Making Friends (and Enemies)

I don't step foot in Hanoi for another couple of days and I've already made quite a few friends. Not only friendly local Vietnamese, but other foreigners alike. It's a good start. Maybe moving around a couple times as a kid has made me socially adaptable. yeah right.

I've also seem to have made an enemy. I got a pretty harsh message from a prospective roommate, upset because she found out (through other friends) that I was looking for other 'long-term arrangements' with other houses. This, after she did not respond to an e-mail for over a week, where I was asking for an update on when I could move in as the date was not set. She finally responded, yes, but asking me for a couple more days because the availability was 'now up in the air'. Maybe that was a mistranslation between American English and Quebec English, but I take that as enough uncertainty that dipping my feet in other housing adverts would be acceptable. Her e-mail basically ended with 'have a nice life', but I should be saying that to her, as I am sure she has a lot of difficulty with an attitude like that.

Good news is that I will now be moving into a much calmer house. With a Canadian couple and two Americans. The location seems more ideal, and there is this cute vegetarian restaurant really close by that I discovered on the New Hanoian. That's enough to convince me.

My time in Japan has been amazing, despite being low-fi, and just chilling with Jeannette. The food is much better, thanks to Jeannette's greater grasp on the ability to express the mind-blowing notion that vegetarian means no fish. Motto is really amazing, he made tempura for us the other night, and a sweet soba soup with fried tofu on the top. He's also been sharing the futon with me and Jeannette, Jeannette acting as a suitable heterosexual barrier between us. Her snoring also muffles out his own, and likewise for my sleeptalking. And so there is no embarrassment!

I've decided that while I am in Hanoi, I will start thinking more about possibly going to grad school. I would definitely consider studying in Japan. I've looked at university websites for schools in Kyoto and Hiroshima. Judging from their proper use of English, I would say they look pretty good!