I didn’t expect every day living in Vietnam to be butterflies and rainbows, but there are just a few things that frustrate me about living here. In no particular order (because they all suck), here they are: Bad Internet service. I got disconnected about ten times just writing this one blog post alone. Between the [...]
Archive for the ‘Living in Vietnam’ Category
Tips on Meditating According to My Vietnamese Students
January 31st, 2010 
cbrodzky I’ve always heard about how great meditation is and I thought, “what better place to start practicing than here in Asia?!” I asked some students the best way to practice meditation and they said the following: Get a Buddha statue Sit on the floor with your legs crossed Have your hands relaxed on your knees Have your [...]
Vegetarians in Vietnam?
January 25th, 2010 cbrodzky Before I arrived to Vietnam, people back home have often wondered what I planned on eating during my stay, especially because they’re aware I don’t eat most types of meats. They might have assumed that vegetarianism isn’t in the Vietnamese vocabulary and that they’re a bunch of meat eating savages. I’m happy to report that [...]
A Few Do’s and Don’ts in Vietnam
January 15th, 2010 cbrodzky Visiting another country can be intimidating, especially when you don’t want to be that typical American that does whatever he or she wants to do. I wanted to be respectful of the Vietnamese culture and learned a lot after I told some people I sat on my desk while teaching my Vietnamese students. After getting [...]
The Definition of Saving Face
January 11th, 2010 cbrodzky One adjustment I’ve been trying to practice is the whole concept of ‘saving face’. I’m still trying to understand this concept, but basically it’s when you try to maintain a positive image and don’t show any negative facial expressions. If you’re mad, you don’t make an angry face; if you’re upset, you don’t show it. [...]
Celebrating Christmas with My New Non-Jewish Friends
December 24th, 2009 cbrodzky I’m pretty sure there were no Jewish people in all of Vietnam during my stay, and if there were, none of them were a mixed breed such as myself. If I had known there was a movie theater that was playing English movies, I might have went there (as well as chow down on Chinese [...]
A Not So Traditional Vietnamese Wedding
December 20th, 2009 cbrodzky On our second night in Vietnam, our new boss at Can Tho University invited us to a wedding between a Vietnamese woman and a Kenyan man. We were told they met while in school and he moved to Vietnam to be with his girl. He must really love her because he was the only black [...]
First Day Living in Vietnam: My New Home for the Next 6 Months
December 18th, 2009 cbrodzky To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what I expected once I arrived in Vietnam. The flight didn’t kill me, which was good (thank you Valium), but I think the hot, humid air just might do the trick. Our first cab ride proved to be an interesting experience as after driving for about five minutes, [...]
Vietnamese Money: ‘Dong’ anyone?
December 4th, 2009 cbrodzky Right before moving to Vietnam, I traded $100 USD for Vietnamese money, aka dong. My money translated to a little over $2,000,000 in Vietnamese cash and for the first — and only — time in my life I was a millionaire. First of all, I think it’s funny that their currency is known as dong. How [...]
Anxiety on Moving to Another Country to Teach English
November 30th, 2009 cbrodzky Leaving to live in another country causes so much anxiety it’s not even funny. Just so everyone knows, this type of emotion is perfectly normal and means you care. The only thought that crossed my mind when moving to Vietnam was the movie Brokedown Palace when Claire Danes and Kate Beckinsale got locked up abroad. [...]
