17 April 2021

Predictably, as soon as I got out of quarantine, life took hold and I left blogging behind.

It’s been a whirlwind three weeks. And as I find myself with time on my hands today, I figured it’d be a good idea to take stock of where I am since my move to Ho Chi Minh City.

Settling In

The priority once I got out of quarantine was to settle in and make myself at home. This was relatively uncomplicated and consisted of:

• Unpacking: Done in a couple of hours the day after I moved in
• Buying groceries: Flossy pork and freshly grounded coffee in the fridge, instant noodles in the cupboard, and lots and lots of beer
• Getting to know Thao Dien: We live in “Expat Central” and it was a joy to discover while zooming around on the back of my partner’s bike the dizzying array of restaurants and cafes within a ten-minute radius from home. There’s even a New York bagel place, and yesterday we ate at a Balkan restaurant. The variety of food available here is impressive, to say the least.

The Domestic Life

Apart from settling into the new flat and new city, I’m also moving in with my partner of over 2 years for the first time. Somewhat surprisingly, there’s been very little friction to living together and in three weeks we’ve synced up in various ways:

• Wake-up and bed times: I used to wake up super early (4-5am) and go to bed super early (6-7pm), but I’ve now shifted my hours backwards so I wake up with my partner’s alarm (6:30am) and we have a couple of hours together chilling in the evening. The trick to this, I discovered, was to take my bipolar medication later in the day. This was the culprit behind me feeling impossibly sleepy in the early hours of the evening. Since shifting my medication time, I’ve been able to stay up until 9-10pm with no difficulty. Issue solved!
• Finances: We’ve been using Splitwise to track our household spending, taxis, eating out, etc. It’s been pretty easy and useful.
• Space: My partner has a job which requires confidentiality, so he works most of the time from his office which is just across the road, while I normally set up shop for my remote job in the living room/kitchen area. When he watches TV in the living room over breakfast, I just put in my earphones and play ambient cafe soundscapes. If my partner needs to take a confidential call, he goes into the bedroom and shuts the door, and I put on my earphones so I don’t hear.
• Food: We share the groceries bill and have been alternating cooking. I started cooking again after not having cooked anything for years, and am immensely enjoying presenting my partner with a variety of oyster-sauce-based dishes, to the point where he’s starting to good-naturedly protest for more variety.
• Communication: We’ve always been pretty good at communication, and communicating face-to-face is far easier than doing it over a chat app or a phone call, so this has been very smooth since moving in together. We’re both very direct people and (I’d like to think) quite emotionally intelligent. None of the passive aggression and making unjustified assumptions about each other.

Unwinding

Both my partner and I have been working non-stop for the past few months, he more so than I as I’ve been on a few short trips here and there. But both of us wanted to unwind so we went to Vung Tau, a quiet beach town, for a 3-night getaway. It was good and probably much needed. We found the perfect spot: a fancy hotel’s private beach that you have to pay $10 per head per day to use, but it was worth it. We lounged for two days straight by their pool, swam, read, and just let ourselves drift off to the sound of the sea.

The Work Life

I got back to work this week and launched straight into an exciting new project. Nothing much to say here except that it was great to be back at work and it was comfortable enough to work from my new work set-up in the living room. The chair (which used to be the bane of my existence at my condo) is comfortable and I can sit up straight and not hurt my bum. Which is all I ask for really. And I get plenty of light coming in through the bay window. Nothing to complain!

The Company

One thing which went on pause while I was in quarantine was all affairs related to my company. But this week since getting back from the short beach holiday I’ve had meetings with my company accountant and bank manager, and (fingers crossed) I believe all the issues have been resolved. It’s not easy to figure out the financial management for my company, but I think my accountant and I have found a good solution. I’ve also learned how to withdraw and deposit money at the bank, including where the ladies’ are (which is very important).

Socializing

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle, creating a new community in Ho Chi Minh City. From the first week, I’d met up a couple of times with my partner’s closest friends whom I’d met before while visiting him in Hanoi. And things seem to be going well on that front. We’re continuing conversations over chat and it’s nice to spend time with them.

But also yesterday we went out to dinner with a bunch of people I’d not met before, and for the first time in over a year I got to introduce myself to someone new and get to know them. This was very pleasant and I surprised myself realising that I’d missed it.

