Book of Days…

A quick update because I haven’t much time before I have to catch a domestic plane to Hanoi. Sorry for no pictures but I have not been able to get a stable upload with these computers and I left my laptop for safekeeping. A quick review of stuff I’ve done. details to follow.

-Visited home in Tay Ninh, rural area about 100km out of Saigon, known to be the center of Caodai’ism, which worships 3 saints, one of which is Victor Hugo (yes, the author <_<;;;). Dan did: got used to cold showers! Gambled during Chinese new Year! Attended beautiful wedding (really!!)

- 2 hour car trip to Saigon, home to hotels with warm water (thank god), but more importantly Tet Festivals, the chinese new year celebration. Dan did: Got lost in crowds of thousands celebrating! Shopped for super cheap souvenirs! (basically anything you can manufacture in sweatshops could be bought here for pennies <_<). Rode an elephant!! :O

-8 hour bus trip (we rented a 32-passenger bus!!) to Nha Trang, a place known for beautiful island hopping and crystal clear pebble beaches.  Dan did: Jetski’ing!  Parasailing! Sailed in a mini boat the size of a big teacup! Drank …fresh crab blood + whiskey <_<;;!  :O~

-6 hour bus trip to Da Lat, known for luscious mountains, beautiful fields, amazing arrays of flowers and mild weather (heaven, compared to the humid weather in Saigon). Dan did: Jumped into field of flowers! <_<; (more like fell..) Rode horseback down the riverbed creek!

-4 hour car trip to Vinh Tau, home to another wedding (cute bride!!) and also huge shallow beaches. Dan did: swim super far out of shore and still stood! <_<; And of course partied at the wedding!

-more to come… 

ive been very busy with my new classes and work. the first week of the school is always hectic, but this semester is very much so due to the fact that i started a new job at japanese garden and at the same time i am trying to start my own study program. ive been running around the campus everyday trying to get my paper work signed so that i can take some classes offered only for certain majors. but it seems that i will be a very solid semester (its probably because i just started but hey, hush!). its nice to be busy with things that i think i should be busy with. i feel like im putting lots of work on what is supposed to be done and that makes me feel good.

after i got back to the dorm, my pc started acting weird again like shutting himself all of a sudden and stuff, but i think i figured it out. so the only problem left is the keyboard…but i can live with that, i guess. i still have access to the computers on campus so im not that worried about it yet.

now, i think i should go take a shower, and should get back to study.

tomorrow i will be having a first meeting with international student association -isa-. we will be throwing a party for the new comers this comming wed at the balling center. that will be fun!

nitynite~

andy lost in 4 to baghdatis. sorry if i have missspelled his name…i knew marcos was a good player because i remember him from a slam (either AO or USO) match against roger a couple years ago. if im not mistaken, he was the only guy to rip off a set from the express. i really liked him because he played games with lots of smile that showed you how much fun he had out there. that was very remarkable to me personally especially due to the fact that he had never played in the center court before nor had played world no 1. yet he was able to let himself have fun instead of get all tightened up. its nice to see you again in a big match and win it…but please dont do that to andy again -人-

after having eaten lots of and lots of and lots of (please repeat that endlessly) my mom’s japanese food, i guess my stomachs gotten spoiled so much that it doesnt like greasy american food anymore at all.

i moved back to the dorm tonight, but some of my friends even thought id had lost some weight… which cannot be true, never, because "lots of" has to be repeated endlessly. i think its because my hair got really thiner which helps me look skinner or something…i dont know. anyhow, im not feeling awesome, so i will go to sleep.

nite~

<all pix credits go to gettyimages>

Here are some early pictures of my exploits in Vietnam..

I had originally posted something quite lengthy… but it was deleted when the computer crashed.

I’ll update with what I originally wrote soon.

…andy is.

he started off the season with the winning trophy at kooyong thanks to tommy for beating the unbeatable in 3. yes! ＾＾ｖ

i didnt really have a chance to check the open while i was in japan, and i still cant watch him playing other than on the live scoring. but hes been playing great! has been broken only once and keeping a good % of the receives. constant agression, his 2006 mantra, is in practice ＾＾ go andy/~

…sorry i really had to talk about him first.

…i am.

came back and checked my voicemail before anything else thinking id have to make calls and say "sorry i was in japan, but thanx for the call"…..rite. i had four voicemails left for me. guess what. all of them were asking if i could work. all of them!!! some nice friends ive got. they worry so much when im MIA(=行方不明).

so i had to work for 5 hours today at the garden where ive just got the job from this semester. today was mostly for training with K, but i had a chance to see how he gave tours to the students who walked in and realize how much talking this job involves… no, talking is not the right word, it is more of "giving a speech" for the fact that he was talking for 45 mins straight. about trees, flowers, waterfalls, koi-fish, history of the garden, and…this and that and everything! …i am NOT gonna remember all that! all i remember is that he was talking for 45 mins lol ……please dont make me give a tour ><…i will get them lost in 45 secs.

i went down to 2nd street after that and opened up a new bank account. i just wanted to separet my parents money from what i earn. i feel like, and i know this is not just a feeling but its a fact, that i spent too much money in last few months. partly, i can accuse christmas for that, but unfortunately i cant use that excuse for other months besides dec., so, yeah……im sorry daddy…><. so i think this way i could see how much i have to spend much better. yeah, dont tell me to keep a cashbook, i already tried that.

I had time to empty out some old pics from my camera. Click on the image on the left to hop on over to good times with Chen and company. These date from 12/08/05 and earlier!! At that time, Chen hadn’t left to Israel yet.  

So this post is for Chen. 

Tetris Attack, the Toga party, our ‘adventure’ enroute to the huca party, crazy dorm dining conversations, dancing in Venice, and surely more that doesn’t come to mind at the moment. For someone I met so recently, it’s awesome those memories are already nostalgic. Only a pity I didn’t have my camera with me more often, so these are the only memories I could share. Enjoy the pics, everyone. 
Chen: Keep in touch, and invite Ryoko and I to your wedding   

I’m tired… Kelly has already passed out upstairs. It’s 9:20ish now.
I slept it off all the way as I planed. Kelly, on the other hand, didn’t
sleep at all (she said she had one hour of sleep but that’s nothing). The
food was not that great on the plane. I miss Korean air.  They served some
good meals. Our flight was kinda delayed, but somehow we got Japan on time.
But going through immigration was pain in the butt, cuz on the airplane
they were giving wrong form for foreigners to fill out, so Kelly stayed in
line for like 20 mins for nothing…so she had to get out of the line to
fill out another sheet of paper…man, that was a long line, too.
We found my mom without any problem and we went out of the airport. It was
cold already at 4:30ish. After 2 hours of driving home (thank god no
traffic), we went to a little pub-like restaurant. We behaved very well
though because we didn’t drink anything but a cup of hot oolong tea.
Instead we ate just so much. We had salad, chicken, pork, octopus, rice,
bread… it’s been almost two hours but I’m still full.
It’s really cold…it’s 8C in this room. My fingers are not acting like
mine…
My mom’s watching a drama or probably falling asleep as she watches it,
but Nanako Matsushima’s in it. When we went into the car to come back
home, my mom was playing chage&aska CD which had on your mark on it. It’s
funny because after I landed and spent some time in Japan it finally hit me
that I wouldn’t see you for next 30 some more days…oh well, I’ll see
you in 30 some more days though, right?
Mom says make it short, so anyhow, I’m safely home, and will be talking to
you later

Ryoko’s gone to Japan with Kelly. After dropping them off, I slept off the afternoon in wait for the Rose Bowl. and, oh, what a sweet Rose Bowl it was.