Happy Diwali!

we're number 37

Watch this video.

Need some town hall humor? Watch this, it's absolutely hilarious.
:)

interview with bro

This was a short mention of my brother, Michal, from a Hong Kong radio interview that he did recently. The interview can be heard here. I thought the following description of the interview described him well as an avid pursuer of the arts. Love ya, bro.

"Michal García is a Texan photographer and music professional based in Hong Kong. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas where he studied Music and Film. García has been a part of numerous collaborations including the jazz fusion group Snarky Puppy, singer Sarah Renfro, The UNT Jazz Singers and lab bands, independent music site "My Denton Music", The Texas Filmmakers, and as a host on Dallas-based radio station KNTU FM 88.1. With the University of North Texas Jazz Singers and other university groups he has traveled to perform in New York, California, and Colorado. He can be heard on the vrecordings "In Case You Missed It" and "Traveling the Route" by the University of North Texas Jazz Singers. García is an advocate of the arts and pursues positive change through community building."

recap for august

Let's see- earlier this month, Michal came from Hong Kong for a 2 week visit in which we had a great pool party with Mexican food. Mom and Dad back in Eagle Pass supplied the tamales that I brought over frozen, as well as the colorful corn tortillas from the Mexican grocery store in Piedras Negras. There were kids everywhere, which only doubled the excitement since they all got to play with each other in the pool, and the parents were relieved because they could relax and enjoy margaritas while the kids entertained themselves. It’s also great to have your brother around whenever Mexican food is involved (no dirty leftovers to clean up...haha)

We even played "Loteria", a Mexican version of Bingo that uses pictures like “la luna” (the moon) and “el pescado” (the fish) in the spaces instead of numbers. I never really paid attention to how politically incorrect some of the pictures were until I called out cards like "el borracho" (the drunkard), "el valiente" (the brave man with a razor blade), and "el negrito" (the black man).

The night ended with D standing on a chair and announcing that it was time for something special. Then someone turned out the lights and a cake lit with candles in the shape of "52" came out of the kitchen. D then explained about Michal and my birthdays being on the same day (July 18) and every year we try to get together to celebrate, no matter where we are in the world, and this year we were turning 52 years old cumulatively. Everyone then sang “happy birthday” to Michal and me and enjoyed the delicious cake. The party was a great success and everyone commented on how tasty the Mexican food was, so THANK YOU, Mom and Dad!

Just before Michal headed back to Hong Kong, I had previously been job searching (I quit working at Raffles, the Singaporean Design & Business University, before going to the USA this summer) and was called in for an interview for a company called International SOS ( www.internationalsos.com)- they were looking for a Marketing Manager. I was then put through interviews with the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offices and then was told I also had to be interviewed by the head offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. FIVE interviews later, I was offered the job.

So, now I’ve been working with International SOS for the past two weeks and things are looking ok. The company provides mostly medical services and has a 24-hour call center that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. You pay a membership fee to have access and this call center gets you in touch with doctors on the phone immediately. No matter where you are, even in the Vietnamese countryside or on a train traveling from Moscow to Paris, they can get international-level medical care to come to you. This is great in countries where there is no emergency service or even adequate medical care. They also do further services like if I get robbed while traveling in India and lose my money and passport, I can call the hot line and they get me in touch with the US embassy and can even front me some cash. This is even better in places like Jakarts where the hotel was bombed- the SOS members stuck in the hotel called the SOS call center and they were able to figure out the best way to keep them safe and get them in touch with people to help them It’s a pretty unique service but definitely tailored for people who travel in several different countries. International SOS has a medical clinic in Hanoi that is open to members and non-members, but non-members have to pay a higher price, so unfortunately the reputation of the clinic has been a bit negative since people can’t see why they charge so much (the reason is partly because they aren’t members, but also because it’s just a higher grade clinic).

My job as Marketing Manager is to help people realize some of the great things SOS does. SOS participates in a ton of community work here and all over the world, so it’s just a matter of getting people to know the work that they do and the quality if medical service they provide. It’s a big job, no doubt.

