Saltine Crackers and Wallflower Refills

If anyone is reading this from the states, could you PLEASE send me a care package of these items to me here in Vietnam? I would love you forever! The wallflower refills are available at Bath and Body Works. Any fragrance is fine. I love them all. My address is below. Please.. somebody.. anybody... send me a care package :) Many MANY thanks in advance!!

Kien Thuc Viet English School
Attn: Michael Strahan
71/4B Truong Dinh Street, Group 1, Tan Mai Ward
Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, VietNam

Good Morning, Vietnam!!!

It's only 7:30am, but I've been so productive so far this morning. I woke up at 5:45am and ran about three miles around the lake. After finishing, I threw 10 standing back tucks for my ab work. I weighed in at 91 kg after my run. By the end of April, I'd like to be down to 88kg. Then 84kg before I go back to the states for my doctor's visit in September. Looking at myself now compared to seven months ago, I will never allow myself to be so fat again... never!

I only gained 1 kg

... after all the chocolate and beer I had yesterday. I did get up at 6am and run for thirty minutes around the park. I saw Mr. Phong there and power walked a round with him. Then I ran home. I ate three bowls of rice, a few bits of pork, and a few veggies at lunch. I didn't eat anything after that because of the huge lunch I ate. Are my blogs starting to revolve around food? It appears so. Anyway, I'm anxious to see what I weigh in at in the morning.

I met Giao for coffee at 4, and we had a nice chat before I had to teach two classes tonight. I've taught a LOT this month, and I'm going to have a very nice paycheck in two days. I can finally send some money home to my bank account and pay on my credit card. I've got to start saving money for my trip home in September.

I'm going to go to sleep now. Maybe I'll get up in the morning and run around the park, or maybe I'll just work out on my machine. We'll see how I feel. Good night.

No Diet Sunday

So this morning I worked one shift at KTV. When I finished, Mr. Thom, Sophia, and I headed over to Sophia's house for lunch.. and beer, of course... and chocolate. Diet tomorrow, seriously. Anyway, it was a great day of feasting and rewarding myself for all my hard work, especially since I weighed in at 91kg this morning... of course, it might take me all week to work everything off that I ate today, but it was worth it! Only 3 more kg to go to my goal and 7 to go to my target weight.

After lunch, I went to Sophia's other job at Mr. Pho's school. Following that, we all went to drink coffee. From there, I met Mr. Pho's family, and we went for dinner and beer. More beer. Wow! So much for my New Year's resolution. Whatever! I've worked hard! I deserved it (in my mind.. ).

Below are some pics from today's events. Drinking beer at Sophia's house, drinking coffee in the afternoon, and a few of the teachers outside Mr. Pho's school. Good night.

91 kg today!

Wow!! 91 kg today!! That's exactly 200 lbs. I was 112 kg when I moved here, so I've lost 21 kg.. so that's .. wait for it... 46 lbs I've lost since being here in Vietnam! Wow!!! I said I'd be happy if I got down to 88 kg.. and I will.. but... I will push myself to lose even more than that. I can't WAIT to be skinny!! :)

A Wonderful Day

I met the most wonderful lady tonight. But before I talk about my new friend, let me blog about my day.

Woke up early this morning... before 7am. I'm back to normal - yess!! Taught a shift at KTV, came home, changed, and taught tumbling to a bunch of Vietnamese teenage boys at a local park. Ti's hip hop crew wanted to learn tumbling, so I taught them how to run up a tree and flip. Fun times! And, of course, I showed them how to tumble. That was my exercise for the day since I didn't run. As old as I am, I really can't believe I can still do the things I do. After teaching the gang, I came home and took a very short nap (maybe 20 minutes), ate rice, and helped Ti with his English homework. I rested for the remainder of my lunch break until teaching another class at 3:30. Finished my class, came home, watched Idol.