This coming week I’ll be catching up with a former colleague who lives and works here, and also catching up virtually with a good friend. Now that work and company stuff is kind of sorted, I’m happy to get back to meeting people. I’ve missed my coffees!

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And that’s pretty much it, a recap of my three weeks more for my benefit than for yours.

In short, life in Ho Chi Minh City has been great, and I’m very happy I made the move here.

Until next time.

Love,

Val

18 March 2021

It’s Day 6 of quarantine. Tomorrow I’ll reach the half-way mark.

In a way it hasn’t felt that long. Six days confined to a room sounds like it’d be a very boring and stifling experience. But it hasn’t been like that. Days did tend to get boring toward 5/6pm, but for most of the day I’d keep myself engaged with various activities: work, reading, speaking on the phone, drinking wine/beer.

But in a different way, it feels like I’ve always been in this room. This room has become my reality, my present. Bangkok, parents, the flight—these are distant memories that I can whip up at will, but don’t occupy my mind much otherwise.

I’ve always been this way. I tend not to linger on places. I left Thailand for the UK when I was 17, and back then I remember not really missing home at all. And then I left the UK for France, then back again, then back to Thailand for good. People would sometimes ask if I miss the UK, where I spent a good 7 years of my life, but I really don’t.

Was life better there? In many ways, it was. London is a magnificent place to live. But once I leave a place, the break is clean. I don’t let my thoughts linger on it. I turn my attention wholly toward whatever present location I find myself in, and I get on with it.

I think this is a blessing. I rarely feel nostalgia (and when I do, it’s usually for my year abroad in Paris, specifically for this one memory I have of walking down the street near my college and thinking, “This is picture-perfect. I’m walking in a movie.”) I don’t really miss places, no pangs of sadness, nada.

So, 6 days after leaving Thailand, I don’t really miss it. Do I miss the people I leave behind? Also not. I’ve been messaging everyone and having catch-up conversations. I’ve spoken with my mom at length on the phone twice (on Saturday after I arrived and today) and once with my dad (in our regular Sunday morning slot). So I don’t miss them at all. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long conversation with mom as the 55 minutes we spoke today. The forced physical distance has paradoxically reduced the emotional distance. I feel as close to my parents as ever.

I wasn’t going to open my laptop today; I had decided to take a day off my screen. But I’ve spent the day reading this book, Brain on Fire, and the author’s recount of her diaries sparked a strong urge in me to blog. So here I am. It’s a brilliant book, by the way. Fascinating. It’s one reason I wasn’t going to open my laptop—I was glued to my Kindle.

But another reason is I think I deserve a little time off. I’ve been working pretty hard this week, and the monotony of the work routine is getting to me a bit today. So though I’m already on my laptop now, I think I’ll give my work tasks a break. Get back to it fresh tomorrow.

Sometimes what’s needed is simply a day off.

Hope you’re all well.

Love,

Val

15 March 2021

It’s Day 3 of quarantine.

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday night, and have spent a full Saturday and Sunday cooped up in my hotel room.

Though “cooped up” is probably not the right word. I’ve splurged on a suite so I actually have plenty of room to move around. I figured if I’m going to be confined to a room for 2 weeks, better have the four walls as far apart as possible.

Quarantine life has been very pleasant so far. The bed is super comfortable, which is a big plus. Going to bed every night is a luxury. The furniture is well-designed. I’ve got an island to eat at in the kitchenette, a proper work desk set-up. There’s even a chaise longue by the large window where I can stretch out and gaze at the passing traffic below, which I did for a good half hour as the sun rose yesterday morning.

The food has been pretty tasty too. I went for the full-board option so I don’t have to worry about meals. And most of the things that appeared on the delivery chair outside my door have been delicious. Though I must say the portions have been quite small and I often end up hungry between meals. They also serve dinner pretty late (after 7pm), so what I’ve taken to doing is to save my dinner to eat the next day as I tend to have dinner around 5.

There’s also minibar and room service. Haven’t ordered room service yet and I’m not planning to. But I did order a small bottle of Merlot and a Saigon beer from the minibar.

In short: very pleasant.

