I woke up this morning, September 19th, at 6:30 and talked to James and Andy online. It sure was nice to talk to the men in my life! I then found Bryan and we took the bike to pick up the usual breakfast of an iced coffee and an egg sandwich. After ordering my coffee in Vietnamese, a woman standing next to me asked me how much Vietnamese was in by background. I just laughed because clearly I don't look Vietnamese at all. Bryan and I biked to class and made it there early to talk to the rest of our group. Vietnamese language class went well; we learned how to give directions on the street (or most likely get them from the locals) and practiced saying the time of day and calendar date.
After class, I took the bike with Bryan again and we stopped at a roadside restaurant and got food to go. I ordered rice with some pork and mushrooms. At least that's what it looked like. We drove back to the guest house and at it at the big tables in the lobby. After about ten minutes, some of our group showed up to eat their lunch too. We talked for a while and I went up to my room at about 1:30 pm. It took me about half an hour to finish my Vietnamese homework and then I went with my friend Leah to get her headphones. We walked down a few blocks and found s tore that was selling them. I mostly wanted to get out and take some pictures.
We got back to the guest house at 4:00 and Jackie was working on editing her pictures for our photography class. I brought my laptop to her room and did the same, though the crop function is the only one I use, and on very few of my pictures. I don't like thinking that some of the pictures I turn in might be altered so that they no longer capture the moment in which the picture was taken. I'm really hesitant to use the Photoshop program for that reason-I feel that the authenticity of my photographs will be negated.
Anyways, Bryan came looking for me in Jackie's room at 5:30. Jill braided my hair and I finished up editing my photos. Bryan met me in the lobby of the guest house at 6:00 and we took a taxi to a nearby restaurant, since we didn't know exactly where the restaurant was. We met one of Bryan's friends, Noah, whom he knew through his cousin and had contacted in order to inquire about internships in Hanoi. We met at a local pub/restaurant called O'Brian's and he was really interesting. Despite being only 34 years old, he heads up a hedge fund here in Saigon and was really interested in our intensive Vietnamese language studies and our internships. He was surprised to find that I aspire to be a hospital chaplain and said he had never before met a woman who wanted to be ordained. I ate pizza and mushroom soup and he even picked up the tab at the end! That was unexpected.
Bryan and I left the restaurant with Noah at about 7:30 and he walked with us a bit until we arrived at our next destination: karaoke. Our schedule for our study abroad said we had to go to karaoke tonight as a giant group. Bryan and I said goodbye and thank you to Noah and went in to the karaoke place. They immediately saw the color of our skin and guided us upstairs to a colorful room with tv monitors and a disco ball. We waited for the rest of the group to arrive and I ordered watermelon juice as usual. Some of them arrived pretty drunk already, which made the shenanigans a bit more fun to watch. ZeeZee and I sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," while Leah, Jackie, and I sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." I surprised myself by singing with them since I usually don't like to participate in the karaoke. Bryan and I left after about an hour. We walked around and talked to the locals and took pictures for a good two hours. It was a lot of fun, especially since there are always small children and puppies running around. We also stopped at a KFC and grabbed soft serve ice cream cones, which is a rare delicacy here in Vietnam. You just don't see it that often, but when you do you grab some.
I came back to the guest house at 11:00 pm and uploaded my pictures from today, took a shower, and talked to Andy online again. How was your day? :)
3 comments:
My last weekend was great but its nothing like the weekend you had....:-)
Ok, wait a minute. There are no pictures for today's blog?
So when I read that you got your hair braided I realized I did not once braid your hair this summer!!!!! It made my soul cry a tad-- I feel like I did it tons last summer.
Also, when you get back I have to introduce you to this game called Tail. The director of the show I'm working on created it and we're playing it as a company next week. It's like an AMAZING version of spy. At the end of describing the game to us he said "Because really what person doesn't want to be a spy?!?" (If this trip down to Florida over winter break works out we're going to stop in DC on the way back and check out the SPY MUSEUM!!!). After I play the game with my company, I'll let you know if it's actually as good as I expect it to be.
And about the mandatory karaoke--It sounded like you had fun! I think karaoke (at least attending, maybe not participating, even though it's the best) should be mandatory to everyone at some point in their lives. It's just a keystone to the soul in my opinion hahaha!
I miss you and love you terribly.
slash i freaking LOVE the first picture in this entry!!!
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