Best Laid Plans

I had the day off from work yesterday, and I had a grand plan to take my camera out and walk across the city, taking photos and sampling new street foods along the way. I drove to work to park my bike in the garage, and headed for the meat and produce market behind the school. I wandered through the stalls looking at the multitude of colorful fruits and vegetables; trying to match the animal to the many cuts of raw meat up for sale. Since it was quite dark in the market I didn't bust my camera out quite yet. Instead, I walked across the street to "fabric road," which is exactly as it sounds. Denim, khaki, cotton, jersey, synthetic; plaid, floral, pinstriped, polka dotted; you get the idea. Of course I'm eager to capture this array of color and pattern in digital form, so out the camera comes and... the battery is dead. Whaaaaaaaa? My photo excursion turned into a day of wandering around the city with a heavy-ass, unusable camera in my bag, tortured by a little voice in my head whispering, "Well that would have been a cool photo..." Will have to charge the battery and try again!

On the flip side, I woke up in a great mood this morning and decided to have a leisurely day of running errands and doing art projects until I go to work later tonight. I drove to the Tay Ho neighborhood to browse its selection of convenience stores stocking hard to find Western goods. Ooooh! Fruit by the Foot! Nutella! Old Spice deodorant! (Lots of high-end Western style businesses, cafes, and restaurants in Tay Ho; it caters to the upper-class set of Westerners living in Vietnam working for multi-national companies, foreign governments and embassies, etc.) The proprietor of Yuki's translated the yogurt labels for me so I could figure out which one didn't have any added sugar, score! Will be adding "không đường" to my ever-expanding Vietnamese vocabulary.

The vocabulary I'm most eager to acquire has to do with food: I want to know what I'm eating! When it comes to trying new foods, I've found that I'm adventurous when I'm with other people who can offer suggestions or translate the menu; eating with my students the other day I tried snails and fertilized duck eggs - would not have done that by myself! There's something comforting in a friend saying, "Come on, try it, I think you'll like it!" Or maybe it's a peer-pressure thing. But often when I'm by myself I chicken out - I can't translate the menu, so I don't know what to order; I'm afraid of ordering something gross and having to eat it anyways to save face; I stick to the "tried-and-true" items I've had before and know are good. So this morning, as I drove down the street and saw groups of Vietnamese people enjoying their meals, I thought, "Fuck it. Time to be brave. You will try something new. You will pick a place, sit down, and eat whatever they are serving. You will try something new, all by yourself!" And what do you know. It was really good. Bun (noodles) with deep-fried tofu, dipped in shrimp sauce, with a side of nem (deep fried spring rolls filled with meat of some kind) makes a great breakfast. The lady running the place was really nice. Another patron graciously offered me a cigarette. The meal cost $1. Overall a great success!

Now off to a neighborhood cafe for some strong coffee, people watching, and reading. Have an idea for an art project later that will be like a grown-up version of cutting snowflakes out of folded paper. This is my life now. How did this happen???