True Life: I live in HCMC

Check out this link to get an idea of what it's like getting around in Saigon. It looks crazier watching it than being in it.

http://vimeo.com/32958521

I owe you all lots of backlog. It'll come in time. I need a new laptop, mine has nearly given up on me completely. Look for: the necessary Thanksgiving post, reggae fest, karaoke and goodbye parties, as well as the bittersweet end of my contract here.

Love to all <3

Good Morning... Singapore

Just doesn't have the same ring as Good Morning Vietnam.

The idea of Singapore is really wonderful - but the practice kinda sucks. I've been here for four hours and haven't met anyone. I know how whiny that sounds, but I guess Vietnam has spoiled me a bit in that sense. Plus, nothing is in walking distance and there's cars, cars, and more cars - but the city is cleaner than a shiny penny.

I've been wandering around this mall structure, trapped due to a downpour of lake-making proportions, thinking how lovely and western, yet so far from America it is. It might be nice to live here and shirk one more year of being a full-fledged American with American responsibilities and debt. Of course, it's only a mild escape because it's super expensive here (I just paid 13 Singapore dollars (just under 11USD) for a Kilkenny, but I certainly would never find it at "home", so I'll enjoy it).

It's so clean you could eat toast that fell jelly side down off the street, no kidding. Eating and drinking are banned in the streets, chewing gum is "forbidden" (as the Euros would say), and it seems you can't smoke any where, not just inside. Hefty fines come along with these and the police carry gun in hand (as opposed to Vietnam where it's just slung over one's shoulder). I wouldn't mess around.

Airport Sightings

Note: When travelling and passing through customs is required, always get behind the tourist group. It's very likely that the tour guide will be at the front to make sure the entire group gets through quickly without much hassle. Rather than waiting 45 minutes, I magically jumped ahead because I just happened to be in the right line.

Anyway, sitting in the airport terminal, I've got this whole travelling thing down to a science. I only have to wait 15 minutes to board! Pretty sure this is only useful in South East Asia and may be limited to Vietnam.

I just watched a mother run away from her child - it was obvious to me that she was coming right back, but he can't be more than five. He slowly broke down as she got further away, but he never made an effort to run after her, which was the most interesting part. When she finally started back, the biggest smile broke across his face. He waved like he hadn't seen her in a really like time and wiped his barely wet eyes. Totally broke my heart.

This is my first flight, let alone trip out of Vietnam since I've been here (ten months). I'm unusually sad about it, even if I'm coming back tomorrow. I hate travelling alone, but this experience has given me so much. I'm starting to miss it already.

Off we go to Singapore. Hey, if you need a new visa, what better place to go than the up and coming shopping capital of the world?

Reggae > Christmas Music

I'm so so happy to be out of the US for this time of year. I can't stand Christmas music and the excessive waste of energy and money.

That said, there was a Reggae "Festival" in one of the nicer areas of HCMC. I put festival in quotes because it wasn't much of a festival at all, but the music was good - the band was great even if they weren't actually playing reggae - the food, what little without meat in it they had, was delicious, and of course anyone that is going to spend an entire day at a reggae show is probably pretty laid back, so the company was great.

However, it must be said time and time again - have no expectations and you'll never find yourself disappointed. I hope there's another before I leave!

I'm rounding out on my last few champagne brunches. Turkey twice in one week, unbelievable.

Thanksgiving

Here we are at the obligatory Thanksgiving post. I went to dinner at a friend of a friend's apartment. The food didn't compare even a little, but it was my first time having turkey since I've been here... apparently they don't have turkeys in Vietnam. I can't imagine where they get it from when it is available - it's expensive enough to come from Indiana. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese, all good enough. I met some other Americans, which is always nice, none I think I'll see again though.

We showed up a little late and so missed the "I'm thankful for ..." round, which I'm incredibly thankful for because I never know what to say. I'm aware of the irony. Anyway, I will share with you all what I'm thankful for: this amazing year abroad, all of the people I've met, the love and support of my family and friends, the job experience and assurance that this is something I deeply enjoy and would be happy to do forever. I'm thankful for all of the travelling I will get to do in up coming months. I'm sure there are other things, but you know the magical powers of turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One Year

It's been one year since my surgery.... one year without a single stomach ache or any other effects of cronhs. Most days I don't even think about it and that's a huge relief.

Hope you're all gearing up for lots of familial holidays and delicious foods! I hope the snow doesn't get you too bad ... believe me, I'm not missing that here. xo

Classic randoms from the past few months

Here is a random selection of photos from random evenings.

Graffiti

Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Fish tank in the bathroom... kinda creepy, gotta say, especially since that fish follows you.

So true. Beer cozies in the Bread and Butter; you would only find this in an American owned establishment I'm betting.


Double date Friday:

Maria and Duy

Random cat and I, ha

More from Nha Trang, Round 2

Here are a few photos from my second trip to Nha Trang back in the beginning of October. There were 11 of us and it was really rare that we were all able to agree to do the same thing except get on the train.

View from the beach at 8am

Where Bill laid nearly all day Saturday... that's what you get for drinking on the train all night :P

The Euros (and their two token Americans)... All 11 of us in one place! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA

Before the mist...

The mist before the storm that inevitably sees you out of Nha Trang

Maids

I think it's a well known fact that I have a maid... and I'm going to start off by saying that I feel like an over-privileged jerk even complaining about the situation, but:

I don't know what this woman does. She folds our blankets and sheets and puts them on the pillow as opposed to making the bed, so when I come home late, like tonight, I have to make my bed before I can sleep. She washes dishes, but she doesn't put them away. She moves stale/bad food from one place to another in the refrigerator as opposed to throwing it away. She washes the toilets and some sinks, but doesn't clean the mold or soap scum in the showers. I don't think she mops the floors in our bedrooms. She doesn't wash, hang, take down, or fold our laundry. She throws away perfectly good contact lens cases with contacts in them. She doesn't clean behind, under, or around anything. I don't know what she does?!

Oh wait, she makes sure our bills get paid, as long as we lay the appropriate amount of money out on the table, but we have to wait a week or two to get refunds or change.

The icing on the "I have an awful maid" cake: my flatmate came home to pen drawings on his wall... know who will have to pay for the repaint? Us.

I'm not very happy with this woman. But then again, I feel immense guilt complaining about a luxury that I will probably never be able to afford in the western world.

My friend has a studio and pays his maid $25 more dollars than we pay ours a month and she does all the things my maid doesn't PLUS his grocery shopping. I seriously think it's time to switch. (Or maybe start doing these things for myself in the event that I move to a place that I can't afford to have a maid and realise how much I really appreciated what little my current maid does ... I know, you don't have to remind me.)

But really, as I told a friend, if more people in the US had maids, more people would have jobs. Just like if more states had gas attendants. Sure, they aren't the most exciting or prestigious jobs, but I'm just saying.

Goodnight!

English lesson and life update

Just when you think rainy season is over you're soaked in 30 seconds flat... sweet.

Anyway, this link gave me a laugh, hope you can make it through, and pronounce all of the words!

All is well here. Half way through our 2012 MS collection... it's the easiest collection with only 10,000 words and 122 captions. Not always the most relevant text to go with the images though.

Rumour has it the NY Times wants to interview the boss-man about 'Bikini Story', that would be kind of cool. I'll let you know if that happens... or rather, you let me know if you read about Parkstone Press in the Times.