I met Giao and two of her students for coffee, and then I met Sophia for a bowl of ice cream. Sophia and I ventured out on my bike to the night market that is near my house. As we were walking through, we met some of her family members. One of the ladies I met spoke wonderful English to me. I was so surprised so I asked her where did she learn her English. Without missing a beat, her reply was, "Well, I am married to a marine and have lived in the United States for 42 years." I laughed at her smart remark, and we became fast friends. So she's in Bien Hoa for a little vacation before she goes back to California. I took a picture with her. We had a great lengthy conversation about many things, and I really felt like I was catching up with one of my aunts. What a wonderful and special lady! So happy to have met her.



Sophia and I eating ice cream, and me with cotton candy!





Now, time for bed. I have to teach a class in the morning. Good night.

Kicking Ass Today

I did 40 minutes on my cardio machine this afternoon. I may run again tonight after work; we'll see. It feels really good to exercise again after being sick all week.

I went in for a little while to work to prepare my lessons and activities for tonight's classes. I wanted to make sure that I was thoroughly prepared and have a vast amount of activities to fill the void of the new unfunny Mike Teacher.

Maybe I'll take a short nap now before work. Hooray for being productive.

A pic from almost three years ago. Wasn't I handsome?

I'm Challenging Myself

... to become a better teacher, to stop joking around in class, to ensure that my students are learning.

The biggest obstacle is for me to stop being funny. I'm just a humorous guy by nature. It's my thing. I'm funny. I am challenging myself to stop joking in class. It's not how Vietnamese students choose to learn. My favorite teachers were always the funny teachers. They broke up the monotony of learning and made me want to learn. I need to take what Lam said to me today and realize and remember that the students are paying a lot of money for their lessons. They don't want a comedy show; they want a lesson. I will do this.

Thanks, Miss Lam, for giving me some great advice and helping me to see a different perspective. I always love a good challenge, and I will take this one on.

Another pic from the good ole days...

Sorry

My last entry was a bit abrasive. I'm usually a very happy and positive person, but I needed to vent. Truly, I feel 100% better after getting it all out, albeit on a blog.

I stumbled across a pic that was taken back in June when I was visiting San Francisco. Enjoy! :)



And how about this old school pic! Yes, that's really me!

Popularity

Some people like you; some people don't. Same as teaching. Some students like you; some students don't. I wish my school would support me more when there's a complaint that I'm too funny. Where are the comments of the students who love me? I never hear them. Tonight, one of my classes combined with another, and I ended up not teaching it. Half the students saw me leaving early, and left immediately because they wanted me to teach them. I told them to go back in, but they left. That tells me SOMETHING about the students liking me. I'm almost to the point where I want to say, "Fuck it!" My school needs a SERIOUS lesson in public relations! My manager has no clue how to deal with people and their complaints. I'm about to stop enjoying my job and start being a hardass, showing up for work, teaching, and just going home - not investing my time any further. I'm JUST about over it.

Today was boring. I really stayed in bed all day and feel better because of it. I've been bored in bed.. but... I know what my body needs, and I listen to it when I'm sick. I was well enough to knock back a few beers with my buddy, Tien, tonight.

Idol is on tonight. For sure, gonna try to stay up late and watch it.

Until tomorrow...

Much Needed Outing

After work, I met Dr. Minh, Vinh, and friends for a few beers. I know I've sworn off beer, but I needed a drink or two after being sick for three days now.

I hope I wake up feeling better in the morning. Good night.

Nothing to Report

Here's my day so far: Slept until 8:30 - yaye! I've stayed in bed all day doing absolutely nothing but checking mail, chatting, and watching tv. Another sick day, but I am feeling better. I can deal with a cold just fine in the bed.

I am teaching one class tonight, and afterward I'm joining Dr. Minh and Vinh for food and spirits. I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to it after being confined to my bed for three days now.

Giao is bringing me some cakes to chomp on to make me feel better. Good times.

I'm sick

Sorry for not posting yesterday, so I'll post this morning. I wasn't feeling spectacularly well yesterday morning, but I did get up at 5:30 to go running at 5:45 for thirty minutes. Came home, took a shower, and slept until noon. I caught a cold from Ti so yesterday I just stayed in bed all day and watched movies.

Today, I still feel like poo. Luckily, I don't have to work tonight until 6 so I'm just going to stay in bed all day and rest my body.

