So it's happening tomorrow. Everything seems to be pretty much ready now, apart from maybe 1 CD, but that's only going to involve about 2 or 3 songs.

Between arranging all the little things for the wedding and hanging out with my dad and stepmum (along with Nhu's parents), it's been a pretty busy week, to say the least, with little rest.

Didn't help that Monday was a recovery day from two days non-stop drinking, due to the Cambodia stag night - drinking started before we even got on the bus in Saigon, and (with the exception of sleep), didn't stop until sometime after we were back on Sunday. So Cambodia was a big hazy memory, but it was a fun one. Not sure that shooting M16s and shotguns was such a good idea when drunk, but we didn't have such thoughts at the time,  and the guys running the place didn't seem to have a problem with it.

The rest of the night just got hazier and hazier.

But we did lose one of our men in Cambodia. Because he forgot to check his Vietnam visa before crossing the border, and didn't realise until too late that it had been expired for two days. Not good when we were all expected to be back at work on Monday, but quite hilarious, and very him. No-one at work was surprised that it happened, when they heard about it on Monday. He finally made it in on Wednesday.

Finally got a nice bit of a rest this afternoon though, burning the CDs for the wedding (different ones for the dinner and the dancing.) I hope some people appreciate the Star Wars lounge music I've thrown in there :)

One more dinner tonight, with our families at Nhu's house, and then it's an early morning where my friends come along to help me deliver trays of gifts to her house where we'll do the ceremony. (There's a break in the afternoon before the party begins though... nap time!)

Well, wedding stuff, obviously...

Last week, we just did the food tasting, which was a pretty awesome little thing included in our wedding package, where the hotel gave us a 10-person 1st-run of the whole wedding menu we'd chosen. We invited Nhu's parents, and her sister & 1 brother, + three of my friends, including a couple I really wanted to come to the wedding but who are moving back to the US shortly before. The food is amazing, BTW!!!

In a few days, it's the photo shoot, where we get a ridiculous amount of photos taken in our wedding garb. It'll be the first time I really wear my kilt (other than just trying it on), so should be fun :)

The week after that, me and a bunch of male friends are heading off to Cambodia (by bus - about 6 hours) for my stag night, organised by one of my friends who previously lived in Cambodia before coming to Vietnam. It's going to involve Guns, Go-karts, and stupid amounts of alcohol (in that order, fortunately). It's hard not to look forward to it :)

The Saturday after that, of course, is the wedding itself. Still finalising the details on that one, but it's going to be a great day, I can already tell. (The food is amazing, for a start) ;)

Some time ago, on one July 4th (just a few months less than 300 years before my birth, in fact), a bunch of Americans decided they no longer wanted anything to do with those pesky Brits influencing their fate, and broke away.

On a different July 4th (coming up next month, as it happens) one Vietnamese woman will be joining in union with a descendant of some of those Brits.

Yes, we have arranged a date for the wedding, and it's soon. It's all taking place in Saigon, of course, mostly following the Vietnamese tradition, though I have my Scottish garb (and some music selections) all ready for the event. My dad and stepmum are flying over too, which I'm very happy for.

I did want to invite a few of you LJ friends, but obviously it's not going to work at such short notice, so I hope you'll be happy with just pictures, and maybe a write-up, instead :)

ETA: Thanks for the wishes, everyone!

I have followed krylyr 's example and am posting this as a meme.

1) How do YOU perceive me? Nothing so difficult as a single adjective. A general feeling of my personality. Whatever comes to mind. For those of you who've met me 'in the flesh' I'm talking about personality, not looks.

2) In your own LJ, write how YOU perceive yourself, and I'll comment there. Same as above applies.

Except that I'm going to wait until later to post how I perceive myself... because I want to avoid the "yeah, that's so true" sort of responses ;)

So here's what's happening in the next month or so.

Next week, we have a long weekend, thanks to Saigon Liberation Day (Apr 29th) and May Day (May 1st), so I'm going off to Kuala Lumpur for a few days with Nhu. Normally these tickets would be cheap, but because of the holiday and the last minute booking, it's a bit more pricey (only one airline still had seats, in fact.) But it should be nice... I haven't been there in 8 years, and some of our friends may also be there at the same time.

After that comes my two-week down week (the two weeks after my 10-week course) in May. So I'm using this time to visit Scotland (first time in 4 years), and see my sister, brother-in-law, and nephews (including the new one who I haven't met yet. I'll also be visiting some of my friends in London (most of whom previously worked in my school in Vietnam, but a couple of whom are friends from HK.)

