It has been a while since i wrote the last time. In the meanwhile i had one more succesfull fieldtrip and i got a notice that i get the scholarship from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), took em a while but now, i get some money...
I'm just on my way to Saigon to pick up my girlfriend, who is finaly feeling better and arriving tomorrow. Than we'll make up our way to Cambodia to get some holidays.
So i am off now until some day in january... enjoy your celebration days and have a good start into 2009!

This is infront of my Hotel, where they renew the pavement.Because they put the shovel down on the street they put palm leaves up as a roadsign/marker, rather than putting the shovel to the side. Nothing to say, just vietnamese...

Mike trying to get his bike out of his driveway, is the one in the far left corner

A few funny pictures! This is a broken table stitched together with wire.

How you can see on the titel isn't all the best.

Not because of my work, i somehow aranged myself with this situation but more on the private side! Because i live in a relationship, beeing separated for  six month isn't that easy. So my girlfriend booked a flight to come and spend days with me, which we planned to consist of travelling to Cambodia and North Vietnam. I arranged all my work to it and she her university stuff. Her flight was supposed to be on friday and how you can already see on the little word supposed, it'll not gonna be like this. I was really surpised that i had a message in my e-mail postbox from my mum saying, call she is in hospital....SHIT!!!... So after talking to my parents and gettong her on a phone at the hospital (i am lucky that a call from my mobile only cost about 0,25 € per minute). She's goot an infection at her knee and the Doc's say she shouldn't fly

Thats really a pitty, but this countries are not the best places to run around with an infection. So we will look the next days and see what we do, changing flight, cancel it (really hard because missing so much) or something else, we will see! First thing is that she'll be allright other things can wait...

To keep up with my work by the way, i went out last week (one of the nicest days we had the last 4-5 weeks) to take watersample. But the sea told me to think about going out twice before dong so... My vietnamese helper (thank you so much) got so seasick that he couldn't do much, exept deploying one device (CTD, for those which know about it), and i myself did all the rest. Because looking down all the time to filter water, treat samples etc. I wasn't in a good shape either, but i think the adrenalin keept me up on my legs...

So to finish this chapter i wish my girlfriend all the best and that we manage to survive these and find a solution....

I love you Aleks!!!

So fieldtrip needed to be cancelled

Actually i did went out, but past the islands out off the bay has been a swell (long distance travelling waves created by wind out on the ocean) which was with 3-4m too high for diving or even anchoring the boat. So we turned and drove back, with a little stop to have a fun dive.

Hopefully next week i can go out. It seems that everything here with work is related to hope, nearly a bit to much for my opinion. But thats life.

Because i couldn't go out the past three weeks i sat too much on my computer. Which resulted in a bit pain in my shoulder and back. So i thought a massage would be great, but i didn't wanted one at the hooker places (nearly every small massage salon) and didn't wanted spend too much money on it. So a vietnamese friend suggested a massage house to me, where i went today.

It's a place run by blind people and all masseurs are blind. One hour massage was 2 US Dollar and included a full body massage (with head, face, hands, feets and so on). She found the sore spot at my back  immediately and got rid of the pain. I never thought that the spine can make a cliking noise just from pulling the skin...

All in all the massage has been great, even or because of is not a fancy tourist place, just vietnames... I loved it and i think massages by blind people are especial! So maybe i can get it once a week. To the type of massage: i think has been based one Thai, with pressure points, bending, pulling etc., but also influencesd by other techniques. And important, it was not hardcore thai.
People who ever had this know what i mean, it's for me too strong and a bit over the top...

I just feel great!!!

Oh je,

wind is still strong, slowly i run out of time. Lots things to do, but the days where i can go out are rare and most of the time not predictable. The weather is somehow comparable with the april wheater back in germany, except is much warmer here and no snow or hail.

I discovered during my lunchcoffee that the woman where i have my early morning bread/coffee is the sister of the woman where i have my lunchcoffee. These two shops/streetcafes are about 7 km apart from each other and look just the same as e very other vietnamese streetcafe. So somehow i've something with this family, beside of supporting the whole clan. The one from the morningcoffee came along and we all fall into laughter...

Tomorrow is in Viet Nam teacher's day. That means, all kids have a day off, go to the teachers house and thank them for beeing there and teach... It's a nice tradition i think, where it comes from and which other countries do that i unfortunately don't know, maybe i can find out. 

That on the pictures has been my day.

Was at the Jetty of the Institute.

Now i go to sleep.