This past Sunday I had a (very expensive by Vietnamese standards) free-flow champagne brunch. The food (and champagne) was delicious. Halloween, on the other hand, was nothing to write home about.

No exciting plans for any upcoming weekends, the guys are having a 'boys weekend' in Singapore... as it's mostly a shopping city, I look forward to hearing about it. I'll be in touch, love to all!

Found this in a book...

"We are, after all, nothing more than the sum of our memories and the indelible impressions that we have felt at one time or another."

So true.

Vietnamese Crack

So, my colleague stopped in this morning to pick something up and brought me a cup of crack... more widely known as coffee. Vietnam is said to have the best coffee in the world. I like coffee as much as the next guy, but I'm no expert. I will say, however, the coffee here is among the most delicious, fantastic, nearly refreshing things Vietnam has to offer.

I didn't really need it though so now I feel wired and strung-out. Maybe when I get out of work I'll finally do the fabric shopping I've been putting off for the past eight months.

Disclaimer: Vietnamese coffee, while sweet and delicious, will wreak havoc on your digestive system, and then you will crawl back for more because, despite the probable discomfort, you simply cannot resist.

Technologies of the Future

I'm sure I'm supposed to be excited about all of the things this article discusses, but is anyone else out there mildly terrified about all of the potential bad that will come with this supposed "good"? (You know, assuming we make it through 2012.)

23 incredible technologies you'll see by 2021

Matador Network is my all-time favourite site, it's full of interesting and informative information and a lot of the writers are just travelling around, experiencing life and the world. I'd write for them, but you have to take their class and that, like most wonderful things, costs money.

Hope you're all well. It's a working weekend for me :( But serious discussions about Siem Reap are happening. So exciting!

Lauren, You can live, work and study in the USA

Dear Lauren,

Please find information about applying for a Green Card in the USA below from our Client "USAGC".

Best Regards,
The TipTopJob Group Team


Really? Can I live, work, and study in the USA? I didn't know my CITIZENSHIP allowed that. Idiots.

Off to yoga!

Good advice

"We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, [leave]." John Waters

So, "leave" was a different phrase, but it wasn't appropriate for all of my readership. Even if I wasn't working in books, I'd have to agree.

The IT Crowd

I'm not sure what this country is doing to my sense of humour... but I've really come to enjoy The IT Crowd

It is hilarious. Check it out if you can, not sure if it's broadcasted in the US.

Gondola, anyone?

This entry was bound to happen sooner or later and today was the beginning of what I anticipate being nearly three long months.

Things are going really well with the motorbike. I'm very confident and comfortable in varying amounts of traffic. However, much like Jersey, it's dreadful in the rain: people suddenly forget how to drive and heavily depend on their breaks. Let's not forget that the rain in Vietnam is a driving, stinging, painful rain that gets everywhere it doesn't belong, much like sand. I'm pretty sure my contact almost surfed out of my eye the other day. I will never again take for granted windshields or windshield wipers.

On top of driving in the driving rain, let's visit traffic: at least 100 motorbikes cram as closely together as possible at red lights, releasing trillions of particles of exhaust (and germs, no one covers their mouth when coughing or sneezing). So part of you is focusing on not inhaling while the other part of you is making sure your lower legs aren't getting burned by exhaust pipes. Let's not even venture into how many people are staring at you because you look different than them, and OH! You're speaking English with a westerner that's driving with you or near you. It's like a museum or amusement park and you're the entertainment, so SMILE!

So today, I was venturing into the heart of Binh Thanh where my students live. When Tracey, Lizzie, and I were looking at places we visited an apartment right around the corner, but settled for the outskirts closer to the center. Robin lives over there though, mind you. I was driving in, quite pleased that I'd left work early enough that the traffic wasn't so bad yet, where what would be three minutes from their house when - I hit a lake. It was kind of shallow at first, no problem, I've been in flooding that covered my sandaled foot before. But then, as lakes generally do, it got deeper and deeper where if I'd put my foot down, my leg would have been drowned up to mid-calf/shin. Sure, I'm short and hence have short calves/shins, but that's a lot of water where a street used to be.

What did we learn today?
1. Don't panic.
2. Don't make faces, they'll only stare at you more.
3. Don't put your foot down!
4. Don't panic.
5. Don't speed up or slow down too much or you'll have to break rule 3.
6. Laugh at the fact that a gondola would serve you better in this environment.

All of these rules were learned by observing others, except 6. For those of you counting at home, 78 days until the 209 gang is reunited!

Love to all <3

Chez Lauren strikes again

I've been cooking a lot on and off. I'm on a new tofu kick. Unfortunately there's only one kind and it's not firm at all. I sauteed it tonight with tomatoes, garlic, and onion, but the firmness never changes. It was pretty good, but any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

They make it two phenomenal ways at the street food place we go to, but I can't figure out what any of it is really, just delicious.

Nothing too exciting going on around here. Next weekend 11 of us are going to Nha Trang (that's a LOT of people and there's a LOT to do in Nha Trang, I hope we can agree on things, or at least agree to split up) and the weekend after that is Oktoberfest sponsored by the German association in the city.

I'm happy to be off tomorrow, I hope it rains in the morning like it did this morning... I would greatly appreciate a sleep-in and then reading in bed. I don't do that nearly enough. I will one day give you some idea of driving in the rain on a motorbike.

I can't believe it's almost October, I was convinced today was the 16th. Have a nice weekend! <3 xo

American culture

In standing up for my American culture, I stormed out of a party. As Vietnam would have it, I was trapped in the house because you need a key to get out. When the person who lived in the house finally came to let me out, I told him he offended me and he basically told me to get out of his house and he didn't care how I felt about any of it.

Lesson learned: it's okay for everyone to (excuse my language) shit on America, especially when there's only one person there to defend it (me). BUT as soon as someone starts to shit (excuse me) on Germany ... NOOOOO that's not okay. (Let's just forget the reason WWII even started.) I can take the criticism in stride, I know we're not perfect. BUT as soon as you tell me that Germany is perfect and other countries (namely America) have no culture, you're just wrong. We have EVERY culture, and that's what I think makes us who we are. But, according to this guy, American culture didn't begin until 20 years ago. So, what, I was 6? What did we have before that? I know America has a dirty past and continues to get into trouble, but that doesn't make us uncultured.

Am I wrong? Did I do the wrong thing? Stand up for the wrong beliefs? It's so hard being the only American in my circle of friends sometimes.

I've got some troubles, but they won't last

Hi all! You'll never guess what I just returned from doing... I'm not sure I believe I did it.

I was out with western friends the other night and a guy came up to Romy and I and asked if we'd like to be in a movie. Half interested and half joking I said sure! He said he needed extras to play doctors and nurses in a feature film based in Australia but with scenes here in Vietnam. After a lot of blabber from my friends, I decided to just go and check it out today after work.

Apparently I AUDITIONED for a role, the most pathetic audition I'm sure there ever was because I never thought to take a second of the experience seriously... it's Vietnam, after all, AND the guy made it seem like he just needed people in the backgound. They took some photos and I did a film test and had to dance... yes DANCE to Sugar Town (hence the title of this post). Apparently if I'm chosen, thanks to my "fresh face and smile" I'd be a girl in the band, not a nurse as I'd have imagined. (By the way, the film is family comedy about girls who sing for soldiers haha.) I'm not taking this seriously as I'm sure it was just another story to add to my exciting tale about Vietnam. But, wouldn't it be quite crazy if I was actually in a film? If I suddenly managed to become known if only in Australia and Vietnam?

