After being in Asia, mostly Hanoi, for over a year, I am leaving on Monday to go to Berlin, Germany for the summer. These entry is about my last few days here.
After carrying around a fabulous piece of fabric for literally years, I was going to get pants made from it and get a pair of my favorite pants remade too. I went to “the” place in town and they said nearly $30 each without fabric and 10 days. I didn’t have 10 days; didn’t want to pay $60. A different place was recommended by a friend. I went and was able to convey my needs in my basic Vietnamese as well as pointing and drawing. Pants would be done on the 6th, no 4th because of my departure day. She was really nice and helpful. On Wednesday, I finally took a long awaited solo motorbike trip, albeit only for the day. It was a great experience and made me realize some of the drawbacks that I would have to address before I hit the road for a longer period of time. I have been making art. When I returned to Hanoi 3 months ago, I promised myself that I would not have any other aspirations other than making money by teaching English. One day while out with a friend we stopped at an art supply store. I bought a pad of watercolor paper and forgot all about my earlier declaration. Well, that had been forgotten anyway, as soon as I started teaching English and was ousted by an adult class and was relegated to teaching little children. I slowly had been working on these pieces which were scattered on my floor but had to be picked up with the lame cleaning woman came on Sunday mornings. Some how I got an urge and inspiration about what these pieces were about. I had been sort of chipping away at it but more images were wanting to be used and I realized the meaning. They are about what I had hoped would happen in Asia this trip, which did not. The series will be called Homage to Hopes and Desires. So, I have been cutting out things, and experimenting and even dying things in tea. It has been a great source of joy. I work on them for maybe an hour at a time multiple times a day. Yesterday, I drove all the way to the old Quarter to have banh gi (spelling? who knows) which is a square sticky rice patty split open with a bit of sandwich like meat stuck inside, and then had a nau da, Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk at my favorite cafe. Went to see an artist friend’s artwork and custom printed fabrics. In the evening, I went for bia hoi, with a friend’s son and wife. We drank cheap local beer at about 25 cents a glass. I tried to impress them with my knowledge of Vietnamese culture and failed miserably. Ended up ordering the wrong dishes. They are in their late 20s but are super great. Funny, delightful, and unpretentious, obviously not from NYC. Today, downloaded pictures of me being a tea lady from my camera. Tried to download the video too but lacked the right cables. Debated on whether to keep it to tape more interactions with tea ladies but decided it was too big of an overhead. Keep it simple. I have been organizing visits to more tea ladies, and perhaps a gentleman too, thinking it might turn into a book or video project, next time. Last Friday I bought a pack of cigarettes to burn out fishes out of a plastic tablecloth, to use in my art. Well, sadly I have become addicted and have been smoking them ever since. I am now out of cigarettes but want another pack. Like I want a cigarette right now. Went for “lunch” at 11:30am, then for coffee. Wrote some long overdue postcards. Some of them I have been carrying around for nearly a year. Made plans to meet up with a friend to get more pictures from being a tea lady. Went home and decided to work on my art a bit. Ended up losing track of time and left when I should’ve been arriving. Hung out with him and talked about life. I mean literally about the meaning of life. Left. Now I was hungry so I had banh gio which is rice flour with mushroom and meat in the center cooked in banana leaf. Also saw a new item and had to buy. It was sticky rice shaped in a square brick with pork fat wrapped in a banana leaf. Then I picked up my pants that I paid about ten dollars for two pairs. Initially fearful I forgot to bring enough money. Luckily it was super cheap. So, cheap I didn’t even bother to try them on. Left. Went home, worked on art and took a nap-ish. The food here has sooo much MSG that I often times feel like crap after eating. This was one of them. Worked on art some more. Tried to get a hold of people to return things to. No luck. Ate the above mentioned sticky rice thing, with a beer. Worked on more art, now writing.