Why did the American cross the road?

...to face one of the biggest obstacle courses of their lifetime! No seriously, this is a task that relies on finesse, patience, and faith (in both yourself and the motorbike drivers, which outnumber the cars 50 to 1). There are no traffic laws here; occasionally people may stop at a red light, but that's usually only at the roundabouts with six streets of traffic pouring into them. It's really just as simple a watching to your left and shuffling across up to 5 or 6 "lanes" of traffic; Think human Frogger. If you're lucky it's only on a oneway street. If not, you get caught between two way traffic. You're in the eye of the storm. Honking persists everywhere all the time. Pretty much just people saying "hello, I'm speeding by you now", it's not that you're doing something wrong. I guess the only thing you could be doing incorrectly is getting hit!

So I've moved into my apartment. For those of you who are Google Earth savvy I live on De La Thanh street. Check out my 'hood! I've only been here one night and it's a pretty nice place: A bed, a TV, a bathroom. There's a public kitchen downstairs (Damn! Public!) which is shared between the 6 or so tenants, all Westerners. Anyways, the first thing I did this morning was the first thing any sensible Behr/Alpert would have done in a new environment... find my coffee shop! My choice style of drink has been the "ca phe den nong" (for those Vietnamese students out there I can't do the tones on this keyboard), or hot black coffee. This stuff is ridiculously strong. I'm used to drinking my coffee black in the states, no added sugar. This tiny cup takes about three spoonfuls to actually be drinkable. But after that it's like "angels crying on my tongue".

The Vietnamese language is something else. I can actually make an attempt at the words, being that the lettering is Roman, but pronunciation is everything! And I suck at it. I already have sort of a teacher, an art student names Huy (pronounced as if you are saying "who-ee" while getting punched in the stomach) who has been very patient with me. He'll tell me how to say something which I then say back. He'll say it again shaking his head, and I'll repeat it. This could go back and forth five or six times before he's satisfied. "Didn't I say it like that the third time?" I wonder. Now use it in a sentence with 7 other words...

http://picasaweb.google.com/alpertj/20091021?feat=directlink

I believe this link above will take you to my photo album on the web. If lost, just click on the "My Photos" tab towards the top, this should take you to my albums selection.

Until next time! Giu lien lac nhe! (keep in touch)