Life in Saigon is getting back to normal. This is one of the best Tets I ever experienced in Saigon which is amazing since I never actually left the city. I got about 9 days rest but the actual holiday was probably 16 days for me since many of my students left class early and some have not even returned yet.
The year of the Snake will bring many changes for me. My Temporary Resident Card and Work Permit expires this May. I will have to go through the whole notarization process again but it will not be as painful. If I am lucky, they both may be transferred to another school or company. If not, well, I will not mind doing the process again. This time around, both the US Consulate and Vietnam Embassy in the US are providing more helpful information to authenticate documents. It should still take me about 2-3 months to get the documents authenticated since I want to save money by not using Federal Express.
This year also I have also decided to firmly place my foot in education. I want to return full-time at an international school teaching IT. If lucky, I can teach one weight training class as well. After dealing with my veteran injuries I got as Marine and the paperwork with the VA (an ongoing process), I now want a more stable career. I liked consulting but there is little money in it now in Vietnam since my competitors can provide cheaper alternatives. It is not stable at the moment.
Teaching English is fine. I enjoy doing that part-time and will continue to do so in the future. Doing this full-time is not fun to me. I know many teachers that love to teach English but my passion is to teach IT. I am good at it and I love it.
I think I am getting old now so I feel I am looking at the world through new eyes. 🙂 This is why I love Vietnam, it gives you the freedom to think…
Sounds like a good plan to me. I especially like your final sentence. I am not sure about the getting old part, though.
dude .. no more consulting … there is so much $$$ VND to be made 🙂
Do you know anything about University of Nebraska, Lincoln??? I have a kid of a friend who is going there this coming school year!