Antidote to Burnout

Cultural compass

There is a wonderful article in today's (11 June 2008) New York Times by Michael Slackman entitled "Don't Leave Home Without a Cultural Compass". Here are a few quotations that I respond to: Navigating Egypt can be a challenge of... Read more →

Tet Parties

My Tết holidays this year were enjoyed in Dắk Lắk Province at the home of my Vietnamese friend's parents, introduced in this previous posting. A subsequent posting presented their home as a typical rural Dak Lak house. Since the Tết... Read more →

Cultural differences

Most of the Asians I know don't totally fit the stereotypes I unfortunately carry around in my head about what people should be. The same applies to how other people view me -- my neighbors often wonder why an American... Read more →

We are back "home" in Ho Chi Minh City after our month in the USA. We went there for the wedding of our older daughter. I have been putting off posting anything about this wonderful event, while running through a... Read more →

Voting Day today in Việt Nam

Today, Sunday, is Voting Day for the delegates to the 12th National Assembly in Việt Nam. The flags are out on everyone's house in the hẻm (lane) since this is a government holiday (even if it is Sunday). According the... Read more →

Cà phê at cafés in HCMC

Jon over at the blog The final Word...in Saigon posted the other day about places to "chill out" in Ho Chi Minh City, meaning cafés, otherwise known as coffeehouses in the western world. Jon subtitled his posting "Part I", indicating... Read more →

Vietnamese journalism

In the comments to the preceding post, Jon asks where in HCMC the sinking bridge is located. I should have been more careful to provide background for the story and the pictures. But note that the Thanh Nien News article... Read more →

Visions for downtown HCMC

Jon over at The final Word...in Saigon just posted a very comprehensive and thoroughly researched description of current and planned development projects in TP. Hồ Chí Minh. He is looking forward 13 years to a dream of "gleaming highways and... Read more →

Any excuse for a party

While other VN expat bloggers raced to post the first articles on the Tết new year season a couple of weeks ago, I will be happy to bring up the rear here with a posting about the presumed end of... Read more →

Inter-generational celebrating

I have said before that the future of Việt Nam is in the good hands of its young people. This group of young people confirms my faith that Vietnamese youth have the motivation and intelligence to carry through the modernization... Read more →

Lending a helping hand....

I have heard that Vietnamese people will go to great lengths to help a friend, and certainly a family member. Paradoxically, I have also heard that they will not go out of their way to help someone in distress, such... Read more →

And we think we are the most active bloggers in Viet Nam...

While Charvey and The Final Word were dutifully chronicling the Blog Summit of the three most active HCMC bloggers held last night, I took advantage of my wife being away to head down to the Saxn'art Jazz Club afterward. I... Read more →

Looking for expat bloggers who pose at experts...

The "A Rice Cracker?" posting here three weeks ago engendered ongoing contributions of comments regarding these fairly controversial issues. Chris of the blog Charvey in Vietnam came in a little late yestersday, though, and posed a challenge to antagonists to... Read more →

Meeting the future of Việt Nam....

Back on 2 September, I wrote about my frustrations in not having friends here in Việt Nam to communicate with. I received some very supportive comments to that posting that I appreciated very much. However, I obviously had to be... Read more →

Looking to global voices beyond my postings...

The value of any blog often lies in the comments available at the end of each posting. It is the interaction between blog author and readers in the form of reader comments that amplifies and clarifies the author's ideas expressed... Read more →

A Rice Cracker?

D. has posted a provocative thread of ideas on his blog VA to VN entitled "Everyone's an expert" (5 September 2006). He points us to the website Ethnically Incorrect Daughter, published by what he describes as a "conflicted Vietnamese adoptee."... Read more →

Neighborhood breakfast stand....

Noodlepie has the street stand food scene in Ho Chi Minh City well covered in his blog archives, although he no longer blogs from Saigon. Think of a particular Vietnamese street food you might be craving, look it up in... Read more →

The limitations of "going Vietnamese"....

When we moved here to Ho Chi Minh City seven months ago, we found a house to rent in a Vietnamese neighborhood half-way between downtown Saigon and the international airport. This neighborhood is not on the list of fashionable places... Read more →

Again: It takes a village....

Last June, I posted that the "village" consisting of all of the people living on our hẻm (lane) nurtured the teenagers on the streets so that there was very little of the teen-age gang crime prevalent in American cities. The... Read more →

Sociability and noise...

My blogger friend Virtual Doug and his wife have returned to the USA from Huê, Việt Nam. He recently published a post comparing the noise of Việt Nam with the quietness of suburban America. In addition to the millions of... Read more →

It takes a village...

From my vantage point in the midst of a thoroughly lower-middle-class neighborhood of TP. Hồ Chí Minh, there is very little crime. This is surprising since there is a large degree of unemployment, particularly among teens and young adults in... Read more →