under the net!

in less than 2 weeks, i will be leaving Hanoi. my time here is coming to an end. 2 months is such a short amount of time. it took a month to settle back into life here, and now that i am finally readjusted, i must prepare my heart for departure. it’s amazing the things you can see clearly when you venture into the unfamiliar.

Vietnam always seems to pull and stretch me in ways i never thought possible. i have successfully disciplined myself to get out of bed at 5:15 every morning to play badminton. at first, i had difficulty staying awake past 6:30. i would play badminton and then go back to bed. now, i am able to stay awake and actually enjoy my mornings. it feels good. i must confess that my motivation for getting out of bed is directly related to the people i spend my mornings with. nu, my one and only punctual friend, is always waiting for me at exactly 5:30am. huong and phuong show up next. together we sleep-walk down the street to meet up with xuan, phan, and sometimes phuong anh. we grab a seat on a step and watch the fan ladies dance. they are beautiful. when the weird, instrumental version of Love Potion Number 9 begins, we take our cue and begin to play badminton. it’s the perfect way to start our day.

there are so many things i wish to share, especially with my mother. she has shown signs of extreme curiousity about my life here. too bad we can’t connect our minds like deanna troy and her mother in star trek the next generation. today was another wonderful day. i made some delicious iced tea using my free sample of tra man. huy picked me up for lunch and we ate at our usual bun cha place. i met my class at 1:15 for a party in the park. huong and i counted the couples making out. we feasted on fruit and other tasty treats. i tutored some lovely ladies after dinner and then met with nu and phan. together we attempted to correct some English translations of songs written in Vietnamese. a Russian professor at this university stopped me the other day and asked if i would help him correct his English. he is not only a Russian professor, but also a composer. we weren’t too successful with the translations. we were able to figure out that he meant “violet flower” and not “violent flower.” that’s pretty much as far as we got. ha.

oh geez. i should be in bed. goodnight