Smell the roses

I've been dreaming about riding a bicycle. Two nights ago, however, I dreamed that I had to make a presentation about the degeneration of cartilage in the elderly. I had prepared my slides but I hadn't really rehearsed what I would say. I figured I could wing it. Naturally, when the time came, my slides were all out of order or not even the ones I had prepared. Some of them were in Italian. Some might have been in Vietnamese. There were complex diagrams I couldn't understand, let alone explain. After scrambling for a few minutes, I asked if I could make my presentation the next day, but she (whoever was in charge) said no. Plan B was to talk without visuals, since for some reason I felt very confident about my off-the-cuff knowledge of cartilagenous degeneration. But, I either woke up or my dream moved on.

I'm going to go ahead and attribute that dream to absorbed anxiety via my mom. She's arriving in hours (hours!) and in a few days she'll have to give a presentation about scientific research opportunities at the collegiate level, or something like that. Vietnam being Vietnam, the topic, date, duration, and number of this presentation(s) has been in flux for the last month. It seems that an official invitation has now been issued, so here's hoping it won't keep changing between now and Wednesday, the official date.

Last night I taught my English club students about Thanksgiving. At the end, I asked them to share what they were thankful for. The first answer I got was 'I am thankful for when my mom gives me money.' I guess I didn't do as good a job of explaining the 'big picture thankfulness' as I thought.

Today I was invited to attend a floral arranging competition. At some brief moment, it had been suggested that I participate as a competitor, but when I saw what the students were putting together, I realized I would have been blown out of the water. The participating students had to provide their own materials and were given less than 30 minutes to assemble their arrangements. I felt like I had fallen into a reality TV show. When the time was up, they each had a few minutes to give a speech about the theme and symbolism of their arrangement. The speeches took longer than the arranging.

This guy certainly didn't hurt the reality tv feeling

Below are the two that most impressed me. They got 3rd and 2nd place, respectively. I seriously doubt that many American college students could casually create something like this, especially with such a limited amount of time.

I'm headed to HCMC soon. I'll be there for the next few days, receiving my much-awaited guest and playing hostess/tour guide/travel agent. I can't wait!