Study towards my Masters degree also continues to go well. For those who don’t know, I started my MBA with the University of Hawaii a year ago. It’s an executive program, which means we enter as a cohort and I have the same classmates throughout the full two years and classes are held at night and on weekends. It gets tough when you work all day and then have to sit in class all evening then go home at 10pm and write a paper, but all of my classmates are in the same boat and we manage. Our professors fly from Hawaii to teach us here and their focus is on Asian Pacific business, with an even narrower concentration on Vietnam. It’s been tough but I’ve managed to keep a 3.5 out of 4.0 GPA. I even got to go to Hawaii for summer school, studying Japanese Marketing, and really enjoyed it. Graduation date is July 10, 2010 and you are ALL invited, so book those flights to Hanoi soon. :)

D has been working hard too. He’s done quite a bit of training here in Vietnam over the years, from hotel managers at the Sheraton and Hilton hotel openings to United Nations Water filtration systems training in the countryside. In his nine years in Vietnam, he’s definitely had quite a bit of experience across the board. In order to bring some of that together, he’s been branding himself under the company name “VietPro”, which has 3 parts- Academic, Executive, and Corporate. All three parts focus on career coaching and helping people get to the next step of the potential.

Under the Academic portion, he coaches individuals who are looking at full-ride scholarships such as the Fullbright and Hubert Humphrey’s programs that basically focus on a very high academic group of peple in Vietnam to be accepted into the program. For Executives, he does interview and resume coaching and has already successfully coached four people into getting the job they wanted (one Irish, one Swiss, one American, and one Belgian). On the Corporate side, he designs and leads workshops for companies to do staff development and such. He’s hosted a workshop on leadership and cross-cultural communication for the Australian embassy and tomorrow he’ll do a 3-day workshop for the World Bank on project measurement for their 4-year country development plan (so, basically he will help them figure how much work they’ve done to aid Vietnam in becoming a developed nation and how much more they have left to go). The website is coming soon (Bethany is currently working on it in Austin) so I’ll let you know when it’s done.

It keeps him very busy but I’m very proud of him, as you can imagine. :)

Church is going well too. Our Hanoi international Church had a “kick-off” Sunday to welcome new arrivals to Hanoi and kind of start off the new school year with a blessing. The service was done with a special focus on prayer for our congregation as a whole. At the beginning of the service, we passed out paper so people could write down specific prayers (for sick persons, kids at school, friends who are traveling, etc). We then collected them and redistributed them to other people to then pray out loud throughout different parts of the service. It was really neat to have so many people praying for each other in a variety of accents and ways. The whole thing was followed by a big pot luck at one of the members’ homes, which was really enjoyable.

I am also especially proud of some of my Phu Tho students this month. I taught out in Phu The province for about 2 years, which is one of the poorest areas in Northern Vietnam and students who get into the University where I taught realize what a great opportunity it is for them. Unfortunately, the usually don’t get much other opportunities beyond that. Michael, one of our LCMS volunteers who joined us from Hong Kong, has arranged for a group of students from the University in Phu Tho to go to Hong Kong with him. They are being sponsored by various people (I think from Michael’s church in Hong Kong) and will be there for a total of ten days. I’ve taught a lot of the students, so it is wonderful to see them getting the opportunity to travel outside Phu Tho, much more, Vietnam. Pray that they have a great trip and bring back a wealth of experiences and excitement to share with other students in Phu Tho.

Other than those things, it’s all really boring around here. :)

campus closeup

A posting on the KU website about my brother-in-law, Dilawar:

Dilawar Grewal, associate vice provost for Information Services
Years at current job: About a year as the Director of Research IT Services and less than a year as the Associate Vice Provost for Information Services.

Job Duties: As the associate vice provost for IS, I head the IT division of Information Services. The Libraries are the other division of Information Services under the unified leadership of the Vice Provost for Information Services.

