Long public holiday 2013

This year, Victory Day and Labor Day fall on Tuesday and Wednesday so the state lets the people have Monday off and we have to work on the next Saturday to compensate. Plus the weekend, we have 5 days in total off. What a good chance for employees to have a break. Some travel, some visit hometown and some have a holiday at home. I belong to the last group: home holiday taker :-). Easy to feel bored with 5 days at home. That is why I try to keep myself a little busy.

Day 1: marking test papers (2 packages) + trying making cookies
Day 2: teaching little students + marking papers (1 package)
Day 3: going out + marking papers (1 package)
Day 4: having the new doors installed + cleaning up
Day 5: doing whatever I think of + relaxing

One month in our new flat

Today is one month I have lived in our new flat. In general, everything has been settled except our new real wood doors which will be installed by the end of this month. After that some paint will be put on some parts of the wall where I had repairs. As I expect, the flat will be completely finished in mid-May. I realize that moving in is one story but settlement is another. It takes a lot of time, money and energy to make the flat home, to make it function as well as I wish. There were moments I felt so irritated with settlement and somebody had to suffer. :-(

Although we thought very much about where to put things based on our floor plan but in reality we had to change several times to get the best arrangement. I intended to put some plants on the balcony and hang some flower pots but not feasible because there are 3 hot units of air conditioners on the balcony wall. More sockets or not? Cable on or in the wall? Lamps or not? Plants inside? Lots of consideration and discussion before we found solutions to our concerns and the flat is home now. It is ready to welcome visitors.

New home

Finally my dream of having a home has come true. I moved into my new flat on 21st March 2013.  It is not very large but I feel really comfortable and cozy and I am happy to live in my own flat although from now part of the money I earn will be used to pay the loan from the bank and friends. It takes me at least 5 years to settle all the debts. I hope I can do it.

Because the flat belongs to me, I spent so much money on it, to make it home. As a result, some 'safes' have reduced the 'size' :-). My friend warned me that moving in cost a considerable amount of money and reality proved it right.

What touched my heart is that my family cared for me and gave me a hand with moving in: my mum, my brothers and sisters-in-law. They did not mind travelling a long distance to my place and carried my things from my rental flat to my new flat. Someone said I was so lucky to have the family around. Yes, I am lucky in this aspect :-).

I have been lived here for 2 weeks and there is still some work to finish,  some final touches to make the flat complete and perfect in my eyes. But for the time being I can enjoy the feeling of being home.

Training course

In order to  improve the management skills for key people and staff in all departments our university offered a one-day training course. Nearly 200 people attended this course and were divided into 2 classes: one on 14 and the other on 15th Mar. Poor me, I participated in this course at the expense of my class.:-(

One day in the hall was not always interesting. I am not used to spending all day at work. So embarrassing I felt sleepy in the afternoon. However, what the four important men presented was really important to 'young vice' like me :-).

Holiday in London 2013

Finally, my dream came true: a visit to London. Ten days in a really big and interesting city brought so many wonderful experiences to me. I saw in person what I had known only from my books before: red buses, red telephone booths, the Underground, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, the Thames, London Eye, Baker Street, British Museum, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Odeon Cinema, Harrods, Covent Garden, pubs, Hype Park, St James's Park, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral ... I cannot express all my feeling about the holiday, but I can say that it was great. And I wish my friends and my son will have a chance in life to come to this city (like me).

Pre-Tet gathering

Finally we found a day when three of us were free to visit our colleague who has a newly-born baby daughter. She lives almost opposite Noi Bai Airport. I set off at 8.30 am and picked up my two friends near Hanoi Hotel and then we proceeded to the aiport. What a long distance but we had a really good time whenever we are together. So not a big problem to travel a long distance. We ended up in Hanoi Hotel's buffet restaurant to have our last lunch of the old year together. We won't meet other again until 18 February, the end of our Tet holiday. I will celebrate the Snake New Year in London, Van will come to Thanh Hoa (her hometown to celebrate it with her family) and Mai will stay in Hanoi. Before we said goodbye, we agreed to spend summer holiday in Hue this year (we could not keep our promise to visit Van's hometown in 2012. I hope in 2013 we will be able to travel together).

Ready for 2013

So Solar New Year holiday finished. Time to back to normal life. Time to make plans for 2013. Time to leave sad things behind. Time to smile again and get ready to cope with new challenges. Time to be more mature.