Can you believe it was only a few months before that Cathy and I came up with a title for our vacation and that it would be called Vietnam Voyage? (That’s right everyone, she did not come up with that one herself, it took a team effort!) We joked that it could be a mini book series for kids and it would be about three sisters, two crazy ones who get into trouble and one sensible sister who manages to save her sisters from peril. From our experience, it’s safe to say that we all needed saving from:
1. food poisoning
2. fatigue, over exertion, fainting
3. tempers! (Ok, I did have an internal hissy fit when I went to the tailors and received a blazer that DID not fit well at all. I tried to hide it but it bothered me, oh yes it did.)
4. and of course, AUSSIES! KIDDING!–for the most part anyways.

There are always the stock answer stories that I tell everyone about what I did during this trip but then past them, I found that there were even more interesting tales to tell. We sang Christmas carols at the orphanage and received little ornaments from the kids as gifts on X-mas eve, spoke to a veteran at the East Meets West office on Christmas, explaining my connection and deeper understanding of Vietnam and my parents which is something I did not expect to develop during my vacation and we rode elephants y’all!—lucky you whoever gets to read this b/c these are usually the untold stories. And yes, we HAD to wear the costumes.

Big thanks to Mimi otherwise the orphanage and x-mas dinner at East Meets West would have never happened!

By the way, Eric, Cathy’s Vietnamese French friend, is SUPER FABULEUX even if he does look very much like our brother Nam.

I’ll take off where Anh left off on her blog entry which is Nha Trang and Cam Ranh. So Anh and I met our grandma for the first time ever!—Strange at first b/c I don’t speak very much Vietnamese but she welcomed us into her home.

So we crashed . . . hard b/c flying around really does wear one down. We slept during the afternoon the first day in Cam Ranh and the next day we headed off the Nha Trang which is probably my favourite place so far in Vietnam. The food is great!—we had raw oysters and no food poisoning, so high ratings from my behalf. We watched some music television and Cathy and I have made a new enemy and his name is Alvey. I’m sorry, but we don’t want to watch a show about arcade games, you idiot Alvey!—GET OFF THE SCREEN OR HOST A MUSIC SHOW! SHEESH!!!–and I’ll leave it at that b/c I’m usually not one to yell at the tv but I thought it couldn’t get worse than MTV (Laguna Beach is that channel’s only saving grace).
To top things off, Cathy did get sick (food poisoning, a plague onto your home! That’s Shakespeare, R+J which we did see in VN) and she tried to rest but it’s hard to do that with a bunch of LOUD Asian voices, construction and the sounds of a chicken being butchered in combo coming from the backyard. Gotta love our humble beginnings! I had to give her some earplugs poor girl. We went to the mudbaths . . . well, everyone else did sauf moi. I decided that it wasn’t my thing so I spent time alone in the heated swimming pool instead and I got a new bathing suit from the whole deal so I rather pleased. We did spend a crazy New Years in Nha Trang at the Sailing Club and then it was two consecutive early flights (torture!) on the way home to Canada. What did I learn from flying early? There is actually NO traffic in Saigon at 4am. Didn’t think I would ever see empty streets in that city but that would be the time. All in all, great vacation. Now I’m home, missing the super strong coffee that tastes like chocolate and picking up glass by the beaches.

But I bring a part of the whole experience home as I struggle yet thoroughly enjoy reading my beginner's Vietnamese book on the skytrain during my 1.5 hour commute to school so let's say vacation never really truly ends.

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These days in Danang are a bit calmer b/c the weather’s gloomy –rainy of late–but the life of an expat here is usually quite busy.
Since there are so few of us, we end up seeing each other 3 or 4 or more times in a week.

I’m dying for a night of rest and relaxation, but it isn’t coming anytime soon BECAUSE….

–I’ve committed to VNese weekend class with a colleague. I need this!
–Friends of friends are visiting so that means dinners, drinks, schmoozing and all that jolly stuff

–I’ve started helping the English choir at the cathedral with pronunciation so that they can welcome foreigners to the new English mass. They’re also providing me with the translations of the VNese mass so I can finally understand what’s going on. I’ve met some really friendly ppl at the church so I’m glad I can help them out. Last week, I was reading mass and I wore the ao dai (traditional dress), got it stuck in my motorbike brakes and stepped on it, breaking off a couple pearls…boo!

