Is Everybody Happy
Aw man I’m missing rugby so much.
Been creeping on the group chat from my winter rugby trip, they’re planning on meeting up and playing tournaments together. All I’m doing is sitting on my bean bag chair trying not to eat an entire bag of Wavy Lays in one sitting.
Not saying Vietnam isn’t great. I even got to have more than one Halloween.
So much has happened since I arrived in Da Nang. It’s hard for me to put all of it into words. So I won’t really try. I had Covid hit close, not as close as a most people, but they did erect a “scary” barrier in our neighborhood. We were just on the outside of it and we, therefore, became pretty good friends with guards. They left at 9pm btw, cuz you know that Covid stops at night.
I went to Hanoi, and the surrounding areas in July. Saw some cool stuff, may have driven 7 hours to a waterfall that turned out to be, alright. Then I landed back in Da Nang right before the, 7 week, lockdown. I did a really good job of staying busy at first; studying Vietnamese, writing, keeping mostly whole foods, working out every day. Then the last two week I fell the F off. I more or less let my motivation trickle down to nothing. Probably had something to do with me getting fired and having to reevaluate my entire life situation.
I’ve been having schadenfreude hearing stories about how my old school is struggling. Apparently firing three returning teachers wasn’t a great idea. There are rumors that the new teachers want to leave. If they only knew that we understood the bullshit and would have accepted it happily for a paycheck. Truly, I miss being in the classroom, and my students, even if they use questionably analogies.
Is it strange that typhoons in the fall make me homesick? Lots of things have been making me feel homesick recently. I also have like 50 different homes to be sick for. I miss Richmond, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Cambodia, Chiang Mai, even Leeds a bit. But none of those places are the same as when I was there. Lots of people have left, moved on. That’s kind of why I’ve been kicking myself for not keeping better records, taking more pictures, spending more time outside of my room.
The two months of rain seem to be coming to an end, thank you sweet baby Jesus. I did manage to injure my foot last week so I won’t be at the beach til I get those stitches out. Maybe it’s a sign, I’m not sure what kind of sign or what is means or who it’s from but I guess I should accept it. Not like I really have a choice.
So I’ll be hanging out in coffee shops for a little bit longer. There are definitely worse ways to spend time. I never thought Vietnam would be my home for, realistically, over a year. I do feel lucky to have ended up here, but for real; This year/my time here reminds me of being on a 15 hour flight. The first three hours are alright, you’re just getting comfortable, then maybe you get a snack, take a nap, turn on a movie. Maybe it’s even a movie that you’ve been meaning to see but couldn’t find the time. Hour 7 goes by, you’ve woken up from a nap but, hey, it’s meal time, another glass of red wine another movie and you’re still cruising. Then hour 12 hits and you’re just sitting in your seat grabbing your knees, with your head pressed against the tray table, murmuring “get me the fuck off this plane”.