Week 1: Living Out of Suitcases

Week 1: Living Out of Suitcases

At 10 PM, I finally landed in Saigon's Tan Son Nhat Airport, where my cousins picked me up.

I took my first motorbike ride alone (in over a year) through the streets of Saigon. I keep forgetting the cardinal traffic rule in Vietnam: Go with the flow and make no sudden movements. Nearly collided head first with a guy who ran the red light and insisted on plowing through the already dense traffic. Must be more careful driving around Vietnam without a helmet.

Still jetlagged, I had dinner with my cousins on Dad's side. My cousin Nhien is the Chief Executive Officer in charge of Corporate Accounts at huge foreign bank in Saigon, and his fiancee Lan worked in marketing for Unilever. My cousin Hieu from the States was also in town with his girlfriend. I was the only single person hanging out with 2 couples. Somehow, I have a vague feeling that I should start getting accustomed to that...

After three days in Saigon, I flew to Hanoi with NA, a fellow Berkeley grad student. The limit on Vietnam Airlines was 20 kilos (a ridiculously low limit), but thanks to my friend's cousin I was able to carry my 300 pounds of stuff (it really helps to know peeps!). Kat picked us up at the airport. She looked great-- I didn't realize it had been more than a year since I last saw her.

I met my sister's significant other on Saturday. NA asked him what he did in Vietnam. He replied, "I work at an NGO... And I love Kat." Some girls have all the luck.

NA and I met up with MB, another Berkeley grad student. She was in Vietnam on a language program, and decided to stay a bit longer after it ended. Went out for a girls' night out in Hanoi, which ended with the three of us crammed onto my motorbike. I still didn't know my way around Hanoi yet, so we got completely lost at 1 in the morning. (This is why I love MB and NA--they totally trusted that I could get them back safely. Thanks, girls!) I've posted a picture here of MB and I driving on my motorbike (MB's arm wasn't long enough to get NA in the pic too.)

We went to a Vietnamese death metal concert. No joke. The grad student in me wants to look at this sociologically, and read into it all sorts of repressed desire for alterity. However, it was just good cheesy fun.

I felt a little forlorn yesterday. NA just left for Saigon, and I moved out of my comfortable hotel and into my sister's small studio. She was moving into her new house, so stuff was strewn everywhere, I felt a really unsettled. I was really sick of having to open my tighly-packed suitcases for every little thing, and wanted to be settled. NOW. I guess that's what happens when one has an established routine--its hard to break it, even only for a few days. The fact that I am really missing my proper skincare routine, smelly candles, hot showers, and internet ties into a larger anxiety over this upcoming year. When the near future seems uncertain, I take comfort in controlling the smaller aspects of my life. Now, it seems I barely even have that...

Helped Kat move into a great house on the West Lake. Unfortunately, it looks like Kat and I won't be living together--the house isn't big enough, and she's using the top floor as her lacquer studio. With all the people coming in and out of the house, I won't get the peace and quiet I need to read 15 years of colonial newspapers. I also found that I was allergic to the materials Kat uses in her lacquer painting. Now I have to look for a place, something I didn't anticipate. Will start looking for a place on Monday.