Home

No, I am not home yet, but my title does represent that I am on the home stretch and will return to my Canadian home in one week. It also stands for the home of one of the Vietnamese students I was a guest in for three days this past week. As well, tonight is my last night in Tra Vinh which has been my home for the last month.

Last week all of us students split up into five groups to spend three nights in different homes. Some students had to bike for a couple hours as their home was in a neighboring province. I was staying nearby the city but still down a shaky, narrow dirt path lined with ponds and rice paddies that I was sure I was going to fall into everytime we biked down it, especially at night after a rain. The. houses here are simple and functional. There wad a lot of livestock at the house including a very pregnant pig that gave birth to 14 little piglets. The animals were usually outside but sometimes inside as I learned when I looked up one night early enough for a duck to not poop on my head, but too late to make it miss my pants. Each morning we went to the market to buy ingredients for the Canadian salad we made everyday. Through this I perfected my recognition of Vietnamese numbers up to ten and found our favorite stalls including our tomato lady who kept throwing things in for free. Our evenings were spent at coffee shops and eating twelve cent ice cream that will make it hard to readjust to lake prices. On the last night we joined in a family dinner and the thoughtful mother made us her own delicious salad as she had seen us eat one everyday. Ahe also let us watch and help make Vietnamese pancakes which are like savory crepes. CThere was beer and we tried our hand at learning Khmer (the ethnic minority here with their own language) and taught some English too.

As today was our last day in Tra Vinh we tried to hit up all of our favorite places. For lunch there is a woman with awesome spring rolls. She saw us coming and although she was out of them, she got on the phone to her daughter and had some motorbiked over and fried them fresh, giving us a plate of extra for free. Her and her husband loved us even though our only communication was through gestures and smiles. We also have our pho place where they know our orders, and overwhelmed the lady who paints crazy designs on our nails for $1.50. After one last peruse through the market and a final night of karaoke, I feel I am ready to move on.

The research paper is done and we have out first of three presentations tomorrow fir Tra Vinh University, then on to Can Tho for one night so we can wake up early and go to the floating markets before heading back to our final destination for the ladt five nights- Ho Chi Minh City!