Oh, I'll also be stopping off in HK at both the beginning and the end of the trip, where I will be visiting my dad and stepmum, and even more friends.

That's all the definite stuff. Then comes the choices. One of my friends who's leaving will be going back to Ireland soon, which will coincide with my visit. So I may head off to Ireland to visit him in Galway (particularly since I've never been to Ireland before.) This trip may even involve a camping trip to Craggy Island.

However, some of my friends that I'll be visiting in England (and possibly Scotland, as they may be in Edinburgh while I'm there) are also talking about driving out to a holiday home in Normandy, France, which sounds like fun too. Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I don't think I can do both Craggy Island and Normandy. So I'm left with a bit of a difficult choice... (although perhaps peoples' schedules will resolve the situation before I do.)

Even more unfortunately, Nhu doesn't have anything close to the same holiday benefits that I do, so she's not able to take time off work (Korean companies are not nearly as forthcoming with holiday time as Australian companies are). This is a huge shame, as I really want to introduce her to Scotland in particular. I guess I can make do with daily phone calls, but it won't quite be the same. But... I guess there's always next year :)

Oh yeah... remember way back, when I said I'd post photos of aspects of my life you were interested in? Well, I've taken a couple more of these already (some time ago, in fact), and it's really time to actually post said photos.

So here's one for krylyr, who said: Traveler. I want to see that summed up, in one picture :)

Being from the UK, I'll add an extra L, but the sentiment's still the same. I did have to think about this one, and maybe I didn't quite get it... but to me, a lot of the elements are there. I took it back when we were visiting Hoi An, just lounging around in a lovely little bar with a slightly removed view of the river. Here it is (click on the pic for a larger version):



And here's another picture from the same place, with a lovely addition:



I've also taken pics of the view from my apartment request, so I'll get those up soon. Still haven't taken the pics of my classroom though - I'd just started a new class right after the request was made, so I've been waiting for the appropriate moment - and frankly the request from avocadovpx  may not actually happen (though if it does, I'll be happy to post that too.)

Today is my birthday. I chose not to take a day off today, which worked out fairly well. After work, I noticed a call from Nhu's dad, who told me to get over to their house right away.

Being me, I figured Nhu had mentioned my birthday, and that her family had planned some sort of delicious feast for me.

But when I arrived there, and noticed many tables up and down the street, hosting at least more than 50 people, I knew that something else had happened.

Turned out, today was the lunar anniversary of the death of Nhu's grandfather (on her father's side.) What clued me in was when, as soon as I parked my bike, Nhu's uncle ushered me across to his house (directly opposite Nhu's house), and had me light an incense and pray to said grandfather. After that, well, I really wasn't going to complain.

But it did turn out really well. After the majority of people had gone home, Nhu's family (and her uncle from opposite, who I get on with really well, even though we can't understand a single word each other says) convened downstairs in Nhu's house to celebrate my birthday, complete with the most delicious cake I've ever tried. It was awesome, and the company was wonderful too. Really glad now that I didn't make any other plans for tonight.

Thanks to johnbobshaun 

So I've started working on photos for the photo meme I posted last week. The easiest one to procure (though this was not actually the first one I took), was that of my desk, requested by zoje_george . It had to be my work desk, as I don't actually have a desk at home - just two chairs beside my bed, upon which my laptops rest.

Unfortunately, just before I went to Hoi An, I cleaned up my desk, which is a shame as it means you don't get to see it in its truest form, which iss quite something. Here it is anyway:



However, and somewhat more fortunately, I moved desk just yesterday, as I was moved from teaching L4 (Intermediate) to L5 (Upper Intermediate), which apparently requires a desk change. And because I'm learning a new level, my new desk began to achieve messiness quite quickly... It's starting to feel like home already. Here's the new desk:



Doesn't quite reach former levels of glory, but at least it's something.

via jenwrites 

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're interested in it.

Note: I reserve the right to reject any request for photos for whatever reason, but I'll certainly do my best!

Currently up in Hoi An with Nhu. Hoi An is an enchanting little riverside town in central Vietnam. A few hundred years ago, it was a major trading port, inhabited by Chinese, Japanese, and French traders, among others, and you can still see most of these influences quite clearly - it helps that the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so the old town remains as it was (architecturally speaking) back then.

The one down side, of course, is that it's still anything goes within the buildings themselves, which means that almost all of these beautiful old buidings are now either tourist shops or restaurants, which does kill the authenticity a touch, but such things are to be expected.

Mostly just wandered around the town today and yesterday, but tomorrow and Saturday we'll probably be renting a motorbike to check out the surrounding area, including the ancient Cham site of My Son, and China Beach, up on the coast by Da Nang, which is supposed to be really nice.

