i just spent the last hour reading Becky's blog. It is fascinating and exciting and full of adventures. I kept thinking to myself how great it would be to have the opportunity to work with the women that she's working with, doing the projects that she's doing. But in reality, I have my own fascinating, exciting and adventurous life going on back here. Who knows whether it's a permanent state or just temporary, but that feeling of needing to 'go' is over for now.

I have a job. a good one that i'm really excited about starting part-time and then moving to full time in. I'm taking classes. I have a free 8 week gym membership so I don't freeze outside in the winter weather. I've figured out (mostly) where I'm going to be living for the next year and a half.

I feel like everything is starting to come together. I can see where I am and where I want to be... and while a year ago that seemed like it was never going to happen and maybe even that I didn't want it to happen, from where I'm standing now, it feels really good to know what I want and know that I'm working towards achieving it.

it can only get better.

Alaska.

Dear Alaska,

Currently I am in your fine state for the 2nd time in my life. And, for the second time in my life it is dark out and I see NOTHING of the state other than the mountain goat head and illegal fur products that are on display in your very small and uninteresting (yet equipped with free wireless and a place to plug in my computer) airport.

So I took the liberty of trying to figure out why at 9 am it is still not light out... and, thanks to the free internet, i discovered that sunrise is at 10:15 am.

god, what a life alaska... 10 AM?? really??

5 hours of daylight a day??? that's murderous... maybe you alaskans just drink/dance a lot to compensate and only work 5 hours a day.. who knows.


back in the u.s.a.

and definitely not too soon!
can't wait for the holidays/next semester!

Ho, Ho, Ho

well. it's almost xmas--- and in that spirit (well, not actually),Yesterday I went to check out Uncle Ho. Ho Chi Minh that is.

Uncle Ho, like the fine communist leaders of his time, has been preserved in a bizarro state of rest in Hanoi.

This was not my first but actually my Second visit to a dead communist leader's body....

Why you might ask do I waste my time going to see dead people?

It's perhaps the most interesting cultural experience EVER.

So my visit to Uncle Ho was very different from my visit to Mao in Beijing. First of all, in Beijing we had to stand in line for HOURS in the extremely hot sun with hoardes of chinese tourists waiting to pay their respects. Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, while still extremely busy with people, did not have al ine that formed 2 hours before the opening!


We arrived at the mausoleum complex and first had to leave our bags (but were told to keep our cameras). Then we were shuffled through several checkpoints (and despite the vast amounts of space, forced to walk within thin white lines). Then we got to the spot where cameras were no longer allowed, and had to hand those in. We were then checked by another 10 guards--- one of whom indicated that I was NOT allowed to have my hands in my pockets---- then we were shuffled past Ho (I got tugged on the arm by not one but TWO guards--- to stay in my spot!) and then out to reclaim our cameras.

It was seriously the most regimented thing you've ever seen----

I was thinking back to China and how everyone bought flowers before they went in, and then left them in this room after seeing Mao, and then I watched the flowers get carted back out to the front and resold...


anyway, it was pretty cool to see--- more the situation then Ho Chi Minh himself (he's kind of grey and you can't get that close anyway). I would highly recommend a mausoleum visit to anyone... next i've got to get Lenin!


I'm back from Vietnam and in Bangkok for the next week and a half and then home on the 17th!

of mice, strings, and cyclo drivers

I can't remember what my last post was (because for some reason my blog page is unaccessable) but regardless, i've been having a really good time in Vietnam (despite my utter frustration with the vietnamese today---see cyclo drivers for that rant)

I spent 2 days in the Mekong delta, 1 day and a half in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), 2 days in Hoi An and now I'm in Hue.

So:

MICE- hoi an is the vietnamese capital of having things tailor made for you. Literally the shops line the streets and you cannot walk anywhere without someone calling you into their shop or seeing a cute dress you might want. I, like all other tourists in Hoi An, took advantage of the situation and bought a plethora of new things for myself. (I don't know if I've ever in my life bought myself so many things). But the funny part about it all is that the people in the shops are all kind of just sitting around. but you go in, pick out your fabric, tell them what you want, and they say, OK, come back in 5 hours. HOW does it get done?

and so i must conclude, that the hoianeese have had a good dose of cinderela in their lives and thus it's the mice.

