They told me to get down and shut up

So I sort of got the hang of things, though I still tend to get ripped off terribly by taxis. I have found good places to eat that charge reasonable prices, and have instigated a boycott on the restaurant that ripped me off. Hahaha. They probably won't notice. The pho here is disappointing. Apparently, the pho we eat in the States is from south Vietnam, and it's far superior. The pho here consists only of noodles, so-so tofu and cilantro. No herbs or bean sprouts, and no tofu sandwiches with chili sauce. But the coffee and pastries have been fantastic. Thanks French imperialists! At least something good came of your aggressive, violent history.

Luckily, I met up with a girl I used to know at UPS who grew up here and she's been able to show me all the good spots and introduce me to some local expats. The other night we went to this uber-classy hotel for a reception with UPS president Ron Thomas, and it was splendid. I stuffed my face with fruit tarts and salmon wraps. Afterwards I went out with a group of friends for mojitos at this reggae bar and had some good conversations, but then this creepy German man kept hitting on me and I got uncomfortable and went home. Those Germans are way too confident and persistent sometimes. He reminded me of the German man in Thailand who molested my feet when I was pretending to sleep on the bus in order to avoid talking to him. I've got to work on my assertiveness; I've been slacking since Italy.

I don't really know where to get mail now, I could have had it sent to the Hilton but it's too late now. If you want to send me something, I suppose you could send it to James. Maybe I'll post his address later, but I don't have it on me right now.

Our stint in Vietnam is ridiculously short. We only have this one week of class, and then Christmas, then we go on break and move on. And they've pretty much packed our days with field trips and classes, so I don't have a lot of time to hang out. It's too bad because there's so much to see here. So much life.

I'm really tired of going to temples. I try to force myself to look interested, but we've been to soooo many that they are all starting to look the same. I can't believe we have to take ANOTHER Buddhism class on top of the one we just finished, plus a Buddhist art class in which we will be looking at temples for ten days straight in the hot sun. There are so many things I would rather spend time and money on. Why can't we study dance, performance art, agriculture, women's studies or something cool like that? Even Hinduism would be a nice break, though I'd rather just study secular subjects. I shouldn't be complaining, and I'm always glad to be here. I guess it's just like going to churches in Italy, it's just something you have to do.