In the capacity of the director of Research IT Services, I am focused on enhancing IT capabilities and capacities at KU specifically in support of its research mission

What is one thing that would surprise people about your work? As is common knowledge, KU IT resources are distributed and so is control over the same resources. While it is not necessary to centralize everything, it is essential that development and planning for resources be unified at an institutional level. In a distributed environment, our collective abilities become limited by the lowest common denominators. Further, to the rest of the world, especially the research funding world, KU is one entity. Those funding agencies do not differentiate between the abilities of KU as a whole and those of individual components of the university.

Building an infrastructure for the common good is what I was hired for, is what I believe in and that is what I spend most of my time on. Infrastructure to me means more than computers and networks. It means the machines and the networks, as well as the expertise, ideas and energy people contribute, the goodwill essential for effective communications, the ways and means to achieve success for many, and the reputation of KU.

How has evolving technology improved IT’s abilities to serve the university in your time at KU? Evolving technologies provide people with operational duties better mouse traps for the problems they are trying to address. It is always a fluid situation when it comes to information technology. The biggest difference in how IT is better able to serve the university comes not just from the better mouse traps that become available, rather from the desire of the IT leadership and the employees that comprise IT to make a genuine difference in the work of the university. We are truly putting our thinking, expertise, efforts, resources and even emotions, into reaping benefits for KU. This translates into better processes and business practices, better communications and most importantly, looking at things holistically. Enabling success elsewhere at KU is also a success for IT.

Initiative One is under way to improve KU’s information infrastructure. How will this university wide effort improve KU’s teaching and research mission? There are essentially two major components driving Initiative One. a). Garnering efficiencies in terms of harnessing the power of the collective. This means that KU, and KU constituent entities, save money when we negotiate special hardware, software and even service rates in bulk as compared to piecemeal retail purchases. Examples of this would include the Dell volume purchasing licensing and Microsoft agreement for campus. The “weight” behind these agreements helps faculty, students and researchers buy machines and software at a fraction of the cost, thus enabling expanded use of base technologies in teaching, learning and research. b). Coordinating planning and enhancing the infrastructure: as part of Initiative One we are engaging the users and the community. You may have noticed, this summer under the direction of the VP for Information Services, IT launched a series of advisory groups to craft paths forward for all of KU in the areas of desktop acquisition and imaging, desktop support, enterprise document imaging, enterprise document management, storage, network architecture and high performance computing.

Our intention is to open up communications, better understand user needs, more efficiently invest limited resources, and in the end, make the user experience better than before. These advisory groups include more than 100 participants from many different departments and academic/research units at KU, and are tasked with looking at the fundamental issues, needs and requirements related to having robust infrastructures in all those areas. Examples here would include an upgrade to the network backbone, Hawkdrive as a common document storage facility, better delivery of end-user support, be it for desktop support or high performance computing support. These successes can only be achieved and sustained if many different parts start contributing towards a common planning paradigm.

Thus far, this engagement has very quietly and subtly enabled IT to build planning bridges that take into account not only the IT reality, but also the reality of the people it serves—faculty, staff and students— the reality of other units at KU, and the reality of where KU wants to be as a major research institution. For me, personally, this is the most powerful of all efforts and will help IT better serve faculty, researchers, students, and KU the most.

what is my God?

'What is my God . . . saying to me about this incomprehensible act?'

There was a horrible double stabbing & suicide near Dublin a few days ago. A 22yr old guy killed another 22yr old class mate in a jealous, pre-meditated and carefully planned attack. Really awful. The attacker committed suicide with the same knife he'd used on the victim and the ex-girlfriend. The victim was buried yesterday. His mother gave the eulogy at the church and it was re-printed in the Irish Times Newspaper. It is one of the most extraordinary demonstrations of faith, forgiveness and trust in God. I would encourage you all to read it. 


The following is an extended extract of the eulogy delivered by Nuala Creane at the funeral of her son, Sebastian.

“SEB’S BODY is back in a Moses basket. It’s a little bit bigger than the one he began life’s journey in, but it serves the same purpose: a place to rest.

We are faced with a grim reality today, burying my youngest son. Reality for me is the sum of all my experiences, my beliefs, my thoughts, which I project out into this world and with which I create my story.

In Ireland we have a great tradition of story-telling. Firstly, we tell stories to try to make sense of the human condition and secondly, when we share our story, we connect with one another. We come to know each other.

