Surreal trip moments

[eurydicebound]

1) Vietnamese music videos while eating in a Vietnamese beef noodle soup shop. Not only was the bowl as big as my son's head (I ordered a small), but it came with a branch of some sort of plant along with bean sprouts, a pepper, and lime. I put the lime in my tea and left it out of the soup. The surreal part was the music videos, though. At first I thought I was watching the equivalent of Lawrence Welk, some Vietnam variety show with bad sets and ballroom dancing. The change of music from one to the next, however, led me to believe that this was indeed their answer to music videos. I'll note that some of the younger male singers were very cute, but it was all just a bit... off. I love windows into another culture, but I always get a forcible reminder along with this that not everyone is the same. Especially when it comes to the sophistication of music videos.

2) Stepping into the house I eventually signed a lease for and realizing it felt like home.

3) Realizing Seattle is both very hilly and relatively small. Grid Guide would SO not work in Seattle. Never gonna happen.

4) Seeing stuff about the Salmon festival and realizing it wasn't supposed to be funny.

5) Hearing how Willamette and Puyllaup (I know the spelling's off) are really prounounced.

6) Eating lunch outside and realizing there were no bugs. None.

7) Seeing Mt. Rainier from the plane, and then later from the ground while driving around. Dear god, it's huge. Nothing is supposed to be that big. I suppose I'll get used to it eventually, but... damn.

8) The slowly dawning realization that my landlords are gay as I'm sitting in their house, looking around. I saw a copy of The Stranger and a magazine with Madonna on the cover, but it wasn't until I looked out the window at the little flag of a pink triangle with ranbow stripes hanging down that it dawned on me. I am nothing if not blind to certain things, evidently. Oh, and they have cool dogs.

Comments

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Could the branch have been coriander? They use a lot of it...

It sounds like you're going to have a fun adventure there, having started with all of the above. :)

[anaka.livejournal.com]

No, that was already in the soup. It had definite dark stems, brownish in color with pink where the leaves poked out from the branch, and the leaves were ovoid with points at both ends. It didn't look like any herb I recognized.... I dunno. Wierd stuff. Next time I'll ask.