There are more signs of Christmas every year in Vietnam. More store windows are decorated and even little coffee shops and some of my creepy neighbors have lights hanging. A few have even put up Christmas trees. There's also much more traffic and even more stupid motorbike riders on the road -- people slowing down and pointing at lights and stuff with no brake lights, no lights at night, no signal, no clue. Bah humbug on the motorbikes. In the U.S., the auto traffic and crowds swell around the holidays, so it's pretty much the same everywhere, except in places like Iran and North Korea, I guess.
I put up and decorated our little artificial tree. It's artificial because I care about the environment and I'm lazy. I also wrapped a few presents. Phuong is absorbed in Joanna, and she doesn't fully understand the Christmas spirit thing. Maybe it's the heat. Her family doesn't do the tree or presents or fruitcake (thank God). This means I give presents but no one gives me anything. We don't open anything together. I give them presents and they take them home without opening. But it's better to give than ... oh, you know the drill. Phuong is Christian, but the whole holiday is kind of lost on her and her family. That's a sigh of relief you heard, not complaining. New Year's is even more obscure here because of Tet. So, a festive time of year in my culture is a growing economic phenomena here, but not much more at the moment. Besides, the Vietnamese are more pragmatic than sentimental.
Joanna is a daily joy for me. She wakes up every day at 4:45 a.m., and I'm right there with her. I've been waking up at 3 a.m. since returning from the U.S. The first thing Joanna does is smile, and the second is poop. After cleanup, we'll play for half an hour. She's about 5 1/2 months old and she crawls, rolls every which way, and doesn't care if she falls off the bed. We don't let that happen. Her smile and laugh are infectious, and when she starts giggling, I start giggling, too. It's wonderful. Phuong is more dedicated than ever to Joanna's well-being, if that's possible, and Phuong and Joanna are the joy of my life.
My daily walk is very good because the weather is "cool" -- about 90 with grueling humidity -- and the people that I always see smile and wave at me. Cheerful people make me cheerful these days. They also make me feel bad for being a grumpy complainer for so many years. My waitress at Thuy Nga coffee shop is one of the nicest girls in the world. She's always smiling and understands my order -- hot coffee with milk and a pitcher of iced tea. I always leave a tip and she's always appreciative. Some waitresses here don't understand the concept of tipping, which is why a lot of foreigners come here. The rude ones screw up their faces when you try to tip and look at their co-workers so they can laugh at you together. OK, no tip for you. I don't like being laughed at, even when it's over something innocuous like tipping. Must be an American thing.
I returned to the classroom this week, and my first class was awesome. I hope that trend continues. I'm optimistic classes will be cool because I got some needed time off when I came to the United States. The time away helped as well because it made me more appreciative of what I have in life.
A quick shout-out to the many, many Russians who are reading my blog. Since I have no money, they can hack me all they want. And I'm still waiting for Donald's check.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
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