Filming starts in a month. I'll let you know what happens... assuming I hear from them before I forget the whole experience.

In the office tomorrow :( Two Saturdays in a row, WHAT IS THIS?! Still working with book fair stuff, so nothing new to report there. Love to all! <3

Happy September!

I can't believe I've been here for six months. Some days I could almost count how much longer I'm here, but most days it feels like it's going too fast. The weather's been very reminiscent of Jersey in autumn, windy with a hint of coolness. Hard to believe I'm not going to have a proper autumn or any kind of winter. I don't think I'm regretting it too much, though.

Between my extremely fickle computer and the immense load of work I've had at the office since the other english editor quit almost a month and a half ago, I've been too tired, impatient, and busy to post.

Last Friday was Vietnamese Independence day. Nothing too special appeared to happen. Most of my friends went out of town, so I enjoyed a quiet weekend in the city. I promised my friend Nicky I'd stay out with her Saturday night because I always bail and go home early. It was more fun than I anticipated, so maybe I've learned to stop bailing on her.

We're gearing up for the Frankfurt Book Fair at work, it's at the end of October in Germany. Robin and Julien are going, while we're here in the office now working our fingers off. Perhaps I should be in Marketing? No, seriously, I prefer editing, I just wish there was a second person to share the very heavy load of all the things that need to be ready for the Fair.

I had to work today, so I'm just settling in for the afternoon with no grand plans to do anything. Robin's roommate (and a bunch of her American friends! so few Americans here haha) is planning karaoke tonight, so I might do that.

I could use a nap now. Love and miss you all <3

Mui Ne photos

Everyone I've talked to will tell you Mui Ne is so amazing. It was not my favourite place I've been, but maybe it's better with a big group and when it's not rainy season. Alas, here are a few photos :)

My rented bike by the beach

Garden view outside our hotel room

Pool and beach view from our room

Sand dunes

Someone's garden I got yelled at for photographing... oops.

Mui Ne STINKS and it's because of miles and miles of these little fish being dried out

I tried to steal this kitten from the bar, but he wasn't having it.

Nha Trang photos

Like I said, Nha Trang was amazing an beautiful and I'd live there if it were a viable option. Here are a few pictures... I was too busy enjoying myself to take a bunch. That's the problem isn't it?

Durian, tastes and smells as gross as it looks.

Jenga!

Boat tour views

Sights from the beach

Delicious seaside, seafood lunch

Home sweet... Saigon

Well, my weekend in Nha Trang was awesome up until last night when I thought the train was at 9pm and it was actually at 7pm and I noticed at 6:30pm. We had crappy ban mi's (egg and tofu on a baguette) and slept until the train that was SUPPOSED to be 9 hours (which would have put us back in Saigon at 4am) turned out to be 11.5 hours, and THEN my taxi driver decided to give me a tour of the city and run up the cab fair pretending not to know where he was going. I got in my apartment at 7:40am this morning and ran out the door at 7:55am to go to work.

Needless to say today's lunch was fantastic because it basically felt like I hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday... which, by the way, was an amazing lunch. Nha Trang is a definite must for any one that comes to Vietnam: cool ocean air, fresh sea food, and tons of English speaking Vietnamese! And the overnight train is pretty sweet.. even if it takes WAY longer than they say.

I tried to send more post cards this weekend, but I miscalculated my time immensely and didn't make it to the post office. I'm going to Mui Ne this weekend, I think, so look for some love from there.

xo, L

Another check-in

All is well on this side of the world. I'm going to Nha Trang this weekend, train tickets in hand :) Find me on facebook because I'm too lazy to figure out how to make Picasa (the picture site that's in cahoots with blogspot) work.

Also, taking donations for the "Lauren's camera is broken and she wants to buy her roommate's" Fund... feel free to inquire about where to send money :)

Off to my last lesson with Dahoon. Hopefully I'll find another kid that wants to speak Jersey English.

Love to all!

Dear People of the World,

Dear People of the World,

"Try it, it's interesting" doesn't entice me to put things in my mouth. I will admit, however, tamarind candy isn't the worst thing I've eaten.

Love,
Lauren

Happy almost weekend! Half day tomorrow in light of tax evasion; stay classy, Sirrocco.

Checking in

I. am. exhausted. I went out of town this weekend to Da Lat, which I will post photos and details of tomorrow or Thursday.

Things are going well on the motorbike, only one serious bruise and I only have myself to blame for that one. I can't believe how fast time is going, it never ceases to amaze me.

My roommate Tracey is moving to Brno in the middle of August, so Lizzie and I are in search of a new roommate... that will be interesting.

Hope you're all well and surviving the heatwave! <3

Motorbike!

So, it took 10 days to find the time and courage, but I finally rented a bike yesterday. It is nerve-wrecking and exhausting. To tell you I ended up in District 5 from District 3 while aiming for District 1 will mean absolutely nothing to you, but basically, I was terrified to turn left and drove for an extra 15 minutes. Give me a break, remember the first time you drove a car? It's the same, without the metal/aluminum/plastic casing around you -- hence much more terrifying. The boys say I'll feel better about it in a few days, I hope they're right. I did drive myself to work this morning, and gave myself a huge pat on the back when the bike and I arrived unscathed. Granted, I left at 7:30 and only arrived at 8 haha... it took me forever. But, slow and steady wins the race.

I'm already excited to take a trip out of the city on it. For all of you bike enthusiasts, it's a brand new, (yellow!), semi-automatic honda wave.

I just got in and I'm sweating to death from nerves. Enjoy the rest of your week!

xo, L

Rainy season

Street food is my favorite lunch, but now it rains everyday at 12:30 without fail, on and off for the rest of the evening, and it's actually a bit chilly sometimes. Having a raincoat AND umbrella makes no difference: you're soaked through for the rest of the day; my fingers and toes are wrinkled like I've been in the bath too long. It doesn't help that the aircon is cranked in the office. Needless to say, I'm kinda missing my Jersey summer (not the shore :P).


Dear Vietnam,

That's enough with the monsoon-like downpours.

Thanks,
Lauren

Motorbike lesson!

Robin just taught me to drive a motorbike! I'm still buzzing from the nerves and excitement, but I think it went pretty well. There weren't any other drivers around, so it wasn't real driving, but it was pretty exciting. I haven't driven in over five months, and while similar to a car, it's not much like a car at all. I'm still struggling with the concept of the gas being on the handle, the foot break, and switching gears; I almost toppled over once - into garbage - but all went well and no crashes. I'll be out on the streets in no time.

I now understand why the Vietnamese have such great leg and arm muscles, that thing was really heavy, I'll have to get a lighter one than his. I might also just wimp out and get an automatic. But I'm really excited about the whole thing. My tutoring starts this week, so it'll be nice to go downtown and rent a bike after that because there will be less traffic... I'm not quite ready for the idea of rush hour, especially when you throw in the "Saigon Kiss" which is a burn from the exhaust pipe somewhere on the lower half of your leg or foot. But, those can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere... even walking down the street. Sidewalks are fair game for pedestrians and motorbike drivers here. I know a lot of xe om drivers that will be disappointed to lose my business... but life goes on.

Have a nice week! <3 L

Realization

Twice in one week... crazy I know.

