on Pete's motorbike to the market place. This is where I truly learned the meaning of third world.

The market is a grouping of stalls with fraying fabrics over top to keep out the harshness of the sun in the morning and towards midday when the markets get most of their business. You can find anything from perfume to a live squid under there. The floor is simply the ground. Muddy. And with the remnants of yesterday's unused produce added to the muck. It's a haven for insects...and rats.

Pete, Sol, and I were there in search of bui, mangos, watermelon, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and onions. It was quite and adventure. By the time we'd found an dpurchased these things, I had a suspicious muddy spot on my heel, was sweating like crazy, and had gained a thorough appreciation for Wal Mart.

I saw live fish flipping around in dirty water, live squids flopping around in dirty water, live fish flopping around out of water, live fish becoming dead fish...etc. Agh. I then proceded to drink a cup of something icy made from sugar cane, climb back on the bike ( holding the fruit an dother purchases precariously and my lap) and ride home. Wow. That is really what Viet Nam is like. The area where I live is the watered down foreign dominated section. I can't say I mind. HAha. It was a neat experience though.

"Would you light my candle?" ~RENT

It's been four years today. I miss you Dad. But I'm okay now.

Moving Day and the Family of Tibby

Whew, moving is hard work. The Vietnamese movers were more interested in sitting around and smoking than actually moving things. So Anne, Pete, the boys and I did a lot.

My room is fabby fab fabulous. It has a ton of shelves, enabling me to devote one whole shelf to my giant book of RENT. It's a wonderful altar to my most recent and ongoing obsession. Haha.

The only bummer about the new house is the family of rats in the front garden. Soleil and I were outside yesterday just hanging out. At that point, we still believed there to be only one rat. I had named her Tibby. Don't ask. It's a rat-like name okay?! Anyway, we were watching Tibby race around when suddenly I grabbed Sol's arm, shushed him, and pointed slowly to a far corner of the garden wall where we saw Tibby...and her husband. We kept a silent watch for the next few minutes, counting those two, then three, four and five rats. I called Anne on my cell. "Guess what? Tibby has a family!" Ick. So now we are making super sure to keep everything as clean as is humanly possible for a family of seven.

Ooooh, another bummer. My air conditioning talks . Last night it kept up a steady drip and then a weird, loud, plastic ticking plastic sound. Agh. That was no fun. And then I woke up at like, three in the morning absolutley FREEZING. Trust me when I say that hasn't happened since I stepped off the plane in Taiwan. I wrapped up in my robe and peace frog pants. I looked for my No day but Today shirt, but I couldn't locate it in the dark.

Hmm...what else? Oh. I am meeting a girl from school, Taylor, today in Anne's class room, and she's going to help with my Spanish homework. In theory. Actually, I found out that she lived in a Spanish speaking country for several years and she has trouble with this guy's class. Eheh, fun stuff.

Alright, I'll let you get back to your life now. Thanks for tuning in. Hilly out.
VIVA LA VIE BOHEME!

Week One

Alright, the reason for the long time between posts is that our Internet at home is down, so I have to write at school. So, that's out of the way.

My first week at Saigon South International School was....CRAZY! My classes are so different from my classes at home! I'm going to now do about a paragraph for each one.

Spanish
UUUggh. Hard doens't even begin to cover it. It's a Chilean guy speaking nothing but Spanish at us. It wouldn't be so bad,except that everyone else seems to know what's going on! Except me of course. Ugh. The teacher wants to tutor me, he believes I can catch up, but in the meantime, he's still going to hold me to the same academic standars as everyone else. HAve I mentioned UGH?! Eh, thinking about it makes me want to throw something heavy. Preferrably breakable.
Moving on.

Algebra 2
This class is taught by an Indian woman. As in India, not the incorrectly named Native American. I'll explain later if anyone cares. Anyway, she wears traditional Indian dress, complete with the third eye in between her eyebrows. Way cool. That's a bit of culture you'd never see at home. The class itself is challenging, just by the virtue of it being math. I don't think it will be near as much of a drama as Coleman's class. grrrr...don't even get me started.

