My new home is coming together!
I went by my new place today for a site inspection and was so pleased when I walked inside! The place is really coming together nicely. The furnishings come from UMA, which is a company run by the former IKEA owner/prez or such. It’s where I would have bought my furniture from anyhow, had it been up to me to choose.
I’m so pleased with the earth tones, and the style of the furniture. It’s casual and comfortable. All of my Japanese treasures will go nicely with this home and I am excited to finally unpack everything and put all my goodies in their proper place. They’ve spent the last few months in boxes and in suitcases, as I have been uninspired to do anything with them – more so because I’ve been afraid they’d get ruined in my leaky-walled apartment!
I had hoped to move in on June 10th, but you can see it’s not finished yet. My coffee pot is there, but a few things need to be installed or delivered and general cleaning needs to take place. My current lease expires on the 25th, so moving into my new flat on the 20th works out just perfect.
I came back from my appointment this evening and had to do a funky little dance and and “I’m out of crapville” routine in my kitchen. I am so outta here!!!!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
This may be my new home
5/25/09 – UPDATE – I signed my “Memorandum of Understanding” today, paid my deposit and look to move in on June 10th! Woo hoo! I will do another inspection on June 8th to make sure all is well, but I found the owner very agreeable and flexible and willing to provide a long list of furniture. I’m excited to move-out of the crappy apartment and into this new, rather cute one! I’ll keep you posted!
So after all these problems with my current apartment, I’ve been out searching for a new home. To say that I am less than thrilled about this is under and understatement. It’s a time-consuming process, but at least this time I have a solid check-list of what to look for.
I’m lucky that my compensation package includes a generous rent allowance. I would think that with that, I would find something in that budget. But I have been hard pressed, on both occasions of hunting, to find something within that price range. In the end, we are talking about rentals in Hanoi, Vietnam, not San Francisco, California! I cannot get my head around the housing costs!
I was first set on finding a house to rent, but there is a strong lack of 3 bedroom houses. Vietnamese houses, the traditional ones, anyway, are typically small and tall. Many are four or five stories. And with an influx of foreigners, many older and smaller houses are being torn down in favor of building new ones which come with much higher rent. So the house idea quickly fell flat. They are either too old, too big or too expensive.
Considering the suckiness factor of my current apartment, the shotty construction, the lazy and scummy owner/manager, the fact that the four apartments below me contain a total of 7 Ericsson employees, I felt hesitant to wind up in an apartment.
But I may have found a good one. I’m currently looking at a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, fully furnished apartment. It’s a brand new building, well designed and constructed, in a decent neighborhood, has a nice view of West Lake from the two roof-top terraces, only 3 units in the building. I’m negotiating down to $1000 a month. This is a little more than my allowance, so I would have to chip in a bit of my own money. But I’m attempting to negotiate as much furniture as I can, to make up for the lack of a 2nd bathroom and what I consider high rent. I even requested potted plants! The agent is the most competent one I’ve met and the owner seems very kind and responsible.
The really “fun” part of this will be giving my 30-day notice to my current apartment manager and demanding my deposit back. I am sure that he will object, however I have some good leverage. All the evidence I have showing what problems the place has had won’t mean squat to him. The fact that I changed the locks and am the only one with a key may perk his interest. I will essentially hold the keys to the apartment hostage until I get my deposit back. Plus, I’m sure Ericsson will take the last apartment and cram two more of their IT staff into one flat. Let them all battle over the one washer/dryer for the building. I am SO outta here!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
I am sooooo not kidding!
I wish I were hilarious enough to make this stuff up. But unfortunately, this photo is the reality of my life at the moment!
To put it in a nut shell…Big rain storm. Lots of wind. Crappy building. No over-hang on the roof to protect this back wall. More rain. Rain, rain, rain. Unsealed walls. Walls absorbed the water. Water came through to the inside of the house. So wet, it ran down the walls and flooded the floor. My maid (bless her) freaked out, but cleaned it all up and did good by putting all my belongings in the guest room.
I’ve ‘evacuated’ the master bedroom as it is so humid in there with those wet walls. I’m living in the guest room with all my belongings. Cursing the management for their lack of care in fixing this super huge problem. Laughing at them because the crew that came today did not install an over-hang on the roof, but simply put a sheet of metal over the corner of the roof. Not a permanent fix, but what the hell do I care.
Found a nice agent who will take me to look at more places this Wednesday. Found one house online that I really like. Hopeful. Will keep you posted. Too much drama to write this out like a normal person. Tired of this nonsense and so very ready to move on. I have so much work to do, I don’t have time to deal with the apartment drama crap! I really hope the house gods like me!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
Who’s a lucky girl?
