On a lighter note

Paul and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary.  We actually don't know the exact date and agreed that it's the last weekend of June.  I was hoping to do something extravagant but we're too busy prepping for our 2 week visit to the US.

We decided to but tickets for a wanna be Cirque du Soleil show called AO premiering at the Opera House in HCMC.  I was using my Vietnamese with an American accent and the guy was happy to hear that I was trying to speak the language and upgraded our seats for free.  I just saved each of us 500k (you do the math).  He probably also felt sorry for us cause it was pouring rain.  The rain was coming in sideways.  We needed to buy a bunch of souvenirs for our friends back home so Paul and I were determined to venture out, suit up in our rainsuits and hit the streets on our motorbike.  If you're new in Vietnam, avoid riding in the rain, although that's hard since it rains 50% of the time.  Sigh........

This day was unusual though, it was like a hurricane was going to hit, in actuality I had experienced my first monsoon.  Anyway it was so strong it knocked down our umbrella parking stands and vases outside of the office.
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I'm excited about returning home.  First stop In n' Out Burgers!  Second stop, pick up Riley.  Third, drop Paul off back at the airport so he can visit his family in NY.

This will be the first time Paul and I will be apart in 8 months.  I'm going to miss him, but I'm glad he gets to see his family over Independence Day.

While in the US, we have so much to take care of.  Living abroad takes a great deal of organization.  When I return, I have to file taxes, find a new tenant, prepare Riley's paperwork, witness my sister tying the knot, reconnect with family and friends, and stock up on things that aren't available in Vietnam.  Looking forward to seeing all of you!!

Numb...

It's supposed to be an exciting month, my sister is getting married.  She is the first grandchild on both my mother and father's side and she was finally getting married.  Her wedding in the US is scheduled for July 14th and the one in Australia is on the 21st.  My grandmother is so excited because all the grandchildren are going to Australia for a big reunion.

Yesterday, I received a call from a strange number and it was a lady sobbing on the phone.  She started speaking Cantonese to me.  The line kept breaking and I heard death.  Your aunt...is dead.  What?!?!?  It didn't make any sense because I just saw her a month ago as healthy as a 50 something year old could be.  I messaged the family in US to tell them what I heard and that when it was made cleared to me that it wasn't aunty, it was GRANDMA.

I only have one grandma, everyone else passed before I was born.  So my one and only grandma has passed.  What's strange is I've never experienced a death before.  I'm not sure what to feel.  I haven't cried but I feel like I'm supposed to.

The wedding in Australia is cancelled and now, you can't have a celebration the same year of a big death.  I have to fly over for a funeral instead of a wedding.

I'm just feeling numb.....

New Ad just Published: Chiropractic in Vietnam

Pictures in April 2013

 Shooting an AK47 in the jungle

 A dead body

 Fresh seafood daily

 

 Mangrove

 Paul's bday celebration, pretty extravagant

 Feeding each other shots of whisky through a syringe

 My new asst mngr

The mind's eye

 A new religion borrowing the best philosophies of 6 current religions...

 Cu Chi Tunnel

 1 of 100s of booby traps

 Random holes leading to traps and underground living spaces during the VN war.

 Have you ever seen the inside of a tank?  It's certainly interesting!

Caoism Temple

The cat's meow!

I asked Paul to marry our new maid Cam so we can take her back to LA with us when we go home.  She is the best thing since sliced bread.  Because I'm working a bilzillion hours and Paul is working crazy hours along with his Vietnamese classes, we don't have much time to cook and clean.  Also, we both decided to go on a 12 week challenge.  We are basically working out 4 times a week and not eating any carbs except on Sundays.  We figured, in Vietnam we have the time and money to eat well and be healthy.  You'd be surprised at how cheap protein, vegetables, fruit and raw nuts are here.  The only problem is the lack in variety.  Anyhow, we're hungry all the time since we don't eat bread, rice or noodles.

So we both agreed that a cook/maid would help out tremendously   I sort of refrained from getting one at first because I'm not use to the idea of having a stranger in your house, learning about your private drawers and what not.... but holy cow it's easy getting use to it...although I spend time cleaning before she comes over so she doesn't think we're complete slobs. Then I'll go upstairs and rearrange the cupboards and organize the dirty dishes so she doesn't think we're lazy bums.  I find myself doing almost as much work as before except for the cooking part.  I bought a cook book and went through it telling her what we like and how we like it.  She is actually a wonderful cook even though she is forbidden to use MSG because I'm strongly against it.  She always says, but the food won't taste good.  She adds a lot of salt and sugar to compensate, but I'm slowly easing her off the ridiculous amount and I introduced her to chicken broth.

She's wonderful and it has made me enjoy Vietnam so much more.  I don't know what we'll do without a maid in the US.

A comment goes a long way...

My friend Stacy commented and it encouraged me to write again.

Yesterday was a BBQ/pool party and I decided to go and get the heck out of the house, it was day 6 and I was still feeling pretty bad.  But this was an opportunity to look amazing in a bathing suit and it sure wasn't going to last long.  We arrived to this condo complex with a fantastic pool layout, it was the size of 2 football fields cut out with stoned pools, one for laps, one for hanging out and was only waist deep, another side for swimming training and different private Jacuzzi sections.  There were cabanas everywhere and it felt like a resort.  After admiring the ambiance I made sure to locate all of the nearest bathrooms!

Anyhow, I decided it wouldn't hurt to drink besides I was aware of every exit near me.  What do you know, the drinking helped.  So I did what every rational person would do, I kept drinking.  This morning I woke up slightly hung over and had to teach an 8:30am class, but I felt like me again, you know slightly hung over and hungry for a greasy meal.  A student was standing near me, and said teacher you smell funny, it's my lotion I quickly said.  HAHAHAHHAHA!  Anyway, I can't believe what whisky can do for your health.  I must never doubt whisky again.

