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

 
It wasn't entirely my fault that I was frantically packing at 6:00 am yesterday. Though I admit that going out drinking may have been a tactical error.

My problem actually began with laundry.

On Wednesday I moved to a different house (long boring story not suitable for the web), and that night I handed over my laundry -- practically everything I own, apart from one t-shirt, a pair of ratty shorts, and two skirts that were due to be put in storage with a friend. Based on my experience with laundry at my previous residence, I figured I'd get everything back either Thursday evening or Friday morning at the latest. Plenty of time for packing, in other words.

It seems I overestimated their efficiency.

On Thursday night I received only a towel and one pair of underwear. Both of which were quite welcome, don't get me wrong. But the next day, after my grueling sleep in/breakfast/internet/coffee shop/lunch morning, I returned to the house to find a serious lack of laundry, and there was nobody home who spoke English. At this point, you must understand, I had already packed up a suitcase full of stuff to leave with a friend, which included various books, maps, cutlery, and, most unfortunately, two skirts and a Vietnamese/English dictionary.

Here was the problem. I had to leave to teach at 3:00 pm, and my only available clothing included a t-shirt, pair of shorts, raincoat and a microfleece shirt. Not an option. So I spent five minutes attempting to explain the situation in sign language and bad Vietnamese, while the woman of the house nodded and smiled and didn't understand a word I said. She told me to return to my room (or motioned, rather) and indicated by pointing at the clock that something, I know not what, would happen in 20 minutes at 2:20.

So I waited. 2:20 passed, nothing happened. 2:30, more nothing. At 2:40 I decided the situation was getting dire -- I really needed pants. Thankfully, the man of the house had just arrived (perhaps that was what was to happen at 2:20?) and I was able to follow the lady up to the top floor and grab a pair of pants from above the busily ironing maids.

The working situation was thankfully solved, but the fact remained that I still had none of my clothes and the packing wasn't started. This wouldn't have been such a problem if Friday's schedule were easier, but I pretty much taught straight through from 3:30 to 9:30, and I did have that drinking on the schedule already.

So you can see that it was not my fault -- I was quite at the mercy of the fates on this one. In the future, I am going to turn over a brand new organized leaf and do all my packing well in advance like the rest of my family seems to do. But actually it's getting kind of late and I could really go for a nice pineapple juice on the lakeside deck of my hotel, so maybe I'll save the packing for tomorrow.

© 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 5:50 AM