Pineapple and Dragon Fruit

Entrance to the Bodhisattva of Mercy

What a busy week!  I have a bit of a sporadic schedule with teaching, so it’s difficult to keep track of the days, but they whirl by anyway despite my constant efforts to slow them down.  I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost a month now, but many life components are thankfully getting settled.  I’m waiting for my “honeymooning” period with Da Nang to dissipate, but it is holding strong at the moment.  I’d say one of the only frustrating parts of living here is the immense red tape teachers have to slash through for work permits/visas/residency etc.  They don’t make it easy to start out, but I’m taking it one thing at a time, and hoping the paperwork and payments end soon.

One of my teacher friends had a buddy visiting while they tackled the famous Hanoi to Saigon motorbike tour. Once they returned to Da Nang, both had a few days on holiday before returning to the teaching schedule -just enough time for some Vietnamese culinary explorations, beach visits, and right before returning to his teaching post in Riyadh, Saudi, we made the short moto ride up to visit the white statue that you might have noticed in my previous pictures.

I could take 'im

So big, so beautiful

The Bodhisattva of Mercy is the tallest statue in Vietnam at 220 glorious feet.  She looks out over China Beach and can be viewed from a very far distance, so standing at her lotus blossomed base was quite an experience.  She’s a big girl! 

From that height on Monkey Mountain (Son Tra Peninsula), the views of Da Nang and the ocean make you want to linger a while taking it all in, and we might have if the plane to Riyadh and sweltering heat didn’t pull us away.  I will definitely be going back up there soon. 

Last week, I heard through the workroom vine that an English gal was about to join our company and looking for a roommate.  Me too!  So I contacted her and over the next twenty-odd emails, we got acquainted with each other and decided to take the mystery roommate plunge!  Ready to leave my hotel stay of three weeks, I scouted out our future home prior to Stacey’s arrival with an excellent Hue-native realtor friend.  I knew our rent money was going to stretch much farther than it would in England or the States, but I had no idea how far.  Let me put it this way: I was shown one property and accepted it immediately. 

Stacey's pineapple and my dragon fruit 

In Chicago, getting a posh space to yourself takes a cunning search and, among other things, a willingness to adapt to small quarters.  If and when I come back to the States, I am in for a rude re-awakening with rental property size and space.  We moved into our new residence yesterday evening.  This morning, I was trying to come up with a delicate way of describing, as my mom put it, our “mini mansion.”  We live in a house on a quiet alley off of the main café/market lined streets.  Once you open our padlocked gate, you’re sheltered by a flowered trellis, which is above the runner garden with a small rock pond and fish.  I enjoyed feeding these little guys this morning.  Off come our shoes and walking into the front entryway, you're in the open-plan living room and kitchen.  My room is off the kitchen (de ja vu DeKalb!) with an attached full bath.  On the second floor is Stacey’s room + bathroom, a guest bedroom, a bonus tea room, a shrine room, and a balcony.  On the third floor we hang our laundry and have a second balcony with a view to the bay just north of our street.  Who’s coming to visit?  J

Grabbing coffee in a cafe by our alley

Stacey and I have been exploring our new surroundings today and finding only the nicest neighbors and shop owners outside our alley.  One of our young neighbors, Dong, greatly appreciates Stacey’s dedication to UK football clubs.  I think I’m about to learn a lot more about soccer.. er..football.  I’m just hoping she won’t tire of me asking “what?” during much of our conversations, as her fun Sunderland-rich accent is sometimes hard for me to interpret.