Posts

All Good Things Take Time

-
Image
 Salut, I think the title has been my thesis for the last month or so. I think I was surprised by the whirlwind that orientation felt like, only to experience huge whiplash upon my arrival in the province. The first few days I was here, Chi Anh told me that all good things take time. She meant it in many ways: learning Vietnamese, connecting with teachers and students, becoming familiar with the community and the city. The hardest part, and often the most strenuous step, is the first one and the beginning. ​ I finally got a new e-bike. One much smaller than the one they gave me at first, which is all in all good because the first was a bit of a safety hazard. Mr. Hoan says it is small, and I am small, so therefore it all works out. Ms. Trang said there are women out there in Vietnam who are shorter than me and manage to ride those big e-bikes. Touché, I guess. It is slower than the other one they lent me, but I am okay with that; I would rather be safe with a smaller, more manageab...
Post a Comment
Read more

Coming Home

-
Image
Salut, I have called many places home in my life. I wrote these words on our cohort Face Book, cute page-long intros we each made about ourselves before we set foot in Vietnam. I was the last person to make mine; sorry, Andy, I am bad at using Canva, and I kind of messed up the spacing. Anyway, how do I summarize myself into words? Most succinctly, I say that, that home is a traveling place and rarely ever a fixed point. It moves with me, and though I have learned that home can be a person, if you find the right one, for much of my life it comes and goes. I called Nam Dinh home for a short while, and then I called Midland home, then the Woodlands, then Lekki for 4 years, then the Woodlands again, then Austin for 3 years, Rome for a short while, Bishkek and my village there, Jalal-Abad for 2 years, Washington DC for the last year, Hanoi for a few weeks, and now Lang Son until the next summer. My life has existed in suitcases and a passport, a wallet and phone, and not much else. When li...
Post a Comment
Read more