This morning, I am going to tell a story. In my story, my God is the God of Small Things. I see God’s presence in the little details.

My beloved J [her husband James] and I decided to have a second son – we didn’t know it was going to be a boy then of course – because we didn’t want D to be an only child. And I knew also that my expectations of Dylan, if he was on his own, would be too high.

Seb was eager to be born. He arrived three weeks early at 10 minutes to two in the afternoon.

Do you remember the old days when the clock faces in the haberdashery window all read ‘10 to 2’ because the face of the clock looked like it was smiling? If you’ve never seen it, look at Ledwidge’s window in Main Street. My God of Small Things was telling me this would be a happy child. And he was.

Seb has 45 first cousins. What a bountiful table to sup from throughout one’s childhood. Seb was also the youngest child in the Grove and he did his best to be as good as the rest of them.

At 2½, he could cycle his bicycle without stabilisers on which at every opportunity he would disappear around the corner, abandon the bike at the door of Pauline’s shop and stand with his curly head peering round the door, brown eyes trained on Pauline, waiting until she relented and gave him a sweet.

Still as a nipper, he was with me in Hickey’s one day when I was buying curtain hooks. As I queued to pay, I realised I needed another one. Showing the hook to Seb, I asked him to get me one from the shelf. When he brought me back the correct one, I stored the information away. He had a good visual memory. It would stand him in good stead.

Contrary to popular perception, academia for Seb was not easy, but fortunately, he met teachers in St Nicholas’s Montessori, St Cronan’s, St Gerard’s, Sallynoggin Senior College and Dún Laoghaire Institute, who challenged him, tested his mettle, supported him, praised him, so that he became a fine, young man.

The last gift Seb gave to J and I was during our summer back in June. One Sunday morning, Seb informed me that he fancied a swim down at the seafront. I didn’t pay much heed.

He asked J and J said ‘Yeah’, he’d walk down with him. I was asked a second time. I gave in. So around midday Seb threw the towel over his shoulder and the three of us traipsed down to the beach. We sat on the pebbles and watched him as he went in for his dip . . . As I watched Seb I thought the child in that fella is still alive. It’s a memory we treasure.

Maybe my God of Small Things is saying, let the child inside each of us come to the surface and play or, as a point of fact, that I was blessed with a sunny child. Or as a parent I know that the one gift each of us would want for our child, is that they are comfortable in their skin . . .

And now I ask what is my God of Little Things saying to me about this incomprehensible act which took place in our home on Sunday morning of August 16th? This tragic incident which caused mayhem in all our lives and robbed D of a younger brother he was proud of. As D himself said, Seb was like him but with swagger.

D, Seb, Jen and Laura faced a presence of demonic proportions that manifested through Shane Clancy. How do I, Seb and Dylan’s mother, even try to rationalise this one? We live on Earth in a world of contrasts – big, small, hard, soft, good, bad, dark and light, but one can’t paint a picture without at least two shades.

It is the dark which gives definition to the light. Darkness is just the lack of light.

Through my God of Little Things, I notice that both boys who died were 22. Both had the same initials. Both were entering their final year in college and looked set, even in these recessionary times, to have fruitful careers.

So many similarities, yet on the morning of August 16th, my God of Small Things said to me, one boy represented the light, the other the darkness, as they both played their parts in the unfolding of God’s divine plan.

And as a result we, my beloved J and I, and all of you, are faced with a choice: do we continue to live in darkness, seeing only fear, anger, bitterness, resentment; blaming, bemoaning our loss, always looking backwards, blaming, blaming, blaming, or are we ready to transmute this negativity?

We can rise to the challenge with unconditional love, knowing that we were born on to this earth to grow . . .

Our hearts are broken but maybe our hearts needed to be broken so that they could expand.

And now that we have our attention on our hearts, please bring to mind a happy moment in your lives – the happier the better. Now let that happy feeling fill your whole heart. Now bring your attention to Jen. She feels so responsible. She blames herself. Bathe her heart in that happiness. Let our happy thoughts wash those feelings out of her. Keep sending her your happiness. And then forgive yourselves.