A lot of little things get under your skin here, in a mental way, not gross creepy-crawlies. So, the one that took the cake is the fact that six days after the end of June, I was still unpaid, though it seemed everyone else was. I only know they were all paid because I asked and they all knew I was unpaid because I was asking (who asks otherwise?). Two of them said they hadn't checked, but one of those two was completely smug and uninterested in the situation.... UNTIL they realized it happened to them. So, of course I'm griping that my company can't get it together to pay people on time; but more so, I'm noticing the complete lack of sympathy people have for each other here, let alone empathy. I think it's a European thing because Lizzie (my American roommate) and I are always saying "I know ... and it's like [this] ... I completely understand ... etc."

In that vain, Lizzie and I talked about how meaningless the word "friend" is here. In the US, I'm afraid the word "love" is entirely over-used and simplified. And, also in the US, I have friends (meaning I know the definition of friend) that meet people and twenty minutes later say "Oh, my friend, so-and-so" and I'm like, "You're not 'friends', you just met." But apparently, that's just me. It's all very interesting and I'm really interested to see how things pan out after my time here is done. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all of the people in my life here, but I'm wary of the bonds we are (or rather, aren't) building.

Anyway, in light of not getting paid, I decided it was time to stop talking about it and finally get a student. My friend Vito is going to Laos for a month and his kid's parents are going to let me come and take his place. It's five days a week, an hour and a half (from 5:30-7p) but only until August 8. I have to give up yoga for that time, as well as Vietnamese (which my classmates will surpass me, so I won't go back)... but it's completely worth it as I will make almost half as much of the monthly salary of my real job. Unreal.

Hope you're all well. I'm off to my last Viet class.

I'm baaaccckkkk

It's been ages and I'm so sorry! My laptop has been in the shop for almost three weeks now. They fixed it and gave it back to me. Geniusly, I turned it on before I took it home: they erased EVERYTHING when I explicitly asked them not to and said I would find an alternative if it came to that. So, at the thought of all the photos that were lost I started to tear up and they decided to take the laptop back and "see what they could do". Patience is not really one of my virtues, but I'm dealing.

Additionally, my camera has been wicked blurry for quite some time now. However, since I gave up the laptop, I'm not letting anything else out of my possession until I have it back.

It's five here on July 4th.. Happy Independence Day! I have no particular American plans. Vietnamese Independence Day will be interesting (in September). Also, it's 5 and just started raining... gotta love rainy season!

I haven't been up to much, just working and enjoying the expatriate lifestyle. Yesterday a couple of the Euros and I went for a ride outside the city to this cute little pagoda. You're in luck that I have an amazing roommate that let me borrow her camera (once I get the proper name of it, it's going on my wish list ;)) So, I took some pretty nice photos, which of course, I don't have at work to upload.

Saturday night we ALL went out (that's so rare). Here are a few photos of that (yay for the internet), proof that I am alive and well.

Rachel

Most of my western coworkers.

Another group photo.

Romy

My roommate, Tracey.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try and upload the pagoda photos soon, too, as party pictures are probably less interesting to some of you ;). Miss and love you all!

xo, L

Only in Vietnam

So, there have been a lot of things that have happened or I've seen that have made me do a double take and wonder "wtf?" but this one simply took the cake.

A few examples of this behaviour include, before I get to the real meat of the entry: men urinating any where, any time, any day in public; many of them at least stand in shadows or corners, but a lot of them are not ashamed at all. I saw a little boy intentionally aim at this other guy's cyclo, laughing and thrusting his 5-year-old hips.

Which brings me to the concept of "it takes a village". The previously mentioned little boy was punished by the owner of the cyclo. Communal punishment is pretty frequent, who ever saw a child misbehave is absolutely allowed to spank, yell, or scold him. I'm not sure if the parents are told and then the child is punished again? Either way, their punishments don't look THAT severe, though, I imagine the embarrassment of being spanked in public is enough.

All of the unbelievable things I've seen carried on the back of motorbikes, of course: various live animals, many not in cages, large panes of glass, large pieces of furniture, entire electrical system playing music. Every one sees different things and I'm not out in the middle of the day, so you'd have to see for yourself.

The Vietnamese are very open with shooting "snot rockets", picking their noses and toes; however, picking your teeth with a toothpick in the open is out of the question.

A favorite was the day my friend Chris and I got on the elevator in my building to go out, leaving is a key concept here, and a woman got on the elevator with a dead, fully plucked chicken. I thought for sure it was rubber but Chris assured me it was real. She took it outside somewhere, I didn't follow her even though the journalist in me was extremely curious. You can't bring your dead, plucked, chicken on the elevator! Can you?!

So to get to the real point, I came home from work this evening around six o'clock. One of the two elevators on my side of the lobby is down and probably will be until at least Monday, which means you could wait a solid 15 minutes for the unbroken one to get to you, or take nine flights of stairs, but that's, still, not the point. I walk into the lobby and there's a woman standing holding her toddler, another woman standing behind her child who is on a big wheels, a woman crouching (in a way I've also only seen in Vietnam) with a little boy around 4-years-old on her lap, and they are all awkwardly circled around two, for lack of a better word, turds. Human feces.

Shock? Awe? I had no idea what to do or say and the elevator wasn't anywhere near the ground floor. I don't think the adults were discussing it but the little girl on the bike was looking at it and the boy sitting in his mother's lap the way I wanted to look at them.

Finally, the elevator arrives and I take a step toward it only to realize that the little boy is still pooping on the floor, using his mother's lap as a toilet seat and the floor of the lobby as a toilet bowl. No wonder the little girl was looking at him so strangely. I am well acquainted with the inner-workings of the intestinal track; however, NOTHING makes this okay! Agreed? I mean, it was six o'clock in the middle of a crowded lobby of a well-populated building.

Only in Vietnam, for sure.

You can take the girl out of Philly, but...

You don't even want to know what I would do for a disgustingly greasy Philly chicken cheesesteak with fried onions and mushrooms right now.

...you can't take the Philly out of the girl.

Let's play a game

Guy from Long Island: What are you doing here?
Me: Oh, I'm an english editor for an art publishing company.
GfLI: That's pretty cool.

Three minutes later...
GfLI: So, what do you do here?
Me: I'm an english editor. For an... art publishing company?
GfLI: Oh that's so great. You usually only meet teachers coming from the west. Do you like it?
Me: Uhh... yeah, we talked about this three minutes ago.

Let's play a game, it's called LISTENING. I know it's hard, but give it a try; not only might you enjoy it and get more out of life, but people will like you better. Just a thought!

0-7 in three minutes flat

I went from zero mosquito bites to seven mosquito bites in three minutes.

Oddly, it was at my yoga center. You're supposed to relax there, not frantically scratch bug bites just to attain a few seconds of relief. Even more interesting, my yoga instructor is really amazing and manages to make us forget about them during the session, and for the rest of the evening really. The problem is, tomorrow I'll be scratching like an addict of sorts. Win some, lose some.

Mosquitoes 23, Lauren 2. I'm making a come back, I mean 23 wretched mosquito bites in three months really isn't so bad when you think about it. Then again, rainy season is coming...

90 days later

I'm pretty sure I was thinking about posting earlier, but I'm really backed up at work and forgot whatever I was going to post.

But then I realized, today is my three month anniversary with Vietnam! I hope it buys me dinner or at least flowers.

