HYperbolical.

Warmer weather accompaniment.

Hy Huynh — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:57:40 +0000

Dear White Tiger,

Hy Huynh — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:37:19 +0000

I suppose you like striking early in your year, so that you can allow some time for your victims to recuperate. For a while there, it felt like every single “plan” was falling through, and most importantly, I thought for sure that I wasn’t going to make it back to Vietnam to see my kids. Let me just say- you know exactly how to crush my heart… by far the worst heartbreak I’ve experienced so far this year. And those dramatic reunion dreams?! I couldn’t believe that you tag-teamed with my dream realm to make it even more devastating. But, it looks like you’ve taken a little vacation at the public bath and have consequently neglected your duties.

For the past week, I feel like I’ve been living in a dream. 1) Things worked out financially with my trip to Vietnam, and I’m headed back there in May and June to see my kids again, but also to help photograph for a new Friends of Hue Foundation grassroots health project. On top of that, one of my best friends from the U.S. is coming with me to help with the project’s videography. It finally feels like my two separate and distinct worlds are going to merge together harmoniously. It will be wonderful to have him in Vietnam beside me and have the opportunity to tangibly share my past experiences, as well as make so many new ones with him.

and 2) I got accepted into the JET Program and will be moving to Japan come August 1st! I was very surprised (but no less delighted) by the outcome, knowing that this year the program was extra competitive, and my interview was certainly far from perfect. I got into the program 2 years ago (but decided to do VIA because of acceptance deadlines) and the first question in my interview this year was, “So… I see you got into JET 2 years ago but rejected… why?” After I picked my jaw up from the ground, it seemed like I spent the whole 15 minute interview just defending and building myself up. ”I’m really serious about it this time! Honest!”

And I am. It’s been a dream of mine to live in Japan, learn the language, and experience their vibrant, paradoxical culture first-hand… but it sure is a tough dream to finance. Since the JET Program is sponsored by the Japanese government though, I’ll be well taken care of, which really takes a load off of my parents’ worrying, rational shoulders (yes. even their shoulders worry.)

So, thanks White Tiger. If you keep this negligence up, maybe this year will be better than the last (which is very serious competition.)

Love_hy.

Okay, new plan.

Hy Huynh — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:12:39 +0000

I’ve been on the road (or couch, rather…) for about 85% of this year. It’s going to be impossible to get that website up and running anytime soon…

So new plan of action: jump-start the blog again!

Soon to come…

Hy Huynh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:54:24 +0000

I bought my first web domain this year!

So, a new website is currently in the making.

hold them horses, y’all.

The white tiger strikes again.

Hy Huynh — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:05:17 +0000

Before I even get to writing about my adventures this past month, I have to tell you- the white tiger is really out to get me.

Supposedly, this year (the year of my zodiac animal) is supposed to be very very very very bad luck, and on the very first day of the new year, boy, did the tiger strike. (I’m imagining that popular childhood poster of a tiger leaping out of the picture. haha.)

On our way down to NYC today, about 20 minutes into the ride, John and I collectively got our first flat tire. And you know how it happened? There was a random metal sign post that made its way in the middle of the highway. Awesome.

About 15 minutes later, we decided to get off an exit to get some Wendy’s to celebrate the victory over our first misfortune.

Two hours later, as we approached the G.W. Bridge toll plaza, I realized I didn’t know where my wallet was.

Out of curiosity, I texted the google gods for the phone number of that Wendy’s, got on the phone with the manager and asked him,

“Hi… I was wondering… did you happen to find a brown wallet with an embroidered buffalo on it?”

And wouldn’t you know it- it had dropped out of my coat pocket in the restaurant. Damn. Tiger strike #2.

So, thanks year of the tiger. I look forward to seeing what bone I’ll be breaking this week.

A tiger’s reminder.

Hy Huynh — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 03:32:15 +0000

From time to time (like right now), I have to re-remind (remix?) myself what the purpose of this year’s blog actually is. It’s not like last year, when I had a pretty clear-cut objective and motivation for a blog- a place to conveniently share my new stories and experiences from half-way across the world as they were happening, to my loved ones who couldn’t be there to relate. It made me feel closer to the ones I was so far away from, and it was a beautiful and honest form of therapy for me.