Another Before and Now

August 2008



March 2009

Before. and Now

Found a pic of me (and my friend, Nino) just before I moved to Vietnam seven months ago... and here's a pic I just took being lazy in my bed. Big difference, right? 20 kg (44 or so lbs).

Another Lazy Day

Not much (again) to report. Had coffee with Chein this morning.. we went to drop my bike off to repair. Vietnam makes me happy. Got a light replaced and my fiberglass buffed and repainted.. along with a new footmat - all for about $20. Good times in Vietnam!! I'm very thankful to Chien for helping me get all that taken care of.

I taught two classes tonight at KTV. Went out for dinner and drinks afterward with Dr. Minh and Vinh. It was great to see them and hang out with them again.

I'm home now and gonna get some sleep. Good night, all.

91.9 kg

Hooray for my weight!

How lazy was I today? I woke up at 9am.. can you believe that? I have my alarm set for 5:45 in the morning so I can get up and run at the park. My machine is getting boring, and I need to spice up my cardio routine a bit. I'm gonna attempt to get up and run at that time. The good news is that I don't teach until 6pm so I can just go back to sleep after I run. Laazzzyyy!!!

Not much to report today. Taught two classes tonight at KTV. Some stupid girl was going the wrong way on her crappy motorcycle and ran into me. I was nice and politely told her in body language and my limited Vietnamese that she shouldn't drive on that side of the road. Her mom (I assume) was on the back of her bike and told me in Vietnamese that they were just about to turn. So yeah.. who drives on the opposite side of the road to make a turn.. in the dark? Seriously! Whatever.

I talked to Tanh Ban and Thai Vy on webcam tonight. Well, I have a webcam; they don't. So I'm going to give them my old web cam that I no longer use so that we can all see each other. Technology is truly amazing that I can see them and they can see me.. and they are on a mountain that is as remote as anything you can possibly imagine.. but there's internet. Wow!

I'm gonna go to bed now. I really hope I get inspired enough to wake up early to run. 'Nite

A Chicken

So, I had a nice visit at the temple. I taught three wonderful classes, and it was great to see the monks and nuns again, and, of course, Tanh Ban and Nghiem Tien. Here are some pics of a random chicken that Tien picked up and decided to put it on me.

Oh, I'm 91.9 kg today!!

No Blogging Weekend

Sorry about not blogging over the weekend. It was a busy couple of days with lots of work/. I'm going to the temple tomorrow morning and will return on Wednesday afternoon. I won't blog until after I come back because I won't have my laptop with me. See ya mid-week.

Friday the 13th

I didn't even realize today was black day until one of my students tonight told me at the end of class. Nothing unusual happened except I kinda.. well, not kinda.. I did break my diet today. Whatever. I ate healthy all week so I deserved it.

Today was a day of cleaning around my house. I did laundry, swept, cleaned out my refrigerator, put clothes away, etc. Em is coming tomorrow so I'm getting ready for the visit.

I'm working all day tomorrow... blah. I go in at 7:45am and finish at 10:30am, have a break until 3:30pm and work until 9pm. Then I go back in on Sunday morning for a shift. I'm gonna need a looonnnng nap on Sunday afternoon.

Gonna go to bed now. Good night.

Below are pics of the fence or gate or whatever it is they've put up in place of the jungle :( More construction to come undoubtedly.

92 kg!!

YEAH!!! So, I'm getting serious about getting healthy and losing weight. I've officially lost 20 kg since being here in Vietnam almost 7 months. I need to calculate that into lbs.... one moment... WOOHOOO!! 44 lbs!! And still about maybe 15 more lbs to go, and I'll be happy. Actually, I'd be "OKAY" with 10 lbs.. but.. I'd like to be in the late 180's range. Stay tuned.

So people are asking me what I'm doing to lose weight. Here's what I've done: Eaten a hell of a lot of rice and vegetables, cut meat almost completely out of my diet - and chocolate, too, for that matter. Haven't eaten potato chips, hamburgers, or french fries (because they don't so much have those things in Vietnam). Also, I have stopped drinking beer altogether. I also exercise every day for at least thirty minutes. I want to go back to my doctor for my medical checkup in September and WOW him with my weight loss, low blood pressure, and low cholesterol! The last time I was there, he was not happy at all with all those things as they were all too high.