Way behind on posting photos, but will hopefully get these ones up soon after we're back in Saigon :)

So on the Lunar January 1st (that is, Jan 26th), I was woken up ridiculously early. I was eventually able to separate myself from the mattress, and we proceeded to walk across the alleyway to Nhu's uncle's house (the one who is always very enthusiastic about getting me over for a drink) to cheer in the new year. He had a Tiger Beer waiting for me already.

After this, we proceeded to navigate the twisty-turny network of alleyways and visit all of Nhu's relatives in the general vicinity,. Turned out to be quite fun, and even met some uncles I never even knew I had, though the ones I did know imposed on me some sort of potent Vietnamese liquor.

So after I got back to Nhu's family's house, I ended up watching The Amazing Race Asia and sleeping for an hour or so, until I was woken up by some sort of clanging and banging downstairs. It sounded exactly like the sort of percussion I've come to expect from a lion dance, but I wandered downstairs to find two men, dressed as the god of land and the god of wealth (both of whom feature in pretty much every little shrine on the ground floor of a Vietnamese house) dancing to this percussion, and getting rewarded for it, of course. Was quite entertaining.

Later, I was brought downstairs again to cheer in the Nhu year with my fiancee's mother's brothers... we finished off the MacAllan whisky I'd supplied the night before. and after that I ended up sleeping for about five hours.

8pm onwards involved watching Nhu playing her Chinese card game (whose cards consist of the same Chinese characters as Chinese chess, but which i don't understand at all). Watching her lose, to be specific. After she lost all her money, she brought up the fact that the Dragon/'Monkey combination is very lucky, and asked me to supply her with more funds for her gambling. Which I did. And then she want on to win almost every round she played, so I guess there's something to that :)

Today we didn't do a whole lot - got my bike fixed (it wasn't turning on at all unless it was kickstarted, and Tết really isn't the time to be worrying about Mötley Crüe), ate delicious Korean food, and watched Fellowship of the Ring (extended version), which Nhu enjoyed as much as I did.

Looking forward to The Two Towers and Return of the King tomorrow :)

Realms of Fantasy, that is.

I may not have written much in a while, or indeed read much, but this still saddens me.

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới everyone! Or, if you prefer, 恭喜發財!

It's been another busy month, even though very little of it has involved work. It's been a fun one though.

Saw in the western New Year on the streets of Saigon, a big street party where snow spray canisters featured heavily. Then the next day we went off to Singapore for a few days. Singapore probably deserves a post of its own, which I'll do as soon as I get around to updating my photos. (Photos of the New Year celebration are already up here, however.)

After that it was one more week of work, and various end-of-year celebrations, including a little dinner party at my apartment (Nhu's cooking is amazing, and this was the first time she'd cooked for more than a couple of people before), and singing Radiohead live at a local pub's new live music night (which got a fair bit of applause.)  Karaoke was also enjoyed, of course.

Lately it's all been the lead-up to Tết, which I've just seen in with Nhu's family. Lots of fun too, but on the days prior to the event, everyone starts acting crazy, especially while driving - doesn't matter whether the streets are crowded or quiet, you have to watch out at this time of year.

This is the first time I've been here during Tết, and it's really felt like the lunar celebration is the real end to the year. Never really felt that way in Hong Kong, despite my stepmother being Chinese, mainly because I didn't really bother to get involved, but here it's difficult not to get swept up in the New Year feeling, and it's certainly been rewarding to do so.

The celebration itself was lots of fun too, mostly involving lots of eating and drinking, and some playing games. Brought over a friend from work who had also been sticking around in Saigon for the holiday, and he seemed to enjoy it too. At midnight, I embarked upon a drive to a temple in District 5 at midnight with Nhu and her brother to pick up some extra large incense and cheer in the new year with some relatives. The combination of Monkey (Nhu), Dragon (me), and Rat (her brother) is an auspicious one, so hopefully we brought in the luck that everyone deserves.Back home now, and it's quiet, but there's a lot more activity than usual for this time of night. Tomorrow there's more stuff to do, I believe, but we'll get to that soon enough...

Well, technically 9 should be the last one, but I figure why not keep going until the end of the year.