English
I like it ok...it's English. The teacher is cool. He likes Wicked, Miss Saigon...he's heard of RENT, but never actaully listened to it. Haha, we'll work on that. Currently the class is on a grammar streak. We're learning about subject/verb agreement...Again. I've taken high level English classes before, so I basically get to read a lot. It's not too bad.

Drama
Umm...it's not as great as originally thought. The guy is very..."get in touch with your inner feelings". Don't get me wrong, feelings are a big part of acting, bu the's verging on almost too weird for theatre. He's verging on shrink. Ehehe...We're doing trust activites which is a weird unit to start with, because we don't even know each other's names yet, we hardl ytrust each other. I'm hoping it will get better.

Biology
As I said before, I think, this is nothing near as hard as Flemdawg's class. I actually think I might be doing Flemdawg and Pulsifer proud with my mad bio skills. We talked about genetics yesterday, and I was all over it. All over it! It was great! Now at least there's one teacher who doesn't think I was brought up by heathens. Haha

World History
Before I go into this, let me give you a bit of background. I was taking a mad fast AP history course in the States, so this is a bit of a slow down. Actually a huge slow down. We're going to spend three weeks covering nothing but world religions. I think the AP class might've taken three minutes on the topic. I am actaully fairly knowledgeable in this area, so it's led to some intersting discussions.

Last but not least...Chorus
I thought it was going to be much worse. I'll admit, I have no singing background. Haha, I don't have to for this class. We've done mainly breathing excersizes, and a little mono-noted warmup. It's basically a bunch of girls speaking in super fast Korean. It actually wouldn't matter if they were speaking super slow, I still wouldn't know what the flip they were yakking about. When they laugh, I kind of smile. Trying to keep attention awy from myself in case they get the (wrong) idea that I know what's going on. HAha. It's nto so bad really, I get to read there too.

Well, I must dash. Hopefully I will have more crazy American stories next time. Howver, now I am in a bit of a rush because I think Soleil migh tleave school without me. Haha, love and bye for now.

SSIS

Saigon South International School. Wow.

Last night I began the necessary preparations. I painted my fingernails a smashing emerald green, laid out my Marrano heart neckalce and my rainbow chain link earrings, and tried to sleep. No success, I couldn't pursuade myself that worrying was a futile excersize.

This morning I awoke to Anne asking me if I was "among the living." Haha, I pulled on the slightly scandalicious skort and the not at all scandalous polo shirt, pulled my hair into the ever popular French twist (fancy name for jsut clipped it to my head) and went downstairs to eat a bowl of Applejacks and leave for school.

On the walk to school, Anne kept taking pictures. Gag, here I am trying with all my might not to turn around an drun home and she has to document it. agh.

Upon arrving at school, I headed for the office and was intercepted by the guidance counselor. I was immediatley grouped with Nicloe, another new student in my grade who was born in Singapore and has spent the last however many years in a boardong school in Australia. Wow. She and I had different homerooms, but the same lunch and many of the same classes.

My first class was a double block of Spanish. OH MY GOD. I thought myself fairly talented at Spanish, but NO. I know NOTHING. The class, imagine this, is held in ALL SPANISH. And some bright young chica decided to have some fun with the new kid. I had to come to the front of the room and demonstrate just how much of an idiot I am. Theys all got to ask me questions, and then I had to ask all of THEM questions. AGH! So yeah, that was that.

Next was a break. This is a foreign concept to me. I am told you get twenty mintues to just sit in the cafeteria and talk. Odd...anyway, I spent my break running around trying to find books. Anne helped with that. It is a good thing to have her so close. A girl from my Spanish class whose name I could not spell to save my soul came with because the math teacher told her to. She was really nice. That's one thing I noticed today, everyone is so outgoing and nice. They all know what it's like to be the new kid. It was really cool.

