Change of Weather

I was in Nam Dinh City which is in Nam Dinh province which is about 2 hours southwest of Hanoi for work last week. It is known for their pho and they took us to one of the popular pho restaurants on our last morning. In Canada there are lots of pho restaurants opened by south vietnamese, but it is actually a northern vietnamese dish.

Well, it is technically automn but it is apparently unusually warm for this time of year. Can it really be fall when it is 30 degrees? It was cool for a few days (which I welcomed with open arms) and took out my zip-up sweater from my suitcase for the first time. I hear it has already snowed in Canada and although people are envious of my non-snow winter, I will miss walking in snow and can't believe I am not going to see it until next year. I was talking to Kersten yesterday (thanks for calling!) and in Yellowknife right now it's -30 with 20cm of snow ...

So I am sick - not sick from the food, not sick from the water, haven't had to use any of the many prescriptions I brought (even though I got licked by Sarah's landlord's dog and was paranoid I might have gotten rabies for a few days), but what got me in the end after being here for almost 2 months was the common cold! I'm congested and my throat is really dry and scratchy which I didn't know initially if it was just from the pollution. But the part that drives me nuts is when I hear "you are sick because the weather has changed" - my mom says that to me all the time and I always tell her that colds come from germs! I guess the real explanation is that maybe when the weather cools, you're immune system is weaker and germs spread faster? I don't really know the science behind how colds get passed on, maybe my health professional friends can help me out here but I refuse to think the colds are caused by the cold, perhaps it is indirectly correlated ...

Last night I was invited by the family of my old hotel for dinner. They invited a few of their other former guests and made us a huge meal - fish, duck, beef, noodle soup, it was a nice spread and very generous. Even though I don't live there anymore, I still stop by to say hello.