Lady Antebellum I need you now cover

Oh wow! I think she's America's Next Top Model AND the next American Idol all in one! wow!

Looking Better

I've been a bit stressed out this week worrying about my passport and such that I haven't been blogging. Sorry. I guess this worrying has consumed my days. Not healthy. I'm constantly getting new information about the requirements for the VISA, but it's going to be okay. I'm going to get temporary VISAs until I pass my CELTA course in January. Then, I'll be able to get my three year VISA - woohoo! So that's the plan.

Anyway, how are you doing? :)

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87.4 kg

Sunday's weigh-in :)

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Videos of Tonight's Debate

Tonight, Mandy and Tyler from the New World class had a debate over the cultural and negative social stigma attached to Vietnamese women who smoke. Below are two links to their debate videos. So proud of them both!

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=68000072&k=4WE3Y5PY625GZGGGYEU4SQR2ZPGEW&oid=1152578858198

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=68000072&k=4WE3Y5PY625GZGGGYEU4SQR2ZPFC4&oid=1143202098879

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Just Another Night on the Job

Some pics of the New World class tonight...

Hanging out before class: Cherry, Mandy, and Tyler
Speaking Activity: Jack, Justin, River, Vincent, Cindy, Benjamin, Cherry, Benjin, Mandy

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New Vietnam VISA Rules

ARRRGHHHH!! I just drove to Saigon and back for nothing. I should have placed a phone call beforehand because I knew there were new rules for getting a VISA. Before, I could just drop off my passport at a travel agency, and in five business days my VISA would be ready to go. Easy cheesy! Not anymore! Now, I need a Labor Contract, Business License of my school, and some other paperwork. I really hope it's just as easy as getting those papers together. That would be great! Come on, Vietnam... let me stay in this beautiful country, and don't make it difficult! :(

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The X Factor 2009 - Ethan Boroian - Auditions 5 (itv.com/xfactor)

Check it out.

My Humps

This is sooooo just like me last year before I lost all my weight! haha

Finally!!!!!

How long have I been striving to reach 88kg? Well, today at weigh-in, I finally accomplished my year long goal. So, to recap, in roughly 13 months, I've lost 24kg - 52lbs! YAYE!!! This is the lowest weight I've been in over three years. However, I set a new goal for myself a few weeks back of 84 kg :) So that's what the aim is. I think it's reasonable.

Anyway, I'm happy! And photos below to prove it!
(Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

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Ms. Patsy's Coming! Ms. Patsy's Coming!

It's official! I just found out via her blog that Ms. Patsy is coming to Vietnam in November. Actually, her son, Mr. Mark, told me yesterday on facebook, but after seeing HER put it in writing, I am super SUPER excited!!!! I haven't seen Ms. Patsy since the day after Christmas of last year. If it weren't so late, I'd jump up and down for joy. However, out of respect for Ms. Nancy who has the room below me, I'll postpone my happy dance until tomorrow. Eight weeks, HURRY UP!!!!!

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Chisme Time!

HAHAHAH The part about Kanye is the best! Fast forward to around 3:00

Lazy Blogger

I know, I know.. nothing as of recent to blog about, sorry. But tomorrow is weigh-in. I've decided to weigh myself only on Sundays. My clothes are fitting a bit looser so I know I've lost something!! Will post a blog tomorrow with the results. What did I start at? I forgot. 93.8kg, right? Anyway.. tomorrow, we'll know how much I've lost.. woohoo!!

I've been eating a little (in moderation) and exercising in my room on my cardio machine. My Thailand trip is coming up in 3 weeks so gotta look good for that!!

Anyway.. tomorrow...

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More Photos from Last Night

Just got these photos from Katie. More shots from last night's karaoke adventure.

Co-workers!

Too lazy to stand up to sing. Maybe I would have gotten a better score if I had.
I felt the ballad needed a lighter.
Khanh was a bit dizzy after finishing his breakdancing.

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Beer-Free Karaoke

Tonight was one of the student's birthdays from our school - from the Mystery Class, actually. This is a very special class to Sophia as it is her first class of adults. She's done such a wonderful job teaching them. Anyway, the birthday boy's English name is Kute, and his whole class came along tonight so we celebrated with cake and karaoke. I am, of course, on my new and improved health kick so I can proudly say that I did not eat any cake nor did I drink any beer. Katie and Sophia came along as well, and we all sang and had a great time. And.. .there was a special hip hop session in our room when a couple of the students (Kute included) sporadically displayed their breakdancing skills for us. Lots of entertainment, indeed! And lots of fun!

Oh! the best part of the night was that we all made a bet. If our score for our performance was lower than 90, we had to pitch in 10,000 Vietnamese Dong (55 cents). I sang two songs, I paid 20,000 VND. Perhaps it was the non-existence of beer in my system causing me to sing poorly? After I knock a few beers back, I think I sound pretty darn good! An off night for me as I usually sing like an angel, as my friend, Terre, once told me. ha! This is complete and utter sarcastic undertone, by the way.

Enjoy the photos below of our singin'-dancin'-breakin' good time!