–I’m going to start teaching a bit of English to some dear friends I’ve met here to help them with their business and to prepare them for trips to the States.

–Having a roommate and kitchen means shopping in the market, cooking and basically doing things I have not done for months! = NOT living like a tourist or visitor…It’s good to finally start to settle! And I’m so sick of eating out even though it’s cheap and good, it’s just not for me….give me fresh veggies and tofu and rice please!

Nowadays, I have to drive my bike everyday and so I had her repaired several times in the past two weeks. Now the bike rides like a dream and it’s really fun when it’s not raining and I’m practising making smooth transitions between gears. Since my first week, there are no new flat tires, smashed lights, or near-death experiences. Yeah Pictures to come whenever this internet connection is good to me : )

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Today would be the first day that I really wanted to post pictures and get my blog back in order……..
But alas, after trying to upload photos multiple times and send some to my sisters (Celly, I’m trying to get you ur special photos I promise!), I realize that today is not my day. So this is my tester post to see whether I can even update my blog at all.

These days, I’m in the office, editing the UD introduction brochure and enjoying a great view from our new office in the new 12 storey tall English Institute. We’re on the ninth floor and I can see the bay area and the newest bridge from here…I’ll take a pic someday!

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Three months later, I am finally in my own place — kinda! On the weekend, I moved into a sparkingly beautiful, clean, new house, uninhabited by cockroaches or mice…

Two small catches: it’s on the other side of the bridge! It’s only 4km from my workplace but after you live in Danang for awhile, that seems really faraway. It has something to do with the fact that no one walks in Danang and since I have a motorbike now, I’ve become Danangian and so I don’t feel like being so “far”. However, it’s a 10-minute motorbike ride. LAZY is what I’ve become. Small issue numero deux is that I’ve moved in with a friend who’s been living here for awhile. While that is great because I have company and she’s amazingly nice, that means that I’m living in someone else’s house AGAIN. OH well, it’s nice to know that at least I’ve got a place to stay for the next four months! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, boing, boing! That’s the sound of me flopping onto a new matress.

I find it funny that it’s taken this long to find a place where I can totally unpack — I haven’t touched my milkshake blender for two months!!! Good thing I’m not planning to come back to Canada immediately after this internship because if I were, I’d be unpacking only to pack up again in three months.

Happy and sad I am: because the gate of the new house isn’t squeaky and the ramp into the house isn’t as steep as the last two places I’ve stayed because someone stole my pink polkadot rain poncho!

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Wowee~! It seems like a million years have past since my last entries. As of now, I’m not sure if my sisters have made it back to Canada, but I’m sure everything’s in good order.

They visited over the holidays and that made everything around here crazy but super duper fun. Being the whirlwind semi-disaster that I am, I had them sightseeing and meeting ppl like you might not believe, and so it was only natural that every one of us got sick. Food poisoning, fainting, headaches, plane sickness, stomach gurgling, delirium etc. hit us and so we were the forever ill bunch, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun.

We hung out with grandma in Cam Duc and spent New Year’s in Nha Trang with new friends and relatives of friends and it was sooooooooo fun. In case you haven’t noticed, almost everything in Vietnam is soooooooo fun selon moi.

The highlights were:

SAIGON pt II: hot rock massage, going out late (til 2:30), and drinking Biere LaRue in a park!

KARAOKE: although Danang is seriously lacking in music newer than 1995, it was my first time going with friends and it was fun, fun, fun. We had a battle: the Nguyen’s against the Vu’s and I think the Vu’s won for their singing ability, but the Nguyen’s are definitely the most enthusiastic!

Christmas Eve: carolling at the new 6 star resort for its first guests, visiting the EMW Village of Hope orphanage where we ate cake and danced with the kids, eating a full French Christmas dinner and causing some commotion when one of our members fainted in the dining room! We spoke French the entire evening so that also was fabuleux !

LATE NIGHTS cruising in Danang: normally this city sleeps at 10pm but for the first time ever, we saw late night noodle spots and at 1:30am, the bridge opens up so that ships can pass through and ppl hang out there to watch! Oh troi oi, Danang has a small party side afterall!

MEETING new ppl, ok mostly boys! Perhaps boys are friendlier or easier to spot, but for whatever reason, I met a whole bunch on my latest excursions and it was great Yipee for travelling blokes, especially trilingual ones

OKIE DOKIE, that’s enough for now:) Back to work and observing classes and meeting professors.

CIAO for now

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