Painting party

At our housewarming party my lovely friends Anastasia and Sergey suggested making a “triptych”.

Here is a video of the production of the artwork:

And here is the completed triptych, looking awesome in my lounge!

travel plans, etc.

This week seems like it’s dragging on in agony.  I received some bad news today – my application for a Canadian work permit was rejected because it was 3 weeks late.  I tried to contest the rejection on the grounds that I couldn’t have submitted the application any sooner as I was the victim of credit card fraud and could not pay the application fee until I had received my new debit card.  Canada basically told me to go f*%& myself, and won’t even refund me the $150 I threw down for the application fee.

I HATE CANADA.

I spent a lot of this week running around to the Vietnamese embassy, and the Cambodian embassy, getting things prepared for my upcoming trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Phenom Penh, and Siem Reap.  I am looking forward to having a few days off to see a bit of Asia and relax.  I might actually even get to visit a beach.

I am looking forward to seeing HCMC – mostly because of all of the literary references to Saigon I am familiar with.  My favorites of course are “The Quiet American” by Graham Greene, and “L’Amant” (The Lover), by Marguerite Duras.

With regards to Cambodia, I don’t really know what to expect, though I have heard Angkor Wat is awe-inspiring.

I don’t plan on spending much time in Vietnam – I will probably be returning there in April for the Consortium of Asian Librarians, at which time I hope to get to visit Halong Bay and other interesting sites.

Things are pretty quiet in Vientiane… my term at school has almost finished and next week is the last week of classes.  I am looking forward to a break from teaching.  I hope to use the time to make some conceptual art to decorate my walls with; my apartment is really spartan looking.  I want to try and make a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. out of 500 kip notes.

This week I also went to the Vientiane Swimming pool twice – I feel very happy to be getting back into the habit of swimming.  I’m trying to go every Tuesday and Thursday morning.  We’ll see how long that lasts….