Thursday night; 8:55PM March 15, 2001.
Sai Gon. Tonight a Vietnamese painter (from Stockholm) came by to paint Co Vy’s picture – Co Vy is my youngest uncle’s wife. It’s really fascinating to watch portraiture painting. The aunts and artist are all downstairs eating banh xeo, one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. Xeo means “sizzle” and it’s a mung bean pancake that is filled with bean sprouts, mung beans, shrimp, onions and lots of other good veggies. I already ate my fill, and went off to pack for tomorrow – I get to go to Phan Thiet with mom and two aunts, to their hometown. It’s by the beach and there are red sand dunes out there. I’m hoping I’ll be able to wake up at 5 a.m. to get some good pictures. We’ll be there for three days (until Sunday afternoon), and I’ll try to scan in a few good shots to share.

Work has been incredibly busy, but we went to print and the books came out tonight. The printers did a lousy job, there are a million errors, but that is what happens when 50% of the book is rearranged two days after deadline, and the printers are only given 4 days to produce an 80 page book. Is there really enough time for the ink to dry?

There is a knocking outside the window. It’s the sound of mi go – knocking noodles. There are kids who walk around neighborhoods knocking a wooden stick to a bowl of some sort – with a very distinct tone – and they go on until someone pulls them aside or hollers at them to fetch a bowl of noodles. They take off in the direction they came and come back with a hot bowl for the buyer. I think it costs around $2000VND (12 cents) for a bowl of mi go.

I’m all right; everything is good, I’ve got cash in my pocket and food in my tummy. I leave for the beach tomorrow. Is there anything else a girl really needs?