7 March 2021

I’m breaking my Sunday rule.

Sunday is my no-laptop day, but today I felt an urge to blog.

Because today isn’t just any Sunday—it’s my last Sunday in Thailand. And I feel like I should capture my thoughts and feelings on this day.

So here I am, blogging on a Sunday morning.

Last time I wrote you guys, I was still thick in the process of getting my approvals for Vietnam. But that process quietened down a week ago when I finally managed to acquire all the paperwork, with the help of my lawyer for whom I feel an increasing fondness. The associate was even happy to put his personal mobile number as the contact number for the authorities to call me when in Vietnam. Not sure if this is standard practice over there, but I do appreciate it. Having a Vietnamese-speaking person I trust to liaise with the authorities is an assuring thing.

Anyhow, I’ve printed 2 copies of everything and neatly arranged them in a light purple folder, ready for the airport. The last piece of the puzzle is the Covid-19 test, which I’ll get tomorrow. If the result comes back, “Not Detectable,” then I’ll be set. I’ll email the airline everything on Tuesday and that should get me cleared for landing. There’s no reason why anything should go wrong at this stage, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed anyways.

Today is my last Sunday at home with my parents for a while… until I can come back to visit when Vietnam and Thailand finally open their borders. No one knows when that will be. So I’ll cherish today as my last Sunday.

Our plans are simple, as they always are on Sunday. Morning coffee with dad. Then lunch with dad and mom at a restaurant we recently discovered which has smashingly good food and a nice ambience. Then Big C for our weekly groceries. Then telly with mom. Then dinner with dad. Simple.

I woke up early this morning and opened the book I’m currently reading, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, but then changed my mind and decided to blog instead. Nothing against the book—it’s an enjoyable read. It’s the last paperback copy I’ll read before I switch to Kindle. I’ve got probably a dozen books waiting for me there, books I bought in the last six months in preparation of the move to Vietnam.

I was planning to start with the Dune Trilogy, but there’s also that new Ishiguro book that I definitely must read that’s hot off the printing press. Ishiguro is my absolute favourite author (sorry boss), and earlier this year I finally finished reading all of his books published up to then. But he just dropped a new one, his first after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. So, expectations are high.

My partner is reading it at the moment and seems to be enjoying it. So maybe I’ll start with that so we can talk about it soon. If I start Dune, it’s going to be a while to finish, it being three books and all. Ishiguro will be a quick read.

How did I get off on that tangent? Yes, the Delivering Happiness book. I’ll continue reading it tomorrow while off on my errands to get my Covid-19 test and see people in town.

To follow up from my last post from late January, I did get to work on my website, which is now live. It’s neat and functional. I still need to work on its SEO, but now that it’s live the impetus has died. I’m not looking to actively seek clients from the website anyways. It’s more a place for me to collect all my services in case someone asks. When I get clients for these services, it normally comes via my network. It’s unlikely to be random individuals landing on my site. Anyways, I’m happy the website’s finished.

I didn’t end up taking more subtitles work. I in fact decided not to so I can enjoy spending my weekends with my parents. The last subtitles project I took was in December of last year. This is probably the longest stretch without working on subtitles, and I’m looking forward to getting back into it once I’m out of quarantine and all settled in Ho Chi Minh City.

So that’s me and my thoughts today.

In terms of feelings, I guess I’m mildly excited that the move is finally happening this coming week. Maybe a little sad that today is the last Sunday I’m spending with my parents in a while. But mostly I’m looking forward to tomorrow, seeing good friends in town and also anticipating a negative Covid-19 test result. I find it hard these days to look too far into the future.

One thing at a time, one day at a time.

Oh! I also continued writing my book as mentioned in my last post. I’ve written a good amount and yesterday revised all of it (the first draft always sucks). I’m done with the Author’s Note, Prologue, and have started on the main content. I’ve even got some title ideas. But let’s keep all that under wraps for now.

Hope you’re all well.

With love always,

Val

25 December 2020

I love Christmas. Always have, and probably always will.

Growing up in Thailand, Christmas was fused with New Years into one long, festive holiday season. Christmas/New Years equalled presents. Fairy lights in the garden that dad and I would painstakingly put up (and even more painstakingly remove). My school of 13 years, being Catholic, used to have Christmas celebrations. We also had friendly, but fierce annual competitions of which class can glue/staple/tape together the most elaborate Christmas board.

