how did that get there?

on the tuesday just before i left vietnam, anna, kate, and i found ourselves at saigon ink.  well, to be honest, we made appointments, but whatever. 
anyway, i officially have my fourth tattoo as of june 21, 2011.
i got the word "diamond" in arabic on my left wrist.  its sort of shaded in black, grey and white. 
for those who don't know the meaning, my great aunt's name was diamond and she was like the grandmother that i never had.  she was a teacher, a traveler, and one of the most patient, caring, and inspiring people that i have ever met.  she passed away in january of my second year in egypt and during our last conversation, she told me that under no circumstances should i come home.  she told me to travel and think of her.  and i did.  and i still do. 
since she passed away, i have wanted to get this tattoo.  not necessarily as a memorial tattoo but as a reminder of what a wonderful person she was and what i aspire to be.  and now having the tattoo, i have an excuse to talk about her more often too :)

best or worst?

as the school year wrapped up and my birthday was approaching, i was lucky (?) to receive some very interesting gifts from my students.  i got a very elaborate flower arrangement, a small cow statue that is glow in the dark, a cat statue with red eyes, D & G perfume, a lovely scarf, some chocolate, a music box, and more. 

however, the most noteworthy gift came from a young girl in my class who gave me the gift and proceeded to say, "don't show anyone.  it's ugly".  great!  lucky me!

i opened the box (privately, of course) and found the best or worst gift of the year.  are you ready??  inside the box was a wooden rooster.  or wooden cock, some might say.  just a statue.  it doesn't move.  or do anything.  just sits.  and is made of wood.  a wooden cock. 

best?  or worst??

from brother luke

on Saturday night we had our year end celebration for the teachers of CIS.  there are 14 of us who are leaving this year and the social committee and other staff members made presentations to those of us who are leaving.  each departing staff member had a little speech written about them by one of their friends or teaching partners.  i was lucky to have my speech written by my teaching partner/friend/brother LUKE!  (luke and i share the same last name...so he's obviously my brother!!)  anyway, although luke couldn't be there, he had kelly read my speech to me, and it was so lovely that i wanted to share it with you. 

dearest sister emily,

i am so happy to have shared our first year of teaching grade 5 together.  you just may have been the perfect teaching partner.  with your thoughtfulness toward our students as well as our colleagues, your ability to keep track of all the craziness we encountered throughout the year and to deal with it, and your ability to keep a sense of humour through it all made my year not tolerable, but enjoyable.  when things got overwhelming, you were like my rock, always willing to help out and always eager to share ideas and work together.  but possibly the best part of working with you, was your easy going nature.  everything was just...easy.  you were so flexible and willing to adapt to whatever situation was thrown at us.  you were so forgiving and patient if i forgot about something or screwed something up.  it was a pleasure and an honor to work with you.  

it's difficult to say in words how much i appreciate you, so i think i will express my thoughts through an acrostic poem.

E - E is for emancipation proclamation, because you set your students' minds FREEEEE!

M - M is for macaroni, because it's really, really good, and so are you.

I - I is for "i can't believe we only did ONE karaoke night together!"  But it was the best karaoke night ever.

L - L is for loveable. isn't emily just so darn loveable???

Y - Y is for yellowstone national park.  the home of "old faithful"..  emily is not old, but like old faithful, she can be relied upon.

A - A is for awesome!

B - B is for boat.  if our cruise ship went down, i would want to be in emily's life boat.

B - B is for beer, because it's really, really good, and so are you. 

O - O is for oxygen, because you're like a breath of fresh air.

T - T is for terrible, as in, it's terrible that you're leaving us.

T - T is for terrific, as in, although i'll miss you, it's terrific that you are off an another adventure in another amazing new land.

i'll miss you sis.

love luke

I KNOW RIGHT!  i cried like a baby (as i'm sure my mom is after reading this).  i feel blessed to have worked with you brother luke.  thank you.  thank you.  thank you. 

