Happy Fourth of July Vietnam!

Elsbeth writing…

Happy Fourth of July! Of all places to spend the Fourth… Last weekend wasn’t as exciting as the weekend before, but I’ll give you a quick update.

On Saturday, I unfortunately had to work—I now teach a class in the late afternoon on Saturdays (a very inconvenient time because it breaks up your entire day). After work, however, I went to a house party hosted by one of my co-workers. She was house-sitting for a Dutch-Ethiopian family who were away for a month on holiday. Their house was amazing—huge, beautiful, new, and situated right next to West Lake (the biggest lake in Hanoi). It was decorated beautifully with lots of artwork and they had a little terrier named Spotty. The party was good. There were at least 30 people there (most of them my co-workers). We had a traditional Fourth of July barbeque with hamburgers, hotdogs, awesome potato salad, fruit salad, and of course beer. It was fantastic. After socializing for awhile I left with one of my co-workers. I had taken the motorbike taxi guy who usually gives me a ride there, because it was raining, dark, there was heavy traffic, and I didn’t know how exactly to get there. Originally, I tried taking my motorbike, but I gave up after it broke down several times and decided to turn back. So long story short, I ended up taking a taxi back home. We had to walk down this road in the dark and there were bats everywhere swooping low and almost flying into us. I was freaking out—well, I thought it was funny more than anything, but I didn’t want to get rabies. Because you know, that wouldn’t be too good. So far it’s been more than 24 hours and luckily no rabies yet (knock on wood).

Sunday morning I realized that I had left my motorbike helmet and poncho at the house. It was still pouring rain and I dreaded going all the way across town. I didn’t want to drive (not to mention the problem of not having a helmet), so my landlady ended up calling me a taxi, which wasn’t really necessary since I don’t need to be pampered by staying out of the rain. But my motorbike guy wasn’t around so I just went with the taxi. I arrived and walked through the rain down that same street with the bats the night before (obviously none there in the middle of the day).

I ended up staying at the house for several hours helping my co-worker clean up everything. After that she drove me to a nearby salon. I was planning on getting a haircut and pedicure yesterday, but going to different places. She suggested this place just down the road so I went there. I got a haircut for 80,000d (about $5), a pedicure for 25,000d ($1.25), and I bargained for a 45-minute body massage also for 80,000d, because I only had a little money on me. Talk about an awesome deal, right? Total I paid 185,000d ($11) for several hours of pampering—something you’d pay at least $50 for in the States. I tell you it’s the life and I needed it from last weekend and this last week. Plus, I received a lot of complements on my haircut today (I also wore a dress I had made in Hoi An that I haven’t worn to Language Link yet, so I’m sure I looked much different). I think the salon trip was a success.

On the way to the salon I also realized that Ellyn didn’t live too far away, so I called her and we met for an expensive dinner at Al Frescos. We also found a Western grocery story with….Cheetos! Yay, but unfortunately they weren’t the original kind—only flaming and the puff twists. I bought an expensive bag of the twists, but hey, it’s a taste of home junk food. After dinner and conversation the mosquitoes in the restaurant were getting too bad so we went back to our respective houses. So it turns out that it was worth traveling across town for the day. It was soggy all day, but it was good to get out and do something.

Today was back to work again. This morning I went grocery shopping and finally bought a bouquet of flowers—pink lotuses. I’ve been meaning to buy flowers since I moved into this apartment, because I have a vase, but haven’t gotten around to it. There are flower peddlers everywhere near where I live, but I’m too darn lazy. I also need to venture to the huge park only a block away (I haven’t done that either), but I can never get up early enough before it’s sweltering hot. Sometime this week for sure if the rain lets up…. I’m hoping to take a yoga or tai chi class in the mornings in this park. Oh! I’m also starting Vietnamese lessons tomorrow. I’m taking them with another co-worker every Tuesday/Thursday for two hours throughout the next three months. I want to be able to talk with my landlady, the peddlers, and the other people who live in my area. I feel bad for being so ignorant.

It feels good to finally be really settling in and getting involved in things.

P.S. I should have realized this a long time ago, but the old picture website listed on this blog was not my regular picture website. I just posted the other link. Some of you may know that it's http://elsbethsescapades.shutterfly.com/. I haven't posted any pictures on the Flickr one for ages, so check out the Shutterfly one although I also haven't posted new pictures on there for ages either, since my camera was stolen on Easter morning and then I haven't finished even deleting photos from my trip with my mom (there were over a thousand and my computer is really slow). So sorry! I'm getting better at this updating thing and I really hope to find some time to finish deleting, editing, and uploading all these photos between work. Also soon to come are my photos from my other trips.