The past few weeks have been a time to ponder. The holidays have come and gone, followed shortly by my birthday- and the realization that I'm almost at the halfway point of my year in Ha Noi.
What I have come to understand about living in the hectic jumble that is Ha Noi (and no doubt true of living abroad in any country) is that your feelings toward the city fluctuate just like the rickety roller coaster at Ha Noi's sole amusement park that I don't dare set foot in. Sociologists refer to this as the culture shock curve. I call it my life.
A few weekends ago I hit a low. I discovered the initial euphoria of being in a completely new setting and discovering Viet Nam had dissipated. And then a series of events happened that reminded me just how HARD life can be here (a few close friends were robbed, my roommate was in a motorbike accident, etc). I have never felt so frustrated and upset and helpless against it all.
But this episode just highlighted for me the fact that if you can ride out the lows, the roller coaster will go up again. A few days later I was at the airport for a work meeting (because who doesn't have meetings at the airport?) and saw something that made me chuckle and remember why I was in Viet Nam. It's for the small things each and every day that remind me I've chosen the path less travelled.
