spotted: tall men.

Well, even though I thought the bus was going to be a piece of cake, I have already had two "exciting" adventures. Since the bus I take isn't a very popular route there is only one every twenty to thirty minutes. And the buses don't stop at every single stop, only if someone on the bus wants to get off, or someone on the street waves it down. So it is very important to always be looking down the street for the bus. This was my first problem. It just so happened that when I was waiting for the bus a group of Vietnamese volleyball players were walking on the opposite side of the street. I was gawking at them because tall, muscular Vietnamese men wearing spandex is a very rare sight. Of course, the moment I stopped looking for my bus and started people watching guess what goes by: my bus. So typical. I had to wait another twenty-three minutes exactly until the next bus came through. At this point it was already getting dark (because it is completely dark here by 6:00) so by the time I arrived at my house my parents were a little bit worried about me and asked me what took so long. I told them the first bus didn't stop when I waved at it: not a lie because it didn't stop and I did wave. I was just a little late on the waving. There was definitely time for it to pull over.

My other "exciting" adventure was me standing in the rain wearing a really lovely pink poncho for twenty minutes. Some guy who spoke surprisingly good English kept asking me if I wanted him to give me a ride on his bicycle to wherever I had to go. After I explained to him twice that where I needed to go was a thirty minute bus ride, aka a 500 hour bicycle ride, he withdrew his offer and settled on just asking me for money so he could fix his bike. I told him if I had money I wouldn't be standing in the rain waiting for a bus and I would just get a taxi. Then he left. Buh bye. I am never going to leave the house again without some sort of rain gear because yesterday I had to walk in the pouring rain until I found a vendor selling the fantastic said poncho, which stopped working after ten minutes. My homestay mom just gave me a new poncho, also pink, and an umbrella so I am all set for this afternoon if it decides to downpour again.

Last night after a delicious meal of mushroom and chicken hotpot I shared photos of my life back in America. I had lots of pictures of my friends, family, the scenery in Maine, and pictures of the farm. My homestay sister laughed at the pictures of the cows because they are so big and healthy, really different than the scrawny livestock here. Sharing the photos made me really happy, but also made me miss my mom and sisters. Definitely not homesick– just missing you guys :) Sending hugs and kisses to everyone! Pictures of my new family and home will be coming soon.