2 months without a sandwich

Well, technically speaking I guess I ate a few sandwiches while at my homestay. There were some  mornings when I was sat down at the table with a whole fish sitting in front of me. I was informed that I simply fold the fish into a piece of bread. Like in all seriousness, the tail and head were cut off but the bones, skin, etc. were all still there. It tasted like a tuna fish sandwich. I liked it. I would prefer it for lunch but that is just because I am not accustomed to eating such savory food first thing in the morning. Anyways, yes two months without a real, American sandwich. Make that American food. There have been occasions when I really wanted some good old carbs but generally speaking I haven't really missed American food. However, today I was reunited with the deliciousness of Western food at the most amazing restaurant. "Bread of Life" is both a restaurant and an NGO– all the waiters, baristas, and cooks are deaf; additionally the restaurant uses a majority of their income for training and educating the deaf. 80% of deaf Vietnamese aren't educated. The goal of Bread of Life is to teach the deaf to read, write, and communicate with sign language, while at the same time employing them with a steady job and income. It truly is a remarkable organization.

This was dinner last night. Yes, usually I am 100% satisfied with this.

But this was lunch today. It was a grilled eggplant burger with
squash, zucchini, tomato, and wait for it– mayonnaise. I usually
don't even like mayo but I did today!

Two thumbs up. Also I was so excited for a salad! I thought it was pretty
funny that it came in a rice bowl.

Alex win, win, winning!

Okay so obviously I really, really, really enjoyed my meal since I just posted three pictures of the same sandwich and salad. It was oh so good. I am pretty sure I can go another two months without Western food though. We will see. One more thing– I had carrot cake for dessert.

Before our American lunch we explored one of the five Marble Mountains, Thuy Son. This "mountain" has many caves and pagodas carved into its sides. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best (the typhoon ruins everything) and also the power was out so we weren't able to visit the cave called "hell," but we did get a chance to climb up to "heaven." All of the caves were naturally very beautiful and the carved marble statues were stunning. It is hard to believe that people have the patience and talent to create such massive carvings.
The largest cave had three temples– one for blessings, one for money, and one for love, or as our tour guide explained it: "to get boyfriend or girlfriend." There was also a place where people cup their hands and slap a "rock drum" to send a wish to the gods. If that wasn't enough I also rubbed lucky water on the back of my neck. Maybe I will get lucky and my wish will come true. Time will tell :)

The very big cave.

The big cave again.

Something that is pretty sad is that the city of Da Nang is building a "cultural village" around the five Marble Mountains, and are displacing all of the homes seen in the photo below in order to create this village. It is terrible that these people are losing their homes in order to supply the demands of tourism. Right now I think Da Nang is a pretty underdeveloped city considering that it has some of the best beaches in Asia– there just isn't much to do here. I wish there was a way that they create a village without ruining the homes of so many families. Hopefully in the long run the new cultural village (expected to be completed in five years) will bring economic success to the city as a whole.