For the last six months, I traveled throughout Southeast Asia and lived in Vietnam. In six minutes, you’ll get to see how my life as an ex-pat was and hopefully feel inspired to do something similar. Everything from my students to new friends, to learning about a new culture and trying new food, Vietnam has had [...]
Archive for the ‘Living in Vietnam’ Category
Top 20 Things I’ll Miss from Vietnam
April 20th, 2010 
cbrodzky Since I created a list of the top 20 things I’ll miss from America before I left, I believe it’s only fair that I do the same for Vietnam. In no particular order, here are the top 20 things I’ll miss from Vietnam:
Flying Kites in Vietnam
April 2nd, 2010 cbrodzky I recently accepted an invitation by a few of my students to go kite flying! I’ve never done it back home and I’ve wanted to do it ever since I’ve kept seeing kites randomly pop up everywhere. My students made it look so easy to get the kite off the ground but for some reason [...]
Spending Habits in Vietnam
March 25th, 2010 cbrodzky Just about everything in Vietnam is really cheap: food, clothes, drinks, doctor and dentist visits, and hookers (not that I would know). Here is what my spending habits for a typical day in Vietnam looks like.
Video: Vietnamese Friend Singing
March 21st, 2010 cbrodzky No offense to the Vietnamese, but the singing reminds me of nails on a chalkboard. You could imagine my surprise when I heard one of my Vietnamese friends singing for the first time. She’s not only a talented singer, she’s incredibly beautiful and kind.
How to Overcome Being Homesick While Living in Another Country
March 18th, 2010 cbrodzky Being away from home for a long period of time can be rough. Living in another country for the first time and being away from my friends and family is hard at times and only makes me realize how much I miss and love the people in my life, as well remind me to appreciate [...]
Stages of Culture Shock Living in Another Country
March 13th, 2010 cbrodzky While teaching at a couple couple private schools in Vietnam, one class requires me to prepare students for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The first chapter talked about the five stages of culture shock and I thought this would be a great post to share with everyone. I’ve definitely gone through these stages [...]
Coping with Life in Vietnam
March 1st, 2010 cbrodzky I’ll admit, there are times in Vietnam when I get really frustrated. Sometimes when I try to order some food in Vietnamese, the waiter or waitress never know what I’m saying. When they finally understand what I’m attempting to say, they’ll pronounce in what appears to be the exact same way I just did. Other [...]
A Few Peculiar Vietnamese Habits
February 24th, 2010 cbrodzky Here is a small sampling of odd Vietnamese habits that I’ve observed while here: 1) They put big blocks of ice in all their drinks, including beer. 2) They wear socks with their flip flops. 3) Since they use small bowls to eat their food (versus big plates like we do back home), they dump [...]
Celebrating Tet, the Vietnamese New Year
February 15th, 2010 cbrodzky One of the most anticipated holidays of the year is the Vietnamese New Year ‘Tet’, which marks the arrival of spring based on the Lunar calendar. During this time, families ring in the new year by coming together to eat, drink and most importantly – not work. This was my first Tet holiday and I [...]