So on to today's events: This morning, I met Mr. Mark for pho. Afterward, I drove down to Saigon to see and have lunch with em. We had a good lunch and went to Citimart to find saltine crackers. Unfortunately, ours was a search in futility. Luckily, Mr. Thom also went into Saigon today and conjured me up two boxes. I was thoroughly excited to get those goodies at work today! Thanks, Mr. Thom!

Work was good tonight. I didn't have to teach until 6:30 so I enjoyed the predictable nap in the afternoon after returning from Saigon. After waking up from my nap and before going to work (wow, the sequence of the day's events are completely sporadic in this paragraph.. sorry), I watched the results from American Idol and exercised for about thirty five minutes. I was so into Idol that I wasn't keeping track of how long I was on the machine. Jasmine and Jorge are out, but Slumdog Anoop is safe. Can't wait for next week! Exercising is soo much easier when Idol is on.

Now, I'm gonna wait for em to call and go to sleep thereafter. Good night.

Ordinary Wednesday

Started off the morning with breakfast with Mr. Mark. Had coffee with Giao and Dr. Trung. Exercised for twenty minutes. Took a nap. Taught two classes at KTV. Had a few vegetables and drank a little banana wine with colleagues. Did another ten minutes of cardio. Gonna settle into bed now and watch American Idol. Going to Saigon to have lunch with em tomorrow. Very happy about that. Good night.

93 kg!!

So... today, I have officially gone down from 112 kg to 93 kg... minus 40 lbs!!! YESSSSS!!!!!! No drugs, no quick fix.. just eating healthier, less, and exercising!!

This morning, I ate pho with Mr. Mark. We caught up a little bit and talked about life. I didn't do much at ALL today, really. It was a lazy day, but I did a little class prep at home. I met Giao for coffee at lunch so my lunch was 2 coffees :) She brought me my pants that were shortened so I was so happy to get them. yaye! I came home, napped, woke up, and went to work. I taught two good classes tonight at KTV. I had two small banana bread pie things at work, and that was my dinner. After work, I came home and did thirty minutes of cardio on my machine since I was too lazy to work out during the day. I'm so proud of myself for exercising after work because usually I just want to go to bed. I'm SERIOUSLY enjoying this life I have in Vietnam where I'm able to take naps every day! yaye!!


I chatted with em for a bit tonight. I want to go into Saigon this week sometime, but I don't think it's possible because my schedule is CRAZY busy. I'm going to need to prepare some extra things for my classes. Plus, money is low this month. But at the end of this month, I'm gonna be making BANK!!

So for now, I'm going to sleep. I wonder what time I'll exercise tomorrow. I'm just too lazy to exercise in the mornings. Good night.

A Few Bowls of Rice and an Hour Workout

Here's how my day went:

Woke up at 6am, went back to sleep, woke up at 8am. It was heavenly. Watched videos, caught up on news, watched tv, exercised for thirty minutes, ate rice and a little pork with Uy and Mr. Phong, took a three-hour nap, woke up, did another thirty-minute workout on my cardio machine, showered, got dressed, went to work, visited Mr. Mark for a bit, drank tea, came home, talked to em, and here I am in my bed watching tv. How's that for a boring day!?

Back on my diet today. I ate wayyy too much chocolate yesterday so this week I'm gonna be extra healthy and get in good workouts.

Ah, I also learned that yesterday along with Mr. Mark and Mr. Nick, Mr. Duc was fired as well. I don't so much mind that decision, though. He was an ass to me the last couple of weeks and it was obvious that he wasn't happy with his job. Mark and Nick have already found teaching jobs so I'm happy for them.

Now, I'm gonna turn in. Gotta lot of working out and a little eating to do tomorrow.

Oh Dear!