Then I went to study in the UK and Europe, where Christmas was always a magical time of year, and I just loved soaking up the atmosphere. Lights on Oxford Street. Christmas decor in malls. Christmas markets. Mulled wine, hot chocolate, presents around the tree. I loved it all.

So today being Christmas, it’s a special day for me. And I’ll take this special opportunity to reflect on my experience of 2020.

The Move

2020 was supposed to be the year of the big move to Vietnam. Thanks to Covid, this has not happened. But preparations never ceased and I never wavered in the decision. Now finally the jigsaw pieces appear to be falling together and I’m set for a March 2021 move. Fingers crossed all goes well.

The Job

2020 was a life-defining year for me career-wise. I landed the job of a lifetime, and often I still can’t believe I’m working for Mark, an author whose work I truly admire, and now that I actually know him in real life (albeit only digitally for now), really a genuinely awesome person.

The Friends

Fancy staycation with my closest friend, December 2020.

2020 has been a year of deepening new friendships and reconnecting with old ones. It’s probably the year where I’ve had the most fulfilling social experiences. Funny that in a year where most of the world is locked down and socially distanced, I’ve had my most active year socially. I’m thankful the Covid situation was quickly under control here and I was able to have those many lunches, coffees, and dinners with friends.

The Family

2020 was also a year of spending time with family, from Agoda going remote in March and much of the remainder of the year. I was living at home, eating mom’s cooking, working comfortably in my new home office set-up (pictured is my swanky new laptop stand which I’m very pleased about buying).

Val’s Bespoke English

2020 was also the year I launched Val’s Bespoke English, my premium tailored English tutoring service.

I’d been teaching privately for many years, but 2020 was the year I decided to formalise it and properly advertise.

And I’ve been pretty pleased with the results so far!

All in all, 2020 has been a pretty good year to me. A year of new experiences, new beginnings, and personal growth in various ways.

Here’s to 2021. May it be kind to all of us.

Love,

Val

5 December 2020

It’s been a roller coaster of a few months, in some ways and not others.

I’ve pretty much settled into my new job, which by now is 3 months old, though I still am amazed every time I’m having a conversation with Mark. It’s pretty surreal to be communicating with your favourite author on a daily basis. But this part of my life has more or less stablised.

The roller coaster has mainly been regarding my move to Vietnam. First it seemed like everything was set and all I had to do was set the train rolling, then there was a snag, then there was a breakthrough, then I was dragging my feet for a week or two because I was so apprehensive about navigating the muddy waters, then there was another breakthrough, and now finally the process has officially started.

My application to start a company in Vietnam was submitted to the authorities earlier this week, and after a bunch of paperwork and applications for various approval letters which thankfully my solicitor will take care of, I should be clear to fly to Vietnam in March 2021.

This is much delayed from the original move date of July 2020. Even when my partner and I had accepted the reality of Covid, we still were aiming for September 2020… and then Christmas, then mid-January… you get the idea.

But those were all dates we set ourselves, guesstimating when the Vietnamese border would open for commercial flights from Thailand. We were hoping I would be able to enter Vietnam by those dates.

March 2021, however, is based on an actual timeline of how long each approval process would take. The process kicked off this week. Now, finally, the countdown clock has started.

Another roller coaster has been with my social life. The past 4 months have been a whirlwind of meeting up with a core group of friends and getting to know them better over long dinners and drinks. I’ve enjoyed this immensely, and I think it only hit me a few weeks back that life in Vietnam will be very different socially. There I won’t have this wonderful group of people I’ve only recently started to call my friends, and it made me feel a little lonely. I felt so down that I actually missed my parents, which is new to me. I hardly ever missed my parents before, even when I was living in the UK for many years.

It was a tough week of feeling sad, lonely, and demotivated, but the feeling has passed. And now I’m back to enjoying my social life, but also my solitude. This week has been a week of staycations. I was staying at a business suite during the week doing a ‘workcation,’ and enjoyed the solitude immensely. This morning I checked in to a proper fancy hotel for a relaxing 3-day staycation with my best friend. And I’m writing this while waiting for her to arrive.

It’s going to be great. I already love the room and the service.

Hope you all have been well and your life has been rolling and/or coasting nicely.