The birthday boy, Kute!
As is Vietnamese culture, the men and boys took to one side of the room...
And the women and girls took to the other side of the room.
And then there's Katie and me.. we kinda just stick ourselves in the middle or wherever.
Here's the "You suck at singing" box. For the longest time, I was the only contributor.
And there was singing. Here's Sophia entertaining us all with a lovely Vietnamese song.
And then there was dancing!
Something I had never seen before: Singing a Chinese song, reading the Chinese characters and all. Don't know why, but it was a bit of a shock for me to see this.
And then came the random display of breakdancing.
Kute gave his best effort, but he gave up after banging his head and elbow one too many times on the floor.They tried to persuade me to do a back handspring for them, but it was late and I was having no part in that madness.

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Korean Comedy - Choco Boy

Good old fashioned Korean comedy fun!! Hot? HOT! HOT HOT HOT HOT!!

For Real!! I'm serious this time!!

Yes, yes, another weight blog. I promise I'm not always obsessed with weight issues. Okay, maybe a little, but... I've dropped nearly 50 lbs since I've lived here in Vietnam (a bit over a year now), and I've gotten complacent in my exercise and diet regime. Well.. no more!! At my lowest a few months ago (before my birthday and before my diet and exercising all went to crap!) I was 90.9 kg. I came to Vietnam at around 112 kg. So.. roughly.. I've gained 3 kg since my lowest as I'm now at 93.8 kg. I don't want to calculate that into lbs. because I like the low number of the kg better. ha! Anyway, I vowed today (after pigging out on Pizza Hut and Hershey's kisses) to get serious about losing weight. I've become too lazy to get up before dawn and run so I'm actually going to utilize the exercise machine I bought a few months back and just do cardio in my room while watching bootleg (but high quality) movies on my laptop. I'm also going to engage in this foreign idea (to me, anyway) of portion control. I'm not going to so much diet as I'm just going to eat in moderation. However, no more chocolate, candy, cookies, milk, or any junk that is unhealthy. And no beer!!

So... my starting point this time around is 93.8 kg. Will keep you all (and myself) posted on the results. My motivation are these awesome dress pants and hot dress shirt that I've been waiting to debut for months now but never quite got down to the weight to fit into them. They're hanging here for me to see every day! Will put a photo below.

But first! Below are some photos I took tonight in the teachers' office at work.

Over my right shoulder is Mr. Thom teaching Katie some fun tech stuff for her classes!
Here is Ms. Lam in her vivid ao dai. An ao dai is a traditional dress here in Vietnam. She looked exceptionally beautiful tonight.And... the outfit that I'm just ready to jump into when I get to what I think will have to be about 88 kg!! Good luck to me!!

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My New World/Horizon Class

Last night, I took my Level 8 class out for coffee and conversation. They have been my class since I first started teaching at my school over a year ago so we've been together a while now. We've been studying about books and magazines for the past couple of weeks so I gave them an activity on Monday, which was to interview each other and write biographies. Last night was the culmination of that event as we all sat around, drank coffee, finished interviews, and gave biography speeches about the person they interviewed. Below are some photos that one of the students, Tyler, took with his phone camera. Not the best quality, but you can get the general idea of my wonderful students! In the end, I was so impressed with their abundance of English speaking and the fact that they took the outing seriously and didn't treat it as a play date.

Bob and Benjin

Mandy, Tyler, and Bob

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Me, Harry, and Kelly
Tyler, Bob, and Benjin
Cherry, Mandy, and Tyler

Tyler, me, and Mandy
Me and Harry

A Food Lesson at VietCom Bank

So, as mentioned in a previous blog entry, I now teach English to the bank managers at VietCom Bank here in Bien Hoa City. The chapter we are studying now is about food items - countable and uncountable. Last week, we studied cereal, and they just couldn't understand this alien food I was describing to them as here they eat rice and noodles for breakfast. They asked me to bring them some so that they could get a grasp of what I was talking about. So today as promised, I brought in cereal, milk, bowls, and spoons. These bank managers - a very prestigious and revered occupation to have here in Vietnam - transformed into school children, giddy with laughter at the new food they were experiencing. I forgot that the Vietnamese people don't eat much, so they chose to put the cereal in small cups as opposed to the big bowls I brought in. Below are some photos of our wonderful class today.

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My Vietnamese Credit Card

WOOHOO!! After a year of living here, I've finally opened up a bank account complete with my very own Vietnamese Visa card! I've blurred out several numbers to protect my account, but you get the idea. This is a big deal for me as it's super hard for a foreigner to open up an account at a Vietnamese bank. I've made lots of connections at the bank because I teach English to the managers once a week. Indeed, good contacts to have here.

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Wonderful Vietnamese Food

I always seem to be eating it... non-stop

Waiting for the goat meat to finish cooking..

Kissing the beak of a fried baby bird..

Eating pork rolls..

Eating bbq beef kebabs..


At a party probably discussing food...

At a restaurant trying to diet... but failing

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homosexicals

One of my favorite videos EVER!!

No Blogging

So.. I haven't been able to blog lately because this site is continually down. Anyway, I'm going to Thailand in five weeks to see my buddy, Bai (who I went to college with) and my good friend, Eric, from California. So excited!!!

That's all the exciting news going on now.

Oh! I also opened a VietCom Bank account and now have a VISA card that I can use anywhere. Happy about that, too.

That's all for now.

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I love it when fat kids get solos!