June Update

It's been over a month since the last post and we have been busy! Here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to in June:

I started the month off with a presentation at the Vietnam Marine Economy Forum in Nha Trang about the importance of marine spatial planning, which generated some interest and hopefully a few project opportunities. I even gave an interview on Vietnamese television (in my terrible Vietnamese) afterwards.

After months of planning, Nikki was able to organize a weekend trip to Long An province with Habitat for Humanity for the consulate community. The event was a huge hit with 25 attendees and major progress on two homes. Yay for Nikki!

There was an awesome lunar eclipse which I nearly slept through after mis-setting my alarm, but woke up just in time.

Nikki and I attended an off-site weekend trip with the local staff community. After the requisite awkward (but ultimately fun) team-building events, we partied all night Vietnamese style with a beach barbeque and karaoke.

After our victory last month over the "Dragon" team from embassy Hanoi, the consulate "Tiger" team did a little community event with a shelter for street children where we donated clothes/shoes and played a mini-tournament (they kicked our butts). A few weeks later, we won a local tournament in town.

I did a bunch of biking with my buddies Andrew, Sene, and Rob including a trip to a random rural island in the Mekong delta (involving two ferry rides) and a trip to the Cambodian border (we were actually turned back a few km away by some hyper-cautious border police). Sadly, Andrew is leaving this month, but I've recently made some new friends who seem equally prepared for crazy bike adventures.

Along with a bunch of friends from the consulate, I performed a bunch of American songs for a Fourth of July event last week – I played guitar and mostly didn't mess up too badly! My friend Huong and I even threw in a performance of the local song Saigon Dep Lam for the mostly Vietnamese audience.

Generally, we've been having a ton of fun and hanging out with all of our friends here. Nikki has a group of ladies she hangs out with for Sunday Fun-Days, I go out with my soccer buddies, etc. There's always something going on. Above are a few pictures from a night out to say goodbye to one of my good friends here, David – major downside of this lifestyle – everyone is always leaving!