I’ve been spending my time mostly in front of the laptop, either working or corresponding with people. I wrote all my friends to let them know I finally made it to Vietnam, and have been responding to their messages. There’s also a Facebook group of people who want to return to Vietnam of which I’ve been a member since late last year. It was a wealth of information for me during the run-up to the move, so I wrote up a nice long post to share my experience and “pay it forward.” I got some comments and questions on that so have been responding there too.

I also did a bit of reading. I finally decided to pick up Klara and the Sun, just because I know it’ll be a quick and enjoyable read. I’m probably 1/3 in and it’s proving to be another good read by Ishiguro. Not sure what I’ll pick up next.

Started listening to another podcast episode of How I Built This, this one on Patreon. It’s 88 minutes long and I haven’t finished it yet. I’m thinking of doing an exercise walk around the room while listening to the episode. That could work as an exercise routine. I did 2,000+ steps on Saturday just walking back and forth getting water, though my steps were significantly down yesterday. Not sure what I did differently…

It’s 14 days of quarantine, and I’m now on Day 3. Not long to go now before I’m reunited with my partner. It’ll probably be strange initially to be in his company again—today marks one full year of not being in each other’s physical presence. But we’re both taking two weeks off work to acclimatise and just chill. Which should be nice.

It’s Monday today, so my first work day in quarantine. I’m expecting to be very productive because of the lack of distractions. I’ve done hotel work-cations before and those have always delivered striking results.

I’d better get started with my day. Hope you’re all well.

Love,
Val

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

13 April 2019

Happy Thai New Year!

I’ve been thinking of updating this blog for a few days now, and finally found some time to sit down in front of my laptop and do it.

In the shower just now, I was thinking of how to position this post. And I came up with this opening sentence: I was always told that change is constant, but only now I am beginning to experience it in my own life.

As is my custom, I went back to read my previous post before beginning to write, and lo and behold! The first sentence in my last post:

Change is kind of nice.

Strange that the theme of last post was also change. I guess it only proves my point: change is constant.

So, why am I saying that I am experiencing change? If you remember, back in December last year many members of my team were laid off due to cost savings. Then I had that tumultuous period at work which I told you about in my two previous posts. And then, just as I thought the dust had settled, a few weeks back – maybe a month by now – my boss told me that she’s leaving the company.

Shock! Horror! My boss is somewhat of an institution at my company. She has been there for 6 years and there was previously no indication of her leaving. But she is. When she told me the news, I was shocked for a few brief instants, but then it sank in. There was also panic as I thought: shit, are they going to hire someone from outside to head the team? I didn’t like the sound of that.

Thankfully, they are moving someone internally to head the team, and guess who that someone is: my previous boss! So, I’m back in my old nest. My two bosses (past, present, and past-cum-future) are very different in management style, but I think I’ll adapt just fine. I’m just relieved they didn’t put in someone completely new. I know I should know better, but uncertainty still scares me.

So that’s the big change. And I have come to accept now that there will undoubtedly soon be further changes at work. Not that I know of anyone planning to leave. It just always is that way. (nods sagely)

There has also been a change on the personal front. Me and my boyfriend (can I call him long-term now that we’ve been together for over 8 months?) – oops – dad has arrived (he’s driving me to the airport). Well then, writing shall resume at the airport!

I’m back! So yes, me and my boyfriend were talking about where we could live from next year. And where previously we were only talking about Hanoi, now we’re also considering Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh city. It’s not my favourite Vietnamese city but I’ve decided to keep an open mind. We’ll scout it out one weekend later this year. So yes, personal life-changing plans also change!

I’m at the airport now about to fly to Hanoi on my third visit to my boyfriend since we started dating. I love Hanoi; for some inexplicable reason it’s one of my favourite cities. So I’m excited to be there for a few days. Tickets were rather expensive as it’s the long holiday (Thai New Year innit) but worth every penny.

I should go and get started on my next book. I’ve been reading regularly. I’m onto my fourth book of the month now, which is pretty good considering we’re only two weeks in: Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled. He’s one of my favourite authors and I’m just whizzing through his books. They’ve all been enjoyable so far. I wouldn’t say they were all “fun”, but certainly very immersive, which is what I look for in a book. Fun is overrated anyways.

I hope you’re all well and enjoying the constant change of life.

Until next time.

Love,

Val