Hey everybody!

For once I'm bringing a quick update on things here in Vietnam. The main reason is that we were hit by a typhoon yesterday which finally convinced me of the very evident fact that the rainy season is not only upon us - we are in the middle of it!

I have had mixed feelings about the rainy season. First of all, I felt a bit sceptic. When we arrived in Hoi An we did get rain, for sure, but it was only a few 30-60 mins heavy showers and then that was it. Even if it was the rainy season I would still get heavily burned by the sun which some very clear tan lines from shorts, slippers and tanktops clearly indicate. In fact, people knew me for my tan lines the first few days here in Hoi An - this has changed, though; the tan lines have evened out and people have come to experience my other oddities.

But really, we had a whole week of of not a single drop of rain which made me think: Yeah, rainy season up my certain not-particularly-tanned behind! Things changed, though. Weather started to get more inpredictable and the last 1½ days were really the manifestastion of the rainy season. While the sky is pretty clear and blue now, the canals that used to be roads yesterday clearly state that it's not just pure sunshine in Paradise. That doesn't mean that our spirits are broken. Far from I would say! It's all about your attitude, I guess. When I decided to go out and get soaked yesterday, it was perhaps the second or third time in Vietnam, I actually felt chilly - you start to consider that a priviledge when you are a pale Scandinavian in 90 % tropical humidity. The thing is that I'm almost soaked all the time - this time it was just not from sweat!

Also, we had a birthday to celebrate which the fewest wanted to miss out on and I think that the birthday child was a bit surprised and overwhelmed about how many people decided to defy the typhoon (and perhaps their rational minds, as well) to celebrate her. It was the fewest of us who made a crazy night out of it with the prediction of the river overflowing it's banks at 10 pm but still nobody could complain about the attitude! The typhoon also made the Communist Party declared today school-free which at least made our seminar leaders move our lecture to the afternoon instead meaning that we could sleep in this morning - you hear how many happy things the typhoon has brought us!

Well, enough about the typhoon. Since last time just a few things have happened. We spent the weekend in the Cham Islands and oh my, what an experience! We had a very diverse group of first-time-divers, certified divers, soon-to-be-divers and snorkelers all enjoying the Pacific corals and fish. It was nice getting out diving again but while the dives are probably not something I'll remember to the end of my days, the general experience definitely probably is! Picture this: Chilling, bathing and playing volley ball on a remote and idyllic Bounty-beach with a bonfire in the evening and sleeping in tents on the beach in the night. Funny thing was that while people were sceptical about sleeping in tents on the beach before we went, the ones who slept in the nearby houses were probably the ones being jealous when Apollon pulled his star-covered blanket over the sky and sleepiness infected our minds.

Everybody seemed very happy about how the weekend turned out and people also recongnized the effort I had put into setting us through to the tour company and arranging it to be that weekend. Recognition is always a bit nice :)

At last I should tell that I have now tried the Vietnamese delicacy of jellyfish which I can cross of from my list along with other strange Vietnamese specialties like frog for example. I haven't tasted dog (perhaps yet, I really haven't made up my mind) but the experience of tasting rat pretty soon has been put in sight for me. The rats here seem fat and healthy so I cannot see why that shouldn't be a delightful experience! ;)

Well, that's enough for now! A lot of love and happy thoughts to all of you out there - you're the best!