Tuesday

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but I am trying pretty hard to forget I am going to Vietnam soon. This is not because I am unhappy about it, but actually the opposite: I am so excited that I feel steps need to be taken to keep my focus on the exciting country I am still living in. While I still have opportunities to learn about and enjoy Mexico, it seems silly to pin my eyes on the Southeast Asian horizon. There is a lot to learn about before we go, but that is what the eleven or so months in Washington DC are all about. I have done a pretty good job if this, so far. We own the Vietnamese Lonely Planet guide book, as well a few books with travel essays and histories, but I have not been reading them. Early on, I did a thorough online photo search just to get a good aesthetic impression of the place; but since then I have not loaded a single Saigon-themed webpage. The closer we come to leaving post, though, the more difficult this is becoming. Especially since we are now making friends with Nga, who we went to dinner with again tonight. I like Pacifica, and it seemed like a good place to reenter the culinary world of seafood again after last week's fish-themed self-poisoning. I ate lobster burritos and an oyster cocktail, had a Solera and Coke and the requisite restaurant cappuccino. During dinner, of course, the conversation was all about Vietnam (which is my fault sort of: I brought it up). Nga coached Sunshine in the pronunciation of Vietnamese words for uncle or aunt, brother or sister, rice, Nga, Vietnam, chicken meat, dog, and puppy meat. Good times. [Cavin]