Anyway, Algebra 2 followed break. It was basically a blur. Haha, I learned that not only is stupid Mr. Coleman stupid, he was also behind. It gives me no small satisfaction to note that my new class is miles ahead of my old one. This might cause me problems later, but for now it is amusing. Highly amusing. HAHA!

Double English followed A2. Mr. Klar, the teacher I met at the dinner party, was glad to see me. The other new girl, Nicole, was in that class as well. It was really good to have an ally, especailly since neither of us has read Lord of the Flies. The class watched the movie today. I think I really must read the book, because I was confused.

Lunch was next. I sat with Nicole and this other girl Nicole met earlierr in the day. I didn't eat, because I was intimidated by the line. Nicole apparently was too, because she didn't eat either. Anne came up to me during lunch and told me how the line works, so I'll be better armed tomorrow.

Brief break after lunch, Nicloe and Ihung out in the computer lab with some other girls. Then the much anticipated DRAMA!

Wow again. What a cool class. I found out that only myself and this rather attractive boy called Adam had ever done any serious drama before. We did an activity to learn names and break down barriers. We each had to touch each other in a different way. Don't be gross, think elbows and feet. The limits were set down before we began. Oh! I almost forgot. Haha, my drama teacher in the States was Mr. Glenndenning, a.k.a. "G". My new drama teacher is Mr. Graziano, a.k.a. "Mr. G". Haha

Biology followed. I heard some kid whining about how weird Mr. G is. I chimed in that duh, he's a drama teacher, he's supposed to be weird! Bio seems like it will be much easier than anything Flemdawg threw at us. Bio went quickly. Sooo..now I must dash to my homework. Bye Bye loves!
OOh, RENT moment
"Goodbye love, just came to say goodbye love...goodbye.
Just came to say goodbye love..."
Haha

Motorbike Ride

Alright, let's see if I can give my mom a heart attack. Haha.

Today I went on a motorbike expedition to purchase a bike, fish food, and other things. I will describe to you the thoughts that were swirling through my mind during this life/death experience. Hold on tight, here goes!

I love this, motorbikes are so cool I wish I could ride these all the time. WOW! What was that? River, fruit, SPEED BUMP hold on tight. teeth rattttttttttleeeee. Ok, wow, they should really re-pave that road. this is so cool this is so cool this is- aaaah! Turning in to a bus! Oh my god! We made it. Safe. I love this I love this I- aaaaah! Wrong side of the road holding on for dear life holding on for dear life hold- ooook. Safe. Steady flow of traffic. Man this is great. I could do this for ages. Ooh, neat little store. Slowing down (but not stopping) at a light. Loosen my grip a little. Relax...aah! Sudden burst of speed. Warn me next time! Pete, you could lose your passenger that way! Heart beating frantically. Ooook...calm again. I'm really enjoying this. Wow! Swerving dangerously, mounting the sidewalk. Eek! Smiling like crazy. Shut your mouth foreigner. Open mouth equals bugs and grit in teeth. Ok, trying to smile with mouth shut. i must look really odd. Haha. Bump! Off the sidewalk. Weaving in and out of traffic. Mounting new sidewalk. Halt. I swing my leg over and dismount. Whew.

Haha, guess what? That was only the ride there. I still get to ride home! YES!!!

Dinner Party

Last night my friends had over a group of people for dinner. We had pizza from Pizza Inn, the suprisingly yummy pizza place in District...7 I think. Sol and I went out to Citimart to get soda, and the minute wee got back we were informed that we were to take Quest and go to Pizza Inn to place the order. Eh...crazy traffic. And, hahahaha, we rode on the wrong side of the road most of the way there and back.

My English teacher and his family were part of the group that came over. I learned that the tenth grade has just read Lord of the Flies, which I have not, and will be starting Juluis Caesar next, which my class in the States just did. Eh..more Julius Caesar...if it wasn't Shakespeare, I'd cry. I'm pretty sick of it as is (nooooo, blasphemous to speak words against Shakespeare BADBADBAD). Haha...at least it will be easy.

