Japan

(PICTURE: Inside that envelope is my contract to work in Japan.)

It's official -- I'm going to Japan. After a long application process, I was recently accepted into the Westgate University Program. I will be spending three months in Japan teaching at a university. I won't know exactly where I'll be placed until a month before I start but I have requested to be placed in the countryside or a small city. As exciting as I'm sure Tokyo is, the thought of being somewhere a little off the beaten path is more alluring to me.

Everyone keeps asking me if Huyen will be coming with me. Sadly, she will not be. However, hopefully she'll be able to come visit at some point. As much as I would love for her to come with me, I realize she has her career in Vietnam to think about. After this stint though, I'll be going back to Hanoi for six months before I head to South Africa for the World Cup. Yup, it's gonna be another crazy year!

Last Week To Donate

This is the last week to donate for Habitat For Humanity! Next Tuesday I'm transferring all the money to Habitat Vietnam. So far I've collected $2,254 from about seventy different people!

I've been in touch with the Habitat people in Ho Chi Minh City and will be joining a home build on September 14th. I'm hoping Huyen will be able to come with me but it depends on her work schedule.

Thanks again to everyone who has donated! If you'd still like to donate you can do it on paypal by putting in my email address: [REDACTED]

Beaches

(PICTURE: Cat Ba beach in Vietnam. Notice how narrow the beach is.)

For the past few days I've been down in Wildwood, New Jersey enjoying beach and family time. One thing that struck me in LA and now in New Jersey is the difference between American and Vietnamese beaches. Here's just a couple of differences:

1. The beaches in America are much deeper than Vietnamese beaches. To go from the boardwalk to the water is probably 100 yards in both Santa Monica and Wildwood. In Vietnam the narrowest beach I ever went to was about 2 yards in Mui Ne. In Hoi An and Da Nang -- the deepest beaches I went to -- it was about 40 yards.

2. Sunbathers. Vietnamese people don't sunbathe. In fact, you're lucky to find Vietnamese people outside during the strongest hours of the sun. In America people worship the sun.

3. Bathing suits. Vietnamese people, in general, are much more conservative than Americans. 90% of women in Vietnam wouldn't be caught dead wearing a bikini in public. In fact, whenever I would teach the word bikini all the adults in my classes would always laugh.

4. Boardwalks/Piers. In America it seems that at every big beach there is a boardwalk or pier. In 'Nam there's no equivalent.

Happy Friday! I hope everyone gets to enjoy some sand and ocean this weekend!

Blast From The Past

(PICTURE: Huyen and her friend Trang, the girl who passed out fliers with her at Hanoi Airport.)

If you recall, the first day I met Huyen is the day that my house was robbed by ninjas. Unfortunately my camera was stolen that night with pictures I had of Huyen. I've regretted for a while that I lost pictures of Huyen from the first day I ever knew her...well, yesterday my friend Steve sent me pictures he had taken that day. Here they are:



(PICTURE: Huyen, her sister and Trang. Huyen brought along her sister to my party for added protection from the scary foreigners.)


(PICTURE: Huyen with my friend Devin. I met Huyen because I went to the airport to pick up Devin.)














I really cherish these pictures. I think it's pretty cool to have photos girlfriend/fiance/wife from the first day you met them. I also think it's pretty hilarious that Huyen is wearing a little make-up. In the year+ I was with her in Hanoi she only wore make-up three times -- this being one of them.

California

I love California. As an outdoorsy person, how can you possibly beat mountains and beaches? Well, you can't. My lack of blogging (and picture taking) this past week meant one thing -- I was having a great time.

I left Santa Monica 1 year, 6 months and 7 days ago. The one thing people kept saying is, "I can't believe it's been that long." It has truly felt like five or six months. While in LA I got to catch up with nearly all my friends, while also experiencing LA the way one always should -- with bike rides, hikes, swims and plenty of beach time.

Here's a little photo montage of my ten days out west...

Can I Take Your Temperature?

Two friends of mine (names withheld in case the Chinese government reads my blog) were hired to work at an English summer camp in China. They arrived in Shanghai the other day and were greeted by this:

Chinese health inspectors came on to their flight wearing HAZMAT-ish suits and took everyone's temperature to check for swine flu. What you can't see is the "thermometer." I was told by my friend that the thermometers were shaped like guns and that they were placed on their foreheads. Nothing like having a gun held up to your head by men in HAZMAT suits after a 10+ hour flight.

Reverse Culture Shock #8

Spending time in Los Angeles this week has me realizing the difference in air quality between America and Vietnam. Brace yourself for this: Los Angeles' air is exponentially cleaner than Hanoi's air. Yup, I said it. America's most famous smog city has waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cleaner air than Hanoi.

I love Vietnam (and Asia in general) but the country needs to do something about the air pollution ASAP.