Sai Gon. August 22, 2001
Feel sorry for me. I am using a 21600 bps connection (it takes approximately five minutes for one hotmail page to load), and I have six mosquito bites, one on the ball of my big toe. Ouch! The power went out early this morning (so imagine the heat I had to bear in the house without AC) and am recovering from jet lag. I went to work. I was happy to see that everyone was well at the office and even happier to see that I should be able to pass my work on to them.

It’s okay to be back. I’m looking forward to Jeff’s visit in September and a trip to Australia in January. It’s fucking humid. It’s RAINY season so it’s raining all the time and when it’s not, you’re wet from the humidity alone. It’s disgusting. My room felt drenched last night and the AC wasn’t ready to cope. Everything in my boxes were wet from the humidity.

Purposefully dressed “like an American,” I got through the international arrival line without bribing the sober fellow at the counter, and then proceeded through customs as if I did not speak a word of English. I had to carry each 70-pound box onto the x-ray myself while the airport officials sat on their green uniformed asses. The guy at the x-ray tried to pick a bribe with me, but the guy who had my paperwork responded with “she doesn’t speak vietnamese” and X-ray man waved me off. No one helped me with my luggage since people who are picking you up are NOT ALLOWED into the airport and the officials are useless. So my 95 pound back-packed self (hey, I gained 7 pounds) was left to push 140 lbs. with one hand on a cart with a shaky left-bound caster and a carry-on roller in my other hand. Of course, 100 pounds were mostly food & chocolate for people here (and then I have received complaints about not bringing other things!). I was thrilled to see aunt 10 and really wanted to see aunt 9 today, but haven’t had a chance.

The visor I bought is great. It’s especially good for browsing my vindigo downloads so I can feel like I’m in NYC or DC again. How sad is that? I must stop writing as my feet are asleep from being curled underneath me to prevent further bug biting.

Later.
H.