The faces of these people when Anne or Pete introduced me as "the adopted daughter" were quite funny. They basically ranged from confused to scandalized. Hahaha, some explanation was given, then we all moved on to better things. Like pizza....and pillow fights. Fun stuff.

Well, adeiu for now mis amores.
"Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight 'til it be morrow."
~Romeo and Juliet BEST PLAY EVER!!!

Bikes

We really do bike everywhere. Motorbikes are fun, but when Pete is at work we have to make do with the bikes. Here, bicycles are accepted as a perfectly normal part of the traffic pattern, so we can ride on the road, zooming between mopeds and buses and taxis. It was quite terrifying at first, I mean think about it, a large bus comes speeding at you and you're on this little tiny thing. What do you do? SWERVE!!! Being careful of what you swerve into of course. Haha. Now it's not all that scary.

The other day, Sol, Quest and I rode out to this empty parking garage to just ride around. Quest rode his scooter, Sol his skateboard, and me my rollerblades. You should have seen the looks we got. What in the world are those crazy Americans doing now? Wheels on your feet? How is that little bit of wood good for anything? I guess you could call it elevated western insanity. It's so fun.

Oh, before I sign out, B girl (or Mongoose, whatever you prefer) if you are reading this, check your e-mail and write back to me!!!

Look (at the crazy American)!

I have discovered something. In a place like where I am, it's not everything and everyone else who are different, it's ME! To the natives, this is not exotic and new, it is their way of life. I am the thing that's exotic and new!

When Soleil and I ride our bikes to Fivimart or any other place, we get stared at. Walking with the family, we all get funny looks. The people here just stare, unabashedly. Apparently they were never taught that it's rude to stare. Or perhaps westerners are just so unbelievably weird that they feel it is okay to stare anyway. They are watching us for strange behaviors that they can whisper among themselves about.

For a little while, this really unnerved me. i mean, come on, it's weird right? But then Soleil and I developed a technique: Stare back. Oddly enough, eye contact doesn't seem to intimidate these people. They are unafraid to meet my eyes.

Pete said that once you start doing Vietnamese things, they stop looking at you like you are a crazy foreigner. He said that now that he has a motorbike, no one stares anymore. Now he is one of them.

I don't mind being stared at. It is a real reminder of how it is not they who are different, it is me. This is a completely new experince for me, and I am enjoying it thoroughly.

Mango Flower

Hey all!
Okay, this post is going to be about...FRUIT!! I must say, when Anne offered me canned peaches with breakfast this morning, I refused. Why eat canned peaches in a place where you can eat mango, green oranges, and bui? I also drink mango juice with breakfast. Quite yummy.

The best way to eat a mango, however, is not sliced, not even cubed. No. The best way to eat a mango is a mango flower. I will now teach you how to make one.
Step 1: Get an average sized mango (well actually, any size mango)
Step 2: Cut the mango not in half, but long ways pretty close to the pit. If you hit the pit, you get an undsiralbe dent in the center. So avoid that.
Step 3: Holding the pitless piece of mango in your palm, take a fairly sharp (not too sharp, or it will cut through the skin, but not too dull or it will make your mango mush) and slice all across teh mango horizontally, being careful NOT TO CUT THROUGH THE SKIN, then do the same vertically.
Step 4: Push the skin of your lasserated mango upward. The pieces will all separate, but not come off the skin.

To eat this lovely mango flower, you take your teeth and scrape the luscious fruit off the skin. Warning: if you are trying to look dignified, DO NOT EAT A MANGO FLOWER! The fruit will simply get all over your face and make you very sticky. Mango flowers are an acceptable snack in rather uncivilized company. Enjoy!

Airplane, Japan, Taipei, Vietnam, and MOPEDS!!!

Okay, sooooo much has happened since my last post. First of all, Happy New Year, and thank you to everyone who commented on the last post. Alright, let's start at the beginning.

