day trip

Today (Sunday) I went on a day trip with The Gioi Publishers (the company I work for).

The whole idea struck me as funny--I don't know a whole lot of companies that load up 60ish people into two charter buses, hire two tourguides, and go up to a park/resort in the mountains for a day.

This trip was fun, though overwhelming:

1. It was a relief for this country girl to get out of the city, even if only for a day. The mountains are beautiful. We walked up to a waterfall--also very nice.

2. The bus-ride to our destination was hilarious. The tourguide on our bus was very high-energy and started a singing competition in which we were supposed to think of songs with a particular word in them (and sing them, of course). People who either couldn't do this, or sang songs with the wrong word had to pay a small fee....it will be shocking to those of you who know anything about my singing abilities to know that I did participate (with Ali and under extreme pressure) in the competition (maybe less suprising to those of you who have witnessed displays of my competitive nature). Everyone especially liked our rendition of "You Are My Sunshine."

3. This was my first time being around people who spoke primarily Vietnamese for that long. It was overwhelming and exhausting. Also a bit discouraging as when I did try some Vietnamese, the victim of my attempt didn't have the faintest idea what I was trying to say. On the brighter side, I recognized numbers when the tourguide counted down to the end of the bus competition.

Ali and I responded to the fun but strange day by returning to Derek's and making ourselves some good ol' (gourmet) grilled cheese.