I continue to add to the second most depressing spreadsheet I’ve ever created. It’s called “VietnamJobResearch.xlsx” and I’m on row 131.
As promised in a previous blog post, it’s time for me to write about my job search experience here in Da Nang. The following highlight reel consists of some jobs to which I’ve formally applied and have been documented in my Excel file. Others were more informal, passing my name along and the like, and haven’t been documented until now. This list is not exhaustive and merely represents oddity or what I hope is entertainment value.
Some of these things may pull through yet, you never know. And I have so many people here looking out for me, it’s amazing, and I couldn’t be more grateful. But, still, it’s quite the list, eh? So far, here’s what I’ve been paid to do since arriving in Vietnam:
I’ve been here for four months, and this doesn’t feel like near enough. However, I’ve started this blog, have submitted some poetry and personal essays to literary journals (because why not?), am more than 30 pages into a screenplay (that may never turn into anything other than a file on my computer), and have read 9 full books, two halves (one that will become a whole, one that won’t) and a dozen or more short stories. I’ve spent many a morning in a cafe and afternoon on the beach (including a cool-off swim today because I was sweaty from sunbathing on November-freaking-19th, my fellow Michiganders!). I can’t speak as much Vietnamese as I’d like, and I’m still shaky on a motorbike, but there’s time. Today, before my swim, over a lunch of $1.25 spring rolls, I met a small-in-stature, long-haired, quiet-talking Brit-turned-Kiwi who’s on his fourth trip driving up and down Vietnam on a motorbike. He told me this is his favorite place in the country. I haven’t found a full-time job, it’s true. But, on the good days, I’m able to see that all of this, the whole damn thing, is worth so much more than a paycheck. Help remind me when I forget, OK?
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AboutI quit a job I enjoyed at Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and left my family, friends, and beloved dog to join my boyfriend in moving across the world, in search of adventure and new experiences. I arrived in August 2015. Archives
August 2016
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