Weekly Update 1: In which Elizabeth tries to be disciplined (sometimes)

Dear Internet,

In an effort to encourage myself to try new bars, restaurants and other activities here, I am going to attempt a weekly update. We will see how long this lasts since I have demonstrated many times over that I have little discipline when it comes to writing posts. Anyway, here goes.

On Saturday, David and I tried out a coffee shop that’s on a cute little wooden boat on the river in front of my house. Zack and I have been talking about going here FOREVER, so I felt pretty accomplished for actually making it happen.  It was super charming and super tasty, although the service was a bit slow, and we NEVER remember to ask for our smoothies without sweetened condensed milk.

I also checked out Indochine spa in district 1. I’d heard good things, so wanted to give it a try.  It's more expensive than most of the places I go, but I think it may have been worth the price due to both quality and cleanliness.  It was definitely more atmospheric than a lot of the spas I’ve been to here.  They were diffusing essential oils everywhere, so it smelled divine. They also brought me tea and a little dish of candied coconut and ginger after my session. All in all, very relaxing. I will definitely go back to try some different treatments.

On Saturday night, some of the awesome ladies from my school got together at a really charming Vietnamese place called Cục Gạch Quán. It’s in an old French colonial villa and the décor is really lovely (seriously, check out some of the pictures on the website). The food was super delicious as well. Like, we had an epic spread – we had spring rolls, two types of softshell crab, fish, tofu, and piles of fried rice and rau muống (morning glory, aka my favorite Vietnamese vegetable). I wish I’d taken pictures, but honestly I was just feasting too exuberantly to pause for a photo.  Sorry.

After our beautiful dinner at Cục Gạch Quán, we headed over to see my brother at Biacraft, the brewpub he manages in district 3. The beers there are SO nice, and I got to try their newest addition, the imperial bacon stout (which is every bit as ridiculous and delicious as it sounds). From there the night devolved a bit and I ended up at Rogue where I forgot how to set boundaries and send myself home at a reasonable hour. So. Sunday was necessarily a quiet day, although David and I did have my friend Matt over for wine, cheese, cookies and an epic train game session.

Whew, first weekly update accomplished!  Now let's see if I post in like a year about how I never did another one.

XO E

i made a blog post yaaay

Hey everyone.

First post, I'll try not to ramble too much. I've been living in Ho Chi Minh City for almost 2 months now and things are going great so far! Within 10 days of moving here I found a fantastic job managing a brewpub called Biacraft in D3 of Saigon. My official job title is actually "beer guru" but I prefer to think of myself as a "beer wizard." Basically, I work with the brewers of all the microbreweries around the city to get their beers on tap at our bar. We also stock imports from Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and California. My job involves sampling beer all day to make sure that everything tastes right. I'm also in charge of maintaining our beer walk-in and making sure we have enough stock of everything--something that can be difficult, given that most of the brewers here have been doing so for less than 2 yrs. And it's Vietnam, so some of the equipment is hard to come by and has to be made from scratch by people who may or may not know what they're doing. Since the craft beer scene is so new here, sometimes brewers have a contaminated/weird batch, so I am the last line of defense before the beer reaches customers. At this point in time, there are about 10 breweries and cideries in the city, with more popping up all the time. We currently have 8 Biacraft beers, ranging from summer ale to a double IPA and even an "Imperial Bacon Stout," which is every bit as ridiculously awesome as it sounds. I'm working with people from all over the world, and meeting even more people every day. Our bar has 30 taps and ~40 varieties of bottles, and everything is constantly changing so it's very exciting to be a part of this growing scene!

Life in HCMC is pretty sweet. It was challenging to get around at first, but I'm finally beginning to feel like a local. Zipping around town on my motorbike is still fun for me, even at peak traffic hours. And with almost 8 million motorbikes in the city at any given time, peak traffic hours can be pretty crazy. I have seen several gnarly accidents in which motorists were either A) not driving in the correct lane, B) going the wrong way down 1-way streets, or C) going like 100km/h through the city center. But most of these things still happen every day without accidents--it's common to see someone just casually run a red light in the middle of rush hour, not because they're in a hurry, but because they just don't care (there are no rules). I'm still living with Elizabeth, who has been a most gracious host, but I'm looking at apartments in the D1/D3 area (city center) so I can be close to my job but also close to all the goings-on in the city.

Things I love about Saigon

-the food is absolutely amazing. it’s so fun to walk around and try different street food all the time, and my stomach doesn’t (usually) hurt afterwards anymore.

-the way that traffic moves. there is no rhyme or reason, and barely anybody actually follows all the traffic laws (speed limits and red lights might as well be nonexistent to some people). and yet, everything just flows naturally. you just gotta go with it.

-Vietnamese people love drinking. a lot.

-the majority of the expats I have met are super nice and love to talk about travel. some of them can be real assholes, but that’s true of any demographic I suppose, and it’s not that common here, from my experience at least.

-did I mention the food? but really, even besides street food, there are so many different dishes and ways of preparing food that I’d never even thought of before. even though I’m not working in a kitchen anymore, I can still appreciate dank food so so so much.

I haven't ventured too far outside HCMC yet, only going to beach towns such as Mũi Né and Vũng Tàu (and a place called Monkey Island which is exactly what it sounds like). In October, though, I will be going on my first visa run to Cambodia. I'm planning to visit Phnom Penh and Siem Reap/Angkor Wat while I'm there, so it should be a pretty cool few days of traveling in another country.

I'm going to be much less diligent than Elizabeth about updating this blog so don't expect much for a while, but thanks for reading! If anything significant happens, maybe I'll update it. But for now I'm having the time of my life figuring out how to operate by myself on the other side of the world.

much love,

Tinnon

The start of a great tinventure

Dear Internet,

I would like to take a little trip down memory lane, back to December 28, 2014, when I made this very bold statement:

As I promised many of you, I am starting a blog about my time in Vietnam. I also promise that I will try my VERY best to update this one more than I did when I was living in Paris :)

I think I updated this blog exactly two times after that post because I am responsible and have my life together.

Since that time, I have traveled through Vietnam and to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. I have run trail races and road races. I have learned how to ride a motorbike.  I have performed in three plays. I have taught students I cherish and students who drive me crazy (and students I cherish who drive me crazy). I have finished an M.Ed. I have learned a little Vietnamese and read a lot of books. And, looking back over the last 18 months, I really wish I’d been writing about all of this as it was happening.

(clockwise from top left: Dad and me in Saigon; Jess, Liam and me in Inle Lake (Myanmar); Kate and me practicing yoga in Kerala (India); me hiking in Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam); Allison, Jess, Perry and me at Mirissa Beach (Sri Lanka); Dad, Katie and me in Thailand)

(photos from Lysistrata, Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged)

I am inspired to rectify this sad state of affairs. Also, when I was home this summer Carrie demanded that I start writing my blog again. And, for those of you who haven’t been paying attention, DAVID TINNON MOVED TO VIETNAM!

So, I have rechristened this blog “Tinventures,” because, you know, we are Tinnons having adventures, and I hope to write about the fun and crazy things David and I do here in Vietnam, both together and apart. David even said he’d blog with me as long as I set it up for him. So, David, here is me setting it up. Let the Tinventures begin!

XO E