We had to get up a little earlier today to go to the consulate, which wasn't the best timing becasue some of us had gotten very little sleep the night before. Staying up last night was a blast, but resulted in some pretty impressive bags under our eyes as we walked through the consulate's security check. We met with a woman named Sunshine (who pleasantly lived up to her name), who told us how the consulate works and gave us some information I probably shouldn't repeat here. After our briefing we headed straight to language class. We played a really amusing game to practice directions in which one person was blindfolded and the other had to guide them in Vietnamese. The exercise itself went alright but the really funny part was when our instructor showed me the destination I was to direct Ming to. It was the men's room and in the process of showing me, she inadvertently opened the door on a guy (thank God for the barrier or we would have gotten more of a show than we'd bargained for). We ran back down the hall giggling like a couple of embarassed school girls.
Tonight Rylan was holding an open house at his new apartment and we all wanted to pitch in and get him a housewarming gift. We decided a nice teaset would be perfect so Van Anh, Hieu, Alex, and I set out on motorbikes to a shop they knew of. However, we soon discovered it was a ritzy, super-expensive store with imported china that wasn't at all what we were looking for. So we set out to find another place, which turned out to be a huge fiasco. We started out just driving around looking for any store that might sell teasets. That, however was a complete failure. Our next attempt was a place I'd seen when we took a tour of the city our first day. I knew we were on the right street but I must have missed it because we went up and down the street without finding it - failure number two (mostly on my part I'm afraid). We pulled off to the side fo the road so I could call the others to see if they had a better idea of where we should go. Of course, as soon as I placed the call, it started pouring. I tried to hide under the back of Van Anh's poncho (very difficult to do with a helmet on), but I still got soaked. They didn't have a much better idea than I did so we just went back to the guesthouse in the rain. So that whole venture turned out to be a series of mishaps, ending with us returning empty-handed. But not to worry, we looked up a better place online and Van Anh went out later and got a beautiful set.
During that time, the rest of us went to the Little Rose Shelter where Molly and Kendra are volunteering. The shelter serves as a home to young girls who have been or are at risk of sexual abuse. Some of th girls were in the courtyard when we walked in, just hanging out. They were all so young and so beautiful, it was painful to think of such horrible things happening to them. Inside, the director of the center gave a talk on sexual abuse around the world. It struck me that she kept smiling when she talked to us. I suppose it was just Vietnamese hospitality or she was trying not to depress us. Despite her best efforts, we were still depressed (with good reason if you ask me). This is a serious, heavy topic that it's justified to get upset over.
When we got back, we were forced to make an emotional one-eighty, because we were leaving right away for Rylan's housewarming party. The house was even more beautiful than the last time I saw it, now that everything was unpacked and sparkly clean. The view from the balcony was an entirely new one at nightas twinkling colored lights on the masts of the boats reflected off the Saigon River. Rylan's other guests were a bunch of expats that were very interesting to talk to. One of the Brits carried around a fake rat in his pocket (just for kicks) and caused quite a disturbance by lanching it across the room into a girls lap. After the comotion subsided, I talked with many of the expats about their experiences living in Vietnam and i seems many of them felt the same as me on their first visit to Vietnam. It's all very new and exotic, but in some way living here just feels natural. Who knows, maybe some day I'll be labeled an expat.
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