Thursday

Yesterday we were to hang out with a group of Sunshine's coworkers during happy hour. Events like this seem to spring up about twice a month. Notice is circulated on an internet list frequented by Sunshine's orientation class. I've gotten to the point, finally, where I know most of the people I see at these things. We go to them when schedules permit. Yesterday, the schedule permitted a little too well. Sunshine gets out of class, for a few weeks at least, at twelve thirty on Wednesday afternoons. Yesterday we promptly returned to the institute for my very last shots. One dose of Japanese encephalitis later, plus a half-hour wait for someone to assess the vaccination site for skin reactions, I was finally finished with my shot schedule after eleven injections and fourteen diseases. I must still endure one more each of hepatitis A and B, but not before next February at the office in Vietnam.* After my appointment, we were very early arriving at the nearby happy hour bar, a fancy self-serve Italian-like Café franchise called Vapiano* which looked to be constructed from plastic barn wood and nice red luggage. We were so early the place was completely empty. The gimmick here is to give each customer a "membership" card they may then swipe at any of several food stations to log orders. They are then given a beeper to alert them when to pick up their food. This innovation is similar enough to taking a credit card to the food court that I'm not suitably amazed. We had plenty time to talk it over since no group of coworkers ever arrived for the happy hour. Later we discovered the group was at another Vapiano downtown. So we left to get Italian food from a better restaurant. [Cavin]