Love and miss you too Stacy!

No longer newbies...

I don’t remember the last time I wrote, I hope it’s been one entry a month at the very least.  The new position I assumed is surprisingly hectic.  The previous manager was very unorganized and then just yesterday got in a motorbike accident and broke some bones.  I wasn’t supposed to transition over until May but it looks like I’m doing all of his old work, teaching a bazillion hours and trying to implement change.  I stopped guitar lessons and I stopped Vietnamese lessons.  Something is obviously wrong….I thought about it last night, and I am determined to continue those 2 hobbies.  I hope that these long hours and no siesta is really just due to the transitional period which is swamping me, but if it continues I’m going to have to walk away.  In May I will resume guitar classes, I’m practicing at home but it’s not really the same.  Also, I somehow convinced the school VLS (Vietnamese Language Studies) that they offer 50% discounts to teachers, and guess what they found a class for me and offered me the discount, ahhahaha!  Vietnam is hilarious sometimes.  It reminds me about this one time when my buddy Genaro and I went to McDonalds and I asked for ice cream.  The cashier said they didn’t have any and after talking to her for about 5 minutes I was able to convince her that she did sell ice cream.  We both walked away with a smile and ice cream in our hands.  He swore I would have also been able to convince them they sold pizza too!  The good ol days!

 

So we’ve been here about 7 months now, and there is this deworm/parasite pill you’re supposed to take biannually.  Paul and I think it’s a load of bull and that it’s another form of mind control, just like the flu shot.  Anyhow, I’ve had a stomach bug for 5 days and counting now, lost like another 3 pounds, looking pretty shredded since I am really just losing water weight.  I am thinking I need that parasite pill.  We are researching now and getting mixed results so it’s hard to determine what to do.  Basically I’m disappearing but looking great on the way out.  Where is that crop top I brought?  Actually, I probably feel the best today, and haven’t vomited yet.  Last night Paul and I were getting anxious for no good reason, we turned to each other at 10pm and looked each other in the eyes and whispered “Frito pie”.  We both ran upstairs in a hurry and gobbled a bowl each.  It was obviously a mistake for me, but when the endorphins kick in from all that soul food it was worth it.

 

I am getting a little homesick and miss driving to Target and proper malls or to my friends house just to hang out.  So glad I’m coming in July, some expat told me how important it is to go home at least once a year.

Update

Since the grand opening of the clinic, Paul has gotten a steady stream of patients.  We are making as much as clinic number 1.  We are already talking about opening a 3rd clinic in about a year.  So far so good and our fingers are crossed!  Just gotta come up with a solid marketing strategy.

As for me, I've been working at my school for 3 months now, and I just got a job offer to become an administrator!  They need assistance with hiring, employee orientation, pacing guides, promotion of new curriculum and also an outlet for the teaching staff to utilize for any concerns.  This came as a shock and honor.  I am glad this opportunity came up because now I can teach less, as much as I enjoy it, like I have said before I can be a very exhausting task.

Paul starts Vietnamese Lessons at a learning center next week.  We have enrolled him for 80 hours!  We have met a few foreigners who are fluent so there's hope for Paul!  My skills are slightly improving, I only meet with a Viet teacher once a week for 2 hours.  Apparently to learn you must take classes 3 times a week.  Maybe with my new schedule, I will be able to take more classes in the future.

I also decided to learn the guitar properly.  I wanted ukulele lessons but they were $25 for 45 mins!  If I learned guitar, lessons are $4 an hour!  So I bought the cheapest guitar I could find and I have been learning how to read notes and count beats all over again!  It is so freaken hard!  But I am going to stick with it and by the end of this trip, I am going to know how to play solos and accompaniment!

Met some really cool people recently!  I'll give you and update about that later!

Saigon Zoo Ranked One of the Oldest Zoos

Per Wiki: Established 133 years ago, the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is the home of many rare orchids, ornamental plants, and over a hundred species of mammals, reptiles and birds. Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is a cultural place of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). It was ranked eighth among the oldest zoos in the world. Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is located on 2B Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1, T.P. Ho Chi Minh City. We went on a cool day and it was such a great relaxing time.  It wasn't crowded, the animals were well taken care of.  A nice place to visit if you have time and enjoy the zoo!

We were so close to the elephants!

Photographed by Pauly

Can you find the poor bunny?

Mui Ne

The unofficial kitesurfing city is 4.5 hours away from us.  During Tet everything was booked 2 months in advance.  Although it seemed impossible to get out of town because we only started thinking about booking a month before, we were so lucky to come across a bed and breakfast in Mui Ne.  This was a beach town with an influx of Russian people.  Everything was in Russian and all the visitors appeared Russian too!  For whatever reason alligators were a big deal here and purses to shoes to alligator meat was sold on every block.  We heard about a jeep tour, so we had to try it.  Our driver was young and cool with tattoos, only 28 and already had 2 kids.  Of course he asked when were were going to have kids...so much pressure in Vietnam!  Anyway we were picked up at 5am and went to see the red and white sand dunes.  Saw how fish sauce is fermented.  Went to a fairy stream waterfall that does wonder for your feet as you walk barefoot through it.  It was a great tour and I recommend it!  The rest of the time we bummed it and hung out at the restaurant with a beach view and ate amazing seafood.  Made a great friend there as well and he lives in HCMC so we are staying in touch.  He's Vietnamese French, the coolest combination ever!  I almost rode an ostrich because Paul dared me, but as I walked up to it, it began to make itself look bigger and I knew that was a bad sign.  Kinda wish I did do it, if only I had liquid courage!  If you're in the area of Saigon, Mui Ne is a must for 3 days at the very least!