June 6 or 7 (not sure - International Dateline)
Over the Pacific past Japan
We just took off from the airport in Taipei. This was the first time that I've worn a SARS mask. They handed out surgeon's masks and antibacterial cleaner to everyone on the plane. I've also had to fill out several SARS surveys ("Do you have a fever? Are you coughing") for Vietnam and Taiwan. Only a few people were wearing SARS masks in the Saigon airport, but tons of people were wearing them in Taiwan.
To recap the last couple days, I spent some time with Thu and her Bulgarian friend from last semester, Eugenia. Eugenia's staying at Thu's house, and in Vietnam if you have foreigners staying at your house who are not registered with the police, you must pay a $200 fine. Or you can pay $20 to the guy who comes around and checks so that he will go away. Molly's boyfriend pays a similar individual 50,000 dong a month to overlook the fact that he doesn't have a permit to be in the city. Eugenia's here on a tourist visa, and technically tourists have to live in hotels. At first the police were putting up a huge fight about it. They spent an afternoon in bureaucratic hassles until they found someone who could fix the situation. Being a policeman in Vietnam is quite lucrative.
That evening, I hung out with Phuong and Phuong in Molly's room, just talking and hanging out. It was fun; it would have been sadder but I am in major denial. I am so happy in Ho Chi Minh City, hanging out with Molly and Sarah and Thu and Phuong.
I've spent all morning dealing with ISP printing and binding issues. Computers love to revolt when you have more important things to do. My paper is called "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers: my experiences studying theater in Ho Chi Minh City" It's an overview of the major types of theater, as well as descriptions of my experiences. It's fun. I'll post it online sometime.
June 5 we had our ISP presentations. This is supposed to be when SIT students come in from all over the country and tell their experiences to each other. My audience consisted of Molly, the SIT program staff, Thu, and Eugenia. Sarah had to leave to catch a plane right after her presentation, and I didn't get to say a proper good-bye to her. Just a hand-squeeze. I'm mentioned in her paper as the following: "The nuns [Buddhist nuns who practice traditional medicine] told me that domestic abuse is a major problem. They told me they advise the women to speak softly and kindly to their husbands and try to work things out, that divorce will cause more pain and won't solve anything. When I mentioned this to an American friend, she was furious. "How do they know? They've never been married...." Yeah that was me. I'm really not going to miss that aspect of Vietnamese culture. Although I think American women as treated as sort of a third gender - we're not men, obviously, but we're people who have different expectations of how we will be treated.
So I gave my presentation, and then we had a re-adjustment talk with Stu. He gave us the letters we wrote to ourselves at the beginning of the semester. I sounded just like the backpackers I detest. "So many things are strange to me - the cyclos and smog masks and motorbikes." Now I have regular xe om drivers who know me, and I know the city.
I went out with my digital camera on my last afternoon. I took pictures of Dai Ket and my neighborhood and wandered downtown. I ended up on the roof of the Caravelle, which is a great place to see the city.
We had a dinner with all the regular SIT program staff, and the Vietnamese students who hang out with us. A random assortment of other people - the Vietnamese teacher I had for 2 days, Dr Lich from the university. Beforehand, I went out for coffee with Phuong and Molly. Phuong asked what kind of coffee I was drinking and then said something quickly to the waitress. She returned with a bag of coffee for me - a present from Phuong. Phuong also gave me 3 bracelets and a star-shaped CD for luck. Ug! I'm going to miss her. Then Molly and I tried to go to Sheridan's for drinks, but it closed just as we got there and we went to the Caravelle instead. Only one drink, they are stupidly high priced, and we sat looking down at the city.
Then we went home and I pretty much stayed awake for most of the night, until Crytal arrived from her mom's hometown in the south-central part of the country. So we talked and I ended up getting 2 hours of sleep. I got up the next morning and got a Dai Ket bill that I didn't have the cash to pay, so I had to make an emergency run with Thu and her motorbike to th eATM. Then I had to say a tearful good-bye to Phuong, and Crystal, Molly, Thu, Tang, and Stu took me to the airport. Thu brought me some of the candy she always gave me on field trips. It was horrible saying good-bye to everyone.
We got to Singapore (no one wanted a photo with me this time) and I heard a boarding call for HCMC. I was so tempted to run over the the counter and spent the rest of my money on going back there. I have been such amazing people and made such great friends. I keep joking with people that I will go work in Kich noi and play the parts they sometimes have for a French or Russian girl. Why use someone with painted-on European features when you can have the real thing. It's a pipe dream, I know. I love theater in VN; there's so much comradery and people take themselves less seriously. It's the way to should be. Hanging out with and talking to artists is making me realize how much I miss that myself. It's forcing me to re-examine my priorities...again. I guess that's study abroad for you.

June 6 Tay Son Nhat Airport
Saigon
Here I am, the end of the road at last, waiting for the plane to take me away. I've been counting down the hours since last night, when Molly and I sat on top of the Caravelle looking down at the city. It seemed the thing to do, but really there is no fitting way to leave. I don't want to go. Crystal got back in town last night at 5 am, and she asked me to change my ticket to stay another few days. But really another few days are useless. I really need another year or more. And now we're boarding. Here I go...