Who’s a lucky girl? That’s a very smiley me with Gilles, Philippe, Jean-Philippe and Olvier.
So last week, as I mentioned was a pretty bad week. But last night I went out with a bunch of friends and at some point in the evening, took this picture with all the French men. Notice my ridiculous smile? Handsome French men are a good cure for any of life’s little issues!
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
I’m Still Liking It
I’m such a goof! That’s me with Thomas and Kurt on the Emeraude, just taking a bunch of silly photos.
Without a doubt, this past week was the worst week I’ve experienced in Vietnam. The house leak situation, my foot, a bank transfer fiasco and the tailor screwing up 3 suit jackets really tested my patience.
There is no question Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular is a challenging place to live. It is a far cry from the orderly and beautiful life I lived in Japan. I’ve missed the simplicity of my life there very much recently.
While I am sure that as I get adjusted to my job, to my new surroundings, to my new life, that I will have a bad day or two sprinkled among all the great ones. My teaching background comes in handy here. I’m as much a teacher as i am a Director, Sales & Marketing. I provide lots of opportunities for professional growth for the sales staff I work with. And it is satisfying when they learn a lesson and do something well on their own.
I also love what I’m doing. My job, as I’ve mentioned, is a big one, and there are so many projects for me to tackle. I like that. I am energized by having a challenging job and a division of the company which has sooo much potential for greatness. In most of my jobs, I have created or built-up departments, and it is no different here.
I am loving being back in hospitality, and being in a much more expansive segment than the private club industry (although Kurt and I reminisce how easy it is to just take care of one club versus an entire group of properties!).
I’m still working on my personal life, as I need a serious boost of attention there. But I’m taking steps to fulfill this aspect of my life…it’s not going to happen overnight. I’m meeting new people all the time and trying to get out more so that I can continue to meet new people.
The thing is – I love the adventure of living life abroad. The challenges which are presented to me only make me a stronger and better person, more patient, and lend experiences which I would never have in the US. And I like that.
So while it seems, like this week, that the odds are not in my favor, I know that I will come out on the bright side of all this a much better person.
So when Kurt asks me every once in awhile, “Are you still liking it?” I have to say, without a doubt, “Yes.” And I am. I’m still liking it.
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
What’s next?
4.29.2009 Update
Just thought I would let you know…I have an appointment this Saturday with an agent to look at some houses. I’m contracted and paid up until June, so that gives me a bit of time to hunt. I’ll keep you posted!
4.18.2009 Update
The weather forecast said there would be a thunderstorm on Tuesday. It just didn’t say that it would blow in at 4am! And that it did. The thunder was super loud and the lighting bordered on an electric storm. I don’t sleep well during storms anyway, the pounding of the rain didn’t help lull me to sleep!
I find it very strange that my first instinct was to pop out of bed and check for roof leaks. After the whole water heater incident, I clearly don’t have the greatest confidence that my apartment building is built soundly or with terrifically skilled workers.
Sure enough, with just a 45 minute storm, though it was a heavy downpour, several water spots appeared all over the house. I’m glad I thought to take photos, it came in handy explaining it to the apartment management.
I met the “technicians” on Wednesday morning. As it turns out, one was the plumber, which made me think that the crew didn’t understand that this wasn’t a pipe leak, but parts of the building that weren’t sealed properly. I walked through the house, showing them the photos and the location of each leak.
I also showed them that the window that they sealed up in the living room, wasn’t properly sealed on the outside of the building. I don’t know what the hell these people were thinking! I serve enough as a teacher in my work in hospitality, I just don’t have it in me to teach someone why the construction of a building is not strong enough! No one understood why I was knocking on the bedroom window seal, trying to explain that the area underneath the window is hollow. They couldn’t hear the difference in sound when I knocked on different parts of the walls!
Of course, the security dude who I’ve locked out by changing the locks, took his golden opportunity to explore my apartment, opening the bathroom and bedroom doors to take his peak everywhere. I should have yelled at him, but I’m somewhat fascinated by how curious he is about the apartment. He looked around and then went back downstairs.
I just couldn’t get over how clueless these folks were. They asked several times how the water leak started. Through the interpreter, I kept telling them the water came from the outside, from the storm. All the leaks are from the storm. Yet they still asked in a couple of locations if the water came from the inside. Umm…yeah. I threw water against the wall, and particularly near power outlets because I think it’s hilarious!
