Advertisement
Published: April 19th 2006
Edit Blog Post
another scene from vung tau
i thought i better put something scenic and beautiful in here so I don't seem quite so narcissistic - ironic since the whole blog's about me Greetings to all...apologies for the length of time between entries - life here is not so new anymore, and thus it's difficult to feel inspired to sum it all up. That being said, there have still been a few noteworthy moments:
first and foremost, my house was burgled a two weeks or so ago. We had an extreme hot spell for two weeks (actually, it's supposed to last appx two months or so, but weather's been off this year, and thus what heat we've experienced has been intense, but brief. It's already rained a few times this week, and the dry season is supposed to last until the end of MAy). Anyway, during the hot spell, Marta had a friend from abroad visiting, and they were both sleeping in her bed - the room got quite hot at night, so she decided to leave her balcony doors open...which resulted in someone scaling the side of the house, climbing in, and clearing out the most expensive stuff from her room. All in all, over 2,000$ worth of stuff was lost, which is a TON of money in this part of the world - more than an annual salary for many
bike mirror
me screwing around with the camera and the bike mirror - how i see myself for hourse each day...check out that endless blue sky vietnamese. Anyway, while I see this as quite unfortunate, I was actually sort of annoyed at the situation, because we've been told repeatedly NOT to leave windows/balconies open at night, for precisely this reason. Furthermore, two sets of neighbors were burgled a month or so ago --- the same way! If the robbers had wanted to, they could have gone downstairs and made out with a LOT more, so I'm thankful it was confined only to her room. I guess the best way to look at it is that it could have been worse.
Second, I'm moving soon!!! Life here has gotten somewhat stagnant, and a change of scenery/location will help immensely. Details to follow in next blog.
Third, I was ATTACKED BY KILLER ANTS! (Ok, they'er not KILLER ants, but their bites hurt like hell...) The ants here are actually the smallest I've seen (counterintuitive since it's warmer - they should be bigger). We (me and the ants in the house) had been peacefully coexitisting for a few months, (excepting the occasional bite). I'd adopted the 'live and let live' policy for all matter of vermin (mice, rats, ants, roaches) - until the ants started
Chinh oi!!
This is me with the kitten - he's a rascal, despite how nice he looks here. He's grown quite a bit in the last month or so... eating away at my electronic equipment (ie: ipod, which is now broken, and digi cam, which i saved). When i realized they were costing me hundreds of dollars, i decided enough was enough and bought ant killer - and things were GREAT!!! No more ants, no more worrying, right?!? I thought so... until...(sinister dah-duh-duuhhhh)...they took over my towel!! A month before the 'incident', I'd noticed they'd taken an unacceptible liking to my towel. Ergo, I washed it and stopped hanging it in my room - problem solved (?). Then, i killed them all in my room, so I thought the ordeal was finished. A few days after i purchased the spray, the ants got their revenge. I hopped out of the shower, and started toweling myself off, when I suddenly felt something painful on my eyelid - i snapped my head up, looked in the mirror (already horrified at the implications) and sure enough there was an ant! I looked down at my torso, and sure enough!!! they were all over the place!! BITING THE SH*T OUT OF ME!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SO, I flipped out, JUMPED into the shower, and started washing them off...but not before they delivered a number of
Can I catch a ride???
My first go at driving a cyclo!! Tony's enjoying a pleasent ride around the track --- he got sooo much flack for letting a (foreign?!?) girl drive him around, he made me stop halfway and drove to prove that he wasn't a wuss... painful blows to the breast, armpit and stomach areas. All I can say is that I'm glad I started from the head down, and not the crotch up.... Now, I have no towel (because I don't want to invite them back) and the thought of ant bites gives me goosebumps. My theory is that they laid eggs somewhere in the towel, and when the eggs started to hatch the adults returned. Needless to say, when i see an ant now, it doesn't have much time left before i get out the spray-can.
As I've told some of you, I've felt quite homesick lately- more for the people I've left behind than anything else. I have friendships here, but they're (at least in part) based on circumstance. In a way, this is really beneficial because it exposes me to people with different opinions, approaches to life, senses of humor -- I've learned more from the people I've hung out with than I would have learned from the people I left at home, simply because people here are so different from myself and who I typically hang out with. But, after six months, I'm simply getting lonely. The past couple
Flashing the "V" for victory...
Funny, we call it a 'peace sign' whilst they call it a "victory' sign - anyway, there I am, at the WOrld Cyclo Races - that's right, I said "world"...shockingly, the sport of cyclo racing didn't catch like wildfire!?! and it's specific to vietnam. weeks were especially hard - I got stressed very easily, I had headaches much of the time. When i first arrived here, I was able to look past things that nowanger or frustrate me (traffic/constant beeping of car horns being numero uno). It's mostly Saigon wearing me out, constantly pushing, pulling me around, dictating my every move. This city's like a petulant child, never giving me a moment's peace. I know that if I could have a break from it, for one or two weeks, then I could come back with fresh eyes and new appreciation. But, that's not a viable option; so, I've been sorting myself out, strenghtening my mind, trying to live for the present (not in the past or for the future) and things are getting better again. Nothing around me's changed, but I'm just getting past all the stuff that was dragging me down. On a bad day, part of me can't wait to be back - when I think about how much longer I'll be here, it's like I'm on a car trip, passing time and playing one of those children's games where you try to hold your breath --- sooner or later my lungs will start burning, my head will start to ache, I'll start thinking about how nice is it to simply inhale, and I'll give up --- defeated, but ready to return. On a good day, my time here seems so limited, so short. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0464s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Neil
non-member comment
That bites
Ants?! Holy crap that sounds exotic! These journal entries are so cool. 'Is that really you halfway around the world kicking it working class in Ho Chi Minh?' I ask myself sometimes. Hold steady, Mo, you'll be back in the land of chain restaurants and beaver-skin caps in no time. And then you'll really be miserable.