A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
I'm back! And I want to thank all the people who wrote to see how things were going and pester me to get started again.

Upon further investigation, my current handwriting looks more like that of a senile nursing home escapee on a bus without shock absorbers than a drunken six-year-old. Six-year-olds have far more fine motor skills than I have in that accursed left hand.

But the important thing is that I can now use a couple fingers on my right hand to help with the typing, so I'm back in the saddle here at Katy's Asia Adventures.

Just to reassure everyone at the outset, I am just fine and, God or Buddha willing, I should get this crumbling eyesore of a cast off in 2 weeks, just in time to go on vacation for Tet, the Vietnamese New Year insanity. Actually, having a cast on my arm has some advantages. First, it has helped me improve my Vietnamese. Everyone talks to me now, and shares their own stories of past motorbike wrecks. The kindergartners I teach are absolutely fascinated by the whole thing, and show me their various scars, scabs and bruises every time I come to class. If I wasn't well known in my neighborhood before for being a palefaced American giantess, I am certainly recognized by all and sundry now, and strangers frequently ask how things are going with the arm.

The other benefit is that the cast clearly marks me as an untrustworthy pedestrian, so many motorbikes give me wide berth while I'm crossing the street, due to the very real possibility that I will do something unexpected and/or stupid. I'm actually far more of a road hazard now than I was pre-accident, since I've lost my rhythm and am now paranoid and hesitant about the whole process. I think it'll take me a while to get back in the swing of things.

Oh, and before I go, I just want to make it clear that this accident was Not My Fault. I was in the blasted crosswalk, and this driver was just driving dangerously fast and weaving. At least he didn't drive off and leave me bleeding all over the sidewalk, as I have been assured that most drivers do here.

© 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 11:00 PM