toxical rain

last week was a rough one. however, things began to improve saturday night. i spent the evening biking around ha noi (on a bike 2 sizes too small, i might add) with my dear friend nu. we started out in my dinh, where traffic wasn't too chaotic. we made our way around the soccer stadium and headed into the city. on the way we ran into phan. phan had been nice enough to let me borrow his bike. to return the favor, i decided to give him a lift home. after dropping off phan, nu and i headed toward the ho chi minh mausoleum. the sun was setting and it was finally cooling down. nu showed me a secret back way home. at this point, most every way is a secret one to me. for dinner we readily decided on bun cha. i convinced nu that i knew of a great place and that i could get us there easily. however, in the back of my mind i wasn't so sure. we were coming from the opposite direction and i had never really paid much attention when huy and i would go there for lunch. i put on my best "confident" face and took the lead, weaving in and out of traffic. after 20 minutes of searching for this hidden bun cha place, we were ready to admit defeat and head home. as we turned our bikes around, i heard an annoyingly familiar voice! it was the bun cha man! we had found the place! i'll try to take a picture next time i eat there. anyway, nu and i parked our bikes and consumed a most delicious dinner.

over the weekend some changes took place. i was informed that my class would no longer meet at 8am. starting on monday, we would meet from 1:30-4:30pm. let's just say that this news thoroughly excited me. i needed a change and i got one! no more going to bed early. no more worrying about lesson plans. if i don't finish them at night, i can always finish them in the morning. oh! i could go on forever about the advantages of having class in the afternoon, but i won't. monday rolled around and i was feeling good. i woke up early to say goodbye to sandy because she was leaving for the states that night. we ran some errands and on the way home i had the most delightful conversation with my taxi driver, in vietnamese. i didn't speak much but i could understand most of what he was saying and responded appropriately. class was a riot! over the weekend i had purchased a piggy bank. my students didn't think i was serious when i said that i would start charging them money for speaking in vietnamese or for not doing their homework. they now know that i wasn't joking. i made about 12,000 vnd. maybe i shouldn't say "i made." it's more like, "we made." i informed the class on friday that we would be having a kick-butt, end of the summer party. those who broke the new rules would be funding it! haha. after class, nu, phan, and i played some fierce badminton for an hour. my joy had finally found its way back!

today was a continuation of steady improvement. linh met me after class and took me to west lake. he took me to a part that i have never seen before. it started to pour soon after he picked me up. in typical vietnamese fashion, we pulled over to the side of the road and threw on paper-thin rain jackets. when we finally reached west lake, we took them off and rode around. the rain was quite refreshing. i'm pretty sure that linh wouldn't agree, but that's ok because he is always wrong. today was the first time that i actually wanted to take pictures. i made a few unsuccessful attempts. i'm sorry mom, blame it on the rain!

tomorrow, i will once again rise at 5am to play some badminton and then watch the old ladies do their fan dances. maybe this is a suitable activity for me.