The following entries will be comprised of a combination of a synopsis of each day's events with quotes from my diary in italics.

VIETNAM: DAY "1"; October 21-22

I finally left on a long combination of flights from New York City to Ho Chi Minh City (also called Saigon). In short, the time it took for me to lock the door to my apartment to turn the key into my hotel room in HCMC was an exact 36 hours. I was very grateful to be able to arrive safe and sound after a number of scares in frequent succession along the way. Here are some ruminations I had while on the plane....

I feel very purposeful to be on this journey, especially as a deaf person. I'm reaching a new level of enlightenment - I don't know quite what it is - or how it came to be - sometimes I think it's the late twentysomething hormones - but dear Alexa says it's wisdom blossoming forth. I can say its the experience at Sri Lanka, the tour, Lancaster, the tsunami and the studies I've been doing on South Asian Art has been seeding good crops for my soul.

I am nervous that the physical demands of this journey will take a toll on me - but I feel mentally sound to see it through and REALLY feel that I'll be fine.

The more I'm committed to this project, the more I'm seeing clarity as to what purpose its serving - its bolstering my confidence. I can live a life full of rich opportuinities that help me grow to new levels.