It is currently 6:51 AM Friday, July 9. I have been lying in my bed for the past two hours awake. Can you believe it, Tran not being able to sleep? Sophy can't either. Thank goodness she brought along her laptop.

Right when we stepped out of the airport yesterday, a wave of heat and Co Huong (the dentist working with the ACWP organization) greeted us. On our way to the hotel, she was already going over logistics and whatnot. I was trying to listen, but I couldn't concentrate as the scenery unfolded before me. It was pretty surreal.

I want to give a little description about the Berkeley students I will be living with for the next three weeks.
So on our trip, there are 8 people total.
Trang and I are the two Vietnamese speakers.

Trang was born in Vietnam who later moved to the United States when she was a little girl. She's going to be a 4th year, IB major. Her Vietnamese is very good, and I like listening to her talk haha. I don't know her that well yet, but I'm looking forward to working with her :]

Sophy is my roommate. She just graduated from Berkeley. She's ethnically Chinese but was born in Vietnam who later moved to the states when she was 9. She speaks Cantonese and can understand Vietnamese. She's this sweet little person who has an infectious laugh. (I know that she's a dancer, so I'm already planning on asking her to teach me a few things if the heat doesn't tire me out first haha)

Xue Min is going to be a 3rd year, social welfare major. She's this spunky little ball of energy who likes to do things her way.

Mia is so hardcore! She's Irish and German who thinks she's Italian but can speak Spanish. She served in the army for 4 years. She has this uplifting personality, always cracking jokes about everything. She's also picking up Vietnamese pretty quickly.

Christian just graduated. He's like a big teddy bear. He likes to wander around by himself, which gets all the girls worried. But he's been to Vietnam before so he knows his way around.

Sanjeev also just graduated. He's the organizer and all that stuff. Thank god he's taking care of basically everything. I've been freaking out about everything, but he always has an answer to my questions and plenty of reassuring stories. It's kind of weird that I met Sanjeev through Alex two summers ago right after I got back from my New Orleans trip. I remember Sanjeev talking about his Vietnam trip, and look where I am now.

I haven't met Vicky yet because her flight got in at 10:30 PM last night. I was already passed out by uh..8PM.

We walked around yesterday after we checked in. The city feels oddly familiar for some reason. Sidewalks were lined with vespas and motorbikes waiting to be sold. Old men just chilling on their motorbikes, hanging out, having a smoke. The traffic is insane. People just go whatever way they want. Theresa told me that I'm going to come back missing a toe. Uh..yeah! Sanjeev's just strolling, jay-walking through the streets like it's no big deal that he's walking into oncoming traffic. I'm holding my breath, praying that I don't get hit by something.

I'm suspicious of all the food here, but everything looks so appetizing. We ate at a place called Com Tam Cali for dinner, which was actually pretty good. Clean place. I felt like I was eating at Com Tam Dat Thanh in San Jose haha (com tam is usually a rice plate with different types of grilled meat).

Oh so Sophy and I found a little baby lizard in our room yesterday. I named it Steve, but when I turned around, it disappeared. uh oh?

Oh and facebook is blocked by the government. Gmail or gchat with me please! tranhax2@gmail.com