Everybody's Working For the Weekend

Finally it's the weekend! Unfortunately, it's also raining right now. I have somehow been fortunate enough to have not gotten caught in the rain yet. I went out and about today for a little bit and when I came back, about 15 minutes later, it started pouring. Just missed it! I don't feel the urge to venture out in the rain except I am curious to see how all of the locals deal with the rain. Everything around here is outside! Food carts, cafes, everyone on motorbikes are exposed, etc. I think I will just wait for the day when I get caught off guard in a storm to see how everyone functions rather than go out voluntarily...

I got up earlyish this morning and decided to try running again. Turns out running in the morning is reeeeal hot. I think I did about 2 miles before I was dying and decided to give up. The horses didn't seem to mind, one of them was rolling around in the grass, literally 10 feet from me. One of these days I might go and try to pet one ... I wonder if anyone will yell at me in Vietnamese? I wouldn't know what they are saying anyway! Also, probably due to the fact that Vietnamese people hate the sun, I was the only person running around the field. Compared to last week when there could have easily been 80 people either running around or in the track, it was a little weird. There was some young kids playing soccer in the middle of the field today, however, so I figured it wasn't closed or anything.

It'd be pretty convenient if just being around all of these people talking in Vietnamese would somehow trigger my brain into just learning Vietnamese without me having to try. Like, the words would just flow into my head and make sense all of a sudden! I don't think that is going to happen but a girl can dream.

The motorbikes here are so silly. The other day, I saw a couple and the woman was holding a baby, who was probably about 8months old, just like, on her hip. It was just chillin, kind of dangling over the road as the bike whizzed by. I feel like if this was America, our overprotective parenting would have had that baby strapped into some sort of contraption that securely fastens the baby to the mother and it would be complete with a baby helmet and maybe some baby elbow and knee pads. But maybe I'm being a bit presumptuous.

Another funny thing happened last week. My cute little 6th grader who speaks perfect English asked me what was with all of the dots on my arm. He apparently thought I had some flesh eating bacteria or a skin disease. In reality, he just didn't know what freckles are ... haha man a lot of Vietnamese people don't get out much, huh? I tried to explain to the kid that it wasn't that weird and that there was nothing wrong with me.

So, to wrap up for now, I managed to purchase some necessities today and I successfully completed my mission of finding and buying mangosteen! It really is fantastically delicious  ... I'm going to probably eat as many as I can before I come back to the U.S.! So here are my purchases:

 This was the most normal notebook I could find ... the kids have equally ridiculous ones.

 Cheese! How I've missed thee ... and of course, though the attempt at cheap beer was a huge bust, I decided to try cheap wine .. it's never steered me wrong before!

Mangosteen! Silly looking but sooo good!