Last night, I learned Mr. Mark and Mr. Nick were fired from KTV. That means I'm going to be very very busy working many shifts. I'm not going to have time to go to the temple on Sundays now so I will have to make other arrangements. I'm still confused about the whole thing, but it's none of my business so I'm staying out of it. I just want everyone to be happy!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

These Vietnamese people work FAST! These pictures (from beginning to end) were taken last week. My backyard went from dirt to cement and a wall.

A Very Good Day

This morning I taught a class at KTV. Afterward, I met Tai at the train station as he arrived by taxi from Saigon. We watched a movie, hung out, and had lunch. While at lunch, it rained.. and rained.. and rained. We walked to a local restaurant. Coming back, the road was completely flooded almost up to my knees. Luckily, by the time it was time to go to work, the water had subsided. I taught two classes tonight at KTV. I'm tired... and miss my friend.





Gotta work in the morning. Afterward, Sophia and I are going to Dao and Duc's father's funeral. He passed away. I have become close with the family as I was tutoring both Dao and Duc in the mornings. Not even two months ago, his father was healthy. Suddenly on a routine test, he was diagnosed with cancer. My heart goes out to them. I haven't blogged about it until now because almost 2 years to the day (tomorrow, actually) I lost my stepfather to cancer. I guess this all is bringing up some memories, but I just want to be a good friend to Dao and Duc now and help the family with anything they need.

Time for bed. Good night.

Eh

Not much to blog about tonight. I uncharacteristically ate everything I came into contact with today. Didn't exercise. I'll get back into my routine tomorrow. I taught one and a half classes tonight at KTV. The school and villas behind my house are really springing up. I'll post progress pics tomorrow. Maybe I should have done that tonight since it wasn't an active day. Now, gonna watch Will and Grace and go to sleep. Good night.

And just look at this old facebook page I ran across. I miss my friend, Holly. Heyyy, girl! Click to enlarge. A must see - especially the photos next to the responses. haha

Michael's Exercise Video!

Big Boy Exercise Video 2009!! Do you love it??

Good Day So Far

Got up early as usual, ate pho with Mr. Mark, and then Nick, Mark, Judy, and I drove our bikes down to Saigon.. the back way. As Nick called it, "Mr. Mark's Ethnic Tour" as we saw lots of locals while taking the alternate route. Got to the embassy, FINALLY had the correct paperwork, paid a hundred bucks, and was APPROVED!!! Hooray!! Considering there's no problem with my background check, I'll have my new passport in 3 weeks! Happy times are here again!!

Nick and I grabbed some drinks (coffee and pineapple juice) at a local cafe while Mark and Judy searched for USD on the black market in shady alleys of the city. Oh my! We ventured over to a dvd shop, and I bought some series of The Office, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, and Ghost Whisperer. Can't wait to start watching them! DVD sets are sooo cheap here. I love Vietnam! Nick and I then waddled over to Diamond Plaza and looked around a bit.

Afterward, Mark, Judy, and Nick went to Saigon Square, and I stayed around the area to meet up with a buddy, Tai. We had coffee, pho (again) for lunch, and enjoyed some coffee in a coffee connected to the Sheraton Hotel. He's a cool kid, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with him again tomorrow when I go back to Saigon with Giao for clothes and phone shopping!!

Gonna get in some cardio now, shower, and go to work. I've got two classes to teach tonight. Cheers!

Try Try Again

Tomorrow, I may be going back into Saigon... back to the US Embassy.. and back to apply for my passport. I really hope that everything is on the up and up this time around. I'm waiting on a phone call to see if I'm going tomorrow or not. Time will tell.

Today was a good day. I finally had pho with Mr. Mark for the first time in weeks. I took a nap, got a thirty-five minute cardio exercise in, and taught two classes at KTV.

Now.. off to sleep. Sorry for the boring entry, but sometimes boring is just fine with me.

Lazy lazy Sunday

I was so tired today. I just needed a day to stay in bed and rest so that's what I did after teaching a shift and a half this morning. I just came home.. and was sooo lazy all day in bed. I will go to Phat Quang next weekend. :)

Nothing interesting to report. Tomorrow is payday! Yayee!! Below is a pic Co Mai and I took last night before she went to Saigon for a wedding party. Back to sleep for me now, I think. Good night.