Sorry for the long delay in my blogging. But, then, you all know that I am not ever frequent in my communications, so trying to post even monthly is a challenge for me! Scout’s “CAS” Week December 2-5 After a lovely Thanksgiving feast with the Sumrows, the following week Scout had her first time away …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
November Life!
We find ourselves in our routines this month–no big trips, and a lot of daily activities that keep us busy. Shannon preps his online classes and grades, Scout manages her school work, and I have been delivering workshops and teaching at SEAMEO. Still, we started the month with a 3-day trip to the local Vung …
October: Settling In and Our Trip to North Vietnam
This past month finds our family settling into work, home, and relationships, while keeping travel at the heart of our year abroad. Scout’s first term at ISHCMC has gone well–she made two “best friends”; she is slowly figuring out how to learn Spanish (daily practice!); she volunteers for her school’s Empty Bowl Project and gardening …
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September: Trip to Siem Reap and Greater Angkor
September 19 we left Vietnam to explore part of Cambodia for 6 days. I just finished reading Loung Ung’s memoir First They Killed My Father about her life age 5-10 (1975-80) as she experienced Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge work camps, starvation, and the killing of family members. Eventually, her oldest brother was able to get …
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September: Trip to Huế
A few weeks ago, Shannon, Scout, and our friend Helena took a 65 minute flight to spend a long weekend in Southcentral Việt Nam to explore Huế (pronounced ‘hway’), the capital of the Nguyên emperors. Huế, a small city with just under 400,000, is located on the beautiful Perfume River. After the noise, pollution, and …
August: Life Outside of Work and Home (aka “Culture”)
I am attempting to categorize life in Vietnam in order to share my experiences. Not sure if this culture post will work, but here goes… Our first few weekends we explored District 1 with friend Helena Spector–art museums, restaurants, etc. Lots of walking and learning to navigate traffic. During the week days, we explored the …
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The Home Front
For those of you who know me (!), I am technologically challenged. I wrote this post yesterday, and while trying to reformat the pictures, I deleted the post. Dang. Here I go again… Before we found our villa apartment, we stayed in The Aurora Hotel, complete with yummy breakfasts and a roof-top pool. Now we …
August: Work
My sabbatical is primarily focused on work with SEAMEO RETRAC, which is located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, District 1. After almost a year of discussions with Dean My (Foreign Languages Department), we initially agreed that I would work 15 hours per week, to include subbing when needed. My contract outlines 5 …
3 Weeks and Not Counting!
I promised to write a blog to keep track of my sabbatical year in Vietnam and to keep my friends and family informed. Now that we are “settled” in our first-floor apartment on the Saigon River, and I have a work schedule set for the next week, I am ready to blog. The first weekend …
Here she goes….
We discovered numerous and wonderful 1960-70s posters in Saigon that show government “promotions.” Here is one of my favorites:
A Year in Vietnam 