Skype

(PICTURE: Huyen in her traditional Vietnamese pajamas skyping with me.)

One night in Wildwood my father let out a frustrated plea: "Why don't you come home already?"

As great as my parents have been about me living abroad, they obviously wish I was closer to home. I have no doubt it is tough on them but I also know they want me to do what makes me happy.

Last night -- in an attempt to make things slightly easier on them this year -- I downloaded Skype and installed a digital camera on their computer. I know it's not the same as me being home, but being able to see me in their home whenever they want, will definitely make things a little easier.
Hearing someone's voice is comforting but seeing their face is a thousand times better.

My Summer Reading List

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been on a reading tear. Here's the books I finished the last ten days:

The books:
The Nuclear Age by Tim O'Brien. O'Brien is my favorite author who writes about Vietnam.
To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck is my favorite author.
After Dark and Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami. Murakami is perhaps the most well known modern Japanese writer. These were my 2nd and 3rd books I've read of his.
King, Queen, Knave by Nabokov. I've always wanted to read Nabokov and this one had the catchiest title.
Burr by Gore Vidal. My buddy Seth lent me this book and it was pretty great.

That said, I've now got no books left on my reading list. Does anyone have any suggestions? LH, if you're still reading I'm hoping for some picks from you. You had suggested some a while ago but I can't seem to find the blogs were you made those comments. I'd love to read more books on Vietnam and Japan.

Wildwood

You may have noticed that I slightly slacked off on my blog last week. I have a good excuse though -- I was spending quality family time in Wildwood, New Jersey.

As a child, my family would go down to Wildwood, New Jersey seemingly every summer. A few years ago -- for my Dad's 60th birthday -- we took our first trip back there after probably a decade. We had such a good time that we decided to do it again this year.

My brother found an amazing condo for rent and we booked it from Sunday to Sunday. It was great spending so much time with my family especially since I'm leaving for Asia again in a couple of weeks. I've seen my niece Lilah a bunch of times since I've been home but the two of us didn't really bond until this weekend. After a week of playing with her she definitely recognizes me now and smiles when she sees me. In fact, one morning I went for a bike ride with Hannah and happened to bump into my parents, Zev, Kathy and Lilah on the boardwalk. When I was about ten feet away Lilah saw me and started to smile and wave. It made me feel pretty good...I just hope she recognizes me next year!

Some highlights from the week included:
1. Destroying my father in backgammon! The student has become the master.
2. Getting my first ever Bingo (using all seven letters) in Scrabble. My mother won 2 games and my sister and I each won one (although I think my sister cheated when she won).
3. Giving Lilah "victory laps" whenever I would win in any game. Basically I would lift her up and run her around the apartment. She loved it!
4. Tons of beach time with Hannah.
5. Lots of R&R. After running around this country for nearly two months it felt good to do nothing. In fact, I read 4 1/2 books in 7 days. I can't remember the last time I was able to read so much.
6. Great meals every night. The majority were grilled by my mom.
7. Eating more ice cream than I have in a year and a half. If you go to Wildwood get a Duffers small ice cream. It's gigantic.
8. Seeing my family for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day...

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.