Is this thing on?

March 3, 11 pm
Saigon
It was not my day today. I took a wrong turn and got completely lost on the way to school. I ended up in the wrong part of town and arrived an hour late, all sweaty. Then I found out I had messed up the accents on my Vietnamese test, something I thought I'd understood. This afternoon, a group of us set out for the art museum at 2:30. It was closed for some reason. Then we decided to go to a pagoda, and ended up going such a strange and convoluted way that we gave up and headed home. Of course I got lost again there, and when I did get back to the guesthouse, everyone was out having fun. At dinnertime, I tried to drown my sorrows with some Pilsner beer at the Czech restaurant. It ended up being all I had to drown them in, because they forgot to make my meal.

...Still, the color and variety of the material would put Jo Ann Fabrics to shame. I bougth material for 2 ao dais, although Phoung did the bargaining for me. We were so lucky to have her along! Then she took us to a tailor's shop and went in separately to ask the price; people sometimes raise prices for foreigners. Then we trooped in and were measured for our clothing. Next week I will have 2 ao dai, one a beautiful purple silk and one a creamy blue. As we got home that evening, I started to realize I was coming down with a bad cold. I went to bed early, but when I woke up I felt worse. I skipped the SIT trip to the city's English Speaking Club. Phoung came to visit for a few hours and brought me a mango to eat. I'd never had one before. Very good and sticky! You dip them in fish sauce.