May 25, 2012

I'M HOME!!  After 34 1/2 hours of travel time, I made it. I slept a little, ate a little, shopped a little and read a little. But the time seemed to drag. That's not fun all by yourself! But it's nice to be back home. Saturday night we took Carie and her mom to a very nice Italian restaurant called Pendolascos. I think it was owned by a Filipino. We all ordered something different and decided that Yan's pumpkin gnocchi was the best.

Then we went to a bar called Yoko with a Vietnamese band but they played all American rock n' roll. It was so much fun!

Sunday was a day of packing up all the stuff I've accumulated over the past 4 months. Then we went to Carie's for lunch. Of course it was spectacular with a fabulous soup, spring rolls and cold lotus soup for dessert.

This family has been so important to us since I've been here. They have opened up their doors and hearts to us and I couldn't thank them enough.  I don't know what we would have done without their gracious love and support.

In fact Carie's aunt (who doesn't speak much English and hardly knows me) gave me a present to wish me a safe trip home.

When we got to the airport, my return flight was all screwed up and to make a very long story short, they wouldn't give me any boarding passes except one from HCMC to Tokyo. Then I had to pay $150 for my extra bag (I had 3 checked bags and 1 carry-on). So Ron had to call Cheap Tickets when he got back to the apartment and they fixed me up and I got my boarding passes with no problem. I flew from HCMC to Tokyo, then to LA, then to Denver, then to Lubbock.

After all those layovers (8 hours in Tokyo!) I finally landed in the USA. My friend Anna and her husband picked me up at the airport at 10:30 PM on Monday night. I wasn't really tired when I got home, so I unpacked some, got re-acquainted with my cat Buster, and played tennis the next morning!

So my journey has ended. It went so fast when I look back on it. We talked about what my expectations were before I arrived in Vietnam and how they were realized. First, I thought I'd meet other American women, I thought they would play tennis with me, and go shopping with me, I thought I could go out for a walk by myself any time I wanted, I thought I'd get sick a lot, I thought I'd get really homesick and none of those things happened. There were things I missed:
#1. Hamburgers
#2. Mexican food
#3. My washer and dryer
#4. My kitchen
#5. Downy fabric softener
#6. My cat (when he doesn't bite me)
#7. My car
#8. Charmin Ultra.
But I missed my friends most of all.

I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to live in such a wonderful country where the people are friendly to Americans. Where they like to practice their English with us and where they welcomed us with opened arms. I am so grateful to the Fulbright organization who allowed us to utilize Ron's talents in teaching and give him the opportunity him to share his knowledge with his Vietnamese students. I am so grateful to the Nguyen family for being so kind, gracious and helpful. They will never know how dependent we were on them and could not have managed without them all. And I am so grateful to my smart, loving husband who made these weeks so meaningful and special. He was so supportive when I had my accident, when I had trouble with money, (once I accidentally tipped a girl 10 cents instead of $1), when I couldn't cook a decent meal because I couldn't find the right ingredients, when I'd go shopping and he'd have me call him when I got back to the apartment just to make sure I made it, and when he'd hold my hand whenever we crossed the street! This entire experience was the most important and eye-opening trip of a lifetime, and I will hold these memories forever!