This year, I feel like I’ve become more of an introvert than I ever have in my life. This one comment, although it sort of came off as conceited when I first read it, actually has some truth to how I’ve felt this year: “Introverts are less likely to seek stimulation from others because their own thoughts and imagination are stimulating enough.”

Last year was the beginning of this wonderful trend of giving my full attention to my past memories as they sprang up into the present. After Andy’s death, I felt like I was finally comfortable and at peace with all of my life’s regrets and issues, and my decision to start living 100% honestly activated the opening of my memory’s flood-gates. Ever since then, I’ve been going on wild rides of long thought processes/associations, that eventually trigger all of these long-forgotten memories without any resistance. I’m completely infatuated with the unfolding of all these old, well-buried thoughts that my brain is storing, as if I have this exciting, never-ending treasure hunt to work on, everywhere I go.

I’ve been writing in my little red notebook a lot this year, and so I sadly often forget to record my most meaningful (and current) moments as they happen on this blog, forgetting that my notebook doesn’t have an automatic upload-to-internet function like some iPhone app. I’m also sure it has a lot to do with no longer having a big audience to entertain in the blogosphere.

But, I guess I’m a sucker for acting on “special occasions” and translating arbitrary events/dates as reasons to reflect more intensely and take action. Maybe I’m just human and I constantly need to be “reminded” in order to be efficient. But, on this first new day of the lunar new year (no… I wasn’t about to refer to V-day…), I suddenly find new inspiration to articulate my life’s adventures this year. As a friend once wrote about the purpose of a blog, I would like this blog to be “ultimately an exercise of self-expression, self-exploration, self-history, and self-discovery.” I guess I just need an alarm clock every now and then.

l’heure bleue.

Hy Huynh — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:10:36 +0000

I’m back in Santo Domingo for one more week. Last week, I was staying in the southwest province of Pedernales. It’s this small town right along the Haitian border, which I actually crossed without knowing when we went to the market. I later found out that we were about an hour and half from Port-Au-Prince, much closer than I would have ever imagined being. It was unfathomably surreal to physically be an hour and a half away from a completely destroyed city, yet was comfortably safe in a perfectly fine, nearby town.

A friend of Pam’s family tried to go, but there were so many obstacles in the way: the unpredictability of destroyed roads, special vaccinations needed before entering the city, and the chilling reality that the entire city smells like rotting dead bodies, a smell so unbearable that they had to turn around.

I was looking at the D.R./Haiti lonely planet guide book that I brought down here, when I realized that almost all of the Haiti side of the book is completely irrelevant now. I couldn’t bear to even skim through those pages and pages of restaurant and hotel reviews, knowing that they’re no longer there.

Rest in peace.

A random thought outline.

Hy Huynh — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:26:00 +0000

J.D. Salinger just died,

which makes me think about my Vietnamese version of Catcher in the Rye (the first non-English novel I’m attempting to read),

which will always make me think about Mark David Chapman (because he was obsessed with the book and thought he was Holden Caulfield when he shot John Lennon),

who will always make me think about uncle (because Mark David Chapman worked at the Vietnamese refugee camp that he stayed in at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas).

Therefore, today I thought about my uncle.

A public “Hi Mom & Dad” message.

Hy Huynh — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:22:51 +0000

Hi Bo Me!

Khoe khong? Con khoe. Bay gio, con dang o T.P. Santo Domingo, thủ đo cua Dominican Republic. Tuan truoc, con o gan nong thon (T.P. Pedernales), cach xa day 4 tieng bang xe hoi. Con gap gia dinh cua chi Pam va sau khi minh di ra Pedernales, moi nguoi noi voi chi Pam “em do co khoe khong? Co biet tai sao minh thich no khong? Buoi vi mat cua no nhin rat la hien.” hi hi.

Nha cua gia dinh chi Pam (rat la lon!)

O Pedernales, co nhieu bai bien dep lam- mau xanh troi sang!

Va o bien “Bay of the Eagles” co nhieu con buom luon!

