Good morning! I just woke up mid-afrternoon to discover that I missed my private class by about six hours, having fallen asleep on the couch next to a half-eaten baguette from the local bakery (of which I am very much a regular customer). Last night was the farewell party of two close friends, involving karaoke, copious amounts of alcohol, and some very dangerous motorbike antics in empty streets in the dead of night. Needless to say it was a big night. But nothing out of the ordinary for this mad place.

I know I haven't written for a while, but really not much has happened in the way of travelling. Just teaching, hanging out, and watching TV at home on the couch. One of my housemates has their family visiting from the States, which means our housewarming party (which we've being trying to organise for about a month now) has been put off for another month.

One observation I've made recently is that well-off Vietnamese parents are nothing short of insane. Especially the mums. They bring the term 'over-protective parenting' to a whole new level. Ok, so your three-year-old goes to pre-school five days a week, running amok as three-year-olds tend to do, and he gets a mosquito bite. So what do you do? Try to sue the school of course. So what happens? The poor teaching assistants, who have done nothing wrong, lose a quarter of their monthly salary. All because of a mosquito bite. Hello, this is South-East Asia, the land of the mozzies! Welcome to the world of Vietnamese parenting.