Thanks, Uncle Sam!

It is days like today when I remember how lucky I am, and also how ludicrous this whole Fulbright deal is, that I am just living and adventuring and playing in Vietnam on Uncle Sam's dime (with a few hours of teaching each week thrown in for good measure). Please don't interpret my flippancy as a lack of appreciation, because I am so unbelievably appreciative that I have earned this opportunity. It is just so hard to believe that someone (well... our American tax dollars, actually) is paying for me to be here, that I feel the need to joke about it in order to comprehend and accept the magnitude of this experience.

In all seriousness, though, the United States is such an amazing country that it specifically allocates funds for hard-working and talented (hey, I have to validate all of us who are in this position- it's not like we just won the lottery to be here; we worked as hard as we possibly could for this scholarship!) to go abroad and to create cross-cultural learning experiences and dialogues. Especially in countries like Vietnam, where US relations here were shaky for the longest time, I really feel the significance of my presence here as a junior ambassador. For a lot of the people in Ha Tinh, I am one of a handful of westerners they have seen or will see, and my job is to tell them the unbiased truth about America, while offering them the ability to speak English which helps them in the global marketplace in order to develop their country further. Furthermore, my job is also to return to America one year from now and report back that Vietnam is no longer a war-ravaged country that is pitiful and desperate for our help. My job is to report that the Vietnamese people are resilient, hard-working, welcoming, warm, and kind, and harbor very few hard feelings towards Americans or our presence in the war.

I don't want to demean the job that I have ahead of me for the next year, because it's not an easy one by any means. In fact, most days, I feel completely lonely, isolated, hopeless, and frustrated. I am not on a luxurious vacation by any means.

With all of that said, though, I think the Fulbright Commission understands that our job is difficult and wants to offer us as much cushioning and support as they possibly can. The 20-hour maximum work week is just one of the many ways that they try to make this experience an enjoyable one, and not one that is completely overwhelming and taxing. Thanks to that 20-hour maximum work week, I have all of today and tomorrow off, and I spent most of today lounging at the beach.

It truly was a perfect day to christian my motorbike and go on my first solo drive. The weather was lovely, and I drove the 25 km to the beach with rice paddies on my left, mountains on my right, and a gorgeous bright blue sky above me. The journey was sprinkled with the occasion cows, horses, water buffalo, chickens, and puppy dogs. I really can't complain about the scenery here (actually, my one complaint is that I can't pet the dogs here, but I'll leave that discussion for another day).

After I had been driving for ages, I finally began to sense the change in the air quality and could begin to smell the ocean. Maybe it's just because I've grown up spending summers on Cape Cod, but there is just a sixth sense that I have when a beach and an ocean is nearby. I could just feel it as I was motoring along, and lo and behold, there was the spectacular Thien Cam Beach.

Here is my motorbike, parked in the restaurant where I decided to stop for lunch. Here is the cute guard dog that is protecting it!

My view as I ate lunch.

Couldn't resist watching the pupster.

And what did I have for lunch? Fresh tuna simmered in tomato sauce and scallions, boiled morning glory, rice, and lemon soup that is made from the water that the morning glory is boiled in (it is quickly becoming one of my favorite soups in Vietnam!). All for 130,000VND or around $7, this was an incredible feast.

Then it was time to swim.

Notice the completely empty beach. That's why I felt that it was appropriate to go for a run in my bikini and follow it up with yoga. I figured that my scandalous presence couldn't offend anyone if no one was here to see me!

Ok, I take it back. There was one lone fisherman who may have been offended, but I think he was more focused on the sea than on me.

Perfect weather to be swimming in the bath-tub temperature water. 

Or to be making shadow puppets.

Here is the row of restaurants (mine is on the very right, to the right of the steps) that all serve a variety of local, fresh seafood.

More shots of the completely empty beach. I was so content playing my music out of my speakers and reading my Kindle and knowing that no one was bothered by the noise! I feel very strongly that any book that you already enjoy (Alex Haley's Roots, in this case) is only made better and even more fantastic when you are reading it in a fabulous location.

During one of my beach walks, I found a perfect sea-shell.

Oh yeah, and I also obtained my first Hanoi Hickey (no, I did not meet a sexy Vietnamese man with vacuum cleaner lips and a fetish for legs; a Hanoi Hickey is a burn from a motorbike muffler). Hopefully it does not get any worse and will just fade with time, but it quite stings right now. I've been told that they are inevitable, but I will try to be more careful from here forward.

All in all, I can say with confidence that this might top the list of best days in Vietnam thus far. I am so thrilled to own my motorbike - I think that it will probably be the most practical and worthwhile purchase I will make in Vietnam all year - and already feel such a weight lifted from my shoulders knowing that I can go anywhere at any time. Driving today felt very freeing, and now I only need to figure out how to install a speaker system onto the motorbike (I've seen other Vietnamese people with them but I just don't know how!) so I can jazz up my long rides with some fabulous tunes.

Tonight my goal is to go to dinner at a new restaurant in the city, only because now I finally can, and tomorrow my goal is to locate a fabulous cafe in the city to make my new home base for doing work during the day and to get out of my apartment (wifi + air conditioner + fruit smoothies and/or milkshakes are requirements). 

I have a feeling that the isolation and loneliness of being here might be augmented a bit just by having the freedom to go more places. I already feel less trapped in my one-room apartment knowing that I can go into the city or to the beach whenever I want, and I feel amazing about it! Somehow, being alone when you're on an adventure is a little better than being alone in one solitary room.