I am not very comfortable lately living in the belly of the beast, so to speak.
I am fortunate to live also in Sonoma County, California, one of the Earth's truly delightful regions.
I even have Lynn Woolsey as my Rep, I appreciate her/that a lot. It is wonderful to not ever be disappointed in how she represents my positions on important issues.
It hurts to see the immense promise and vast capabilities for good we share in the USA subverted and channeled into horrible policies, ruining the planet and screwing up the lives of Americans and most of the rest of the world. I am loath to support that heartless endeavor.
In America I am literally afraid, I have mild agoraphobia or something. I am not worried about crime or criminals as much as the police and the government. Driving around I get the sense of how the mole in the arcade game, "Whack-a-Mole" would feel, if it could feel. We are over-policed. We live in a police state. Somewhat ironic since Vietnam is perceived by many to be a "police state" although the police are so sparse that anarchy more accurately describes the situation, especially the traffic. Despite that, Vietnam is one of the safest places in the world, especially for single women tourists, and tourists in general. The Vietnamese people are very gentle and gracious, truly a pleasure to know and interact with. All in all I have to say that the living is good and so sweet!
The ridiculous prices for grocery items, energy, transportation, entertainment, even cable TV and internet access in America. These prices are incredibly inflated to provide ever increasing profits for our greed driven corporate masters and their uber-rich controllers. The profits certainly are not being shared with those who do the work...
The only high-functioning processes today are the emergency services like fire and ambulance and putting people in prison, jail or probation/parole merry-go-rounds. In California the emergency services are even being trimmed back due to very low taxes paid by the rich and corporations, nothing else. Schools, infrastructure, civility and mental health are all crumbling and decaying from neglect due to skewed priorities, like maintaining our empire around the world.
When I was back in the USA in April I was fortunate enough to be picked to serve on a jury (hung 11 {to convict} to 1)and I saw first hand how and why our prisons, etc. are overflowing with poor, often desperate, people. And they are also jam-packed , of course, with the collateral damage of our counter-productive "war on (some) drugs". It is easy to understand how so many absolutely innocent people end up on "death row" due to how little actual "justice" there is in our judicial system.
Justice has been commodified, and like water and great health care, it is for sale. Justice is for those who can afford to pay, and pay mega-bucks.
During the "Vietnam" war, called in Vietnam the "American" war, I was successful in obtaining conscientious objector classification (1965, Berkeley, CA) and then did "alternative service" for 2 years.
I came to Vietnam for the first time five years ago as a 5 day visitor on my way to Bali. I returned 6 months later for 2 weeks and two months after that for over 3 weeks and I have steadily increased the lengths of my visits so I am here for about a hundred days each trip now. I first visited SE Asia as a tourist in 1974 and have been lucky enough to have been able to return many times through the years.
To respond to your query, "what are you doing there"? I am having a wonderful time. I travel around Vietnam a lot, especially to my favorite beach resort, MUI NE, <
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298086-d1173739-r24518833-Sunrise_Resort-Phan_Thiet.html#REVIEWS>, and the temperate city of DALAT in the central highlands. Both of these destinations are less than $10 by luxury bus. I fly to Phu Quoc and Con Dao, both island paradises. I eat fabulous food at amazing prices and read a lot and post on the internet. I have a boatload of friends, many hundreds on facebook, that I cultivate and appreciate, plus I am the oldest of 10 children so I have a large family to love and nurture. Never been married, one daughter I raised.(Another story!)
On my farm in Sonoma County I have a recording studio business (for 30+ years) with three state-of-the-art multi-track studios, A/Cs, Amps, computers, outboard gear, mixing consoles(boards) etc., etc. and the electricity portion of the PG&E bill for the whole property runs between $1500 and $2000/month. We heat, heat water and cook with natural gas, thankfully, but another $3 to $4 hundred a month for gas. So I am paying way too much also...