We've done little that's very interesting the last several day except for just living and working here, but Ilene just got back from a once-a-lifetime experience that she'll share next time she's online, so check back for that.
After two weeks of hard work, I'm starting to transition from spending so much time at the hotel to seeing more of the country, I hope. Some of you may know that I intended to turn this time into a writer's retreat for myself, and I'm happy to report that yesterday I finished the first rewrite of my book, which I had been toiling at for the last nine months. I was able to tune out the construction noise and the tight quarters and made more progress in the last two weeks than I had in about the last four months. I'll be starting the next rewrite with any spare time I have left here.
With that transition in mind, I bought my tickets today for a sleeping berth on the Reunification Express to Hanoi and back. It's about 32 hours each way, and I plan to stay in Hanoi two nights. That starts next Friday night, so I'll have lots to report the week after next.
I also expect to start doing some volunteer work in a couple weeks with an organization that works with street children. It's a little up-in-the-air, but we had a nice visit at the office today. Ilene did an amazing job translating, by the way. She can speak a ton of Vietnamese by now.
Communication note: I think my email account is on the fritz. If you've been trying to reach me and haven't heard back, try another account: the-same-prefix-as-my-primary-account@gmail.com
-Robert
