Why I am the happiest person in the world today, and why this will be the best four weeks ever:

1) WHITNEY AND NIKKI ARE COMING TO VISIT. On February 28th I will meet them at the airport, followed by the most exciting week of our lives. Not only am I (obviously) incredibly excited to see them, but I am excited for someone to witness this first hand, to see where I teach, hopefully meet some of my students, experience Vietnam. Sometimes I have trouble putting into words how amazing it is here, and now I will have proof that I actually am here doing this, someone to pinch me out of a dream, so to speak. 

2) On February 14th, Kristen and Shannon (two TfV teachers in Hanoi, equally amazing and incredibly fun to be around) are flying to HCMC. We'll spend the weekend there, followed by them coming to Can Tho for..

3) An's Wedding!!! I will get to go to a Vietnamese wedding, which was one of my goals, and I have no doubt it will be one big party, as I see two best friends get married and spend the days celebrating!!

4) This is post-four weeks, but worth mentioning. My friend Geoff is coming to visit in May, and we will backpack through Vietnam. I'm also making him come to Can Tho to experience my life for a few days, and then we will fly to Hong Kong for a few days, before flying back to Newark on May 25th. [Sidenote: If anyone is really good at looking up flights and can find me affordable flights from HCMC to Hong Kong around May 21st, I would love you forever.]

So many things keep popping up and I'm incredibly excited/happy. Starting to teach again has been great. I love all of my classes and all of my students. The only thing I'm worrying about is the fact that my visa expires on the 28th, and although I've done the paperwork to get it renewed, Vietnamese people seem to have a hard time understanding the word urgency. Right now it's just a waiting game. Hopefully I don't get kicked out of the country the same weekend Whit & Nik come to visit...

Why I'm the saddest person in the world today: 

I've been waiting for a package from Boston for about two months and the slip finally came today. (The post office gets my package, sends a slip to the university, and then I have to bring the slip and my passport to the post office to pick it up) Anyway, on top of being the happiest person in the world, I was SO excited to finally pick it up. When I got to the post office, they told me that the package has been there for weeks and they sent me three notices. The last day to pick it up was January 26th, and they mailed it back to the sender on the 28th. I JUST GOT THE NOTICE TODAY. So Whitney, I'm sorry. I'm incredibly sad about this but I don't know what happened. Hopefully the package comes back to you. I think the confusion was the fact that it was a holiday and the University was closed. I also think I just got screwed over. It's anyones guess. If you want to send it again, I still really really really want it. Although at this rate, I'll probably see you before it comes. Still, I think you should mail it again. (And bring more goodies with you. I'm being completely selfish about this.) Apparently it only took about two weeks to actually get here, and I'm going to talk to the University about it so hopefully I'll fix any problem. Trying to brush it off as a "When in Vietnam" but I was really looking forward to that package...

Random comments:

My roommates gave me my Thai name, based on the day and time I was born (and who knows what else): 

Samitha (pronounced SAM -E - TA, with a bit of a whiny edge to the end). It means smile & happy.

Something you might not know about me is that I love to multitask. Why this is good: It makes me feel important. Why this is bad: because sometimes I even do it while making breakfast, and inadvertently pour the coffee into the cereal bowl as if it were milk. I ate it anyway. 

The amount of "Obama Art" being made is ridiculous. If you're creative enough, I guess it's a good way to capitalize on the fact, but choi oi!  (That's 'oh my god' in Vietnamese, my favorite thing to say). Anyway, this one is my favorite and goes far and beyond the Obamicons, as cool as they are. 

I love to eat, but this is disgusting. I'm sure technically, its actually delicious, but what I mean to say is, this is why there is an obesity problem in America. Choi Oi. 

I can't believe this made it to the NYTimes. And yes, I've already done it. Don't judge me. More then a handful of my friends tagged me in it before I caved. Although lets face it, I would have done it regardless.