I am so conscious of all you young people who came in contact with Seb. I know you’re bewildered and want to do something to make it right. The best way you can honour Seb’s life is to co-create the most enlightened lives you can. The light that shone in Seb shines in you also, in its own special way. Let it shine and be at peace.”

japanese healthy living

ハノイ在住の皆様


ハノイへようこそ！

この度、当院、インターナショナルＳＯＳハノイクリニックは、ハノイ在住の皆様の健康上
のお悩みにお答えし、また、新たにハノイへいらっしゃた方への歓迎の気持ちを込め、「ハ
ノイで健康に過ごすには」と題し、座談会を開くことになりました。


日付: 2009年 8 月26日 水曜日

場所: ソフテルプラザホテル ハノイ、19階 Summit Lounge, 1 Thanh Nien Road

時間: 午前10時－午前 11時 (受付開始 9時半）

講師: 榎本 小弓 医師


座談会では、医師によるベトナムでよくみられる病気のお話に加え、皆様が日頃疑問に思っ
ていることを解消すべく、質疑応答のコーナーをもうけています。コーヒーを片手に皆で楽
しいひと時をすごしましょう。インターナショナルＳＯＳクリニックはこのような機会を通
し、皆様に健康について考えてもらう機会を提供できれば光栄に思います。

参加ご希望の方、少しでも興味がある方は、事前にお電話090-821-7773、または、
0439340666（Japanese Staff 宛）またはE-mail：kenneth.oka@internationalsos.comでご
登録下さいませ。
締め切りは8月21日(金)とさせて頂きます。
(当日参加ご希望の方がいらしゃいましたら、お電話でご連絡下さいませ)
皆様、お誘いあわせの上、ふるってご参加くださいませ。


インターナショナルＳＯＳは世界最大規模の医療アシスタンスサービス、医療ケア、セキュ
リティサービス、委託医療サービスを提供する会社です。
ベトナムでは、ハノイ・ホーチミン・ブンタオの3箇所にクリニックを設け、日本人医師を
含め、多国籍で成る医師、専門医、歯科医等が、夜間・休日を含め、365日24時間体制で
皆様の緊急事態に備えております。ハノイ、ホーチミンクリニックでは、日本人医師、看護
師、通訳が常駐しており、皆様に安心して日本語で診察を受けて頂けます。

それでは、座談会でお会いしましょう。


International SOS Clinic Hanoi
岡 健二 / Beatrice Seeber
Japanese Business Development Executive / Marketing Executive

Central Building, 31 Hai Ba Trung Str., Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi, Vietnam
Clinic Tel: (84 4) 3934 0666 Fax: (84 4) 3934 0556
www.internationalsos.com

live healthy in hanoi

We would like to take the opportunity to introduce International SOS to you and invite you to join our "Welcome Session" for newcomers to Hanoi and everyone who is interested in getting medical tips on how to stay healthy while living in Vietnam.

When: August 25th, 2009
Where: Hotel Sofitel Plaza Hanoi, Summit Lounge (19th floor), 1 Thanh Nien Rd
Time: 10 - 11 am

International SOS is happy to invite you for coffee/tea and during the meeting there will be a medical presentation, you will meet some of our doctors and have the chance to raise questions during a Question & Answer session.

If you are interested in joining this meeting please register upfront and RSVP by email to Beatrice.Seeber@internationalsos.com or by phone (04) 3826 45 45 ext. 143.

Please note that the closing line for the registration is Friday, August 21st, 2009.

International SOS is the world’s leading provider of medical assistance, international health care, security services and outsourced customer care.

In Vietnam International SOS operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in 3 international standard clinics in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau with medical teams of expatriate and national doctors, specialists and dentists.

job hunting

Like my mother, I have also joined the ranks of the unemployed. So far the fact that I am working on my Masters degree has been sufficient reason for not having one but I'm really starting to get the itch to get back in the game.

Just to clarify, I have been 'working' and earning money but outside of my field of study and degree. The problem with having several things that you are passionate about (like Tooie, the girl I live with and have been tutoring in Math) is that sometimes you have to set down one passion in order to pick up another. I am passionate about the people and places where I have been working but I am looking for something on the next level of my business degree.