VS.

what i WILL miss about vietnam vs. what i WILL NOT miss about vietnam

• i WILL miss cheap pedicures and manicures and super friendly ladies who do them for me.
• i WILL NOT miss the traffic and lack of concern for others on the road.
• i WILL miss after school smoothies for $1.  and before school ca phe sua da (vietnamese iced coffee and milk).  and bubble tea without the bubbles.
• i WILL NOT miss the spitting on the sidewalks every three seconds.
• i WILL miss the wonderful friends that i have made in saigon.
• i WILL NOT miss the litter.
• i WILL miss annam sandwiches.  YUM!
• i WILL NOT miss the cockroaches.
• i WILL miss instant warmth (just by stepping outside of an air conditioned room).
• i WILL NOT miss the rude stares and points.  i look different than you.  i get it.  leave me alone.
• i WILL miss my students.  a lot. 
• i WILL NOT miss rainy season.
• i WILL miss the freedom of riding around on our scooter.  

it's a bitter sweet time really.  ready to be home.  sad to say good bye.  excited but nervous for the new challenge that lies ahead.

"hi, may? where did you go???"

um....it's june!  how did this happen??  where did may go??  and why did it go in such a hurry???

i like june.  don't get me wrong.  here are some of the wonderful things that happen in june:

june 4 - my parents will celebrate their 34th wedding anniversary!

june 9 - CIS will hold it's 2nd annual Art for Action event.

june 15 - it's my momma's birthday!

june 24 - LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! (but i will miss my kids!)

june 26 - MY birthday!!!

june 27 - leave HCMC, via hong kong, headed for the promise land!

june 28 - cow and i will arrive at our "summer home" in wawa!

add to that more birthdays of wonderful friends and colleagues along with some not so wonderful goodbyes and that's that.  JUNE.  whoa.  it will be over before we know it.

awesome shirts

seen on someone's shirt today:

"yanker stadium"

AWESOME.

has anyone seen the reset button??

seriously.
today was a terrible, no good, horrible kind of day. period.
it started out alright.  i was cabbing to school with cow and some of the regulars when we started talking about how terrible mondays are.  then we decided that there should NEVER be staff meetings on mondays...but we had one today after school.  yuck. 
i think i was jinxed for having this conversation.
i arrived at school (after being away last week) to a seriously messy classroom.  all of my cupboard doors were open and  stuff was pulled out of some of them.  i asked the head of cleaners to come and asked her "why?" in vietnamese.  she can't speak english but she started taking pictures.  two minutes later there is an announcement that we had been broken into over the weekend.  good news.  i was one of the lucky ones.  NOT. 
so stuff everywhere, i try to get organized for my day.  but i'm thirsty.  go to get my BRAND new water bottle from the bird's nest in beijing.  it's GONE.  crappy.  go on to my computer to print out my day plan.  EVERYTHING is gone!  my entire computer has been wiped out.  ALL of my documents, all of my programs, EVERYTHING!  talk about crappy!  also missing, randomly, 3 cartons of milk. 
so that was exciting! 
my morning was only brightened when one of the grade 5 girls came up to me and said that i looked thinner today!  why thank you!  hahaha.
anyway, the rest of my day was fairly uneventful comparatively.  but today definitely did nothing to prove my theory about mondays wrong!!  let's hope tomorrow is WAY, WAY better!

cow's big weekend

yesterday cow had his second vet appointment.  we had to go for round two of his vaccinations plus the rabies vaccination.  

the bad news is that cow HATES, and i mean HATES, needles.  he cries.  really loud and makes me want to cry!  the good news is that he doesn't need anymore needles for another year!

next i asked the vet if he thought cow had worms cause he's getting so fat...he said no, that he thinks that cow is just fat.  hahahaha good to know!  but he gave him a worm prevention pill just in case.  so that's good.  

also, the vet had cat litter!  so i bought 2 bags.  and an extra bag of food.  that should keep us for a while!

finally, while we were at the vet, jen and i went upstairs to see what was happening in the cat room.  there are EIGHT new kittens and they look like they might be 3 or 4 weeks old!  far too young to be away from their mommies.  and even smaller than cow when i got him.  they are SO cute!  i considered taking one home.  after all, what's one more??  right??  then i decided that my parents and kelly might kill me....so cow remains an only child.  for now.

hold on for dear life!

how is it that i have lived in saigon for almost two whole years and have been a part of saigon traffic for just as long, and i am still AMAZED by the terrible driving?!?!

people in this city all drive like maniacs.  they don't look when they pull out in front of you.  they don't care if they cut you off.  they feel like they own the road.

i know i've talked about this before.  i know that when i go out on the road that i will be facing this same frustration, but it still blows my mind.  every time.

