Moving on soon

A quiet evening in the FV Hospital. The hallways are silent in the almost-empty surgical ward. My dinner tray has been cleared away. The sun has gone down outside my window. The television is, as always, on.

I have just shed a tear as the last woman groomer was eliminated from “Groomer Has It” on Animal Planet for having forgotten to bring the Quick Stop powder to stop the dog’s nails bleeding when cut.

I have decided to stop watching National Geographic adventure programs for a while as they are doing reruns of a graphic episode where one of their adventurers has an accident and breaks his leg in a third-world country. Been there, done that.

I am wondering why CNN has disappeared from the airwaves. I feel sad yet again that I don’t have StarWorld; I would SO love to see a few episodes of Ugly Betty. BBC News replays its entire content every few hours and so isn’t worth watching more than a few hours a day.

I have finally settled on a charming film about whores, called “La Maison Tellier” on TV5 Monde. If it’s on TV5 Monde, it is necessarily an edifying film, even if it’s about whores. Perhaps especially if it’s about whores. It’s French, you see. And it’s based on French literature (a short story by Guy de Maupassant.) And it *is* quite charming; even if you sense that trouble is coming because the lovely, childlike whores have gone to the country and are supposed to pretend to be “decent” shopgirls… Their Madame (played by the excellent Catherine Jacob) is oddly touching and protective of her girls, and one can’t help but think that these ladies will have a far better life than many other women – whores or not – from their epoque.

It’s Wednesday. In a few days I will leave this cocoon, this luxury hotel with 24-hour high-speed internet and cable TV, gourmet meals served in bed, air conditioning, fresh sheets and clothes every day, cleaning staff and maid service, and multiple personal assistants. I will no longer have access to the fully-equipped “gym” (complete with personal trainers) downstairs nor to the multiple cafeterias offering excellent Vietnamese coffee or fresh coconut juice.

The support troops are hard at work, however. I have no reason to complain, about anything at all. From my friends in Paris – especially Dan, Michèle and David – who are scrambling to help me deal with administrative matters and to raise the money to pay the hospital bill (until French social security reimburses us all)… to Voices, Allucere and Ghislaine who sent me flowers and to my Ruby Angel who sent me yarn and hooks… to my mother in Minnesota with whom I Google Chat for hours every day… to Jane who bought a Vietnam phone card just to be able to call me from time to time and to Deb who calls me too… to my new friend Ilona here in Ho Chi Minh City… to Franzie and Jorina from Wat Opot who came expressly to Vietnam to visit last week and to my dear friend Romain who is coming all the way from Kuala Lumpur just to see me and to Srey Aun who will come from Cambodia to help me get back there… to the nurses and aids here at the hospital who cheer me up when I’m down and giggle when I try to be funny…

Yes, It will be good to move on, and to eventually see my family and friends again, but I’m already worried about being in the “outside” world. It’s hot out there, for one. For another, there are many, many fast-moving vehicles (some of which are Range Rovers) in Southeast Asia, and who says lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place? There are a lot of unknowns, not the least of which is dealing with being wheelchair-bound in Vietnam, Cambodia, Paris, Minnesota, and perhaps even Vermont. Not to speak of the amount of traveling I will have to do during this period of limited mobility.

The hardest step is the first, however, and I have quite a few firsts steps ahead of me. I am by nature stimulated by challenges, and these will be no exception. But I will SO miss this cocoon…