With the finale of Parks and Recreation last week, TV has entered a sad, sad era. It’ll be the first time in nearly 10 years that neither Tina Fey nor Amy Poehler will be on the small screen. In honor of their comedic genius, I’ve decided to...
VietnamSee
New Beginnings – Vietnam’s Lunar New Year
Vietnam is recovering this week from another Lunar New Year – nine blissful days where the country practically comes to a standstill to ring in the Year of the Goat. The city slowly empties as work-obsessed urbanites head back to their countryside hometowns, shops are shuttered and...
Nothing Hidden, Everything Sacred
I love meeting artists. I love seeing the world through a different set of eyes. Eyes that see in a palette of colors. The sky isn’t just blue. It’s cerulean. The bark of a tree isn’t brown. It’s burnt sienna with a touch of yellow ochre where the sunlight finds...
The “Other” Royal Couple
I’ve never been a big fan of ballet. Surprising, I know, considering I’m such a huge snob supporter of the arts. But when I got a chance to sit in on the final rehearsal of Cinderella at the Saigon Opera House, I didn’t refuse (mostly because I...
Saigon vs. Hanoi – The Eternal Debate
Not long ago, I wrote a post about how I felt caught between two worlds – the Western world I was brought up in, and the Eastern one I was born to and now call home. If that weren’t enough, I’m a product of bilocation in my...
I Promise To Always Look Up
I’ve always been somewhat cold-hearted. I’m not sure whether it’s a byproduct of my “Field Marshal” personality where there’s “not much room for error” and where “feelings are a weakness”. Or perhaps it’s simply been honed (or blunted?) by 11 years of seeing daily poverty in Asia....
Wacky World of Work – Craigslist Edition
“Work” is a such a strange thing. We all dream of the day when we don’t have to do it. And yet, it defines us for most of our adult lives. When I moved to Vietnam about a year ago, I was anticipating a full year off...
Confronting the Past: A Story of Two Families
The past has a way of catching up to us. No matter how fast you run, no matter where you try to hide, it inevitably finds you, for better or worse. I was born in Vietnam, a child of the war. Here, it’s referred to as the...
40 Going on 25 – Am I Peter Pan?
I’m turning 20 this week. For the 20th time. Seriously. I would never want to be 20 again. Socially awkward, unsure of where I wanted my life to head, quickly moving on to other things once I got bored, getting into trouble. Wait. That description of me...
Bloom, Saigon, Bloom
The last yellow petals have fallen, the final oversized watermelons have been discarded and dried out potted mums litter the sidewalk like yesterday’s newspapers. The last vestige of Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is actually Abba’s sickly sweet Happy New Year playing an endless loop in my head,...