Journey Across the World part I

Palo Alto ưas just a time of preparation. Unpacking, laundry, quick hello, then goodbye. None òf anything (graduation, travelling) hit me until I got to the line in TSA with many people speaking many different languages, and looked back to seê that the 3rd goodbye wave ưas finally the lást, and my family went home to bed. (I'm typing this on a Vietnamese keyboard, which spellchecks my English words into Vietnamese, to explain the weird letters sometimes) In contrast, I went to a crowded lounge to wait for a plane to fly me across the world to a place I know little about and can barely pronounce the word for "thank you" : "Ca-am uhng".
 But aside from the inevitable culture shock, which ís what I signed up for, after all, I am totally stoked. I just got a peptalk from both high school coach and college coaches about coaching ás a fitting future êndeavour for me, and nơư I have the opportunity to teach science (physics) as well! And even better, I will exercise alternative modes òf communication because I don't speak Vietnamese. What an adventure.

So ás stressed ás I may have been about forgetting my camera charger, I know I will learn tón and hopefully someone will learn from me, and that will be a successful trip.

Other goals include learning enough Vietnamese to have a basic conversation and to make and keep a Vietnamese friendship.

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Made it to Taipei, Taiwan. It ưás supposedly a 14 hour flight, but I slept for about 12 hours of it. I think I needed the sleep! Some  funny/memorable sightings:

• A little girl diva singing "apologize" by Timbaland in a heavy avvent
• A college age white kid with hís family wearing cowboy bốots, a cowboy hat, a shirt that read "classic America" and a Holy Bible in his right hand. Really? One of the people with him wore a "God's Warrior" shirt. Way to represent Amurrica in Asia.
• All other American clothing represented ưas either Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, SF giants hats, or plastic Spiderman backpacks. If Vietnam ís as crazy about basketball as Taiwan, they will see right through my middle school level skills!