To all my lovely readers, you may have noticed that I've been MIA and for all of those who follow me on Instagram, I made Insta-Videos and posted pictures explaining why my online presence was scarce. Truth be told, it's been a brutal month for me. My grandma was hours away from boarding her flight to America with my relatives before suddenly passing away. It was very unexpected since she was otherwise healthy and active. I'll never forget the moment my mom called me to inform me that my grandma passed away. I was volunteering for Pharmacy Day at Rady's Children Hospital when I heard the news. It was towards the end of the event but I was left in shock. I just stood there amongst my colleagues without engaging with anyone. I didn't know how to react. How to respond. How to function. All I could muster in my mind was, this isn't real. The world seemed to tense and shrivel up into a ball. I drove home as fast as I could to schedule an appointment to make emergency passports for my California family members. Unfortunately, I got back at 5PM and of course, the passport agency called it a day. I was able to talk my way to get in touch with the national officer in Washington D.C. and I truly appreciate everything she did for me. She worked with me from 5PM -10PM PCT which means she was still responding to my emails and calls at 1AM. After sending paperwork her way, she opened up an office right here in San Diego on Saturday. Although it took around 3.5 hours to complete, we were all able to hop on the plane that night/next day and fly out to Vietnam.

As the saying goes, live life without regrets. Well, no offense to whoever spoke those immortal words, but I wish I got to know my grandma better. It was hard to see her lifeless body in the casket but she seemed happy, at peace... as if she were sleeping. In traditional Vietnamese Buddhist funerals, immediate family members wear white as opposed to wearing all black as we do here in America. I can go into detail about the funeral arrangements and actual procession but I will omit that part from my post.

After attending my grandma's funeral in Vietnam, I was able to better appreciate my mother's heritage and the Vietnamese culture itself. I was surprised to see how developed Da Nang, Vietnam was from the last time I was there (around 8-9 years old). I explored many parts of the city and took numerous pictures which I'll share in this post, my Instagram, and VSCO (contains higher quality and edited pictures). I really do wish I brought a DSLR with me but all my pictures were taken on my iPhone 6... typically in the back of a moving car. I pretty much stayed in Da Nang during my entire trip though I did venture to Hoi An - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

I endured a long flight back to LAX and returned to research the following day. I didn't experience any jet lag and thought I was healthy... but then I landed in the hospital. Nevertheless, I'm up late writing this post because I'm a bit restless from everything that has happened these past two weeks. This happens to be one of my most personal posts in quite a long while. I just wanted to share with all of you what's been going on in my life. Until next time.