Change of Lifestyle

Back in the US, I never cared for manicures/pedicures, much less going to beauty salons. Well, I now have this little sister:
Phuong Anh
...who has gotten me into makeup and beauty care. Phuong Anh is her name. She’s the younger sister of my sister-in-law, Phuong Nhat (Jennifer). Here's a picture of my brother, Peter, driving a scooter--the most common form of transportation in VN--with Jennifer sitting behind him:
Getting around

Phuong Anh is about 7 years younger than me. She’s my height, or a little bit taller, and weighs under 80lbs (38kg)! But, man, she can kick ass! She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. During her high school years, she won championships for the city of Saigon. She’s like a little Lucy Liu! At the moment, Phuong Anh is studying cosmetology.

Anyway, so now, I go to a salon once or twice a week to get my head, facial, and back massage with a manicure/pedicure as needed. With painted nails, eye makeup and lipstick, I feel so girlie! I blame it all on the sister-in-law and my newly adopted younger sis…And, maybe my newly adopted auntie, Ngoc Lan (Lan), as well.

Lan is a about 5 years older than me and maybe my height, or slightly taller. Men swoon over her. She owns a bar in downtown Saigon called Heart of Darkness. I now play bartender there on Fridays/Saturdays. I’ll try to put up a website for the bar with pictures in the near future. Both Lan and Phuong Anh have been wonderful taking me out to dance clubs and yummy eateries. Lan likes the street food, like roasted snails and mollusks:
vendor foods
(sorry, the picture is not so clear), along with the fancy restaurant foods. I like street food as well, but I think I’m too anal about cleanliness to want to eat street food often. Since everything is so cheap here--in comparison to the US--I rather pay a bit more for cleanliness.

Speaking of pay, I’m currently working as a Project Manager for a software development company. (See http://www.iits-vn.com). Their IT branch is here in Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a., Saigon). I like that the job provides fundage for my travels. But, I think I will switch to teaching English, where I can have a more flexible schedule for my adventures. After all, the plan was to travel (up and down Vietnam) and to learn to speak Vietnamese.