1.5 months.....

mother cat

so, when i adopted cow, obviously i knew that it was a big responsibility.  but i was totally up for it.  and still am.  however, can i tell you how excited i am for co and i to move to a country where it's not a WILD GOOSE CHASE just to find cat food and cat litter?!?!?!?  it's very obvious to me now that cats are not a favoured pet in this country and it's getting really annoying trying to find food and litter. i've looked at all the grocery stores and it seems that the only place to get stuff for cats is at the vet.  fine.  but my vet is in district 2 which is a $10 cab ride away.  there is a vet in district 7 so i tried her.  i bought litter there once before and i went today and they had NO litter!  NONE!  the guy tells me it has to be imported from other countries?!?!  what?!????  and i got some food.  not the kind cow had been eating before.  but i was completely out so i needed to get some regardless.  it cost $15!!!!!  yeeesh!  i have to go to my vet this weekend for cow's second round of needles so fingers crossed that he has litter!!  otherwise....suggestions????

p.s. 47 sleeps til canada where i can buy cat food at the grocery store!!  or canadian tire.  or the bargain shop.  or the corner store.  or the kennel....you get the picture. 

a family visit

the week before we left for china, my cousin andrew and his fiance tania were here for a quick visit.  they only had a few weeks and BIG plans so they did bangkok, cambodia, hcmc, hanoi, halong bay and singapore!  talk about a whirlwind!!

anyway, it was great to see them.  we did a couple dinners, some wondering downtown, and lots of chatting.  

this is us at one of the awesome meals we had together:

it was great to see you guys!  hope to see you again this summer :)

in the span of ONE WEEK

i only left for a week.  ONE WEEK.  and three miraculous things happened while i was away!

1.  it became MAY!!!!!!!!!  when did this happen?!  where did april go??  how can it be MAY!??  anyone???

2.  it got remarkably HOTTER in saigon.  i don't know why or how.  but i do know that it now feels like a sauna whenever i'm outside.  it's so humid and hot.  like hard to breath hot.  already!!!  i still have 2 months here!!  i might melt.  consider this a warning. 

3.  cow got HUGE.  he's a real cat now!  i can't feel his ribs anymore!  and he actually weighs something now.  did i mention he's huge?!  my little baby is growing up!!

this worries me.  for two reasons.  

1.  time is flying.  so much to do.  so little time.  

2.  i go away next week with my class to hoi an.  what will happen this time when i leave?!

very creative!

right now i have art club in my room.  

i have children with the following names:

MIN

RIN

LINH

MIN HO

MIN SEOK

JIN TAK

i'm not even joking.  and all but one are korean...hmmm....

what the ????

today on our way home, we were standing by the motor bike when a CRAB walked by!!  YES!  a crab.  it was black and about the size of a CD including it's legs.  oh and it was BLACK!  more black than this picture.  but i just wanted you to get an idea of what we're dealing with here!!  where did it come from??  kelly informs me that there are land crabs.  i'm still freaked out by the whole thing....watch your toes!!

baby's first...

as i mentioned before, this weekend i had to take cow to the vet.  so jen and i packed up our cats.  her's is now named Phumy as it was rescued in Phu My Hung where we live.  we met anna, the "cat dealer" and off we went.  

cow did a pretty good job.  you know, considering he had a thermometer shoved up his bum and two huge needles!  he cried a little but he was happy to see his friend Dr. Nghia and Dr. Nghia was happy to see him too!  OH and GOOD news!  after inspecting so see if we had a cow or bull on our hands, it turns out that cow is kind of named wrong cause he's a HE!  but he's keeping his name :)