O day, nguoi ta an nhieu ca kho, ca chien, tat ca moi loai ca… va con an cung duoc. Con chi nghi la con se thich an ca nhieu hon, neu minh chi an mot lan trong mot luc… nhung, o day, nguoi ta an ca buoi sang, buoi trua, va buoi toi!

Khong sao. May ban cung thinh thoang met an ca (nguoi My quen an nhieu thu), cho nen, minh cung di ra an do an Chau Au

Tat ca moi nguoi Dominican biet choi tro choi “Dominos.” Bo Me co biet tro choi nay, k0?

Hom nay, chung toi se di xem bao tang nghe thuat cua T.P. Santo Domingo. Cuoi tuan nay, con se di phia Bac den ban dao Samana. O do, co them bai bien dep va thoi nay- co nhieu ca voi toi ban dao Samana! Nhieu lam! Hon mot ngan con! Con rat la vui mung cho cuoi tuan nay

Thoi, con phai di bay gio. Con chi muon viet mot chut de Bo Me biet con van khoe Con se goi dien thoai di dong cua Bo Me luc con toi tieu bang Florida, nhe?

Chuc Bo Me mot tuan am va vui ve!

Love,

To Pedernales, we go.

Hy Huynh — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:57:05 +0000

Pam and Matt, my two pulchritudinous hosts in the D.R.

I’ve been down in Santo Domingo for about a week now. I haven’t been able to find any disaster relief teams to volunteer with, and I figured it would turn out this way, since most disaster relief initiatives take quite a bit of time to start up and get organized before they can handle volunteers. For the first few days though, it was just frustrating and difficult to relax since I couldn’t get over how physically close I was to Port-au-Prince and it made me feel helpless. But, I was also reading a lot of news about it everyday, and as each day went by, I felt less and less comfortable about going to Haiti, given the rise in crime-rate and safety issues. Mark kindly reminded me not to worry, “It’s important to be there after the fire and smoke are gone, as much as it is to be in the fire itself.”

Tomorrow, I’m headin’ out with Matt and Pam to the southwest tip of the D.R., out in the countryside. Pam’s family has a house out in Pedernales, where her family runs their business. We were actually supposed to go down a few days ago, but we weren’t sure if the roads were going to be open or if Pedernales was safe enough after the earthquake. Everything is in order now, and soon I’ll be in a land with no internet, beautiful mountains, pristine, empty, turquoise beaches, and their adult-sized chocolate lab puppy, Loki. In my guidebook, it writes this about the southwest: “Few travelers come here. There’s a reason for that: it’s remote, and its treasures yield themselves only to those who apply the effort.”

I asked my friend Ben for any suggestions, since I knew he spent a semester after college down in the Dominican Republic working in the tourist industry. He wrote: “If you’re willing to head a few days off the beaten path, Bahia de las Aguilas (SW corner on the far side of Barahona) is probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to.”

Eureka! What convenient circumstances, I’ll be down that way tomorrow. It’s always nice to get travel suggestions from friends and be able to act on them; afterwards, you have this almost, miraculous, dream-like connection with each other because you’ve both had similar experiences in these far away corners of the map. It reminds me of when Jacky went to Thailand, and she posted these beautiful photos of a heaven called Erawan Waterfalls National Park. She told me to go see it myself… and I did a year later.

I digress.

Most noteworthy experiences so far:

-Sitting in the backseat of a car with all the windows rolled down, listening to blaring merengue/bochata music as we drive down next to the ocean along the coastal highway, Calle El Malecon. At the time, I remember thinking “The temperature and tempo of the breeze outside of this moving car is the same as this song’s. That’s really nice.”

-EVERY meal. With my obsessively deep appreciation of all looks, tastes, and textures of food, combined with Matt and Pam’s life priority to “always eating well,” we make an incredible eating team. Every meal has been memorable so far, and yes- everything that has gone into my body has sure been photographed.

so. many. types. of. prosciutto.

-It’s goddamn 80 degrees and sunny in January for me. Wow, that needs to sink in. I should probably never complain about anything ever again, and just be thankful that my chapped hands and lips have healed.

Oh, I’ll probably start a new blog format very soon. I just purchased my first registered web domain (I know, I’m growing up so fast.), so I can eventually organize my pictures, stories, blog, and travel posts more attractively. Thought I’d give a heads up.