I realize I have taken no pictures of VN yet besides of my airplane.
What a failure I have been but it's been storming during my trip and it
just isn't worth the possible doom the weather could have on my beloved
nikon.
Anyway, so no yummy jpegs to share but you will
just have to do with my non-luminary vocabulary to get you to the same
imagery. I spent the last few days visiting an old REACH! friend
(there's always a few of us in VN it seems) in Da Nang with my mom.
Sadly it stormed all weekend long but we managed to sneak in some good
central VN food, a quickie Hoi An trip, $2.50 haircuts, pool + beer, and
a few walks around the markets nearby. All in all a peaceful visit
albeit wet. Also kind of sad to note is that I was a little sick and had
stomach pains on Saturday making me quite the wet blanket of a friend
to have around.
Spent my first night at my local
friend's house in Thanh Xuan District yesterday and I can foresee she is going to
be very motherly to me (I guess she is a few years my senior).
Hahahaha, she is helping take care of my every move and is very anti me
getting a motorbike. Which kinda bums me out since I was counting on her
to teach me. BUT HA! my co-workers might teach me instead. eh, who
knows what will happen. I already made a relationship with my xe om
driver (also our neighbor) who is down to drive me and pick me up
everyday if I wanted him to. She thinks I should get a bicycle which
might help me deal with my worry about getting chubs on this research
trip here. BUT I think if anyone is to get crushed it would a bicyclist
over a motorbike driver...but I guess I would have less chance of
hurting someone which is what I am a little more worried about.
So besides my first day of work (mostly reading pubmed, doing
lots of intros to doctors in the hospital, and a goal of checking off
one box from my research prep to do list each day) I also had my first
try of bun dau (noodles with pig's feet, tofu, and shrimp paste), had a
type of che I didn't catch the name of with banana and sweet potato, and
bought my first motorbike helmet! It is baby blue with a white star on
either side. Apparently it's medium-end quality and something I'd need
anyway since the xe om helmets are kinda dirty...well so says my
co-worker.
