Life Update: Welcome to Tan Dinh, My New Neighborhood!

It's that time again, folks - I've moved! And I have to talk about it! And lots of other things! Because I can never shut up!

I have a great new place with a big ol' room for my kitties and a lot of exciting street life, restaurants, and cafes for us big two-legged bipeds. And hence... the itchy typing fingers have got ahold of me. I'm all out of video games, I can't stand to read the Stephen King book about a magical pandemic (!!) that's been hanging out on my nightstand since February, and I'm sitting on a thousand or two pictures that need sharing.

Before you ask, you might notice that not only have I abandoned Facebook posting, I've also now left Instagram (itself Facebook-owned). Sadly, social media is not great for my mental health, and pursuing those little dopamine hits easily spirals out of control for me, personally. 

My new neighborhood is Tan Dinh, a smallish area surrounding the eponymous market and home to a lively and engaging space.

Click through for all the details!

Looks like my last post was roughly two years ago, in 2018. That began a period that wasn't that great for me, and I kind of lost the will, and even desire, to write and share.

I, and all my roommates, had been forced out of our comfortable canal-side space (which is actually not far from my new place) and took a short-notice location in Phu Nhuan District right off the main artery of Nguyen Van Troi street, the busy street that connects Districts 1 and 3 to the airport and locations north. Not much of any kind of street scene, there. 

We stayed about 1 year and 5 months and it was small and the house and promised common areas never got finished, among other issues. 

Just a few reasons I'm so very, very happy to be in this new location. I could go on and on and on, but I won't, because screw that kind of dwelling on the past!

Here's Tan Dinh ward:

It's a MUCH more bustling scene! Things are changing all the time, and there are old reliable places you can always count on (including the best banh mi I have EVER had, and no, it's definitely not at Nhu Lanh!). Almost everything I need, including my medical stuff, is no more than a 5 minute drive away. I'm very lucky, but also... shouldn't all neighborhoods be like this?? Accessibility is so important, and we have it in spades here.

Work was... well, it's still what it is, and no more. I'm still enjoying it but I'm actively developing secondary sources of income, because, in THIS crazy world?! Nothing is safe!

My cats are fully grown now! Here are some pictures of them because I'm a sucker, even when they springboard off my groin in the middle of the night.

I'm still with my boyfriend, Sieu. Here we are looking cute at a 5k race from late 2019, before everything went to hell.

Anyway, looks like I'll be stuck here in Vietnam for the foreseeable future, especially since they caught a rando in the middle of the country with a positive COVID-19 case... seemingly out of nowhere. Vietnam had gone 100 (!!!) days without any community transmission, no deaths, and less than 450 total cases, but sigh. I guess it's back to wearing a mask again. 

That said, I'm extraordinarily lucky to be in a country which acted decisively, swiftly, and early on in the COVID crisis to create a safe and resilient nation full of people who can largely carry on with their normal lives, while watching in horror at the absolute horror show going on outside. (Reading the news is... so depressing and probably actively harming my mental health, tbh.)

This weekend I'm spending a few days in My Tho, a city to the southwest a mere 35 miles, but which feels like a different world. Look for an entry to come about it soon! 

Stay safe, stay home, wear a mask... lookin' at you, America, you are not setting a great example right now.