a glimpse into expat life

on friday morning, i woke up early to go to a five-star hotel in ho chi minh city to watch the democratic national convention.  yeah, i'm a political dork and enjoy doing things like that, but it was definitely a weird experience to be sitting in a nice, plush hotel in a city of 8 million people - many of whom make in a year as much as i spent in one month - and watching a democratic national convention with a bunch of americans, many of whom are expats.  

the event was sponsored by a few american expats, including one of my coworkers.  it was really a great event, to be sitting and watching kerry accept the democratic nomination for president.  however, i can't get over how weird the whole experience was, given the circumstances.  i met this woman there who works for the consular and we were talking about our experiences in vietnam.  i had mentioned that being in vietnam for only two months has given me a weird perspective on what expat life is like and what foreigners, especially westerners, in other countries are like.  then she said something like, "being an expat, everything you do is weird.  you feel out of place, yet this is where you call home." 

all of this expat stuff is related to something i witnessed last night.  my cousin, who is 14 and pretty cool for being that age, took me to "the underground," a bar/restaurant in the middle of the tourist part of town.  when i got there, i realized that everyone was either an vietnamese female or a white male, except for the owners of the place (two asian males).  i have to say that after my visit to vietnam and thailand, i have a very skewed view of interracial relationships, especially those in asia.  every time i see an asian female with a white male, i think commercial sex worker and foreigner.  i don't know whether it's because of my work and knowing a lot about the commercial sex workers in vietnam and thailand or because of my experiences going to touristy bars.  either way, it's all weirding me out.  everything here is weirding me out.  oh, but this is related to expats because in the bathroom, there was a poster advertising a web site for expats in asia. 

but that's it.  expats and feeling weird, whereever i go.  but i only have a few more days here.  i'm counting down the days, as i want to go home.