'twas a warm warm saigon christmas

chuc mung giang sinh (merry christmas) to everyone back home! i hope and pray that all of you are resting easy during the holidays and that your christmases this year are just filled with wonderful times of good eats and great fellowship with close friends, family, and other kin-folk :o)

it's been quite the experience over here in ho chi minh city during christmas - christmas eve alone was quite the adventure. my teaching team and i (who all looked just fabulous by the way - especially the girls who were decked out in their fancy shmancy ao dais ;oP) attended our church's annual christmas dinner - and believe me, it was beyond satisfaction. they had everything from turkey, to mashed potatoes, to pumpkin soup, to roast beef, to yule logs and apple pies - definintely a nice change of dining atmosphere. the night's festivities also included a pastor's reading of the christmas story from luke, a surprise visit from santa claus himself (of whose vietnamese speaking skills i was quite impressed by ;oP), and a 1 hour and a half walk in district 1 amidst hoards and hoards of people - and when i write hoards, i MEAN hoards... it was insane. i was warned earlier that it was going to be a challenge to get home amidst the traffic, but it wasn't until i turned the corner on le loi street that i understood how much of a challenge it would be to get back home. and let me tell you, it was enough of a challenge for me to walk an hour and a half in 3 inch heels ;o) the streets were fully lit with streams and streams of lights, with bands playing christmas carol after christmas carol on almost every street corner, and every lane was either packed with people or motorbikes, and confetti thrown all over the place. i think i probably saw 10 motorbike santa sightings in a matter of just 10 minutes... definitely not your typical north american christmas eve... :oP

this morning, the team gathered around the christmas tree and opened our gifts while sipping our instant tim horton's french vanilla cappuccinos (courtesy of kim - THANK YOU AGAIN! :oP) of which were well-enjoyed by myself and my team - it was quite a nice touch of home... and also, for christmas, liz even gave me my own "little can of snow" to help relieve my nostalgia of missing the cold white stuff ;o) *sigh* faboo times indeed - then again, all christmases are pretty faboo regardless of how you celebrate it, aren't they? :o) i had been worrying about how i'd feel spending christmas away from home and even further away from anything familiar to what i'm usually used to... but i can thankfully say that any insecurities or doubts that i had lingering about it all prior to this point have all been forgotten this weekend.

... and the party doesn't stop there. tomorrow will be my farewell party with most of my friends that i've met here in vietnam - and of course the only proper way to say goodbye is to say it with a bangin' karaoke session at saigon star hotel... VIP style :o)

hmm. 8 months ago i wasn't sure about coming here - what i would do, who would i meet, how i would adapt to all the new sights and cutlure of this strange country... *sigh* one week left before i head home, and i'm not sure i want to leave...