Dec 29th - After stressing for ages about having to do this presentation for my Grad Cert, and even postponing it an extra week, I get an email from our tutor saying he's caught dengue and as a result won't be able to see any more presentations before the end of the year. So he's given a pass grade to everyone who'd booked a presentation time but hadn't done it yet. Okay, not such happy news for him, but I guess everything has its bright side. Also, Nhu's birthday - surprised her by bringing her flowers after work (carried precariously on my motorbike all the way from District 1), and then we went out to La Habana to enjoy some Mojitos and pose for photos wearing a ridiculously-sized sombrero... yeah, the hat is Mexican and the bar is supposedly Cuban-themed, but it's fun, okay? ;)

Dec 30th - A less eventful day, but it was nice finally receiving my Christmas present from my sister (sent in September!!!), and a card from my dad and stepmum (sent in December.) Finding the short cut back from the post office (after trying a random, previously unexplored road and hoping for the best) also seemed pretty cool at the time.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Became part of a Vietnamese family, and learned to ride a motorbike (in crazy traffic too).

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn't have any last year (I've never believed in them before), but I've decided there's a very pressing resolution I need to make this time around.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yep, I'm now an uncle to three boys.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Hong Kong (3 times), Thailand, Laos, Japan, France, England

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A wife (already planned, of course) ;)

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 13th, July 25th, October 20th - I'm sure Nhu knows why :)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The one on October 20th ;)

9. What was your biggest failure?
Poor efforts in both writing and critiquing

10. Were you seriously ill during 2008?
Nope.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmm... the EEE PC is pretty nice. But maybe it was the flight to Da Lat, since that was our first trip together.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Nhu's, of course. But also a certain Mr. McIntosh.

13. Where did most of your money go?
Flights, and spending in HK.

14. What did you get excited about?
Getting engaged, taking Nhu to Hong Kong, going to Da Lat, Phu Quoc, and Nha Trang. Singing Radiohead live (with acoustic accompaniment.)

15. What songs will always remind you of 2008?
Can't Smile Without You - Barry Manilow, Nice Dream - Radiohead.

16. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Happier

ii. thinner or fatter?
Maybe a bit fatter

iii. richer or poorer?
About the same.

17. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing

18. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Wasting time

19. How did you spend Christmas?
I believe I made a post about that one already ;)

20. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Have you not been paying attention?

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

22. What was your favourite TV programme?
Lost.

23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Didn't have any this year - I need to reconnect with the world of music.

24. What was the best book you read?
Not sure... didn't read a whole lot either. China Mieville's short story collection was pretty good though.

25. Are you happy with your lot?
Yes.

26. What did you want and get?
A fiancee

27. What did you want and NOT get?
A new apartment

28. What was your favourite film of this year?
Hellboy II

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Some writing

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Giordano Concepts

31. What kept you sane?
Lots of stuff

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't fancy celebrities or public figures

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
The American one, I guess. Though the Scottish one also kept me interested earlier in the year.

34. Who did you miss?
Kevin and Raif

35. Who were the best new people you met?
Nhu, of course. After that, Ellie and Macca (unless I met them at the end of 2007 - can't quite remember.)

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Love is real.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Im on a roll,
Im on a roll this time
I feel my luck could change.

Dec 28th - The Whole Day

More detail? OK.

We started the day off by going to the birthday party of one of my students down in District 7 - a very nice house with loads of light and two fishponds on the ground floor. Pulled up on the bike to the sight of a crowd of Vietnamese people sitting around tables enjoying their banquet. I didn't recognise any of these people, but soon the student herself appeared and led us upstairs, where the real party (with most of her classmates and a few others) was being enjoyed. Nice food and company, though they were mostly interested in asking Nhu stuff about me and our relationship. But Nhu also gave them some English language tips. My co-teacher, Judith, also turned up, and after lunch we headed to a nearby karaoke.

Nice place, with definitely the best selection I've seen in Vietnam so far. Unfortunately, the music was slow and messed up on its version of With or Without You, so I wasn't too successful. More successful was Easy (the Commodores, but sung by me in the style of Faith No More), and Creep (one of the few times I've ever found a Radiohead song in karaoke around here.)

Then, after a miserable ride home in a very unseasonable downpour, we took a rest before heading to Barbecue Garden (cook-it-yourself delicious foods) to celebrate the birthdays of Nhu and her mother (Nhu's is the 29th, her mother's was the 26th.) Once again, delicious food, especially the deer, though I can't say any of it was less than good. Nhu's brother bought a cake, but the restaurant staff also brought out a huge cake with big candles - this one was just for show, unfortunately, and made of polystyrene, but it was fun.

Some time towards the end of our dinner, the staff started cheering and dancing suddenly, but we knew why. Vietnam had won the ASEAN football cup! In the second of two finals, they tied 1-1 with Thailand, which brought them to overall victory. And the streets were crazy on the way home. I've never seen this place so happy, so elated. Magic ran through the streets as we drove home, and thousands of people zoomed through the streets, shouting and cheering and waving huge Vietnam flags.

