I am glad that I am back to writing more regularly. Remind me sometime to tell you about the trip I took to Dalat and Nha Trang some five weeks ago.

In the last week I have alternated between being extremely lazy and being very domestic. Mostly being lazy wins out, but yesterday I cleaned house for a couple of hours- doing laundry, doing the dishes, sweeping, and mopping. It’s a good workout and I almost enjoy doing it. Once I’m back to working I’ll probably get a maid again, but for now it helps to keep me busy.

Speaking of workouts, on Thursday I went to the gym for the first time in at least 20 months. I can feel it today- my biceps, triceps, pectorals, etc. are all quite sore. It’s a nice gym though and it’s near my house, so I am going to try and make it a semi-regular thing. I’ve lost weight while in Vietnam, but I need to do exercise. There are also tennis courts, a pool, sauna, etc. at this club. They even offer 50-minute massages for 50,000 dong (about $3.33), so I want to give it a try as I have never had a professional massage in my life.

I was finally able to pick up the license plate for my motorbike today, so I think everything is finally legit. Foreigners are not technically able to own motorbikes though, so we had to register it in Kat’s cousin’s husband’s name. Vietnam has been pro-capitalism for the last 15 years, but there are still some quirky rules when it comes to foreigners. Foreigners still have to pay about double for domestic flights and trains, but that’s in the process of being phased out and should be completely abolished by the end of 2003 according to an article I read in the paper.