I'm...dreaming, of a wet Christmas...

I saw the bells and the lights and the Christmas trees on the backs of motorbikes, and I heard the classics and plans of good cheer and I Just.  Couldn't.  Feel it.

"Aww, is this your first year away?"

asked a seasoned expat friend.  Sigh, it is.
The last couple of weeks have been a little tough, tougher than I had anticipated.  I debated including these woes into the blog and decided it was a good idea after all.  I made the decision to move out here and accept the ups and the downs.
So I got involved in as many Christmas-y festivities as possible - mission force the feeling!!

Rise of the Spiders

It has been quite the eventful week of seeings and doings so I figured I'd jot a few of them down.  Our weather has been impeccable, and my dad and I jumped through a few hoops getting my slackline shipped out to Da Nang (long story about never sending anything with text or maps through the mail

), so I took to the beach in search of the perfect place to set up and have some chill time with the line.
This proved to be slightly more difficult than I had anticipated.  I needed the right distance between palms, a soft landing level ground, and preferably out of constant sight.  As a westerner, I get enough stares as it is, I didn't want to attract even more attention, especially since I hadn't slacklined since July.

Lately...

I have been meaning to sit down and blog for the last couple of weeks.  Sometimes it seems that I just can't find the words for things that happen, so here are several snippets of happenings:

Thanksgiving:  Many countries have celebrations of their own for thankfulness, especially when connected with the annual harvest, so celebrating Thanksgiving in Vietnam wasn't so far of a stretch.  We also have a handful of American and other western expats living in Da Nang, so many of us came together for a traditional plate of delicious food at Bread of Life.  I had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans and even pumpkin pie!  The one BIG difference between T-Day in America and T-Day here is that I had to go to work two hours later, feeling the full force of turkey pulling down my eyelids.  

Floating

I always look forward to Mondays and Tuesdays.  The weekend shifts at school are early and high-energy, so Monday brings much needed relief and relaxation.  This Monday morning, I was enjoying the soothing sound of pelting rain as I surfed the net and watched a movie, but then I heard a different kind of *drip..drip…splat.*  With a large fish tank gurgling in the room and the downpour outside, I chose to believe this new dripping sound was part of one of those...until I heard it again…and turned my head to the left.  A small trickling turned into a steady stream of water pouring from the second floor through the middle of the staircase onto the tiled first floor. 

Oh… crap

My, my our time flies. 100 DAYS!

 Gettin my hurr did...

The last two weeks have been full of guests and warmth here in Nhà KelseyStacey.  For the first time since moving, I was able to play host and tour guide for DaNang and her surrounding cities.  It has been fun showing friends my favorite restaurants, going to the beach, hanging out in local bars and sharing our home.  Some of the smaller highlights of living here almost go unnoticed now that I am so familiar with them, such as ushering a frog off of the coffee table before we eat, or complimentary lounge chairs on the beach.  Guests help me re-appreciate these wonders as they experience them for the first time.  As much fun as I’ve had with the visitors, today I said goodbye to my dear couchsurfing friends, and realized how tired I was!  Time for a little much-needed pampering. 

It has been four months since anyone has touched my hair, and boy did it need some attention.  I was really worried about finding a salon because, without a language barrier, getting across what you want someone to do with a pair of scissors is scary enough.  I would have to surrender all control over what I think my hair should look like.

And then Scrabble became more than just words...

I love Scrabble.  And Scramble.  And Bananagrams. And all other games that foster strategy through the use of language.  I don't enjoy dominating the world in Risk.  I'm not huge on the capitalism of Monopoly - but I do love language - and I miss playing these games.  I thought, moving out of the country of my native tongue, I would still find wordsmiths in a new family of English teachers.  Sadly, this has not been the case.  I toyed with the idea of posting an ad in Bread of Life:

WANTED:

WORD NERDS

Buuut I was draggin' my heals on it.  Then, last Thursday night while volunteering at BOL, one of the Vietnamese girls I close with [out of the blue] asked "Do you play Scrabble?"  I hoped that my verbal "yes" was more toned down than my mental "HELL YEAH!"  She said that was great, and that she'd bring her game next Thursday.  

Enter: Tonight.

I arrived at my usual time ready to eat my Thursday night western dinner.

[Which, side note, I don't think I can do anymore.  Since living here for a while, I've become incredibly accustomed to and in love with Vietnamese food.  Tonight was the final nail in the coffin of Western dinner as I showed up starving to BOL and only had five bites of my eggplant burger.  They make very yummy food but greasy french fries and breaded eggplant isn't working.  When I have pizza here I don't wake up feeling great the next day either.  Vietnamese food is always a balanced medley of starch, vegetable and meat.  When these powers combine, my body is captain digestion and feeling oh-so-good.  Not to mention all the prepared food here is fresh from the market - not processed or packed with preservatives.]  

So I found my regular booth next to the cash register and flashed Thu a smile. 

"Got the game?"

"Of course!"

Now, the way I play Scrabble is of the vicious variety.  I like competition and the best opponents for me will provide a somewhat balanced win/lose streak.  As I sat down with my very sweet, English language learning friend, I put away my Scrabble fangs and competitive drive. I realized how grateful I was that this prayer had been answered - even if not quite in the way I was hoping.  I didn't even flinch when it was apparent that we were not going to be keeping score.  

And then something awesome happened.