Actually, that’d be me. I am really Vietnamese b/c my skin tans even when it’s cloudy and now I’m really quite dark and I don’t want to be but how can I stop when it’s hot again?

OK so that’s my rant for the day. How are you?

These days in Danang are a jumble of work, waiting, and what’s another “W” word I can use?

Well, today I spent the afternoon visiting a Street Children Project home and hanging with the kids. I believe I spoke more VNese than I have in awhile and I was forced to use a different vocabulary set, one that I don’t really have….I learned the words for drum and stilts and badminton. The kids were quite nice to me although I just met them, and so I was pretty pleased that they didn’t ignore me. I didn’t quite know what to expect but it was fun. They can say a couple phrases in English so they were practising on me too. Of course, they mocked my strange VNese accent (like a foreigner of course!) and we shared a couple laughs. I hope that I have some time to visit them again in the future. Apparently, this group loves to head to the beach, so we’ll get along just fine

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OK so here’s some cuter animals that I’ve seen. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera with me but will start bringing it out again.

I went to my colleague/VNese prof’s house for our lesson (usually we meet at the uni) and he has a female cat who just gave birth. Her little kittens are less than 2 weeks old and they haven’t opened their eyes yet. They’re about 5 inches long and still so cute. I will have to get a pic but basically for the first time in my life, I saw kittens nursing.

In Vietnam, I see dogs and cats with full bellies, nipples and babies! It’s different from Canada where most pets are neutred and so, I notice everytime. I’ve seen piglets, baby chicks and now the smallest kittens. Finally, a refreshing animal scene!

Pray for no more swooping birds of prey!

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I don’t know why and I never expected animals to be smthg to mention on this trip. However, I can’t get away from them.

1. I was victim to bat droppings when I went to church. I wouldn’t even know what hit me if my friend hadn’t pointed out a couple days earlier that a bat frequently occupies his balcony and leaves him lovely little piles everywhere. At least I was wearing a jacket!

2. Rats are definitely not mice! As I biked home yesterday night, I could hear the rats running around in the grass and then a couple darted out on the street. As I was pedaling, I just hoped that one wouldn’t brush by my feet….Then I saw a bird swoop down (and I was thinking: strange, a seagull!) and grab one of these long-tailed rats in its claws and then I realized that it was some kind of predator bird flying around and hunting for its latest meal. By then all I could hope for was that it would not drop the rat near or on me….ewwwwwww!

3. Geckos squeak or caw or something like that. What I thought was birds chirping is actually geckos (inside my house) calling. I don’t mind seeing them on the walls occasionally but not in my room. And the tiny ones (1-2 inches) are kinda creepy.

4. Mosquitos, nets and rackets — In the village, I was always so grateful for the mosquito net under which I took my refuge at night. It was the only time that I would be sure that none of them would get to me. (In fact, as I type, I’m pretty sure some are under my desk chewing me up right now.) Then I was introduced to the mosquito racket which would shock them on contact. Now, I’m not one to kill insects but when they attack you, you must react. My aunt bought me a racket to bring back to Danang and so far, it’s been very useful. However, even after I spend 5mins zapping bugs in my room before I go to bed, while I sleep, I hear buzzing and wake up with new bites. I kinda feel like this is their revenge for me buying this mosquito killer. Maybe I need to mount up a net in my room in Danang….

I just want to be left alone but the animals and bugs just won’t go away!

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Hey….I’m kinda slacking off in my blog although I don’t want to because I like giving updates in case anyone reads this….But I am definitely getting lazier as time goes on. I figure it’s because living in Danang has become less exciting….it’s been 5 months so things were bound to change.

To sum up briefly:

LUNAR NEW YEAR (Tet) just passed and so most ppl, or everyone, in Vietnam had at least a week’s holiday. I went to my gram’s in Cam Duc to visit relatives and to experience a real Vietnamese Tet for the first time. I went on the train….not recommended during daytime hours b/c after while, you start to feel claustrophobic but there’s no way out….I was in a cabin w/a family with a whiny kid as well so that did not help. Thank goodness (and Tanny) I had a book to read which was my only English-language company for the trip. The train was late and once I thought about all the hours spent, I wished I went for the 1hr flight instead. But I’ll tell you again: Nha Trang rocks. Once I arrived in the city, it was bustling and I got spaghetti delivered straight to my hotel room and watched music videos. Nothing better to help me get over the ENTIRE day in the train

So back to New Year’s: staying with grams and my aunt is pretty good cuz they take care of me but life in the village also takes some getting used to. For example,
- the church bells chime LOUDLY at 4:30am so you can get to mass at 5 (Even my precious earplugs couldn’t block it out!)
- any chicken you eat is killed that day and usually, you see it alive beforehand
- living with older ladies means sleeping really early and there was definitely no nightlife awaited me

BUT Tet is a time to visit family and so that I did. I met relatives for the first time, ate lots of traditional dishes including fruit candies, sticky rice, and watermelon seeds, and caught up with several of my parents’ friends.

THEN it became more fun: the young ppl started arriving!!!! They usually studied in Saigon and stayed there to work and so they normally are not around in Cam Duc. I met them via some young ppl (distance relatives) whose parents “forced” them to take me out since I had no friends. We went to coffee and ate out and I spoke tons of Vietnamese. Then it hit me: I could actually be friends with these ppl BUT they live in Saigon, not Danang. And in DN, this class of ppl doesn’t exist b/c most young professionals live at home and thus, have different obligations.

It was another newsflash for me in Vietnam: Saigon is the place to be when you are young and single. It’s the economic capital, there’s lots of ppl to meet and places to go out. This time, I didn’t even have to go there to see how it differed from Danang.

Danang after 5 months is different from Danang after 2 months. By now, I see that it’s a great place for family living, but for young foreigners, it’s kind of challenging.
- It’s quiet and things are spread out so there’s no particular area that you’d go to in order to go bar hopping or try new restaurants. Most establishments shut early (by 10pm) and there just aren’t so many choices so after awhile, even the best (and there are some really good ones) get tiring b/c you’ve been to them so many times.

- Meeting ppl is hard b/c there’s just not that many ppl to meet. Again, there’s no place to go to meet young ppl so you hang out with your colleagues or the few ppl you do meet over and over again.

- Surprisingly, it is not easy to learn Vietnamese here. Most foreigners have difficulty finding a teacher and abandon the mission. I feel like my language skills should be good but they’re not.

HOWEVER, I feel that if you have a purpose in the city, like a worthwhile job, you can make it work although it takes a bit of effort. To keep my spirits up, I cruise the streets, go to Hoi An, and try to exercise. Bicyling in the city is pretty relaxing and having a motorbike is essential. Everytime I go by the beach, I definitely appreciate the natural landscapes that this city is blessed with.

Now only if Danang had taco salad, Thai food, 3 awesome nightspots and a bunch of cute boys…Maybe that’s a bit much to ask for, but I’m still hopeful.

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