enjoy your photos.

dear diary,

it has been quite a while. man, this is feeling like tapering off my xanga all over again. can't believe i used to update that crap several times a week. sorry to any of you who actually think i'm interesting enough to follow and wait for my updates.

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Sax n' Art in downtown.  Owner on the bottom.

My first time going to a jazz club. The owner was phenomenal! Scholarship to Berklee, world-wide tours, etcetc. Totally saxxy.

Gillie and Justin. Former roommate + current roommate.

61 Club - men men men!

Of course, it wouldn't take long before we found the gayest club (or was it gay night?) in Saigon.

Coworkers at Vascos. 

And once my summer classes started winding down, we had trips! And a "petting zoo" came to the school. The only thing they were able to pet were bunnies and a turtle. The guinea pig and hamster weren't really friendly.

it's so fluffyyyyyyyyy. hi carol!

turtle turtle.

crazy ginger hair.

My very first class!

This was my first class I taught and first to end. Everyone passed and my TA owes me sushi.

School (all 5 or 6 ILAs in the city) trip to Cu Chi Village. Pretty much got paid to play some old-school Vietnamese games and sweat off 5 pounds in the heat. 

Bus 10!

My second class. None of the trouble-makers.

Mancala. hah.

Shrooms! Shrooms growing everywhere!

Bamboo model. waddup?

TAs and staff.

Most ridiculous game ever. Pretty much just separate all the different beans. 

Coconut shell race.

Chillin' out. Maxxin'. Relaxin'.

Magic Milk stole my shades.

Look at that tub! For makin dat fish sawc.

Imagine if you drowned in a tub of fish sauce. Sexy.

Children forced to do propaganda.

Jk. Vietnamese people love to make their kids perform. 

Jacked my student's headband. Hello Tinny!

This girl came with the craziest braided hair everyday! Always something diffraaant.

Mắm!

10 different types of fish sauce.

Gillie and I had the best roommate messaging system .
Whiteboards and fridges are so last decade.

Farewell party for one of our own!
Adios, Gloria!

Ok. That's enough for now. Just about all that happened in the last month or so that was worth updating. That, and I moved next to work. How convenient. That, and my roommate paid for a cook to come 5 days a week. I've never had someone cook for me for free before, other than my mom. Or my sister. Or Lana. But other than family, this is a first. Oh, privilege...what am I gonna do with you?

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My experiences so far haven't really been what I imagined. I spend most of my time with expats/foreigners/coworkers. The only locals I interact with are the TAs at and students at work. Ok, and our cook. And our cleaner. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. My roommate hired a cleaner. And some dodgeball players once a week. I need to start speaking more Vietnamese.

I've yet to travel anywhere in VN. Then again, I haven't had the funds. But come October, oh boy!

Thank goodness it's payday today. I can start exploring the city. And such great timing because Anh and Thoa are in town! 

I've been struggling to write anything for the last 15 minutes, so I'll just leave. I loathe blogging. 

xoxo,

tinothy mai.