Rather than go straight home, we decided to be a part of it, so we bought a couple of flags ourselves (they were already selling them on the roadsides across town), and while Nhu cheered and waved them about, I headed into the centre of town. Didn't make it all the way, as the roundabout at Ben Thanh market was just way too jammed, but it was an awesome sight to behold. Eventually we went home the long way, still accompanied by hundreds of other revellers. A woman on as bike ahead of me laughed as she caught the sight of a foreigner on a flag-waving bike, and then shortly later, one very excited man zoomed up and said "give me one, give me one!" and Nhu handed over one of our flags to him. The other one we kept, and hung up at home when we got back.

So yeah, a very good day :)

Dec 27th - Doctor Who Christmas Special, and... clean house! (just got a new cleaner after many months)

From pnh . List the towns or cities where you spent at least a night away from home during 2008. Mark with a star if you had multiple non-consecutive stays.

Hong Kong *
Vung Tau *
Bangkok
Nong Khai
Vientiane
Vang Vieng
Luang Prabang
Mui Ne *
Tokyo
Da Lat
Phu Quoc
Paris
London
Nha Trang
Saigon * (okay, this last one is my current home, but I did spend a few nights here away from my own apartment, so it still counts.)

Dec 26 - On my last day with this class I'm teaching, getting invited to one student's birthday party on Sunday. It's nice to feel appreciated :) The invitation is also extended to Nhu, who they're all pretty excited about meeting (and yes, we will be going.)

Dec 24 - A wonderful Christmas Eve dinner with Nhu's family, which included duck, Christmas music, and watching Vietnam beat Thailand in the first final of the football (AFF Suzuki Cup)

Dec 25 - A wonderful Christmas lunch at the New World Hotel (delicious all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink booze) with a bunch of workmates (and one spouse and one fiancee), followed by karaoke with a couple of those workmates (and yes, we did sing some Christmas songs at the karaoke)


Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone!

Tagged by justin_pilon 

Rules: starting today and for the next eight, (8) days, you have to post one thing that made you happy that day.

Well, this was a few days ago, so let's do a few today:

Dec 21 - Received emergency money from dad after stolen wallet incident
Dec 22 - Booked flights to the Philippines, and also Nhu's prawn curry
Dec 23 - Taken out to dinner by our level leader at work (so all the teachers teaching Intermediate English), and also, later in the evening, watching Greg the Bunny again

You may have noticed that I haven't really been around on Livejournal for a while. More than a month, in fact...

Well, as the subject line says, I've found myself overwhelmed recently. There's been all the Christmas and January arrangements, there's been the two weeks of being sick and miserable, there's been taking on a new class (Grad Cert) at a time when I probably shouldn't have, there's been trying to find a new apartment only to have that whole plan fall from beneath my feet at the last minute, there's been having my wallet stolen and having to scramble about sorting out that whole fiasco, there's been STILL not finishing the reading and critiquing of my friend's novel, even though I'm really enjoying it, which I feel quite guilty about, there's been all this extra stuff to figure out at work regarding performance reviews, etc, and there's been... well, that's enough for now, I think.

On the bright side, I'm going off with Nhu to Singapore for a 4-day trip on Jan 1st, and to the Philippines for a 6-day trip on Jan 13th (with a week of work in between the two.) Then, after we get back, it will be Tet, and I'll get to experience it here for the first time with her family (since last year I fled the country for the actual holiday.)

How have you all been doing?

Congratulations!

This year, we did not let our country of residence deny us some Halloween fun. It's obviously not a huge thing here, but there were a few Halloween shops around town, and my determination to go as a bee was quite successful, after scavenging the various parts from different locations. Nhu came as a green-faced spider witch. Her outfit was somewhat easier to find, as it was all part of the same package, though the facy makeup was done in a beauty shop (the girls working there seemed surprised that she wanted to be made to look ugly.)

We took a taxi out to District 1, already in costume, which delighted most of the onlookers, and made our way down the dark alley to Astrid's house, which stood with an open gate into a dark room lit only by a pumpkin lantern. Then we made our way up four flights of stairs in minimal light, cobwebs and spiders brushing past us, until we reached the roof.

We were some of the first there, but it got very busy and lively, with lots of excellent costumes. Tremendous fun was had by all, and many photos were taken. My bee outfit was received extremely well.

As a consequence, I'm a day late with my NaNoWriMo, but I got over 2,000 words done today, and will have plenty of time for more tomorrow.

Here are some photos: