The BIG news !

So, here I am again, last time I talked mostly about my new job, and where it’s taking me, now I’m going to give a little update on my personal life which has changed a lot in the last year !

I met this wonderful woman while I was hosting “surfers” with CouchSurfing, we got on pretty well, and after some time we got together. She ended up moving in with me in Amsterdam in December 2010. My life changed completely from one day to the next, and it’s been amazing! And we got engaged on July 14th 2011 in Paris while watching the fireworks.

She is vietnamese and we will be having a fairly traditional wedding which will take place in Hanoi on January 31st 2012 for the engagement day, and February 3rd for the wedding day. I’m not going to go into too much details about vietnamese traditions here, as this would probably require a separate post, since there’s so much to talk about.

I know the distance will not make it easy for my friends and family to make it to my wedding, so we will probably organize a party in Paris next summer. More details about this later, this is just an idea for the moment.

Anyway, I started my new (remote) job in August, and my fiancee having her residence permit expire on September 1st, we decided to move to Hanoi for a few months, until we can move to my jobs new office in San Francisco. This should give us some time to organize the wedding, take some wedding photos, do some paperwork for the wedding, including posting my notice at the british consulate, learn some vietnamese, get some clothes tailored, etc… All this while working evening and nights remotely.

A couple of days ago, we were invited to the wedding of some friends of my fiancee in Hanoi, which took place in the same place we booked, so it was a great opportunity for me to see what to expect from a vietnamese wedding, and for us to have a look at the place. Well, it looks very nice, and we are both very happy about the location.

Here are a handful of photos I took from the wedding, to get an idea of the place:

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I started 2011 (I mean it all started 1 hour into 2011) in a critical condition, with a hiatal hernia, that prevented me from eating for a couple of weeks, but life has been good to me lately. I’m looking forward to the upcoming events.

Cheers!

It’s time for an update !

It’s been a while since my last update on this blog, and it seems I only come here when something big is happening in my life.

According to my previous post, I was about to start a new job for Perfect World Entertainment. Well, after a few months there, I decided that was not the perfect world for me, so I resigned from it and left the company at the end of July 2011.

Luckily, I had already a new job waiting for me, and I started immediately on August 1st. I’m now working for CouchSurfing International as a software developer. I discovered CouchSurfing mid 2010, a few friends of time were talking about it. At the time I was still working for Hyves, and although there was a lot of social activity going on out of the office, I wanted to meet new people, from everywhere. So I decided to join the CouchSurfing community, and started hosting “surfers”. And I’ve had a blast since. I’ve met loads of people coming from Vietnam, Finland, Australia, US, France, Malaysia, Chile, Germany and Canada. I’ve hosted people from a single night and up to 6! Sometimes having only a single day break between 2 visitors, just enough time to clean some sheets. I’ve also attended a few local meetings. I haven’t hosted that much, but I hosted a lot in a short period of time, and it has been a great experience. I haven’t had the occasion to “surf” myself yet, as I’ve been kind of busy with work, but definitely something I want to try some day !

And now, a little over a year after I discovered CouchSurfing, I’m working for them. It’s been a month now, and I haven’t felt like this about a job for quite a while, I feel good, and I love the job!

With this new job, and other changes in my life (which I’ll talk about in another post), I’ve decided I had spent enough time in Holland, and left Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Europe altogether. It’s been a week since I arrived in Hanoi, where I should be spending the next couple of months, while working remotely for CouchSurfing. And if everything goes well, I should end up in San Francisco in a few months, with a possible detour by Costa Rica.

That’s it for now, in the next post I’ll try to talk more about other great changes in my life !

Cheers!

Back in Amsterdam

Well, that’s it! I arrived in Amsterdam early this morning, thus ending my trip to Vietnam.

I had an amazing time there, as usual ! :) (it is the 3rd time I go there). I didn’t do any backpacking this time, but stayed at my friends place in Hanoi. I was really sad saying goodbye at the airport, but I know I’ll be back there again, I just love Vietnam!

And hopefully a piece of Vietnam is coming to join me in Amsterdam very soon too, which I am definitely looking forward to! I’m waiting for you Cam Nhung !

Tomorrow I’m starting on my new job in Amsterdam at Perfect World Entertainment, a new adventure begins!

News from Hanoi

Well, I can’t say I’ve been very active posting updates about my trip.

The main reason is that I haven’t left Hanoi, and I don’t intend to. I’m currently staying with a friend and her family in Hanoi, and they have been great to me. They’ve been having me taste all sorts of food, and took me to their country side house for a weekend, where I met a lot of the family, cousins, uncles, grand father, etc…

I’ve had an amazing time so far, and I really want to make the most of it.

I did get myself the visa for Laos but it will have to wait for another trip!

I still have another week before I have to leave, so I could be posting some more before I go, if I have time :)

In transit

Well, I’m on the road again … or actually between flights!

Although I was woken up by lovely voice, I missed my train at Amsterdam central by 1 minute, the next one to Schipol was cancelled and the next one did not have a driver … left 10 minutes late, the day didn’t begin so well, a bit stressed arriving late for the checkin. However I got to the airport fine, checked in, passed the security scanners without having to undress for once !!!

The guy behind me on the plane was very anxious, and while we were on the runway, ready to take off, he decided to freak out and wanted to get off the plane, so the plane had to go back to the terminal to unload the loaded guy (yes yes, he was loaded, ate some space cake he couldn’t handle).

The plane took of with 90 minutes late, but I just arrived in one piece to Singapore, and am now waiting for my connection to Hanoi!