STRING - I somehow got convinced by this woman in the market that I needed a pedicure. It was about 8 dollars so i said, ok, fine (My heels had grown a layer of dirt that was not removable by shower so i figured i needed it) She took me through windy streets to this little alleyway and a tiny shop where she proceeded to scrape (with a razor edge) my feet. and then paint them. and THEN when this was all done, she started to unwind a string. and then somehow wind it around her hands (a la cats cradle) and then with this piece of string she started plucking the hairs off of my foot. (Yes, don't get grossed out, everyone has them--- of course mine are really fine blond so i never even really noticed.) apparently this system takes them out to the root (a bit like waxing). It hurt like hell though so i think the string and I are over for good.

CYCLO DRIVERS/MOTOBIKE DRIVERS - are, quite simply, the worst part of vietnam. They make me angry on a daily basis. They seem not to have learned that harrasing people does not make them want your service (this applies to restaurants, shops and hotels as well) I think it all comes down to tourism in vietnam having developed really quickly and the wrong way. But for example: today I wanted to take a nice peacefull walk around Hue. One hour laterI never want to come back to hue again and have taken refuge in this internet cafe from the hoardes of motorbike/cyclo drivers who have stopped me every 5 feet asking if i want a tour around the city.

what was i thinking?

seriously WHAT was i thinking?

plush hotels are fabulous.

but i digress


yesterday i crawled through the cu chi tunnels. the whole time i was thinking of mom and how she would have a fit. see that love mom?

they were actually REALLY sweet--- despite being totally touristerized (sp?)

i also went to the war remnants museum. which, made me a little ashamed of being an american. particularly when i saw the hundreds of photos of agent orange victims... most of whom were the children of soldiers.... really, what were we thinking?

wandered around Ho Chi Minh (actually called Saigon bythe majority of inhabitants, as the cu chi tour leader (who actually refers to himself as tom cruise and asked us out to the bars))told us) Acquired a vietnam sim card although my crappy charger is giving me trouble so that might have been for nothing.


then i trained it all the way up to Danang... in a room with 7 other people, 2 of which were screaming kids, but i still got a good sleep.

met this woman who then found 5 polish people and we all rented a minibus together to take us the last leg to hoi an. the minibus dropped us in front of a hotel and i thought, eh, i'll just take a look..... somehow i got him down to 10 dollars for the night in this nice hotel with hot showers, cable tv, a swimming pool AND free internet access/breakfast.

so now i'm living in luxury as one might say.

and it's glorious... why did i not do this before? (although i don't think it would have felt AS good if i hadn't experienced 3 dollar per night/random roomates all the nights before)

vietnam is wonderful, but i'm also ready to come home! a little bummed out about missing thanksgiving i guess/excited to get into a routine (which i haven't had in... forever) and to see everyone... only 3 weeks and a lot of things to enjoy before then!

big money

sidenote.
2 days ago, on thanksgiving, i became a millionaire. i think that's something to really give thanks for.
now i'm not anymore. i think it was the train ticket for tomorrow night that took me down to the hundreds of thousands range.

oh the dong.


just did a 2 day mekong delta tour--- hung out with some veeeery freeeench guys. tonight i'm having dinner with the girl who i met on the street that i'm sharing a room with and these french girls who were on the last day of the tour that ended up in the same hotel, which you shouldn't REALLY call a hotel because it's the woman who found us on the street's house.

right. asia.


tomorrow off to pretend i'm tough and explore the cu chi tunnels/maybe fire a gun. then again maybe not.

tomorrow night on the train to hoi an. whew this trip is wild.

some random thoughts

1st random thought: Cambodian Road Rules

1) Traffic lights are a waste of money. Two is enough for the 2 major cities of cambodia.

2) if/when there are traffic lights they are a waste of a drivers time and energy. better to ignore them.

3) any driver may do anything at any time. you need only to honk your horn to signal "WATCH OUT I"M COMING THROUGH THIS INTERSECTION" and then proceed. seriously.

4) Helmets are not needed except to protect the eyes from dirt. not needed for anything like, oh, i don't know, protection from head injury. please only use them when on dirt roads. paved roads are fine w/out a helmet.

5) i have a burn. from a motorbike. which one of the french guys says won't go away. ever. shit. if you are american don't ride on motorbikes. or at least take note of where the piping hot exhaust pipe is.

2nd random thought: the Nguyens
the nguyens of the world are out of control.


there are many many many streets named nguyen

i have dated 2 guys with the last name nguyen

one of those guys brother is now dating a girl with the last name nguyen.

since when did the nguyens start taking over the world???


also, happy thanksgiving