I'm hanging back at work for another 45 minutes to get a little more work done and then going to celebrate some German holiday that I've never heard of. ::shrug:: When in Rome... or something.

<3

Mission: Complete

So, Lizzie, my roommate, insisted Tracey and I sign up for this website called goodreads.com. Being the bibliophile I am, I signed up without much of a push; feel free to friend me, just use my email address. Don't judge the books I've rated, I don't have hours upon hours to update the site and I proudly admit to enjoying a good piece of trash every once in a while. Anyway, it's a great way to keep track of the books you've read and the books you want to read, as well as get recommendations from your friends. I've been intending to make a book journal for ages and this just made life infinitely more simple. Alright, enough free advertising.

Anyway, I was looking for the title to a book I'd read in a private journal I've been keeping since my first year in college. I was smart enough to finally tag all of the entries two summers ago when I was lifeguarding an empty pool. In my search, and the point to this post, I found this gem:

"I want to move to another country and maybe never come back. How do Visas work? I don't necessarily want to give up my citizenship, I just need to do something new and exciting. Places I have in mind, even though I don't really know much about most of them: the U.K., Spain, South Africa, France, Italy, or maybe Greece (I don't know how hot it gets there). I'd consider South American countries, but it's too damn hot."

Well, I'm out of the country! No where I thought I'd like to go and it is damn hot. But, first part of the mission: COMPLETE.

I imagine if I kept looking I'd find others but I'm off to meet Romy to go to Velvet for Ladies Night.

It's getting hot in here, but taking off your clothes won't make a difference

In Ho Chi Minh, as well as, I'm sure, other cities around the world that use too much energy, they shut off power grids around the city for about 10 minutes what seems to be once week to conserve energy or something ridiculous of that nature. Once the electricity comes back on though, for some unknown reason, the air system doesn't turn back on in my office building for 4+ hours once the power is cut... we're working on hour 5 right now. It's actually cooler outside than it is in the office. The editorial team is in a small room which fits us and our seven desks and our seven computers which give off MORE heat.

I'd cry, but I don't want to lose any more fluids.

Vocabulary lessons in my own language... who knew?

So, my weekend in Ba Ria with the Euros was a lot of fun (despite the unending French) and I have a hand-written entry to post, I'll get to that as soon as possible. As well as neglected emails. I'm anticipating a slow week, though there's only three and a half work days, so how much could really happen (isn't that the last thing anyone says before utter chaos strikes?)? Yes, one-half. The boss is making us all come in for a half day on Saturday to make up for the two weekdays he gave us. I'm not complaining though - seriously.

I wanted to share the new words I learned at work today. They are real words, in the dictionary.

higgledy-piggledy - in utter disorder or confusion
kerfuffle - a commotion or fuss

Also, Mom, you may find mild humor (or disgust) in this, the book I'm proofing now uses the word armpit! I changed it to underarm, but still... it's more widely used than even I thought.

Love and miss you all. Hope spring is bringing the much anticipated May flowers <3

Indian concept

It's National Broken Heart's Day in India.

Interesting concept, isn't it?

Ba Ria, con't

I was getting worried it might rain and put a serious damper on our evening, but the clouds have passed. We've all napped and we're gearing up for another exciting evening around the barbeque and bonfire, and a "midnight bath."

A teeny-tiny part of me misses the city, but I'll be back there soon enough probably counting the days until I can escape again.

Ba Ria, Vietnam

There's something really beautiful about the rustic simplicity of this place. We (Julien, Romy, Laurent, Julie, Ernst, Romain, and Jessica) have come for holiday to Ba Ria. It's really nice to be out of the wretched smell of Ho Chi Minh, if only for a few days.

It's so hot despite the breeze coming off the ocean and there's little to do. It's nice that we are eight because it's hard to get tired of each other, although the fact that we've only known each other for a short period of time makes it more difficult to know each other so well that we share our most annoying habits or know well how to push each others buttons (except Julien, I think he got a handbook on all of us that outlined the best ways to make us want to tell him to shuuutttt uuupppp).

The beach is beautiful and deserted. I think that is so strange, coming from NJ where it's nearly impossible to find your own private space at all, let alone at the beach. I guess it's different here because the women are so modest with their bodies AND this particular "resort" is pretty expensive for a Vietnamese salary. At the pool I feel guilty when there are a lot of Vietnamese, as if I am offending them in my two-piece bathing suit. We probably are, they're just too nice to say or do anything.

This place reminds me a lot of Deer Lake. We've got the ocean and a pool, little (extremely hot, no aircon, pathetic fan) cabins for sleeping, group showers, volleyball, and a pool table. We had a really delicious barbeque last night - I don't see how I'll ever be able to go back to veggie burgers after chicken kebabs, potatoes, pasta, and fresh salad. And while these Europeans could never replace Conor and great times at Deer Lake, it's been an overall lovely experience. Except for the bugs, but what can you do?

Brainstorm

Sorry I've been a terrible blogger. It's been a very busy week or so at work with strict deadlines and backed up work.

I wanted to share, I think I just named a book! I know it's probably not exciting to you, but... the genius just tumbled out. Wouldn't you at least browse through a book titled "Beauty of the Beast"?

A better update to come, soon. I'm going to Ba Ria this weekend for our holiday (May Day and Liberation Day give us a four day weekend). And I'm NOT going to China, at least for now.

<3

UPDATE: Beauty of the Beast wins. :)

Just dance, it'll be okay

I've had a horrible, horrible, stressful day at work. If I've learned anything from Grey's Anatomy (except a lot of new music and that Cronh's surgery is actually quite deadly; shout out to Dr. Callender for being so amazing) it is to dance it out.

We've figured out all the "ladies nights" around the city during the week, so I'm going to take a page from "Meridith" and "Christina" and DANCE IT OUT. Hopefully it will help make tomorrow a better day, even though I know Ozalids of BOs are about to take over my life and ruin my "Bikini" deadline. It is kinda cool to have a "deadline" though. I'll try my best to explain everything, as well as I can, soon. Love and miss all of my American followers <3

Wisdom in The Bikini, A Cultural History

I found this particularly interesting, buried deeply in the text I'm reading concerning the cultural history of the bikini.

Corporal punishment used by the Occident to guarantee the civilization process – one is not born as a human being but has to be subjected to physical punishment to become one, a summary of the basic educational motto of our culture – might today be applied to a much lesser degree, the culture of disciplining the body, however, is still present. Corporal punishment as a prerequisite for the civilization process remains deeply rooted in our habits and our culture. If we are less inclined to use physical punishment on our children, the training of our pets, for example, a dog trained with a many-layered system of punishment and rewards to become housebroken (civilized to the degree that the dog can cohabit with humans), illustrates how instinctive and deeply we believe in this form of punishment and its objective of civilizing the individual. A classical pedagogic sentence, which is also the motto of Goethe’s Dichtung und Wahrheit [Poetry and Truth] serves well to illustrate this point: “If you are not driven hard, you are not being educated.”

Patrik Alac

I don't see how it's related to the rest, but interesting, nevertheless. Discuss.

Dear Vietnam, (expect a lot more of these)

Dear Vietnam Inhabitants (Westerners, you're not excused),

"You look tired" is not a compliment. In fact, it is a mean, dirty insult. Please observe your manners and my self-consciousness. Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.