This morning I had a job interview for a position in a well known multinational company to do something that I would be really good at. The interviewers were friendly enough and I think I presented myself accurately and honestly. I even got a call back for a second interview over the phone, so looks like that may be a positive thing. Even with all the good feedback- what an effort it is to try and share who you are in only one face to face verbal exchange and a phone call. It must be even more difficult for the interviewer trying to pick the right candidate. I can only imagine what all sorts of people are going through in their search for jobs back home.

Third interview with the country director is on Monday...say a little prayer for me.

killa kela

My brother, Michal, is in town from Hong Kong and has been commenting on how Hanoi has changed since he left a year ago. The new buildings, more park space, and the small improvements in the flow of traffic are all minor in comparison to last night's performance at the Friendship Cultural Palace by the talented beatboxing Killa Kela. Although the main beatboxer's origins were easily identified by his strong London accent, he was preceded on stage by some of Hanoi's own rappers, break dancers, and beatboxers.

The whole event was impressively organized and executed by Noi Zee, a local event group. Noi Zee (as in noisy and means "say what?" in Vietnamese) had just started with a few events when Michal moved here two years ago. Their DJ's standing at a folding table at Hanoi's Piano Bar are a distant memory from the two-stage, smiling Heineken girls, true talent-filled night with Killa Kela. The beatboxer was able to entertain the crowd with well-known songs like Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" by not only singing the lyrics, but accompanying himself with the beat and music to go with it.

What a wonderful change to see, not only in Hanoi's social scene but in the talent that is sprouting amongst young Vietnamese. Thank you, Noi Zee, for the venue for them to express and nurture that talent.

i think i'm turning japanese

One day while at the Happy's Mart on Linh Lang Street in Hanoi, I ran into a bit of a situation where the shop attendants were straining to make sense of what a Japanese woman was trying to tell them. It seemed as if she wanted to find something in the store but couldn't communicate to them what it was since her English was limited and the shop clerks didn't speak Japanese. Since I used to patron the shop fairly often, the girls who worked there asked me to help them decipher what the woman wanted.

After what was more of a series of gestures than a verbal conversation, I took her to the isle with plastic wrap for food, or saran wrap, and the big smile and "tank you, tank you!" that erupted confirmed that she had found what she was looking for. Those smiles continued as she rattled something off in Japanese to me and although I shook my head to show I didn't understand, it wasn't long until I had exchanged phone numbers with her and had agreed to meet her for coffee the next day.

This is how my coffee dates with Sachi began. We always meet at the same cafe, AIM cafe on Linh Lang street, just a few doors down from the Happy Mart, and "talk" about ourselves. Any onlooker to the conversations we have would think that we are both deaf, since we sit with a computer between us and use an online translator to communicate.

Now, understand that the translations are not always right. Last time we met, Sachi was headed back to Japan and asked if she could bring me back a potato. I invited her to a party recently and following was the email I got from her:

"Lia,
Is it cheerful?

I invit it thank you.

I e-mailed a PC before but I worried about how an answer made it not be it. and was marriage fixed at the party?

Do around several people gather?

I inform it of whether i can go

-sachi"

I can only imagine what my messages to her say.

hawai'i mba in hanoi/hcmc

The University of Hawaii in the beautiful Manoa Valley in Honolulu has taken its Shidler College of Business to the next level...or rather hemisphere. The Japanese MBA students spend the last semester of their two years of study in Japan and prepare to do so by taking intense Japanese language courses. The Chinese MBA students split the deal half and half, spending a year in Hawaii and a year in China. However, the Vietnamese MBA students have taken the study abroad to the next level and actually have the professors fly to Vietnam and teach the entire Masters degree courses in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

So, in short, I can complete my entire Masters of Business degree that has an Asia-Pacific focus, in the actual region that I am so keen to learn about and possibly do future business in. Not only is this a wonderful opportunity to have a US-level graduate degree without the limitation of staying in the USA, it is a fantastic move on the part of the University of Hawaii to get good students. My classmates are marked by their intuitiveness to see opportunities as they arise and grab them. Most of these students have gotten into their careers and hold high level managerial positions at well-known companies like Microsoft and Nike, it can be difficult to leave those jobs for two years to study abroad. This way, Shidler College of Business gets top quality students in their Vietnamese Executive MBA program and these students continue to work in these top positions.

