new blog

Hello all, I am rarely able to get on this blog site because of certain websites being blocked so please visit anotherstampinthepassport.wordpress.com if you want to keep up with me!! Thanks

Yeah!! I have visitors! My good friend from grad school, Leslie, and her husband Todd came to visit me for a week. Yesterday we went on a day trip to the Mekong Delta.

Todd got to hold a really big snake and Leslie was the supportive wife! And we also to ride down the river in a canoe wearing conical hats- it was as Vietnamese as we could get!

The highlands-Da Lat

In the central highlands is a perfectly wonderful town called Da Lat. I've been wanting to go for a while. I went on a language trip with my co-workers, which means that we had to speak and learn a lot of Vietnamese. We went to a bunch of different locations - farms, greenhouses, green tea tree farm, and then we took a little train to see the giant lady Buddha made out of flowers. Oh and the best part was that I bought a second-hand, bright, pink jacket for less than $2!! Below is a picture of me with the very excited man that sold me the jacket. Nikk also bought a cute jacket for less than $2!!

Okay, I've been trying to upload pictures of the flowers and veggies for the last 2 days- alas I think the internet here has something against me. So stayed tuned for more.

Christmas in Boone

We had a huge snow storm before I got to Boone and then on Christmas morning we had a huge ice storm. We didn't have electricity for 3 days- fortunately my dad had installed a generator so we had a bit of power!! We had a lot of family time to say the least!Christmas Day we did a short walk around our neighborhood to assess the damage. Almost all of the trees had snapped off limbs. We had a great time together though.

Seoul Garden Korean BBQ! We went as a staff to celebrate two birthdays and a farewell. I love some Korean spicy sauce with my grilled toful and broccoli! I also love the staff where I work. I think they are the best group of people ever.

Christmas Time in Vung Tau, Vietnam

On a short work trip to Vung Tau I got this great picture worth a thousand words! Vung Tau is near Ho Chi Minh City on the beach. In a week and a half I'm going to be in the States for two weeks for Christmas. I can't wait to see my friends and family. I'll have my old phone with me so give me a call...

I'm 27!!!

I turned 27 and I really do feel older. 26 was a crazy year. I moved to Vietnam all by myself, I started a "real job" and I've traveled all over Southeast Asia! Now it's time to stop just surviving and keeping up with life but really work on living on purpose! So I've made some pretty interesting life changes: (1) I am running a race in December in Cambodia so now I've started to run, swim, yoga. It's great because I go exercise with friends after work and I actually leave work at 5! (2) I've started oil painting! After my first successful attempt at oil painting I ordered a book that will help me develop my painting. (3) I've become a pescatarian! This is huge. I've been a ovo-lacto vegetarian since I was 4 and I decided that since I live in Vietnam I should start somewhere. So I've eaten tuna, grouper and one other fish I don't know the English name. But I haven't tried other sorts of seafood but who knows maybe... (My grandma is going to be so happy!!)

Here are some photos from my 27th birthday. My co-workers took me out to eat at Sen Chay (a Buddhist Veggie restaurant) and got me a really yummy cake.

Then my friends took me to the Deck, a really great restaurant in An Phu along the river. It was perfect to get out of the city and just hear the river go by instead of the motorbikes. The food was amazing!
My friend, Hong, made me an amazing carrot cake. The wind was a little strong so the lighting of the candles was a little crazy. However, I've always thought it was weird that we blow on the cake trying to blow out the candles and then serve it to everyone. So I'm glad that the wind blew out my candles. =)
I love my friends!! They've been such an encouragement to me while I've been in Vietnam.