an uneasy truce

Mr. Daddy long legs gets the back of the toilet. I get the front.

That said, Vietnam is fantastic! I've been here for almost two weeks now, which is hard to believe. My hotel room is quite homey now, with my map on the wall and post-it notes of places, bus routes, people, things to do, etc, and a fridge full of stuff. Lots of delicious food and delicious adventures.

I've been failing at keeping up with myself. I'm supposed to write down everything that happens and everything I observe in order to conduct this anthropology project really well, but I've just been so in the moment. Whenever I have free time I grab my laptop and head to the national library and start typing up notes and journal-y stuff.

Wow.. there's just so much to say that I'm speechless. I've met so many people and done so many things in these past two weeks. I love motorbikes and bought my own helmet yesterday. The rain hits hard and suddenly, but luckily with some warning- you know it'll rain when the sticky humidity gets absurdly oppressive. The heat isn't so bad though. I don't understand how everyone here wears pants all the time and I wear skirts and people stare at me. People stare at me a lot.

People also love me a lot. I speak a lot of Vietlish/French added in just for kicks and giggles. I talk to people a lot more here than I did in France. Have made friends very quickly. A newspaper article was about me. Everyone knows who I am. May be slightly famous. Photo exhibits, museums, temples, libraries, seminars, film screenings, architecture debates, lunches with directors of things, interviews, interviews, research, more interviews, living, living, life. It all moves quite fluidly.

Photos: the lake of the Restored Sword (Ho Hoan Kiem), middle of Hanoi. Me on a motorbike with a math student I interviewed. A cat statue at a monument of sorts. Delicious food at this girl's house.