Dog Days of Summer and Personal Growth

Yesterday it was SO SO hot!  The sun even burned the smog out of the air and there was a heat haze around the city.  Blue sky is a rarity in Hanoi.  It typically has a grey tinge.   All the locals say that it is now Autumn. WHAT? It is blazing hot but I guess it is all relative. Autumn marks the time of year when they have the Moon Festival. Everyone eats moon cakes and tries to atone for a Vietnamese lady who long ago peed on a very important Banyan tree.  Bad luck for that Vietnamese lady.  Peeing anywhere you want is not limited to long ago Vietnamese people.  I see men, women, and children peeing in the street everyday.  I guess I'm lucky they aren't pooping? AMIRIGHT?? Bright side and all that.

This weekend is a long one because of a Vietnamese national holiday that falls on Monday.    Apparently, it is the day Vietnam declared independence (from the French?) and formed the Republic of Northern Vietnam.  Everyone has their Vietnamese flags flying.  Our guard has had his family in the foyer every day feasting and yelling at each other.  By yelling, I mean just talking at their normal volume starting at 4:30 in the MORNING.  

Jeff was off to Ho Chi Minh on last Friday night.  We met our co-workers for Friday after work drinks at a sports bar near our house.  Jeff drove us up and then took a taxi to the airport.  After he left, I realized he took my bike keys with him to Ho Chi Minh!  In the US, I probably would have cried, called a locksmith, and paid way too much for an extra set of keys.  Vietnam Janet remembered she had an extra key in her bike seat.  After talking to co-workers, they suggested we ask the garage attendants to break into my bike to get the extra key.  I explained my predicament with sign language.  Got my point across and watched in fascination as the guard stuck his hand into the seat and fished out my extra key.  Easy!  Eye opening!  I need to change the way I go about solving problems.  First world fixes vs. third world fixes are two very different things. 

-Janet