So, two scrawny little teenagers showed up this morning to get up on the roof and put down some more material over the bathroom. That part was easy. In the living room, another guy stood on a bucket on a chair and chipped away at the moldy part of my wall. You can see in the pictures that one he exposed the brick, there was even one big hole that was never sealed up at all! Yikes!
What ticked me off is that everyone planned to meet here Saturday and get everything done. But I was told that they would come back Thursday to paint and fix the outside of the building. I’m not happy about this. I hate having to arrange my schedule to be home. But they were not prepared to fix anything but the big hole in my living room wall. And I can’t do a damn thing about it!
I sent an e-mail to the management asking them why they weren’t prepared. It makes me feel better, but it is in vain.
Ms. Ngoc, our HR executive and I discussed this and the other things which have popped up since I moved in. She strongly encourages me to find a new place to live. Since Ericsson employees occupy the rest of the building, I think they would be happy to have one more unit in the same building. This would sure make it easy to break the contract. While there is a part of me which does desire a better living situation, another part is not willing to go through a search and a move. Yuck. what a pain in the ass!
What would you do if you were me?
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
A window in my bedroom. A line formed and then the water just started dripping. You can see the wall opening was too big for the window and improperly sealed.
Watch Your Step
Photo: The steps in my building. Hard marble steps may look nice, but they don’t feel so good when you fall flat on your ass!
I returned home late last night. I had my suitcase with me. It was heavy. I was tired. I was swinging the suitcase up a few stairs and then stepping up behind the suitcase. I got tot he second floor landing. I swung the suitcase, began to move upward, but the suitcase fell back ward and took me with in. In the blink of an eye I had fallen backward and landed (fortunately) on my right butt cheek.
After I recovered from the shock of falling, I started to get up and collect myself. Except that when I did, my right foot screamed at me. It was really sore and immediately swelled up a bit. I was on the second floor and I live on the 5th. OMG.
I started crying because the pain was quite bad and then I started cursing because I was angry that I had fallen. What a klutz!
I’m sure I spent more than 10 minutes in the echo-chamber stairwell. What I realized was that while I knew my neighbors were home, no one bothered to open their doors and come see what all the commotion was about.
I wiped my tears, took a deep breath and got me and my stupid suitcase up three more stories. Once inside, I cursed my non-helpful neighbors as I iced my ankle and shed a few more tears.
I went to sleep with my foot propped up on two pillows and managed to sleep that way all night. Good.
I also stayed home and worked from my sofa today, doing my best to not use my foot. It’s not too puffy, but it is super, super sore. I feel like I bruised it, perhaps the suitcase hit the top of it or something. It was a weird fall. I also have a nice bruise coming out on my butt cheek.
As much as it sucks to have this injured foot, I’m super grateful I didn’t crack my head open. No drama intended, but I could have bled to dead in the hallway, since my stupid neighbors couldn’t be bothered to even open their doors to see why someone was cursing like a sailor in the hallway!
Anywhoo, I should probably get this checked out, but the athlete in me says, “Suck it up and walk it off. It’s not broken.”
On the Bright Side,
Shanna
4.19.2009 Update
They say that sometimes a severe sprain is worse than a clean break. Well, I’m beginning to agree with this. I still have the doctors’ words echoing in my head, “Why did you wait 10 days to see me?” Two tendons on both sides of my ankle were strained, and I have a contusion on the top of my foot. The internal bleeding was bad enough that my toes are green and purple. Yuck. I have a monster foot!
I would love to follow doctor’s orders and use the cane he gave me, but it seems so silly after not using one. I didn’t mind taping up my ankle, but after one shower, it complete became useless. I was told I could get it wet, but it just didn’t hold. The doctor wanted to give me a soft cast, but they just aren’t available in Vietnam.
I was supposed to go to a special pharmacy and buy my own cane this weekend, but I really don’t want to spend money on something I know I won’t use. I’m going to keep it elevated, keep icing it and trying to stay off of it. I know myself pretty well, and while this is the most serious injury I’ve ever had, it’s not so serious that I need casts and canes and regular physical therapy.
I’m a tough chick and while this is not fun, I can handle it.
4.26.2009 Update
Nearly three weeks after my fall, I still have a slight bit of swelling in my ankle which is worse at the end of a work day or like yesterday’s music festival where I stood most of the day. But I am committed to having this thing heal, because not only is it a big deal to not have your feet in order, but I don’t want to have continued issues with this ankle. I’m just surprised it’s taking so long! As I mentioned, this is the worst injury I’ve ever had, so the concept that this will likely take another three weeks to heal up is just mind-boggling! I want my right foot back!
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