If it's too easy, it probably is. I went to two "Apple stores" today looking for a bi-lingual firewire so that we can download things from our backup drive to our new computer. Try that in Vietnamese, or in my case with techy terms, cherades or sign language. Yeah, it looked right, but now that I am home, it's not the correct cord. Back to the store we go... On the flip side, I finally returned a flash drive that I bought last fall. I've been hesitant to go back to the store because it's a little shop on computer street. They were good to me and swapped out the flash drives. The one I had was faulty - and I just thought it was our old computer. Now I wish I would have done this earlier.
I love exploring the streets of Hanoi. It seems that there is so much to discover on one little side street. Often I think I need to just get lost and explore some hidden spots. I discovered a couple new streets today and made mental notes of things available on said streets. Hanoi has shop after shop selling the same or slightly different thing all on the same street.
Hooray for good hairdressers! This is a shout out to Minh who used to cut my hair at another salon. It's a long story, but I got my haircut right before we went to Africa and it was a traumatic experience. The salon wanted to keep my business, so they called in someone special to cut my hair and promised that it would be great. 3 hours later and a buzz cut in the back (literally), I demanded to get the phone number for Minh, who no longer worked for them. This turned out to be a blessing because he is opening his own shop close to my house. My buzz cut in the back has grown out a bit and I am sooooo looking forward to a nice haircut next week after his shop opens. Let's just say that the haircut was so bad that my housekeeper told me: "It's okay, you can wear a hat." And Christian pulled me aside at the end of the day and thanked me for being such a good sport about it...and he tried to comfort me by commenting that at least the "bald spot" was centered in the back of my head. Thanks! Don't even ask, there aren't any pics.
One more musing, the day before we left on our trip, I was in the Embassy medical unit picking up some antibiotics to take on our trip 'just in case.' I stopped in to see the doctor and asked him if he had a minute to listen to my lungs. After a minute of careful listening, he declared that I had full-blown pneumonia! I got a shot of Rocefin on my buttock (which hurt for about 3 weeks) and antibiotics and a breathing treatment to open up my lungs. I was in shock, as was Christian when I told him. Crazy! I had pneumonia last year when we were in Laos. I'm glad I got this treated before the trip instead of afterward. I'll have to be on alert next fall/winter.
