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!

Grand Opening Day of DSCC 2 in PMH

We woke up at the crack of dawn.  On Tuesday March 5th, a monk had told us that this was our special day to have the opening and that the lucky time to begin was 6am.  We did a prayer before the doors of our new clinic.  On the table was a whole chicken with the head still attached and folded in such a manner that would bring us good fortune.  Also on the table were 5 fruits, each representing a word in a expression which basically means we are praying to wish for just enough earnings to do well.  A pot filled with old a new incense filled the cool air.  The ritual continued as we lit each incense with special red candles.  We used the same red candles to burn paper money, paper gold and other special Vietnamese paper to send to the Gods of Fortune.  We were honoring them by fulfilling this tradition.

At 8am, the staff from the first clinic arrived and the new staff came to help set up and prepare for the grand opening.  We couldn't have hoped for a more successful turnout.  By 9am, the lobby was filled with people we have met and also of people we have never met.  A week before, Paul walked around our community under the hot hot sun and distributed invitations.  And what do you know, they worked.  Invitations are serious here, I mean the culture is still formal, hence if you receive an invitation, it's almost like an obligation.

In Vietnam, you receive bouquets of flowers from friends and family.  We received our first around 9:30am and then they just kept pouring in and so did visitors and new patients.  It felt so nice to know that so many people appreciate what chiropractic is and they were rooting for us.  I was so happy for Paul.  Today was the first day of his first international office!  I can't tell you how hard he has been working towards this day, so I'm happy that the grand opening kicked off a good start.