Hẹn gặp lại sau, Vietnam! Halo, Bali!

So I realized after looking over my last posts that I didn't talk much about the time I spent in Ho Chi Minh City, which was considerable since I was here all during the work week and three weekends! Ho Chi Minh City is hot and humid; the sidewalks are uneven, ruining every pair of shoes I brought with me; the pollution is thick and heavy; the traffic is crazy. I will say that I have loved most every city I have ever visited in my life, but HCMC and I, well we have had a rocky relationship. As you saw in all my pictures, Vietnam is clearly beautiful. As a major city usually is, HCMC is dirtier, louder, less friendly, busier, etc than the more rural areas. There aren't many beautiful buildings or parks, nothing is very walker-friendly besides the downtown area and people aren't particularly nice. This is like most every city, you're thinking. Well the difference here is, is that the unfriendliness and the uncleanliness is engrained in the culture here, not just a few people here and there. For the first month I felt like I was just being really down on the city, maybe because of the culture shock, the language barrier, the almost getting hit by motorscooters...

However, in the spirit of being open-minded, I decided to ask some of the English speaking Vietnamese from my office what the deal was. We were out one night and after leaving the club we went to eat. I thought this was the perfect time to understand a little about the culture. I had to be missing something. But what I heard was that, I was right. (Which as you all know, I LOVE. Sweet validation.) A couple of the girls I work with studied in the U.S. so their English was impeccable. I asked what the word was for please, because I thought maybe if I was really nice and spoke in Vietnamese (or attempted) I would get passed the tough exterior. They told me a couple surprising things: first, they said that there isn't one, or if there is its is never used and second, that I didn't need to learn any Vietnamese. When I told them that I wanted to be respectful, they said "Great, teach them to be nice to one another and to you!" Though I was right, and that felt good, it was a little disheartening. An entire culture not asking for things nicely, not saying excuse me, rarely saying thank you. I think that says something about the way people treat one another when those very important formalities are lacking.
Alright that is enough of the negative aspects of HCMC. This may be surprising based on what I just said, but I actually started to like it here. I have decided that I do not have to love every city I visit and I don't have to want to live everywhere. In fact, it is probably better that I narrow down my options! So once I let go of the notion that I had to love HCMC, I actually was able to find aspects of it I really liked. One aspect in particular was that the women here wear heels as they motor around town on scooters, shifting gears and sliding through traffic at dangerous speeds. There is something so cool about wearing four inch heels while expertly handling a motor bike. A more concrete example of what I liked about HCMC is the people I met - like my amazingly centered and sweet yoga instructor, Shanti, like Ms. Minh who designed the handmade, one-of-a-kind dresses that I bought at her boutique around the corner from my apartment, like my vegetarian, West Virginian lunch buddy Joey and like my travel buddy and partner-in-Vietnamese-crime Sara. All those people I would have gone without meeting and learning from if I had not come here and shared HCMC with them. So despite my struggles with HCMC and my unwillingness to live here for any long period of time, I am so happy that I came here and experienced what I did.
But now I get to say good-bye to the humidity, the dirt, the perpetual search for vegetarian meals and nutrients, and the shoe-ruining sidewalks and hello to Bali! I am beyond myself with excitement that I am leaving to go to Indonesia on Sunday morning. I get to see a new city, some pretty beautiful beaches, and Danny! It will be an amazing time and I will be sure to post pictures and tell you all about it! You better believe I will be motorscooting all around that little beach town!

I miss you all very much and love hearing from you, so keep e-mailing!

Thanks for reading and....see you in Bali! xo