Some highlights from 2012 in Vietnam - Version 1.0, as follows:

Reviewing 2012

2012 - Reviewing My Life in 2012 - A rough draft outline of some of things I was doing that year, a quick summary.

Mea Omnia

In 2012, I was working on a website called Mea Omnia.

November

2012-11-01 - Thursday - Reviewing November of 2012 - I might have been excessively or noticeably overweight, AKA Fat Joey, according to my Nov '12 Journal. I got a visa for my passport. I worked for my dad one last time that year at a house in Hillsboro, OR. Drove my bike there. Wait. No, I'm thinking of another time. But I was working at that house on Friday, the 23rd. Right after that, I visited my Salvation Army friends, people like Matt Kurtz, in Vancouver, WA, and then Mike on Saturday in Gresham, and others, during my last week in America. I visited the Gresham Corps on Sunday. I hopped on an airplane Tuesday and I landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday the 28th of November of 2012 (according to USA time-zones) or the 29th in Vietnam time.

Departure From Portland (PDX)

2012-11-27 - Tuesday - 09:20 AM PST PDX - Mike Kurtz took me the airport. And then after that, five years later, on Thursday, the 23rd of November of 2017, Mike picked me right back up at that same airport, about five years later. Like George Lucas of Star Wars says, it's like poetry, because it rhymes, because Mike rhymes with Mike lol, as we went full circle. I mean, I went full circle from America to Vietnam and then right back to America again. On my plane trip to Vietnam in 2012, my plane went to the Los Angeles Airport (LAX). Then, I went to Tokyo. Then, Singapore. And then, Vietnam. Click here to see more of the details on my flight schedule from America to Vietnam in 2012.

Arrival to Vietnam

2012-11-28 - Wednesday - 09:55 PM PST - Hanoi Airport, Vietnam - This was the approximate time (or the time I sent an email) that I arrived in Vietnam according to an email. In Vietnam time (ICT), it was 12:55 PM, Thursday, the 29th of November of 2012. An email said 12:05 PM ICT. My plane might have been late as I was not out of the plane until closer to 1 PM. I went to Vietnam to work at the New Star English Language Center. My boss said he sent a taxi to get me. He thought I was late and, allegedly, my boss wrote that the taxi waited for me but then eventually left. So, I paid a taxi $45 USD for a ride from Hanoi to the school in Bac Ninh, which was about 20 miles away. I met my Internet friends, Joy Sanchez and her friend. I worked at that school from my arrival to Vietnam until Tuesday morning, December 4th, which is when my boss email fired me. Instead of being fired over the phone, it was over an email. Technically, I was never hired in the first place, but I was helping my friends out a bit during my first five days in Vietnam. On Thursday, the 29th, Joy took me to Papa Foods. I met Andy Nguyen, the owner. Also met Tyler Capp.

December

2012-12-01 - Saturday - Reviewing December of 2012 - This last month of 2012 began on Saturday, the first of December. Was living in a hotel and working at New Star helping out the two filipino or filipina teachers, Joy and Janice. As I said already, I began working at New Star on Thursday. So, I continued helping out there until Tuesday.

Email Fired

On Tuesday the 4th of December 2012, I got an email that said I was like fired or something. So, then, I told people that I was fired on Facebook. Joy told me to meet her at Papa Foods. We told Andy. He went with me to the school. He talked to them in Vietnamese. The school already provided me with a hotel room up to that point for my first five nights and first five days in Vietnam. The Vietnamese hotel owners (an older couple in their maybe sixties) tried to get me to pay. I used Google Translate to try to tell them that the school would pay. The female owner went with me to clear things up with the school in Vietnamese. They talked and I have no idea what they all said. They laughed and looked at me a few times. The school allowed me to stay at that hotel up to that point. The male hotel owner had some tea with me and he enjoyed it. They might have gave me one more day and then I was on my own.

Donald Trump Fired

Who do you think you are? You might be Donald Trump, who said on Apprentice, "You're Fired." In 2012, Obama was the U.S. President. I was not actually fired as I was not officially hired to begin with, allegedly speaking. Actually, technically speaking, I don't actually know one way or another if I was hired or fired. I'm just going to assume that I was never hired in the first place. But I thought they hired me at the time.

Papa Foods

Andy let me work and live at his restaurant. So, I moved in. I slept on the second floor with the other male staff. I washed dishes, mopped, swept, scrubbed. I helped setup and tear down each day as the restaurant opened around 6 AM and would close around 10 - 11 PM. It would close whenever Andy wanted it to. Some of the customer would rent out the karaoke room at night until like 1 AM. Not every night. Generally on the weekends. Felt kind of random. So, we would sometimes stay open for that, until they left. We would sometimes take naps in the afternoon for like an hour. A few times, I slept maybe too long, like a few hours. Andy knew English and lived in America for many years and said he knew what I felt like being in a strange new land as an alien. Andy and his family lived on the top floor of Papa Foods as this was his house. It had 3 floors and the roof had a water heater on it. It also had security cameras. Andy's wife cooked delicious food. We became like a family. I taught some people English at times there. Some of them would try to teach me Vietnamese at times. Whenever I wasn't interacting with them, and whenever I was free, I would surf the Internet on my laptop. I was mostly on websites like Facebook, Tagged, and Couch Surfing, and I was trying to find work, network, make new friends, learn more about everything, figure things out. Friends can become potential customers and employers. Tyler talked to me a few times. Tyler was friends with Andy. Tyler eventually went onto rent a room there on the third floor which Andy paid people to construct. Andy turned part of his restaurant into an apartment room for Tyler. The rent might have been something like 2 or 4 million dongs (VND) per month. If my memory serves me correctly, it was probably 4 million ($200 USD apx).

Philippines

Around Christmas 2012, Joy Sanchez went back home to see her 2 daughters. That was the last time I saw her in person in 2012. She has not seen her kids in like many months. So, she was happy to go home for the holidays. At the time that I'm writing this, I still have yet to see her again.

First Christmas in Vietnam

My first Christmas in Vietnam was spent at Papa Foods. It was beautiful. It was magical. Many adventures. It was also stressful as I was also trying to figure things out. I was feeling tons of emotions, like sadness, anger, confusion, depression, curiosity, bitterness, for everything. So, I was always online as much as possible because I was trying to look at all my options in life. I was looking for work. I was trying to get discovered. I wanted people to know who I was and what I had or have to offer the world. I also wanted people to know what was happening in my life. Why? Because you can learn from it and stuff. For most of December, businesses and restaurants would play Christmas songs. Like, for example, Happy New Year by Abba.