Same Same but Different

Posted on December 7th, 2008 by dave

Street Vendor

Like yesterday, another photo from Hoi An, Vietnam. A street vendor selling nuts and dried ginger. Don’t let the the old lady rouse fool you… behind that grin lies a shrewd business woman.

I’m Looking Forward to…

Posted on November 16th, 2008 by dave

Samoan friends keep asking if I’m looking forward to going home. I shake my head, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then say, “I’m really going to miss Samoa. But I miss my family.” It’s true, and something that most Samoan’s can identify with.

However, missing my family, friends and culture outweighs my regrets about leaving Samoa. I’m really looking forward to getting back to comfortable surroundings and things that are familiar (though ‘foreign’ now seems ‘familiar’). When I get back to America, I plan to dedicate a few days to overload in the places and activities that I used to take for granted. I want to eat at A&W restaurant again and get a drink at Orange Julius, shop at Chess King and Bullock’s, catch up on the episodes I’ve missed of Family Ties and Battle of the Network Stars, and see some of my friends — hopefully not too many have moved to the moon base. But I expect that some things have changed between then and now and you all will be traveling to work with your jet packs and flying cars, have talking computers and that oil problem figured out — after all it’s been two years.

Time machines notwithstanding, I’ll settle for a hot shower and a salad, two things that are exceedingly hard to get here.