Photoless Post

It's typhooning outside. 'Nuff said for the lack of pictures. Camera or not, I'm settling into my temporary Vietnamese life very nicely, most of the time. If nothing else, this experience will teach me patience as well the ability to roll with the punches. I thought I was relatively good at that before, but this is like the XGames of punch rolling.

Nothing is ever to be as expected and logic is the farthest thing from most situations. Needless to say, life is interesting in Vietnam! It takes about 3x the amount of time to get something done as one would expect. I thought it was bad in NYC with the public transportation but the N train pretty much equates to having a teleporter in Vietnam.

It took me about an hour to get a package at the post office the other day. I didn't happen to have my ID on me and even though I had picked up my slip at the university, they didn't seem to believe I was who I was. This was most likely the only package received from the US in a very long time, and I'm about 1 of 3 white people in Da Lat at any given time. C'mon people, just give me my Halloween goodies! They ended up calling the school, making me go up and get my slip signed and then finally relinquished the goods. Not for nothing, I get a lot of walking in here!

Today I had 2 classes. I only teach 6 hours a week and all of those hours were today, Monday, the first day of the week. They apparently think we Americans need alot of downtime. I walk into my 7am class and attempt to write on the board. This chalk board was glossy, but not white board glossy, black board glossy. Needless to say, my lesson had to be spur of the moment revamped becuase of lack of chalking ability. TIV, people, TIV (this is vietnam!). I realized today how truly integral chalkboard ability is here, they comprehend much better when I can write things down as well as speak them. Miss Bria's words were coming way to fast for class AVK32D early this morning. Oh well kids, this is a speaking class. Or you could just tilt your heads in confusion - ok, lets go with that.

Until the typhoon is over...

They Don't Write About This in Supermarket News

My day began today with an early morning aerobics class. There are a lot more carbs then I thought here...so I'm taking advanced precautions! After sweating for an hour with my American friend and 30 other thong leotard-clad (think 1980's style) Vietnamese women, I figured I should take advantage of the the morning and photograph the elusive DaLat morning market.

Photograph I did, however I came to the conclusion that my talent with the lens does not stretch far enough to make dead frogs, dying fish and one happy goose destined for the chopping block aesthetically pleasing. My goal with urban photography is to transform the ugly into something to behold, however this was just a bit too far out of reach.

Enjoy might be a strong word for this set of pictures...so in lieu of that, cautiously view my market trip below and here.

Fitting It All In

It's rainy season in DaLat. This means that the world comes to a halt after about 2pm until dinner time. Because of this one has to cram all daily activities into the morning hours.

Sunday was a particularly productive day as I woke up way too early for my own good. The recent lack of internet connectivity in my room has prompted me (e.g. forced) me to go out and explore. Perhaps a silver lining? However, I did make my first stop that morning at the internet cafe to catch with some of my favorites at home.

Afterwards I took a long walk down to the famous DaLat Flower Garden, picked up some Pantene ProV at the grocery store, restocked my cell phone minutes, bought some goodies to send home and watched and episode of True Blood with Chi and John, all before nature got the best of my day. After that it's usually a long afternoon of cuddling with my Kindle.

Enjoy the flowers below and here.

Where Are All the Buddhists?

Every Vietnamese that I have broached the subject of religion with celebrates Christmas. One of my students even gets up at 5am every morning to go to mass. When discussing this she was incredibly suprised that I didn't attend services here. I tried to explain to her that I wouldn't understand any of what was being said, ignoring the fact of our previously latin-based masses, however I still think she was judging my lack of Catholic devotion.

I find this ironic because prominently dotting the landscape of the DaLat horizon are two very large, very white Buddhas, making me wonder when I'm going to meet one of his devotees.

As I'm patiently waiting for that day please enjoy my wet trip up to the 2nd Buddha below and here.

Canon No Likie Rain

I have been wanting to photograph the morning market in DaLat for a few weeks now. However, a little thing called rain has been quite a photographic buzzkill. For the 2nd and 3rd weeks here it rained all day, hense the little sabotical I had to take from my camera. Now, it starts to rain around 2pm, however sometimes the deluge starts a bit prematurely.

Unfortuntely, I left a bit too late in the morning to catch the market before the angels started crying, actually histarically bawling is more like it. Nothing like wading through foot deep brown water to get home! All I can say to that is a little thing called TIV (this is vietnam). It makes us who are used to modern drainage systems feel a bit better about predicaments such as this one.

Enjoy my walk to the market and my expedition back, below and here.

Up With The Sun Comes My Mood

Yes...its been 2 weeks. 2 weeks for me without taking pictures is like that fat kid without his cake. Speaking of, I've really been craving cake. Although, I have fallen in love with these amazing pastries at the shop right outside of the university. Enough about sugar...I digress.

Vietnam is everything and nothing of what I expected. I'm always cold, I currently am only teaching 6 hours a week and the amount of free time I have is mind-boggling. Going from a packed schedule to watching the 1st 2 seasons of True Blood in 5 days is a bit of a change. However with time, change becomes normalcy.

The normalcy that this immensely intriguing place brings is great people, cheap beer (cheap everything!) and the revelation that I somehow love being a teacher. Amid the ups and downs of this past month I am looking forward to all that is to come over the next 4 months and am determined to capture it all on film...starting now.

Enjoy my afternoon walk in the amazing DaLat spring weather below and here.