As for me, I sit in the middle and get the added benefit of incredibly knowledgeable professors, who are constantly improving in their respective fields with more regular trips to Asia, and the chance to absorb and learn from the actual experiences of my classmates. Graduation date is July 10, 2010. Graduation party theme will definitely be Hawai'ian, so bring your Aloha shirts.

a great place for business

Today on NBC's podcast, that I watch most everyday in Vietnam, stated that Texas is #2 on the top states to do business in the USA. We fall behind Virginia only in that the energy prices have risen since last year.

Texas oi! Let's get back up there and do something about energy being a serious issue not only all over the world, but in Texas in particular. How are we confronting energy saving methods as individuals and as a state? Talking as a Native Texan, I cringe to see the words "Texas" and "# 2" put together. What can we do to start making this change?

xe oms

Even a short time in Vietnam will acquaint you with one of its unique aspects- the motorbike taxi, or as the Vietnamese call it, the "xe om". The 'xe' part means 'vehicle' and the 'om' means 'hug', affectionately putting it together to refer to these alternative forms of transport as a 'hugging vehicle'. Just get on the back of this motorbike, after haggling over the price to your destination, and hold on (most drivers would love you to hold on to them, staying true to the hug part, most riders prefer to hold on to the bar behind the seat).

Although some xe om drivers can really give you a hard time over price and your western face, I've been pleasantly surprised at the xe oms at the end of the street where I'm staying. I've only met two of them, both in their early sixties, and both have been extremely reasonable in their prices and very careful to make sure I get to my destinations in one piece.

The first day I took one of the xe oms I actually wasn't sure where the place I wanted to go was. I asked him if he knew where the 'Tous les Jours' bakery was and made sure to mention that it was a good French bakery somewhere near Ben Thanh Market (which can really be anywhere in District 1). After we arrived in the area, without actually spotting the bakery on the way, he was nice enough to drive around and ask other xe om drivers if they had heard of it. After a bit of a wild goose chase, he found a young security guard who knew of the place and told him what street it was on. We finally found it and I gave him and extra 10,000 VND (about $.70) for the trouble.

The next day I took a second gentleman into town, remembering the address of the bakery this time. As we were passing by Ben Thanh market, the wind picked up, sending the already too-big-for-my-head helmet flying up and the chin strap pulled taught and being the only thing actually keeping it on my head. Well, this also caused my large hoop earring to come undone from my right ear and sent it flying off the bike. It was like watching a coin bounce off the table and roll across a crowded dance floor- the golden hoop bounced along the asphalt and into a sea of traffic. I promptly pounded the driver on the back and said in Vietnamese, "Just a moment! I lost something!" and rushed off the bike and into traffic, where a young man had stopped his own motorbike in the middle of the sea and had bent over to pick it up. As he stood there admiring the earring, I plucked it out of his hands and as I was running back, yelled "Thank you!" over my shoulder in Vietnamese, remounted the xe om's bike, and we continued on our way.

Not too much to my surprise, as I flagged the same xe om down to take me in for my class, he looked at my ears to make sure I had taken my earrings off...then checked my necklace to make sure I tucked it into my shirt...and finally made sure that I readjust my bag so that it was in front of me for the ride. Only until we had gone through the whole take off procedure that he deemed it safe to take the foreign girl into town, which he did...with a smile.

couch surfing

One of the little diamonds I have discovered since living in Asia has been the Couch Surfing project, introduced to me by wonderful former roommate, Bethany Bauman.

