from an "italy wall"... to ITALY!

Remember this post from two years ago... when I was preparing to move to Vietnam???... it's about packing up my things and taking down my 'Italy wall' photo collage.

...Amazing how life works out.

From an 'Italy wall' that I created with photos from my two trips to Italy... to now moving to Italy on a 3-year contract. Incredible.

I have less than a month left in Vietnam. A new adventure about to begin.

I've been reading through my early posts on this blog lately... interesting to look back and remember how it felt to be moving halfway around the world to a place I couldn't even picture. Now... it's been my life for the past two years... I've made incredible new friends... traveled to places I didn't even know about two years ago...

Amazing.

Right now, I want to enjoy the rest of my time in Vietnam... and then go home to the States for a while to soak up time with all of the wonderful family and friends that I have in my life, supporting me and loving me.

"the good life..."

I turned around on my drive home from school when I saw this guy sitting in front of a house with this bright blue door... such a great photo! A new favorite of mine...

Hanging out...

Waiting for his next xo om customer...

And watching the city traffic go by...

I was across the street taking these photos, when a guy from a little shop came up to see what I was taking photos of (he probably thought I was a bit nuts). I showed him the photos on my camera and said it was beautiful and I liked the colors.

This older man spoke a bit of English... he pointed to just left of the man sitting on his motorbike and said that it was his house. I (stupidly) said, "Oh, Good!" Oh goodness, Stacia. The guy threw his head back and laughed in shock... he then said to me... "No! Not good."... Pointed to the huge, new condo/apartment buildings just behind these little homes and said, "THAT is the good life."

We laughed... spoke a bit more... he went back to the shop with his buddies and I went on my way.

Still... one of my favorite photos from Vietnam.   : )   So much beauty and character in this city.

"Korea Lingerie Total Shop" in PMH

When I went to Phu My Hung to walk the dogs with Donna this past weekend, we walked by a shop with the name: Korea Lingerie Total Shop.

Some items (services??) are listed under the name... I'm not really sure what they are... but one really stumps me. ...WHAT is a sex cook???    :P

last night's sky from my balcony

The sunset was pretty last night... I took some photos from my balcony over the course of 10 minutes or so.

I'll miss this view when I leave in less than a month!!!! (Well... exactly one month from yesterday I will depart HCMC... I'll miss many parts of this city/country but am excited to head back to the States for a bit!)

The house across the alley from mine:

The tall building in the photo below is a large apartment building... with the CoOp Mart on the bottom two floors... where I get a lot of my groceries and household goods. Everyone that lives above the CoOp always hangs out around the front... sitting on the front steps is a good place for people watching.   : )

doggie time...

Elizabeth and Vince made a trip to New York City last week to attend their daughter's graduation (congratulations to Kira!!). Donna helped take care of their two dogs while they were away... and I made a trip down to the Phu My Hung area this past Sunday to go for a walk with them and hang out for a bit...

These three are such a cute crew.   : )

I think this should definitely be Poncho's new pet passport photo!

Paris Baguette's coffee is cute

I recently posted about Paris Baguette's stellar new packaging for their iced teas... click here to see this post.

Well, their takeaway coffee cups are just as great! ...I'd love to meet the person in charge of packaging at Paris Baguette.   : )

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Oh wow... I'm adding the following photo a couple days after the original post (photos above)... because I found out this morning that there are different ones!! Genius... whomever the packing/advertising person/team is at Paris Baguette. I love it... and a big WIN for them, as now I definitely want more takeaway coffees, to see more cute character coozies! Check it out...  -->

latest favorites around the neighborhood

Some photos that I've taken recently around my neighborhood...

Part of a funeral... preparing for dinner...

cute couple... cute city colors

Selling lottery tickets...

Wanna buy a bamboo tree?...Errr... wait, I think it's ...sugarcane?

Oh, the traffic in Saigon...

The first photo below is from my drive home from work... during rush hour...

The rest of the photos in this post were all taken from my perch upstairs in the Paris Baguette on Hai Ba Trung in District 3...one of my favorite spots in the city!...

Stylin' little girl out for a ride...

School girls on a Saturday morning...

Wrong way? ...What?!

Normal load...

early morning free concerts at the Opera House

I love driving by the Opera House around 8:00am or so on a weekend...

There is often a concert taking place on the front steps... people driving by pull over to listen and enjoy for a while... and the concerts include a variety of band and musical groups/types.

It's one of those quirky city events that I love. Denver, Colorado has a ton of them and this is one that's special to HCMC in my eyes.

When my brother Lenny first arrived in Vietnam during his visit two Christmases ago, we happened to catch a concert in front of the Opera House then too. A couple photos from that day can be found by clicking here.

old and new... cathedral / mall

I love this view at dusk... the old Notre Dame Cathedral with the new VinCom shopping center behind outlined in neon lights...

alteration shop street, HCMC

There are numerous alteration shops on Ly Chinh Thang Street in HCMC.

Having found that out, I now go to the shop shown below... they are friendly, have done a great job with my things, and at a VERY fair price! No one that I've met yet (been about 3 times) speaks any English... but with my meager Vietnamese skills (mostly numbers) and a lot of hand gestures, we're able to communicate pretty well.

For little things (making straps on a dress shorter... fixing a hole on a seam...) they have me sit on a little red stool while they do the quick fix. Something like that costs 10,000 dong (or 50 cents). ...Ok!   : )

Just a few doors down from this intersection...

cactus, pumpkin, and lemongrass chili tofu

I met Elizabeth, Donna, and Kevin for dinner before PechaKucha began last Thursday. Kevin suggested going to Quan Bui on Nguyen Van Nguyen... it's so close to me and yet I've never been! It was a cute little restaurant with GREAT food and prices.   : )

Cactus

Tofu with lemongrass and chili

Pumpkin

...I don't remember ...ochra maybe??

sleeping city dog

I drove past this guy today... successfully found shade and just trying to take a nap on the side of a 4-lane road...

helping Quito's 6th volume of PechaKucha!

The PechaKucha organizer in Quito, Ecuador has a pretty awesome idea... and is asking for the help of PK organizers around the world.

Their poster for their upcoming PechaKucha Night includes directions on how to fold it into a paper airplane.

PK organizers from cities around the world are supposed to make the airplane with the poster... and send photos of themselves in their city with Quito's Vol. 6 poster flying around the world.

Very. Cool.   : )

Below are a bunch of the photos that Jen helped me take...

But then I also figured that since our Vol. 3 event was coming up, we could integrate it there and help out Quito from one PKN to another PKN. So during the mid-way break last Thursday evening during HCMC's 3rd PechaKucha Night, each of the 70+ attendees made their own paper airplane with a Quito poster... we then made a toast to HCMC, to PechaKucha, and to Quito... counted down from 3... and let them fly!!

I will hopefully receive photos from that soon... my friend Donna was kind enough to photograph the night. When I do... I will post those as well.   : )  It was a lot of fun. ...Shout-out for Quito's creativity!

Starting the morning at Paris Baguette on Hai Ba Trung...

In front of Notre Dame Cathedral...

Haha... one of my favorites...

In front of the People's Committee Building...

I am MONSTER-SIZE in this country...