Apparently everyone in America knows that Hillary Clinton is in Hanoi because I got sent a whole bunch of emails yesterday with links to online newspaper stories. I knew that Hillary was gonna be here for two reasons: 1) I read it on CNN last week 2) One of my private students told me that his father was going to have a meeting with her on the 23rd -- yeah, his pops is pretty big time (although not as big time as my dad who met Bill Clinton in '92; some would say without my Dad Clinton couldn't have carried New Jersey...those "some" are my dad and, well, now me).
Anyway, here's my brush with Hillary story from yesterday. Since I knew that Hillary was in town, I wasn't surprised that the streets were LINED with police and army dudes yesterday morning. Seemingly ever guy with a green or tan uniform was standing by the side of the road around 7:30 AM. As I was driving, there was all of a sudden a frantic blowing of whistles by all the officials. I recognized this drill immediately since this is the capital and politicians are often heavily escorted across the city. My gut instinct told me that Hillary was about to pass me so I whipped off my sunglasses and pulled down my face mask. I thought I'd look as American as possible and give Hillary a big thumb's up and smile as she flew by me. After a few seconds the first police patrol car sped by me. Then another. And then another...and then another. Next in line was a luxury car with a red, white and blue flag attached to the antenna...
...but it wasn't our red, white and blue flag. It was North Koreas. Yeah, I got all excited and breathed in some extra exhaust just to see the delegates from North Korea. Out of all the politicians who this caravan could have been escorting, this was the one farthest in ideology from Hillary Clinton.
So yeah, sorry to disappoint everyone. Despite being perhaps one of the most popular American bloggers in Hanoi, I didn't get a meeting with Hillary. Although if you asked me, she should have met with me since she gave a speech about Human Rights and internet freedoms.
