I’ve now been in Buenos Aires (BA) for a little over three weeks. As I promised in my last post, here’s number two of the three things I’ve found that tell me I’m going to love living in this city. Number 2 – Green Spaces The population in BA is …
Hola Buenos Aires (Part 1)
We’ve landed in Argentina to begin the next step in our quest to experience life in different parts of the world. The goal – To live in South America in our chosen city, Buenos Aires (BA), for one to two years. Within just a few weeks of arriving in the …
Learning Vietnamese: Teacher Kim
As we get ready to leave Việt Nam after 2 years, we agree that taking Vietnamese language classes during our time here is one of the best decisions we made. We, of course, aren’t fluent (by a long shot), but it has allowed us to communicate a little better. We …
Saigon – Modern Meets Traditional
In the canyons of contemporary office buildings, sleek malls, high-end boutiques, and elegant restaurants, the vibrant streets of Saigon bustle with a contrasting way of life. The rapidly growing city offers a lovely blend of traditional and contemporary living; someone working on the top floor of a skyscraper is just …
The Lion Definitely Does Not Sleep Tonight
Living in Vietnam for over a year, I’ve learned that when I hear drums beating and cymbals clang-clang-clanging, there’s a Lion Dance nearby. Lion dances originated in China but are now prevalent throughout SE Asia. The performance is part dance, part theatrics, and part acrobatics. The “lion” is inspired by …
Another Taste of Tết in Saigon
When we decided to extend our stay in Saigon from one year to 18 months, I was excited that we’d be here for another Tet season. This year (2025) Tet is on January 29. The date is based on a lunar/solar calendar that calculates the orbit of the earth around the …
Vietnam: Huế – Imperial City
While spending a few days exploring the central Vietnamese coast city of Da Nang, we booked a daytrip to the Imperial City of Hue (pronounced like a breathy “whey” as in “curds and whey”.) Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945.) The journey to Hue …
Read ’em and….Cheer!
When we were getting ready to move to Saigon, I told Mark we would likely need to invest in e-readers. We love to read and I wasn’t sure that we’d be able to find many English-language books. Once again, I’m happy to say that Saigon surprised me. There are many …
Japan: Chasing Fireworks
After reading about elaborate fireworks that happen in late summer all around Japan, we planned a trip to the country to coincide with three of them: One in Tokyo, one in Chiba, and one near Mt. Fuji. When we read that each of the shows launch up to 20,000 shells, …
Got It Covered
When I was preparing to move from Minnesota to Vietnam, my dermatologist reminded me that I was going to be in a place with year-round hot, sunny weather. She was worried that I would be exposed to much more sun in, what she thought was going to be, a culture …