First of Many

Today is no ordinary Tuesday. No, today is the first real goodbye: this evening dear Mr. Joel will board a plane bound for his Canadian motherland, leaving behind a year of cafe cultivated friendships for an unknown, yet without a doubt exciting, future. Girls all over Vietnam---maybe even all across SE Asia---will cry themselves to sleep tonight knowing that our Canadian Don Juan has fled the country. Joel has the amazing ability to rally troops with just an hour notice for evenings of bia hơi delight (hold the bia for Joel) and, as I noticed in the last few weeks when he was away travelling, life in Vietnam just isn't as exhilarating without him. As a self-proclaimed creator of epic-ness, he has valiantly led the way deep into the Vietnamese country side on many xe may excursions, sometimes on longer and rougher trails than anticipated but always on track for an excellent story with only a few bumps and bruises along the way. Joel has supplied me with a treasury of completely useless facts throughout our always entertaining hangouts. Whether eating ice cream, drinking coffee, or on one of Joel's perpetual hunts for more food we have had a lot of fun this year; he has kept me sane with an infectious love for all things Vietnam and the ability to laugh at any and all situations. I cannot even begin to imagine what this year would have looked like without his friendship.

Joel arrived in Vietnam just a few weeks before Calah and I, and now leaves just two short weeks before we về quê (return home). His leaving marks yet another notch on the path to my own departure, adding a sense of reality to an event that is still hard for me to believe is actually going to happen. But it also gives me something more to look forward to at home because, luckily for Joel, Canada and the States are really not that far from each other and he can come visit me :)

This is the first official farewell of many that are to come in the following weeks. Goodbye to Joel. Canada is lucky to have you back.