I really like Vietnam now. This country is so chill. If you have a problem with someone, deal with it, because society isn't going to. Society isn't going to do anything, or at least it's just falling apart no matter what you do. I've cursed more here than I have in the entirety of my life, mostly because I can't stand the traffic here.

There is just a general lack of order and accountability in everything, from traffic to housing to schooling, etc. I remember the first time trying to pay rent... most frustrating time since i can remember. o_o It's just impossible to be as productive or efficient as in America because you can't depend on anything to work out, as you trust things in America. Trips to the post office to deliver a letter may take a hour or two. And apparently, sending mail from the international post office in Trung Tam will save you about three weeks on delivery, but mail from the Bưu Điện near Hapro will sit there for nearly a month before getting sent.

Once I realized that, i just decided to chill out and work with what i could. print out my stuff and disregard the computer when the Internet's out or the electricity's dead...

So I guess I'll pick up blogging again... seeing as how I've come quite to terms with this country and I very much love it here. lovelovelove it here, from its beautiful mountains and villages a day's hike away to the busy city, with its sincere people. The sincerity and life here are hard sought elsewhere.

I've been posting in my personal blog as incidents come up, but more than not, I haven't been keeping a good record of the things that pass through my mind in Vietnam. I'll post up some blogs from my personal blog because they seem less significant in retrospect. In retrospect, everything isn't quite so bad and it's all worth it. hahaha years from now, we'll look back and say, hey remember that time you broke the thermometer and spilled mercury onto your bed? hahaha yea...

so here's to the last two months, it felt like it has been a lifetime of epiphanies and anxiety attacks, but that it only stretched the duration of a few weeks. How the heck did all this time pass? o_o

Life is absolutely ridiculous here. People and system. xDD

We (Amanda, Diane, Linda, and I) went to visit Anh Luôn to do our laundry and return our water bottle and we saw Anh Gì on the way. We said we were going over to our boyfriend's house to sleep and his reply was: Ừ, tốt quá! xDD

I went to borrow Cô Phương's bike and a really nice xe ôm guy took me. Afterwards, I asked to bike alongside him to get the way home and I had to bike so hard to keep up with him! But he was really nice and actually pushed me along so i wouldn't have to bike so hard. And then after I got to Đường Nguyễn Trãi, I told him that I could make it from there, so I paid him and he went ahead. Then he rounded back after a while to ensure that I knew how to use the brakes and he was really reluctant to let me bike back. ahaha sweet old man.

Tôi yeu ăn bánh trung thu lám!! loveee these little things. <3

i love insect repellent.

There is a similarity between lab and Vietnam: I kill a lot of bugs daily in both places. Except here, they're harder to kill cause i'll squish them and then they still won't die until i freakin pinch them between my fingers. hahaha and between transgenic flies and the bugs over here, I would pick transgenic flies as being a lower risk to humanity any day.

Eccentricities of a life of work to just get by

Now I understand how Asians can be such gamers and can spend 15 hours/day consumed in MMORPGs, such as Warcraft and Starcraft... they have nothing to do or cannot do anything else with their time. o_o" Two thirds of the times that I've visited the little convenient mart across from the phổ gà lady, the guy who works there was playing Warcraft like no other and only acknowledged me when I went to pay for my items. It's quite understandable; he has nothing else to do all day but manage the shop, so if he has the computer and the time, why not play? And because he has to manage the shop, there's not really anything else he can do with his time, so he doesn't have the ability to invest it in school or anything. Maybe he could study in the shop.. but to what means? Is he going to do anything with it or is the rest of his life stuck on that corner?

Also, the photocopy guy across from the alley (as well as many many other inhabitants of Hà Nội) trims all his fingernails except a few super long one... like super horrendously disgustingly long. D: It's usually their thumbs or their pinkies. I assume it aids in counting the pages that he has printed and etc., although it seems to function secondarily as a useful nose-picking tool. And they especially like to pick their noses while out in traffic for some reason too.

Because everyone's business is run in their home and is directly in the manufacturing industry, we get a chance to glimpse their home life, as well as how products are actually made. I've finally solved the mystery of how book pages are so even on every side, because every time I staple a pack of pages, they are never even. It's because they have an amazing paper cutter that will cut whole sides of books. I've also learned how books are bound... with staples and tape. Seeing how everything is actually manufactured makes me realize how little I understand anything in life, besides theory and principles. I consume so many products, without the slightest idea of how they are manufactured. Things are actually a lot simpler than I thought; I just never really gave it any thought before.

I'm going to blog on random stuff and then when I have the chance to, or whenever i feel like it rather, reflect on it. It's hard to reflect on stuff when you don't feel like it.

MSG is everywhere. that, or the food just tastes really freakin heavy. I asked Diep today if there's a lot of oil and fat in their foods or is it just because I'm eating out all the time and she said it's also at home because people love their oils. *cringe* i love my cheese sandwiches and cereal then. o_o

I think my mail to lab didn't have enough stamps on it. ;___; now they'll never know what became of me. I'll just send mail straight from the post office now then. It's the only trustworthy source of info around here. I mean for goodness sake, the Chinese Bưu diện across from school is a freakin eatery, although a good one at that. The eatery on the corner is super nice too. (:

Dragonfruit and mangosteen are so delicious! Just a reminder, dragonfruit should be approximately 20k/kilo so i don't get ripped off. sooo delicious! too bad they're going out of season. it seems like all the good fruit is going out of season. o_o

We tried to go swimming at the rec center yesterday and IT IS CLOSED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR... starting 9/7/09. ;____; super disappointment because I was thinking of going their regularly to get some exercise. ouch. there's another pool somewhere downtown but that's so far out. Maybe when i find better transportation. Or some other form of exercise.

Hạ Long Ba

Review of this weekend at Hạ Long bay:

- such a nice vacation! lol I think I was somewhat expecting this to be a cultural experience that we were supposed to learn from, but it ended up as a straight up weekend cruise getaway :P
- i wish i did learn more about the history and legends of Vietnam though
- they're so tourist-y focused that the water's all polluted. it costs $250.000 for 4 minutes of parasailing, but to restart the engine and run the boat only for 4 minutes each time they have a customer is really spilling out a bunch of gas into the ocean water. it was kinda disgusting swimming in it.
- the tourguide was super energetic and joyful. i gave her good reviews and props for trying, but we were just kinda dead throughout the trip. :P
- i love being out at sea at night. you can see all the stars and it's just so peaceful!