The idea is simple. Everyone sets up a profile, similar to facebook or myspace, and list where they are located, along with the level they are available to help travelers and other couchsurfers (host, meet for coffee, answer email questions). If someone comes to Hanoi, for example, they might choose to stay in a backpacker hostel but would really like to meet someone who lives in the city and can tell them where to go and what to do. You meet with them over coffee, get them orientated, share a good conversation, and they go back and review you on your profile page- very helpful, knowledgeable about the city, etc...or they can warn people not to hang out with you cause you're a scumbag. The more positive reviews from travelers you get, the more likely people will trust you and be willing to meet with you when you go traveling somewhere and want to do the same.

From being listed as an English & Spanish-speaking westerner, I've had the opportunity to meet with SO many people and get to know WHY people travel and hear their amazing stories. Even better, when I am stuck doing my University of Hawaii classes down in Ho Chi Minh City and don't really know anyone, I can call on couchsurfing to hook me up with a good coffee partner.

Noel met me last time I was down here and was amazing enough to not only meet me for lunch at Ben Thanh Market for some traditional Southern Vietnamese cuisine but afterward proceeded to spend the whole afternoon showing me the sights of Saigon (I never knew the Presidential Palace purposefully built the staircase in the middle of the building to avoid bombing directly on the offices, since most bombs are dropped in the middle of the target). Surprisingly, Couch Surfers who are this kind are very common and she has done the project proud by representing it so well. To try and reciprocate her kindness, this time around I bought her coffee at Gloria Jeans, but something tells me that the score is still a little uneven.

power cuts

I talked to my parents on Skype yesterday and was able to get a good 45-minute conversation in before the power was cut off in the whole neighborhood and our wireless connection lost. (Ok, so my last post bragged about how technologically advanced Vietnam was but I'll just take this time to mention that while there are plenty of accidental black outs here, there are fairly regular brown outs and a neighborhood will have planned power cuts) So, before the phone call was cut short I listened as my mother talked about this being her last semester to teach for the nursing school in our home town.

Although nurses are badly needed, there is a bit of a territorial struggle over which higher institution will be providing the training in the area. In the mean time, my mother "joins the ranks of the unemployed," as she put it, and the small Texas town goes without badly needed nurse positions and the proper training for people looking to fill those jobs.

Despite a possible grim approach to the whole thing, my mom is relieved to be able to spend the time with her mother who celebrated 94 years of life this month. For her birthday, I gave her a coffee mug with a map of the Hawaiian Islands on it and she responded by telling me I "was the best" through a mix of smiles and tears ( After hugs like that, she might just get one from every place I visit).

Plus, she had already given me weeks of entertainment by having my mom and me play 'Loteria' (aka 'Mexican Bingo') with her at her day care center. We witnesed her lucky streak as she won the big pot (of nickels) not once, but TWICE! The thrill was so great, we celebrated with milk and cookies delivered to us and all the other day care patrons by a smiling woman pushing a cart and delivering our treats with a white rubber glove on.

So, my mom is a few weeks away from unemployment and on a lucky day my Grandma wins $4.05 in change while being excited over a ceramic trinket from her granddaughter. Our height of a celebration is maxed out with a few cookies accompanied by milk in a paper cup.

What's the point? Sometimes those seemingly big power cuts help us see what else is really left on in our lives.

the window

A lot of people think that just because I live in a third world country like Vietnam, I am technologically at a disadvantage. Ironically enough, I get frustrated when I am back in the USA at the lack of internet availability and the high price of technology that limits the adaption of new things by the general population. Also to the surprise of most, since there is a steady stream of traveler traffic in my part of the world, I get to see all the wonders brought here from all parts of the world, exposing me to some items that would have taken years to reach my corner of first world USA.

My response- communicate the differences. Have coffee with a couch surfer. Sit with my mom in the living room until 2am talking about politics. Talk to an atheist about my belief in the Big Man. Blog.

A friend of mine was once trying to tell me to get out of the way of her view of the television and revealed to me that I'd make a much better door than a window. At the time, I agreed with her and promptly moved out of her line of sight to allow her to get on with her television show. Things have changed. The more I become a part of a world that centered its views in the West and is getting to know the East, I see that I might just have the knack for being an excellent window. Maybe this Texas girl can serve as a window that allows a little better view of what Vietnam really is.