Things I live for in Viet Nam

1) Eating a breakfast of either sticky rice with dried garlic and dried shredded pork or fresh French bread with a fried egg and sliced cucumbers slipped in the center, both of which Me Lien buys from venders on our street in the morning

2) Squeezing by motor bikes and cars at a stop light on my trusty blue bicycle, which constantly surprises me with its amazing balancing and maneuvering abilities

3) Checking my email in the morning and anticipating messages from home, where it is then bed time, so everyone has just sent their evening emails

4) Having moments of clarity where I (think I) understand clearly what my Vietnamese co-worker wants to communicate and I can fit it into professional sounding English

5) Talking in Vietnamese at lunch time and realizing that I can say more than last week

6) NAP TIME! Always a highlight. Depending on the day, sometimes the highlight.

7) Upon waking, savoring a cup of strong Vietnamese coffee with sweetened condensed milk or of green tea with the leaves floating free in the water

8) Laughing with Hannah, Ana and Co Giang (our Vietnamese teacher) in language class as we struggle to talk in Vietnamese about our lives and the sense of achievement when we’re understood and then again the hilarity of the verbal simplicity we’re forced into for lack of bigger, better words

9) Arriving home from work/school, getting a glass of water, some fruit or a cookie or some home-made yoghurt from the fridge and sitting down at the table with Me Lien to ask about her day and try to tell her about mine

10) Going upstairs to change clothes and then laying on my bed in front of the fan, closing my eyes and taking some deep breaths to decompress from the day and particularly the bike ride home in heavy traffic

11) Sitting at the kitchen table pealing and chopping cucumbers (my latest cooking specialty, though I do also still enjoy the tofu frying) while Me Lien moves about the kitchen performing various other culinary acrobatics

12) Saying “Chao Phuong!” when she (my sister) arrives home from university class around 6pm and always being surprised by her varying daily moods – sometimes singing a song about “Rosie Rosie Rosie!” and doing a little dance of greeting, sometimes lamenting her long and tiring day and bickering with her mother. In any case, I’m always happy to see her!

13) Following dinner, calling up the stairs, “Phuong oi! Rua bat!” (Dear Phuong! Wash dishes!) to the great amusement of my parents. (Phuong usually finishes eating quickly and goes to prepare to go out with her boyfriend for the evening.) And until she comes down to help, pretending to be deathly fatigued as I attempt to wash the dishes without her help. Also very funny to Me Lien and Ba Minh.

14) In the evening, sometimes family members will come over to sit around the kitchen table and talk and laugh and eat fruit. If I’m home, I usually join them for a bit, which always ends of being an entertaining experience for all involved, as I attempt to answer questions about Vietnamese food I think is “ngon lam” (very delicious), my “ban trai My” (American boyfriend), what dress I will wear to the upcoming wedding (it’s looking like it will be the “vay den” – black dress) and everything in between.

15) Doing yoga every night before bed and looking at the moon from our open flat roof

16) Laying down in the quiet, air-conditioned (shh, don’t tell the suffering service worker police!) bedroom I share with Phuong and closing my eyes on the day