I'm going to keep this post short, mostly because the week was uneventful and it's already pretty late... This week has mostly been spent doing review and preparation for our final tests which take place next week and the week after. The last day of the semester is December 18th and while it's only the 3rd now, that's just two Friday's from tomorrow! All this finals stuff has made me realize how little time I have left in Vietnam and how quickly the time has passed. In a little more than 3 weeks, I'll be getting on a plane home...

Anyway, I'm definitely trying to squeeze in all that I can now since I have so little time left! I'm planning a trip to the Museum of Ethnology this Saturday and I have another language lesson on Sunday. The museum is way in the opposite direction of everywhere I've been in Hanoi before so it might be interesting navigating there but I'm hoping Dung will want to come with me. That way I'm not finding it on my own.. and maybe the driver can take us.. :) I've got a few things to buy for my trip with Lily at the end of the month so I'll definitely be around the old quarter too and I'm hoping to find some good gifts for a few of my teachers in the states. Quite a few have been very helpful in getting college stuff done for me and my counselor has been great in facilitating and coordinating my running start classes for the Winter trimester at Seattle Central.

After Thanksgiving on Sunday we had a little bit of extra food so I gave some of the leftovers to The Anh. I was going to invite him to dinner but Anh's parents showed up unexpectedly so we were very short in space and utensils/dishes. He liked the apple pie the most (I think) and gave me back the container with a traditional Vietnamese treat. I can't remember the name but it's apparently made with sticky rice powder and ground up banana leaves. Like a moon cake, it has egg in the middle but its slightly less sweet and is cooked inside a banana leaf instead of being set out. The color from the banana leaves makes it black so it doesn't look very appetizing but it tastes OK. I've found that I don't like Vietnamese desserts very much.. many of them are too sweet for my liking and give me heartburn.. Anyway, it was cool to taste and see since it was such a funky color and my grandfather was happy to eat the rest; apparently he likes this treat very much.

Now that it's December, the Ecopark has moved straight to Christmas. It is a little amusing to see since nobody here actually celebrates Christmas but Dung's company has facilitated decorations in every block (there's a fake tree in our lobby), and they're playing Christmas music on Truc Street. I even heard some of the younger classes practicing "Jingle Bells" with a piano accompaniment! I'll have to wait and see what interesting event the school plans since there's school on Christmas though I'll probably miss it since I'll be on my trip with Lily.

It's almost 11PM now so I'm headed off to bed. I hope everyone has a great end of the week and weekend, thanks for reading!