Rooftop view

It's day 7 of the Vietnam trip. I had posted just a couple of hours ago but there less people in the store now so I'll quickly write something before the network gets clogged up again.

• I went up to the roof to get my clothes that were hung out to dry (after we lost our servant girl, KA and I have decided to handwash our own clothes then have someone else's servant do it for us). We fear she might have ran away because she wrecked our white clothes (turned them blotchy blue). KA had to go out and buy bleach and Tide to remedy this problem. While I was pulling the clothes off the line - the roof door closed. I discovered that it self locked. I contemplated my situation and wondered how long it would take for someone to notice that I was missing. Probably a very long time as we huddle in our rooms alot so our cousins usually leave us alone. I surveyed the roof and thought about many heroic escape routes (such as jumping onto someone else's balcony). I decided that I'm not agile enough and have already heard the horrid hospital experiences from the cousins. So I sat there and banged on the door. The thought of throwing stuff off the roof to get someone's attention came into mind - but with my luck I would probably hit a pedestrian and get into trouble. Finally a lady in the next house went out to her roof and get her laundry and I screamed at her to get help. :-) Despite the desperation and urgency in my voice and in my request she told me that she has to "get her laundry first". She proceeded to take her time and fold her laundry on the roof. I found this infuriating so I screamed through the glass door again - hoping that someone would hear my cries. The lady then proceeded to yell her her kid to go back in the house and eat dinner. This took many minutes and she didn't look like she was in any rush to rescue me. She silently left the roof with her basket of folded clothes and I wondered to myself if she was going inside to feed her kid first then come next door to tell my cousin I was locked out. So I sat down and groaned. Luckily she did remember me and headed next door in a leisurely pace and told a customer in the store that there was a person on the roof. Luckily the customer told my cousin! Yup - no one over here does anything "quickly". My cousin says it's a very laid-back lifestyle. Even the ambulances don't "rush" to and from an accident. This is not a good thing to hear when you're a type-A personalilty like me.
• Yesterday I accidently locked our room door too (it's becoming a pattern with me). KA luckily showed us her skill of breaking into rooms with the use of safety pins. Forget nursing - she should have a career as a robber!
• I've mastered the art of sitting on a motorbike sideways (as it's unlady-like to straddle it with a skirt on). I've also overcome my fear of jaywalking and developed the local attitude of walking whereever I want regardless of what the traffic patterns are. :-) Lanes mean nothing over here.
• I like the uniforms that the school kids where over here but I haven't been able to get pictures of the differents outfits for each level.
• Walking down to the beach has become a daily night time routine. The heat is only bareable after 5pm. During the afternoon it's almost 30 degrees outside but it feels like 40. I need more clothes as we're washing the ones we've brought on a daily basis. The consequenses of wearing so much white stuff is that it gets dirty fast!