After I wrote last time, we pretty much just went to bed. Aahh...sleep. It was good. I awoke to the phone ringing, and Kenai sat up in bed beside me and said, "Telophome," and them fell back over asleep. Once we were all up, we had breakfast in the hotel, muy yummy. Later we swam and then rode a trolley to the beach. No surfers, waah. But lots of fun rolling around in the sand and building various structures out of it.

A bit more hanging around in the room, and then it was time for the airport. We somehow managed to cram all 7 of us and our 12 bags (yes, 12!) into a taxi van thing. No problem actually, the van was huge. The real fun started at the airport when Soleil, Quest and I were chaarged with the duty of not only moving and managing all 12 bags, but also keeping trackof Elan and Kenai. Quite a task, let me tell you.

When we finally boarded the plane, I was seated between Elan and Kenai. Elan was asleep before we even took off. Kenai lasted a bit longer, and he and I watched a movie. Then he was out. Anne came to check on us and moved Kenai to the floor, telling me I could do the same with Lonny if I wanted. I did, and pretty soon I had a whole row to myself. That was nice. I watched the first ten minutes or so of about three different movies before deciding it simply wasn't worth it. I fell asleep for about twenty minutes I think, before Elan woke up demanding his seat back. Tried to sleep after that, but to no avail. I kind of spaced out for awhile before I realized that I wasn't staring out over water anymore. It was a very well lit series of islands. No, I thought, it couldn't be...could it? so I checked the flight compass thingy that tells you where you're flying and sure enough, JAPAN!! I was flying over JAPAN!! I got so unbelievably excited. My first ever view of Asia! JAPAN!

After that, sleep was no option. I compulsively checked the compass, Tokyo, Shanghai, New Delhi! I didn't pass over all of these places, but they were all referecned on the map! It was so cool!

The layover in Taiwan was neat. (I'm in Asia! I'm in Asia!) More bag and kid watching, but I also got to listen to the foreign conversations around me and read teh signs in Taiwanese, it was really, well...different!

Super short flight from Taipei (Taiwan) to Ho Chi Minh City. Three hours was nothing. I sat with Sol and Quest and we played Mad Libs. Yes mom, they did come in handy. We also watched Accepted, which was very funny.

This is an insanely long post and I'm sorry, but hold on tight, because I haven't even reached the best part yet! VIETNAM! From the first view of the country I got, I could tell it was very different. It's hard to explain without making it sound negative, but I'll try. The airport facility wasn't as clean or as new, some parts were actually leftover from the Vietnam war. Wild huh? Customs was an unusual breeze, and then on to the HEAT! In answer to the humid or dry question, HUMID. Very. The first great adventure was getting our selves and our bags out of the airport and into just one sedan taxi. Not at all as huge as the other van in LA, we were all sitting on top of each other. I didn't care much though, I was busy staring at EVERYTHING. It really is a different world. Everything is open, the streets are more narrow, the driving is well, terrifying. When you think a brake is necessary, just use the horn! It evidently serves the same purpose. If I had been watching the road, I would have feared for my life. Haha

When we reached the house, I was shown everything. It's really huge. my room is at teh top, which I like. I'm across from Sol and Lon's room. Pretty bland afternoon, I called Mom, and then showered and took a very long nap.

Anne woke me at about 7:30 in the evening so I could eat and sort of get on Vietnam schedule. Then Pete took me for a ride on his motorbike!

It was unbelievable! At first I was scared I would be smeared on the pavement, so I held on to his waist super tight. Once we rode into the city and picked up fruit (green oranges, don't ask, and a large thing called a "bui" I have no idea if I spelled that right) I felt confident enough to shift my grip to the back of the bike seat. Soon I was holding on with only one hand. It was so much fun! I kept thinking I am in moped traffic! In Vietnam! Wow!

Then sleep and this morning I ate one of the green oranges and some bui. both very yummy. This is entirely too long. Bye for now!
Loves,
Hillary