 

after the kitties were vaccinated we went upstairs to the cat room where i first met cow.  we even brought cow and phumy up for a play date.  they had fun playing with the other kitties and eating all the food.  

finally, our vet excursion ended with food for the "mommies".  we had an AWESOME lunch at 'juice' and the kitties had to sit and wait.  they were good kitties though :)  and i had never been to juice but i WILL be going back!  thanks jen!!

in one month, we will head back to Dr. Nghia for a rabies shot and for info on getting cow fixed and micro-chipped (required to go to kuwait).  i can't wait for you to meet cow!  you're going to love him!!  (you too dad!!!)

whoa nelly!

boy, did it ever STORM last night!!

the weather here has been so strange this season...as it is supposed to be dry season after all...we have had TONS of rain.  but last night's storm takes the cake!

it started raining just after school.  at about 5pm is was blowing SO hard that trees were been up-rooted, random things were blowing up to the 8th floor of our building, and roofs were being torn off shelters outside.  kelly was on his way home during this.  he came home looking like a drowned rat and said that he almost actually BLEW over on the way home!  INSANE!

THEN, later in the night, a thunder and lightning storm started.  it was SO loud!  like nothing i have ever heard before!  it woke me up multiple times in the night because it was SO SO SO loud!  

anywho, don't fret.  all is well today.  the sun is shining.  kelly, cow, and i are all safe and sound.  but WHOA NELLY.  that was a big one! 

happy king hung day!

tomorrow is king hung day.  i don't really know much about it.  i believe it is a day of observance.  

what i DO know is that we don't have school tomorrow!  crappy that it's a random tuesday, but i'll take a day off anytime!  so tomorrow i'll be sleeping in, hanging out with cow, and who knows what else!

HAPPY KING HUNG DAY!!!!!!!!!

the scariest lunch EVER!

last sunday, kelly, sean and i were invited to my landlords house for lunch.  he had wanted to have my mom, aunt and uncle over while there were here but that didn't work out.  i am so glad it didn't.  my mom would have died!  it was the scariest lunch ever.  here's why:

• the first plate he brought out was vietnamese lobster.  like shrimp kinda...i think...sean opened one up and brown stuff came squirting out all over the place.  sick.  
• next up was slimy soup and an entire duck served with the HEAD and FEET in the bowl.  sean laughed out loud.  i almost vomited.
• mr. tam noticed that i was eating.  he said that i would like the next course: mushroom hot pot.  i hate mushrooms.  also, mushroom hotpot is FULL of seafood.  i tried to eat a bit.  i am not a good faker.  
• he served us cognac.  at 11:30 a.m.  then introduced a drinking game that included shaking up a shrimps head and seeing who it was pointing at.  
• i just kept drinking guava juice.  guava juice is not good.  but it was the best thing on the table (in my humble, very picky opinion).
• dessert was these scary jelly looking things made out of seaweed.  yuck.  i almost jumped for joy when the plate of watermelon came out!

it was very nice of him to invite us over.  and it was a very vietnamese experience.  and i'm happy that mr. tam thinks of us so highly.  but it is evident that i am NOT a good lunch guest.  i came home and had some honey nut cheerios.  much more my style.

me in cartoon.

one of my students drew this picture of me.  i love it.  it's awesome.  apparently this is what i would look like if i were a korean cartoon.  good to know!  :)

oh my god, we're back again....

BACKSTREET'S BACK, ALRIGHT!!

you're not going to believe it!   after flying to singapore last year to see BSB in concert for my first time ever, they are now coming to saigon!!  and we got tickets!!!  there are about 10 of the girls from school going and we are sitting in the 6th row!!!  how exciting is that?!  I KNOW!  i can't wait!!!!  come on march 24!!!! :)

....maybe brian and i will make eye contact again and he'll fall madly in love with me.....or maybe nick will want to whisk me away with him....oh the possibilities......ahhhhh.....