Things I remembered I forgot:

1) I received another gift from my university. Just in case you don't remember the first one, it was for Woman's Day, and inside a plastic bag I received a bag of pasta, a can of condensed milk, and a bag of sugar. This time it was for Teachers Day, (which was in November, but I just received in my mailbox after being on vacation) and it was.... drumroll please: 

A bar of soap, and some cheese.

If I didn't love Vietnam before, I definitely love Vietnam now. There's not much else to say about that. Just another "Only in Nam" story. 

2) Mosquitoes are nesting EVERYWHERE. Since I've been back it's been worse then ever, and the other girls have confirmed this, so I'm not just going crazy. Every time I move something a million mosquitoes fly out of it. They like dark things/places, and that has always been true, but I'm wondering why there are so many of them right now. Maybe because the weather is cooler? I thought there would be more when it was more humid? My roommates told me that the females bite, and the males are the ones that nest, so in theory I don't have anything to worry about. In practice, its terrible and I wish they would disappear. 

3) Another Only in Nam story (which could be changed to "Things I Never Thought I'd Say" : last night my roommate accidentally killed a toad. They usually hop around the house all the time, although lately I haven't seen them as much. They don't do any harm, and I have it in my mind that they probably kill insects that I don't want around, so we never do anything to them, and they generally stay out of our way. Well last night one of my roommates opened the door to the outside bathroom, and it happened so fast she smashed the toad and killed it and screamed. She actually started crying and it turned into a little situation. Being a Buddhist, she is against killing animals, and i had to convince her that it was just an accident and it was okay. The whole ordeal didn't last longer then five minutes, but I thought it was worth sharing. 

4) Watch this video. Great story, great interview, great film.

"Whatever you do, do it for peace."