even though a lot think i'm korean

I feel more Chinese here than I do American, which is weird because I've never felt particularly Chinese in my entire life.

the bee's knees

I cannot get over how chill office culture is here. Case in point: I got back from lunch yesterday only to find my coworkers on our little balcony, hovering over a plate. On it was sliced squid, which they doused with alcohol and then lit on fire to cook.

It was delicious. And it reminded me of this dried squid dish that my grandma used to make.

Anyway, the discussion somehow led to the topic of slang terms, which led to Brent and me teaching them phrases like, "Holy crap!" (we kept it pretty PG for the first day), which led to us discovering Slang: The Authoritative Topic-by-Topic Dictionary of American Lingoes from All Walks of Life. It was pretty up-to-date, though some were definitely passe while others really need a comeback (especially "gritch," which means to gripe and bitch).

Conspicuously absent from the book, though, was both "That's what she said" and "Your mom." Brent and I figured we should probably teach those phrases to the office on a later day.

robusto arabica

Yesterday Philip met me for lunch at the publishing house's canteen, and then we found a small coffeeshop down the road, where I ordered a Robusto Arabica coffee. After paying, the waiter returns with our change, puts a cigarrette on top, taps it, and then looks at us to make sure that we know what he means. We nod.

Was this the Vietnamese version of an after-lunch breath mint? I figured maybe it was intended for Philip (I mean, it could be like a "man" thing or something), but then after counting our change, we realized that the waiter had instead actually run out of change (about 1000 dong was missing, to be exact) and had thrown in the cigarette (presumably from his private stash) to make up for it.

And so, while on my balcony with Philip after I had gotten back from work, that became the first Vietnamese cigarette I've ever smoked.

where your boyfriend at

At 7 this morning, just as I had gotten out of the shower, I hear a knock on my door. (Did housekeeping come this early? Was I late for breakfast? Was my director telling me something about my internship since it was my first day of work?) Thu (the roomie) was still asleep, so I quickly put on a bra, underwear, and shorts, grab a dress out of the closet (they were already knocking for the third time so there was no time to actually put it a shirt on or to yell at them to hold on a second since Thu was sleeping), hold it up to my chest and open the door a crack, wet hair and all.

Only to see Philip and his Vietnamese roommate standing in front of my door with about six long-stemmed flowers. I could make out some roses.

And, always the lady, the first thing out of my mouth is, "Holy shit! Fuck! Hold on." After which I proceeded to shut the door in their face so I could find a shirt to put on.

Sometimes I amaze even myself.

Turns out, the guys had gotten up at 4 this morning to go to the flower market that's open from 2 to 5 am and bought flowers for all the girls, including two directors. Phil had told me last night that he had planned to do it, but I didn't think he actually would, especially since we had been up late talking with Yushen and Thu.

Anyway, to make up for my lack of grace (and for essentially shooing the guys away so I could put on real clothes and dry my dripping hair), Thu and I wrote a little thank you note on Thu's "special" stationary (she told me she bought it just to write letters to me on -- ISN'T SHE THE SWEETEST THING EVER? I had to ask if it was alright that the first letter we write is to the guys, and she said that was okay). It was so pretty, with flowers and the Eiffel Tower and fashion cut-outs and stuff on it in a collage-like fashion on a pink background (I can tell by her taste in stationary that me and Thu are going to get along just fine) and it even came with a tiny little envelope.

I saw Phil and his roommate downstairs at breakfast later and asked him if they had liked our card because we had loved the flowers. He said that apparently his roommate had liked our card so much that he had asked if he could keep it because he had never gotten something like that before. I felt a little guilty because I had signed the note off, as a joke, "The back of your head is ridiculous, Lucie and Thu," in tribute of our maybe 2-hour-long YouTube session last night (and since Phil had been all, "So can I have yo numba?" at the door earlier), but apparently Phil's roommate thought it was hilarious and told one of our directors, Hiliary, all about how we had an inside joke.

My first day of work has definitely been off to an interesting start.

and she likes white boys

My roommate:
- is 23
- is a total sweetie
- has been dating her boyfriend for 1 year
- asked me at dinner if a guy in our group was my boyfriend
- told me that she normally lives in Hanoi with her husband
- actually isn't married
- says she doesn't like the idea of marriage
- loves romantic novels, shopping, walks, journals, etc.
- likes the Spice Girl and 'NSYNC
- uses Asian emoticons in her texts
- holds my hand when we're walking around