My Favorite Things From Our Trip to Saigon

Not in any order, although the townhouse is probably my #1 favorite thing:

• Our townhouse - fantastic layout and fun, convenient location (photo above)
• Our new neighborhood - cafes, restaurants, smoothie stands, only a short walk to school
• Our new director - super nice guy!
• The other librarian that I'll be working with
• Taking a cyclo ride in downtown Saigon (photo below)
• Coconut smoothies at our school
• Sunshine
• Movie theaters
• Pho 24

Visiting Vietnam

Tomorrow night we leave for a trip to Saigon. We're taking a long weekend to check out housing and see the school and area. The weather will be warm and sunny...ok...sweltering HOT and sunny. I'm very happy about that because my hands are always ice cubes. Mike, on the other hand, will be sweating buckets. But he sweats buckets in an air conditioned room, so whatchya gonna do?

We're going to check out apartments and townhouses and hopefully sign for a place. We won't move in until August 1st, so I'm not sure if they'll want to hold it open for 3 months. At the very least we'll be able to tell the school what complex or area we like. I've heard it's a renter's market, so they may help our cause. 

We want to mix pleasure with business, so we'll try to see some sights and have some fun. I'll take loads of pictures and will post some here. 

I can't wait to see Saigon!

Old Friends, New Again

The other day I got on Facebook and my best friend from elementary school, Mark Altamore, was asking me to be his friend! Holy cow! He was my friend when I started kindergarten and I cried when he moved when I was in 6th grade. Now I have the opportunity to get to know him again. 

Within a few days I was friends with his brother and 3 of his sisters! Wall posts  and e-mails were flying! Most of them started with "OMG!" or "Wow! What a blast from the past!" We immediately reminisced about playing kickball and stickball, Monopoly games that lasted several days, tag in the pool and roasting marshmallows over a round Weber grill! It's so great to be in touch with people who were a significant part of my childhood.  

(I was going to post a picture of us when we were kids, holding wiffle ball bats, but I can't find it anymore. I'll keep searching.)