Truly,
Lauren

Jan - Dec, Mon - Sun, and the rain

"January has issues with her mother, February is always talking about things he wants to do while March does them, April eats sweets and May pays for them, June is the oldest but not the wisest and July always has an opinion on everything. August never stops trying do the right thing, even if he doesn’t always know what that is. September once saw something so sad, she never stopped crying. October holds the lift for anyone, vice-presidents and street-sweepers alike (for his memory, not for theirs) and November makes fun of him for this. December is tired but always hopeful. He has never once stopped believing.

Monday’s obviously a bastard, quite literally as dad can’t remember what or who he was doing. Tuesday’s temperamental but okay as long as you stay on her good side. Wednesday doesn’t say much and Thursday sometimes hums just to break the silence. They’re in love. Friday’s always wasted and she and Saturday hold each other tightly until their delirium fades.

But Sunday, Sunday knows she’s the end. But she closes her eyes, and she pretends with all the strength in her tiny heart that really, she’s the dawn."

I have no idea where this originated, but I think it's really beautiful and holds some kind of funny made up truth.

It's pouring rain here, all of a sudden, at 10:30pm or so (it usually rains in the early evening) and there's something really amazing about Saigon when it rains. We needed it; we were all wandering around like lobsters in a steam bath. It will probably be flooded in the morning, but at least I'll sleep well tonight. Auf Wiedersehen! German, Vietnamese, French.. they're all starting to sound the same...

Careful what you injest...

Turns out my maid (you know I have a maid? For about $50 a month divided by three people... I know, right?) makes her own vodka at home and brought us some... in a water bottle.

Lesson learned: smell all clear liquids before drinking them out of the 'fridge. IN MY OWN APARTMENT! Good stuff, though. Smooth. Not as smooth as water, though.

More soon. <3

Signs around the city

"Keep your hand on your dong because we are not responsible for personal property." (I took this especially for the likes of Tim M and Joey L, the most "young at heart" 26 year olds I know.)

"Professional hair design... We make you look more attractive."

Do not straddle or stand on the toilet.

"Ladies" and "Man" toilet signs... haha

Chez Lauren

For anyone that's keeping track, I made dinner for the first time since I've been here. Some strange version of chicken fried rice with garlic, soy, and the local hot sauce; it was delicious and I'm proud of it, considering I often hard-core refuse to cook and when I do cook I'm never quite sure how it's going to turn out. I chose today as my starting point because tomorrow is a holiday (one of, I think, three for a whole year) and most of the places we tried to go to for lunch at work today were closed. Even the street food! (Alas, Monday chicken curry, we shall meet again. Soon.) Rightfully so, when even the xe om drivers were letting people down, I realized I had to take matters into my own hands.

Sadly I haven't ventured into any of the fresh fruits/veggies markets because of the odor, but I'm working on it. That's not to say I haven't discovered some amazing and healthy fruits and vegetables (longan and morning glory being my favorites, respectively). I think the markets are best to attack in the morning because:

a) they haven't been sitting in the boiling hot sun all day.
b) people haven't picked over them or coughed/sneezed on them too much yet.
c) they don't smell like... ugh, I'll let you imagine that on your own.

I have to admit, I really like the smell of the fruits just before they go bad. Like around 6pm, the air is ripe with a sticky, sweet smell that I associate with summer and perfectly ripe fruit salad.

Further than my favorite fruit, Vietnam has the most delicious fruits I've ever eaten: dragon fruit, litchi, and jackfruit (among others). I already don't know how I'll give them up to come back to the US. And avacado smoothies <3

I'm super blogger this week. Don't get used to it. When the cat is away (aka no work tomorrow), the mice will play (remind me to talk about the super-rats in the future, and I'm not talking Breakfast at Tiffany's, though, there are a few of those, too); headed down to Bui Vien aka downtown/the backpacker district.

x,L

PS: HTML is petulant and I strongly dislike it.

Business or Pleasure?

I might be going to China! For business... but CHINA! It'll be a lot of tedious work, checking the books before they go to final print, and long hours. But exciting, nevertheless.

They say these sorts of things have fallen through in the past, the boss just ended up sending designers, so I'm not getting my hopes up, but I think it would be cool.

What's the moon like where you are?

A friend from Jersey asked me if the moon is the same here. I laughed, it's such a small-town question, which I don't mean to be offensive, I just mean, you don't hear questions like that a lot. I think the moon is the same. I think I used to look up at it a lot at home... I don't look at the sky so much here. I don't know what that says about who I'm becoming, but I'd venture to say it's a good thing. I guess I used to be busy dreaming and now I'm so busy doing that I don't have time to look up.

Nothing too new or exciting to report. It is getting hotter by the day and I continue to look forward to the relief of the rainy season. They say there's two seasons here: hot and hot with rain. I've come to the conclusion, based on intense personal research, it is best to come to Vietnam sometime from December through February. But Romy went to Hue two weeks ago and it so cold (and rainy) she had to buy a COAT. Cold doesn't even register when it comes to being outdoors. Point being, no matter what time you come here, the weather somewhere is going to be overwhelming in one way or another.

I had my first party without Conor Rose on Friday. It made me miss home, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It was way more laid-back than anything Conor and I have ever hosted, and I've got enough left over vodka to last until next February.

Nothing special planned this week. I'm currently hot and hungry, so I'll try to be more timely with my postings in the future. My camera works when it wants to, it's really blurry most of the time, I'm not really sure what to do with that. I need to have a Vietnamese speaker come with me to a repair shop.

Tracey got a skirt, dress, and two blouses custom made for the equivalent of $15, she picks them up tomorrow; I'm excited to see how they turn out. I'm bored with my wardrobe already, hah.

Ice, ice, baby...

Walking around the city-- despite dodging things, people, motorbikes, food carts, and stray dogs -- is becoming much more effortless. I've been on the go, so much so that this week I'm really hoping for a quiet one. I know I've mentioned the transience of Saigon... two of the people I've gone close to despite this short period of time left for good this weekend. It's so disheartening to think of all the time I'll spend here and all the things I'll do without them. I'm entirely too nostalgic by nature.

We went "ice" skating which was fun, but strange. It was more of a waxy-plastic, not real ice. We got Korean food after and it was horrible! I don't thing it was necesarily the fact that it was Korean, we just didn't know what to expect. Three people ordered ICED soup... so there was no ice skating, but there was ice soup. Needless to say, we'll not be going there again and I won't take any visitors there. Unless you're into iced soup, in which case you can go while I'm at work.

Just think, I'm coming up with quite a lot of things to pass your time in the city ;)

Backstreet's back, alright!

I saw the Backstreet Boys here in concert. It was really interesting to go to a concert here. Everyone sits in their seats and they're pretty well behaved. I'll never forget the young man sitting next to me screeching, he was just SO excited and definitely in his twenties. All of the guys around me knew all of the words. I don't know many guys in the States that you could pay to see the BSB. Oh well, it was a good time with the girlfriends I've made here. The bathrooms... I won't get into, but ugh so gross.

Bob Dylan will be here in two and a half weeks, but I'm not going. I put my life on hold in November to go see him. He, sad to say, wasn't good enough to see again within the same six months.

There's a four day weekend coming up at the end of the month, I think my coworkers are trying to go to Da Lat or Phu Quoc... I've heard Phu Quoc is JUST a beach, no other options, "they force you to relax." My vote will be for Cambodia. Either way it'll be great to get out of the city and breathe a little fresher air. I went to the American War museum and Vung Tau last weekend. Educational (America bashing) followed by a nice day at the beach. Next time I'll have to stay the whole weekend. I made a traveling buddy (Shane) from Australia, so adventures ahead.

Extremely Loud (& Incredibly Close)

The book referenced in the title is one of my favorite books, written by Johnathan Safran Foer about a 9-year-old boy on a search to find out about a key left behind his father, who was killed during the 9/11 attacks. I personally found it to be really beautiful and touching, bursting into hysterical fits as well as tears throughout the book. Anyway, they're making a movie based on the book! I haven't been more excited since finding the date of Harry Potter 6, 7.1 and 7.2. I hope the story line flows well. Either way, I can't wait.

I'm not getting much reading for pleasure done. I read all day at work and the idea of looking at another word once I get home is just horrible. I'll get used to it; I can't ever find anything interesting on TV, so eventually I'll HAVE to revert back to books. In the mean-time I've still got the entire Audrey Hepburn collection to get through.

The title also refers to how freaking loud this country is. Horns, buses, more horns, the languages people yell all day every day, the television in my apartment, motorbike exhausts. I'm pretty sure I'll be deaf three years earlier than I would be had I not lived here.

Danielle is gone now; she had to leave two months early due to a death in the family. I went to her place Saturday and sat around, not helping her pack, but not hindering the process either. We got some lunch with Romain and all of our friends came over her place to say goodbye, as she caught the midnight plane outta here. She accidentally sprayed her pepper spray, it was HORRIBLE! At least now we know if you spray it indoors and need to escape, you'll be the only person unaffected. I think we all laughed until we were nearly in tears; whether the tears were legit or if they were left over from the pepper spray, I can't be sure.

Today I am not leaving my apartment, I think it's necessary every other week to just bum around in your space. But too much more than that and I feel like you're wasting this great experience.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Vietnam.

Apparently it's 86 degrees outside today, but since the norm is upwards of 95, it feels a lot cooler, even the humidity is down, it's a beautiful day by my standards. Everyone keeps saying we skipped the hot season and have gone straight to rainy season, and it is QUITE rainy, if it rains, you're soaked in three seconds, but it's completely tolerable... for now. I'm still struggling with the Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion.

Tuesday I went to Lush, which I think if I skipped just ONE Tuesday my roommates would have me replaced in the apartment. It's always a really good time, but I always end up staying out too late. "Why is Tuesday so much fun and Wednesday the worst day of the week?" "Because Tuesday is ladies night and Wednesday is hang over day." Touché.

St. Patrick's Day was quite an adventure, everyone around the world, not just in the US, thinks they are Irish on this day. Which is funny because I'm pretty sure they don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day this way in Ireland (Just like they don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Mexico as well celebrated as it is in the US). No "Irish potatoes" to be found anywhere though... that was intensely disappointing, also not a worldly food, it might just be a Jersey thing based on my limited research. I met a nice group of Australians, that have since gone back or to London, in what I suppose could be considered an Irish Pub. That's something that I don't think I'll get used to, the transience. I've also noticed where the US has a lot of people with Italian or Irish backgrounds, a lot of people here are Australian or German. That's easily my favorite thing, meeting so many people from so many backgrounds.

I am still settling overall. I have to work this Saturday due to silly office politics, no sense complaining about things I can't change. But I think Julien (the French head of marketing at my company) and I are going to meet other people from the office in Vung Tau (the closest beach to Saigon) when we get off at 12. I'm hoping to head up to the Mekong soon, I hear it's a good day trip. My roommates are trying to convince me to go to Kuala Lumpur, and I'd like to, I just am not quite ready to shell out the money for that. I am, however, ready to spend an entire day at the spa (full body massage, hair wash, cut and dry, manicure, pedicure, and facial) for ten whole dollars. Unbelievable.

Not everyday is great, but great things happen everyday

I thought it was the 11th or 12th to give you some idea of how quickly time is going. It’s been a while since I wrote, almost three weeks, I’ll have to piece things together through emails and Skype conversations. The internet has been even more unreliable since about a week ago. As it turns out there’s a damaged cord in Vung Tau, particularly the connection from Vietnam to America. Rumor has it we’ve got another week or two before it’s repaired. I have to admit it’s easier to be zen about things when you finally have some sort of answer to the question, even if it seems mildly ridiculous.

Things are settling down a bit and I feel like I’m falling into a routine. Not every day is good, but something good happens every day; if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times. Plenty of negative thoughts cross my mind, often multiple times a day, but like I implied I’m trying to be more zen about everything.

Last Thursday I moved into my new apartment with Tracey from Manchester and Lizzy from Ann Arbor. I still don’t know if she has a friend or sibling old enough to know Pete Creekmore. The acquaintance you hold with people is so strange. Vietnam is proving how small the world really is.

Danielle helped me bring all of my stuff up and we went for dinner and quiz night at Le Pub. I’ve heard such wonderful things about it, but I found it rather dull. I decided to head home out of exhaustion. First night in my beautiful apartment.

Wednesday I worked and that was about it. I was completely exhausted. The girls and I watched most of Never Let Me Go, but all decided to head to sleep around ten. I think majority of my exhaustion stems from the heat, walking around in it, and sweating out all of the energy you consume. Now I’d really like to finish the film, but I don’t know what happened to it.

Thursday was another uneventful day, I think. I almost prefer them, at least for now. I may have gone to Scoozi with Danielle, Romy, and Bill… pretty amazing pizza for the other side of the world. Were we not sitting outside under an awning in the rain, were the servers and pizza makers not Vietnamese, and were there not cockroaches scuttling up my legs, I might have believed we were in New York.

Friday my exhaustion continued. Home and asleep by 10:45.

Saturday I met Isabelle by the opera house to have lunch at a Japanese restaurant – best chicken teriyaki ever. Ernst joined us. Good chat about retaliation against thieves and Harry Potter. Predictably, McGonagle and Snape are their favorites respectively.

Isabelle and I walked and walked. We stopped at the equivalent of Starbucks for a drink to let the heat dissipate. We walked back to my apartment and then got dinner at the restaurant around the corner from my apartment (Papaya). Went our early ways, another early night in bed.

Sunday I woke up early, did a little Skyping when it worked and went down to Bui Vien to Bobby Brewers to get out of my apartment but also out of the heat. I stuck around for How Do You Know and Sanctum before walking home. A wonderful way to kill a hot afternoon. It’s only going to get hotter, I have no idea when I’ll make it to the zoo or the War Remnants Museum (even though that’s inside).

Monday was uneventful.

And here we are at Tuesday. I walked home, as usual, bought some really cute pants along the way. We’re all getting ready to head out to Ladies Night at Lush, our first true outing as roommates. Work was dreadful; the internet is dreadful and this piece I’m working on is so factually incorrect. I did get to work on Klimt, Rodin, and Monet in between. Friday is my deadline, so hopefully the internet picks up a bit so I can get all my fact checking done efficiently.

Welcome to my humble abode, please remove your shoes at the door

Entertainment center... snazzy, eh?

The sitting area, a little low on pillows because we don't have pillows in our bedrooms yet.

Dinner with a view? Yes, please.

The 10+ gallon fish tank, I swear there are fish in there. At least 12. Some hand painted!

Kitchen, see the fridge though the tank.

My room isn't ready for viewing. Surprised? I didn't think so. Tempted to come visit? I know.

xo, L

I'll be across the water

I haven't committed to a blog site and I'm not intelligent enough to figure out how to post a video to YouTube. But I just wanted to say:

Despite this being a really awful, trying weekend; I had a really wonderful day. I talked to my mom, Courtney, and Michael, I got a lot of correspondence done, and I'm still not done :/ Though it's nice to be so loved that I have so many people to tell that I am well. I saw a bit of Burlesque, which I saw back home, but it was free and in aircon, so why not? And I went to a bbq/pool party with the Euros; that's what I'll call them, I think.

I met some more wonderfully nice people. Everyone is on their own journey, it's amazing. Some days are amazing and others I really wonder why I'm here. So far, overall, so good.

Past my bedtime, as usual.

First week's rundown

It’s been a solid and good first week here in Saigon. Seven days and I feel like I’m already forgetting.

I went to see Love & Other Drugs with Julie and Laurant. In the middle I wanted to get up, buy a plane ticket, and hitch home. Now at the end, I’ve decided no more “RomComs” for the next year.

My birthday was alright, nothing to really “write home about” as they say. Dinner with Danielle, Julien, Romy, Romain, Julie, Laurant, Ernst, and Isabelle. then one drink at Boston Bar with Danielle, Romy, Romain, and Julien.

Today was rough – wrong way to the bank, sequestered to pay for directions, told I was FAR from the bank by a xe om (motorbike driver). The text I’m reading gets worse every day. Plenty of expletives later, I’m happy to be back in my hotel. There will be more days like this…

I wish the internet was more reliable here. Oh, the bosses bought me beautiful flowers for my birthday – turns out everyone gets lunch or flowers. Had I been given the choice, I would have picked lunch. Romain also gave me flowers, which Danielle says is just him being French; what ever it is, it was really nice to feel completely welcomed by a practical stranger. It was nice of everyone to come out and help me celebrate my birthday when I’m so far away from my loves.

Thursday: Arrived. Two hours at immigration. Hard Rock with Danielle and her roommates for some DJ, drinks and dancing. Sleep over at Danielle’s.

Friday: Bullshitted around. Checked in Madam Cuc’s 127. Fake eye lashes; one and a half hours and one eye glued shut later, drinks at Lilly’s. Quick tour of the city and shopping for Danielle’s birthday thing. Back to her place, dinner, booze with her friends, T&R (a bar with open iTunes), Pho (all beef, so I didn’t have any), Go 2 (I’m convinced there’s no one in there that you’d want to see in the daylight. I do not plan on going there again). Bed at 5am.

Saturday: Walking and getting to know district 1 (tourist district) on my own. First xe om ride! Dull apartment, sort of a hole with a bed. Bill’s friend’s band with everyone.

Sunday: Successfully got a phone with no help from anyone. Another dull apartment visit. Drinks wit Danielle and Romy to meet Tracey and Hannah at Le Pub. T&R with Tracey and Hannah… new roommate?

Monday: First day of work, dull text about landscapes. Early night in zZz.

Tuesday: Work. Facial with Dani and Isabelle. Dinner at Le Pub. Lush for ladies night with Tracey; met Lizzy from Ann Arbor, a guy from Ventnor (!), and few wealthy Vietnamese girls, and Chris from Chicago (who insisted on buying shots to celebrate my birthday after midnight). Got to utilize “Rory.”

Wednesday: Happy birthday to me! Lunch at Angel’s Garden, dinner at Coriander, drinks at Boston Bar. First outside Vietnam Skype contact.

Thursday: Work. First bad day. Amazing bruchetta on Bui Vien. Cheap DVDs (Entire Audrey Hepburn collection and Season 4 of Mad Med for, like, $4). Bed early.

Alone in a big little city

I’m alone in my adorable hotel room. Danielle says she refuses to baby me and has left me on my own, with her cell at least. I’m going to get my own as soon as I recover from my most recent walk in the oven they call Bui Vien. I bought a bag less likely to be stolen and had lunch. I know where to go for a cell phone, I think. And I called “Mr. Jon” to look at an apartment.

I wouldn’t mind so much if she babied me. I didn’t come here to learn how to figure it out on my own, particularly since Asia was never in my plans and it’s unlikely I’ll have such a difficult time figuring life out in any other county. I wouldn’t have come had I not had a friend here already.

Most of her friends speak French… sure they all speak English, but one person goes off in French and they all follow. A tad annoying.

Her birthday last night was pretty fun. One could quickly adjust to the night life here.

The internet isn’t working on my laptop in my hotel. A sign of what’s to come? Alright, off to get a phone and see this apartment!

Destination Vietnam, complete.

I’m here, I made it to Vietnam. It’s almost one in the afternoon and rather warm. I’m tired, but adjusting well, I think. It’s Danielle’s birthday; should be an interesting evening.

Obama is cool around the world.

Still rather unsure about the time. I have a good feeling it’s the 17th here. I’ve definitely been traveling since 12pm Tuesday, February 15… it’s currently 1:30am Thurs Feb 17th in Jersey, so it’s been a solid 37 hours and I’m still not landing in HCMC until 6. A nice guy, I missed where he’s ACTUALLY from, but he lives in the Philippines, said I look for for my long travel time and little rest. He proceeded to tell me his girlfriend is my age and that he’s nearing 60. I felt the need to relocate.

En route to my gate, which I’m continuing the trend of being as far away as possible, I heard a 10-13 year old kid say, “Obama’s cool.” His 14-16 year old sister, presumably, said, “We don’t even live in America.” I winked at him as she badgered him about his grades.

Traveling alone is so freeing and yet extremely lonely. Lonely and alone don’t usually go together in my book. I like being alone, but on the other side of the world, there’s no one to comment on the sights with.

I’m carrying $10HK out of the country, mostly because nothing here is that cheap and I don’t want to exchange any more USD.

Welcome to Hong Kong, meet Jackie Chan

I think it’s 8:15am here in Hong Kong, I can’t be sure. Of course, and this should come as no surprise, I managed to lose something. Luckily it was just my cell phone and I’m organized in my own personal chaos. It was in the back of the seat on the plane. Jackie Chan (please laugh because I did) helped me get it back. Turns out, having it doesn’t make a difference because I’m roaming so far from Verizon satellites that the time won’t even adjust. I’m now in search of a charging station. This is a very interesting airport and damn humid. A precursor to my year to come, I suppose.

Tangled up in Blue

It’s next to impossible to get any good sleep on here. I finally found a solution, which wasn’t really a solution because my neck is killing me, but anyway the couple across the aisle from me, who I shared a few laughs with teaching them to use the remotes to the entertainment system despite our language barrier.

Anyway, they woke me up with their fighting, I have no idea what was being said (duh), but she was beating the shit out of him while he sat there and took it. She fell into a catatonic heap just before the woman in front of her complained to the flight attendant. The woman wouldn’t budge or speak to them and the husband continued to sit there like he had nothing to do with it. Now she’s sobbing and I can hear her through my cranked up Tangled Up in Blue…

That’s been the only really interesting thing that’s happened on he flight. Seven more hours of this 12.5 hour leg. (That’s a long time to be trapped in small quarters with someone you’ve fought with.) It’s night in Vietnam, I think. I’m really lost on all the time differences and changes. So, I think it’s 12:30, so I should probably try to sleep a little more.


I wouldn’t recommend 127 Hours without having some place to walk away to. Crazy film. I also wouldn’t recommend Going the Distance before going a distance from people you love. OR flying 18 hours with small children.