I Hate You, Mick

A harsh title? Perhaps. Hate is a strong word, I know that. But I utterly loathe Mick.

I feel obliged to explain who Mick is. Mick is Hue's dog. I don't know what breed, he's kinda big. If ugly and mean was a breed, that would be Mick. Now, I'm not really an animal person. I like kittens and puppies and such. I don't have anything against animals (except birds, because they want to eat my soul), but Mick has lost my respect.

When I first arrived, I pitied Mick. I mean, a relatively big dog, stuck indoors, never allowed out and fed rice. I looked past the flea bitten backside, and saw things from his perspective, and I felt bad for him.

After only a few days of being here, I accidentally walked into his wee on the balcony. Strike one. But 'hey', I thought. 'that's my fault'.

However when I walked in his liquid excretion again, in my room, I got a little irritated. Once, fine. I called in the housekeeper and she cleaned it up for me, and all was well. See, at this point, I didn't like Mick, but I didn't dislike him. I felt no feelings for this particular dog.

But again, in my room. And again, and again and again and again. 9 times and counting. Always in my room. Always in the same place (right in the door way where unsuspecting young girls might walk in it). I have been trying to remember to shut my door, but other people go in there, and I forget and the door is hard to shut, so, I get yellow coloured tiles.

If this was a habit that's been going on for years, I might be a little more willing to let this go. But Mick has never once peed in Hue's room before I moved in there. So, I don't know if it's a sign that he likes me, or hates me, or even if he's trying to mark his territory on me, but either way, that's the story of how I came to hate Mick.

But things other than that have been going on too. Friday was just a normal day. I went across the road with some of the young Aussie teachers from VAS and another close by school. It's nice being able to converse properly with adults and discuss all our different experiences of vietnam and it's culture. We got bûn cha, which is a delicious noodle soup. Oh, it's amazing. Saturday brought school (wah) and in the afternoon, Hue took me to the zoo. And we got to go on motorbikes woo! The zoo wasn't as bad as I'd heard, AND we got to go in this cool rubber bubble In the lake (I'll put up pics). While the animals don't get perhaps as much freedom as they do in Australian zoos, it was still fun. Hue thinks its hilarious every time I get hit on. We have this joke where whenever someone yells out to me, I tell her they're yelling to her. We also tell people we're sisters. People don't believe us though. I don't know why.

Sunday started out lazily with a sleep in and wandering over to a phó place for lunch. In the late arvo, the family and I hit up the town. With a bar/restaurant overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake to get some drinks, then a seafood restaurant for dinner (all by motorbike!). At the restaurant, the family we're genuinely trying to convince me to stay another month. They were talking logistics and flights and everything, and if I didn't have flights for the Gold Coast booked, I would seriously consider their offer. We came to the agreement of, not staying now, but maybe coming back for a month next summer holidays, or Hue coming to stay with us, they asked me to bring the whole family along with me if I come. I was incredibly flattered at my family's generosity and genuine like for me. This will only make it all the more difficult to leave in a few days, though. After that conversation, Hue tells me we're going to the cousin's university party. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited. I was imagining music and dancing and such, but I think the definition of 'party' might be a little distorted, because, ehile there was music and dancing, it was in fact a concert to celebrate 10 years of the universities existence, featuring acts from the students. Bored, we went and got ice cream and went for a night time walk around the Lake instead. Turned out to be a really good night.

Yesterday we got a private meeting with the Australian ambassador, due to some strings being pulled by our old principal. I felt pretty important having a intimate gathering with the ambassador. He even gave me a book (just what I wanted!) all about Vietnam and Australia's relations. It was then back to school for some classes and phó for lunch.

I write this on the bus on the way to school... for the last time. Today's my last full day over here, and I'm of two minds about the whole thing. I do want to stay, but I also want to get home to see friends and family and eat steak and use toilet paper, you know? Tough choices and tough goodbyes.