I'm alive!

Not that there was any doubt, of course, that I still would be... although I have had some of the worst xe om rides of my life during these past few days. I've been having lots of good philosophical conversations with myself and others regarding the Buddhist saying, "keep a little bird on your shoulder that asks you every morning, 'is this the day?'" Doubting your continual aliveness is a good thing every once in a while, I think; is there any other way that you can practice living in the moment? If you're so sure that you're going to live a long long life, then you're more likely to be a passive observer, a couch potato, a stuck-in-the-paster or a concerned-with-the-futurer. But if you ask yourself how you would do today differently if you knew it might be your last, well, there's a chance you'll go out and enjoy it more. I know we must balance our bets for the future with not being overly concerned with it. So in that vein, I have found good part-time work as a tutor for a Vietnamese family (they pay well, and pay for my transportation to and from their house every day) and a sub every once in awhile for the schools. Yay. And today I go to find a tailor to help me dress more like a teacher should (here we go again!).

I'm very very excited about going to Nha Trang this weekend. Beautiful beaches, floating bars, cheesy tourist activities meets sleeping on an overnight train across the Vietnamese countryside. You may now envy my life.