Blogger never fails

Wow, well today I finished three weeks of classes and then lost it a little but now I am okay. I guess that is to be expected I just wish I had done it a little differently and I don't have a really good excuse. Granted, I have had a headache for the past two days but I probably would have done it anyways. Three weeks with no alone time or privacy can do it to you. I keep thinking of the book 5 minutes peace. My roommate is a sweetie but everyone needs alone time sometimes and growing up I always escaped to my room. Don't know what to do when I can't do that. Even when you live in a house you can still do that.

In the sorority house I lived with the same girl for 2 and a half years and it worked out pretty well but we both had our escape places. She was a night owl and I was a morning person. I escaped to the basement and studied and I don't know where she went but she didn't usually stay up late at night in our room and if she did she was quiet.
I have to start writing lesson plans and I teach alone on Monday not sure how I am going to write one alone if I can't be 100% alone. Guess I'll figure something out. The other ones we team teach so I don't know if that is better or worse haven't made up my mind I am still a bit nervous.

So today after class I just had to get away. I walked to the park. I was there ummm...4 hours reading and talking to foriegners who handed me their babies asked me to tutor them and oh what not..oh yeah the common questions how much do you weigh in kilos? and are you single or married? I am still in the process of understanding their customs sometimes? I was also confused b/c a friend told me you had to pay to get in bt you didn't so I ended up paying some lady who scammed me for 2 dong to weigh me and measure me b/c I thought how much you weighed depended upon how much you had to pay to get in? I was so confused!

On top of this my day gets better. Those of you who know me know I have the best sense of direction. Coming home I got a bit turned around so a foreigner offered me a ride. At first I was hesitatant but then he said free so I thought sure why not. Well on his motorbike he pulls over in the middle of the road and asks to see the map and wants to know where I am staying I am frantically looking for the card which I am terrified I didn't pack b/c I don't think he knows where he is going and I finally find it he moves my arms tighter around him. He tells me he speaks "small English. " I kindly correct him "Oh very little English" Then he pulls over again in the middle of the road to look at the map. I am a little nervous. He stops the motorbike leaving me stranded with his bike in the middle of the road and goes back to get some glasses which I don't even think are his. By now I know where I am. We are at the other end of the street on the opposite side from where I began but I walk home. He trys to convince me to take his helmet but I am too weirded out at this point. Thankfully I made it home.

I wanted to check my e-mail and facebook but neither would work, sometimes the internet doesn't even work, but blogger would! Yeah...I would like to say that it is ok for everyone to lose it sometimes but it is not...I gotta get that temper under control at least it was this week and not next..as long as I finish my test before Sunday I should be good to go...We'll just have to see that and laundry...boo I am almost out of clothes..not that I have that many anymore.

Jowzers and Photocopy Stores

Well, so I did not write immediately I apologize. Class has kept me pretty busy. That and adjusting mentally and physically yes I did say physically. So I ate these Chinese things Friday called Jowzers. I think that is how they are spelled? They were pretty amazing, so I ate a ton and it made me so sick. It wasn't until yesterday that my stomach finally began to recover four days later. Someone who has been overseas for sometime told me to get used to it that their stomach is upset like that at least once a month for a whole week so I thought well great! The food was kind of like ravolli but not I don't even know how to describe it. I have been pretty adventourous I even used the tap water for tea but I boiled it twice. I figure I am going to be over here for awhile I mine as well get used to it.
Oh and funny story I got to explore a lot of Hanoi a couple of days ago looking for a photo shop that happened to be a lot closer than I thought. Suprise! Me wander, never. Two hours of exploration and 27 photocopy stores later I finally printed some pictures off. I learned a lot that day but I might save some of that advice for later.

1st Birthday of the Asia Year

Wow I don't even know where to begin. Yesterday was someone on team Laos b-day and we went out to Pho 24. He turned 33. We afterwards went out for ice cream and when it started to rain another guy so graciously bought us raincoats. It was crazy everyone was taking pictures. Never in one week have I done or been so many places. It was fun though. It is crazy to think how I have become like a family with those in the organization I will be working with. You share so many things and this is only the beginning.
For those of you who know me best you know I love order and thrive on certain types of it. I have lots of oddities. My closest friend is striving to break me of too much structure but I think a little is okay.He is teaching me a balance. I have decided to keep a journal that is a list of random things for my newsletter and some for my blog just for the heck of it.
1. Bathtubs are really high in our hotel. You must have to climb on the toilet or something if your Asian to get in and then you have to sit in them and take a shower because there is no drain plug.
2. The U.S. dollar has dropped 27% in Vietnam over the past year
3.If you touch the bathtub handle to pull yourself up or while taking a bath/shower you will burn yourself.
4. Most hotels are gov't owned but not all.( Ours is)
5. If a building is yellow and green it is probably a gov't building

Thats all for now...