Geez, its getting kinda ridiculous. Sure, the fashion industry was never one to build a woman's confidence, but as a reflection of trends in society, what does this say about american women in general?
Will not be posting for a few days. Busy with the end of the semester, grading and wrapping up things before I start traveling. First stop on the vacation list will be to Da Nang, to see the relatives, MOM :) and hanging out with my cousins and the boys.
Then to the States for two weeks.Trying to see a bit of Boston, NYC, and San Fran before I head back and start teaching again. I pray that I'll be able to handle all the flying without suffering from any jet-lag. Can't wait nonetheless :)
It was Steph's last night and everything began innocently enough. Someone special got her something special. Yes, that's right, enormous chocolate pies, which she decided to share with everyone.
Then came some Scrabble Black Jack and everything started to head to the gutter from there.
Steph bet her best assets,'Tits', what she so demurely declared "What God so generously gave me".
Johnny made it quite loud and clear what he wanted: 'Nude Babe Jump On'
And well, Kevin's bet was just weird: 'Mulllet Tongue'
LOL. Johnny definitely looks better in the Fro.
The bets during one of my dealing rounds. See what a college education can get ya. Hehe... I got 21 both times I dealt so cleaned up all the bad words. Yay!
I'm a little bit behind on the posting just because so many things had happened the last week Steph was here. On the 9th of this month, a few days before she left, which was the 12th, Johnny invited us all out to dinner at this fancy restaurant, Au Manoir de Khai, which I didn't know about until literally the last minute.
He had mistakenly texted someone else about it and it wasn't until Steph had realized that I'm normally quite punctual that they figured out something was wrong. I was already eating dinner and watching the O.C. when they called and told me to get there as quick as possible and remember to dress semi-formal. They were all waiting for me to arrive before they started ordering. They had already be there an hour. What??? Ah the pressure... Got dressed as fast as I could and was out the door in 7 minutes flat.
The lady of honor, Steph, looking quite happy and gorgeous :)
Finally made it. Funny how it looks like Andrew is wearing a floral hat. But it fits, him being the Hawaiian and all.
Kevin, Thanh Tam, and Hans
The rest of the group.
Some dishes from dinner. I think its goat cheese salad and lamb. All the ladies were given menus without prices, isn't that nice :) Not so for the guys, lol.
Hot towel, anyone?
Out in the enchanting garden.
On a side note: Never eat two dinners when wearing a tight dress, you'll end up with a 'food baby'.
Oh, but the night was still young. We headed out for some "ballroom dancing" that turned out to be the most empty, random, lizard lounge I've ever been too.
The guys busting out with their best moves.
There was no ballroom, but plenty of dancing for the rest of the night, especially since we were the only ones in the club. So much space all to ourselves.
So today was the last day of classes. One of my students came up to me and informed me that there is a rumor going around the school about me being married with kids. Sheesh...I don't even have a ring.
To them that was no excuse. They said that there are plenty of people who are married who don't wear rings. So then they asked me where I was going on holiday and if I was going to visit my 'lover'. Aishhh... I nearly choked. First I have a husband, then a lover? Where the heck do they get these ideas? Watching too many korean soap operas.
I guess the last day of classes means free reign on asking your teachers personal questions. I just shook my head.
Everyday, on the way home from work, I would look up and see hundreds of kites filling the sky. On a whim, I bought two of them, thinking maybe I could convince someone to join me in being a kid again.
Didn't take much convincing. Steph had the same idea, only her's involved a few of the kids that she had met through an orphanage. A little supervision of the kiddies, not a problem. So off we head to the RMIT's campus grounds for some high-flying fun.
Coach Steph explaining the rules. "Okay, no crossing over the white lines. No running into the Ultimate Frisbee players. OK? Okay. Break ! "
This littliest ones going as fast as their legs can carry them.
The others working on their technique, perfecting the lying down method.
The Saturday before last, a bunch of us headed out to Binh Quoi to check out their buffet for 99,000 VND per person.
They had pratically every Vietnamese dish you could think of.
We had to remember to pace ourselves just to try everything at least once.
Sheltered underneath a tent, we watched their huge puppet show.
There was a lot of things for kids to do too, such as playing on a see-saw. Dang Kevin!!!
And games: bingo, mancala, and some balancing thingy.
All of which Steph tried and won, while holding a can of beer in one hand. At bingo, she didn't even realize she had won until the neighboring kids pointed out that she had a '2'. All her prizes: decapitated stuffed animal heads and two tickets for another visit to the buffet. Whooppeeeee!!!
They shook their heads and laughed as she cheerleaded her way up to get her prize. Bingo here is very different than anywhere I've ever been. The numbers called are interspersed between lyrics of vietnamese folk songs. You really have to pay close attention to hear what the numbers are.
Ooooh..pretty....
A trail of night lights dotting the stream
What is this? East Coast? West Side? Who's y'alls represent 'n?
Awwhhhh......
Ahhhhhhh!!!!! Freaky... Johnny looks like Gollum!
Can't decide whether Steph's face beats Johnny's....
One of my co-workers is a curator and installation artist. During her opening last week, I took a couple of pictures and was playing around with creating a panorama just cause I get bored like that sometimes. She liked it so much she asked to use it. Cool :)
Its now the opening shot of her online show at Galerie Quynh.
Click on image to see a clearer version.
For those in HCMC you can check out the installation nightly from 9pm - 6am until May 7th. Not in HCMC but have a computer, check out the webcast.
After an hour of trying to conquer the skates and getting our butts whipped, we retreated to an activity that would not result in any more bodily injuries. Yes, yes, the tried and true, some Black Jack.
The only problem was that we had no chips and no small change to play with. Oh, what to do, what to do do....
Ahhh.... when you got Scrabble, who needs chips? We used the scrabble tiles as our betting ante. Each tile was 5000 dong. It certainly puts a spin on the game.
Some of the interesting bets that were placed that night
"Anal", "Sex", "Toy"
"Ten Sexy Booty", "War", "Zone"
"Ten Sexy Booty" won....
"Jedi", "Pu", "Pee"
"We", "Sin", "Race"
"Now", "Sex Lah", "ooh"
"Uno", "PaPa", "Mucho Sex Lah", "Rad"
Tino showed us his hat collection. Everyone grabbed one to try on :)
