Great staffers, students and neighbors

Man, am I in a good place right now. The house that the VMG staff found for me is like living in a little piece of heaven. The neighbors are incredible. They keep an eye on me to be sure, but in a good way.  I bought food from a guy who comes down our street with a cart, and my neighbors came out to make sure the price was fair and I got what I wanted. It was good food, by the way -- chicken, corn, sausage, and stuff I didn't recognize. The neighbors always point to show me I've left an upstairs light on, or that I forgot my motorcycle helmet (no brain). The people here seem to really care about you.
My house is so cool that I've been using the air conditioning for only a couple hours a day.
The staffers at VMG are just as cool. First, they found my house for me. But if I have trouble at work, like the copy machine jams or I need teaching materials, they do everything they can to help. Thien, Thu, Nguyen, Le Chinh, Nuhn (I'm sure I'm spelling the names wrong), accounting, Long Thanh and everyone in-between, do their best to make my experience here very positive. And they're very busy now because our school is expanding. So I thank these guys for putting up with the White Monkey, who makes lousy jokes, whines too much, and is a general pain in the ass.
The students here continue to shine.The younger students get it so fast with good pronunciation. The older students work hard. I understand how difficult it is to learn a language when you're older. I sympathize. The students can be a little chatty. As my wonderful mentor Laurie Dewey used to say to me: Welcome to teaching, Mr. Millman.
If I drank alcohol, I would have a toast to all of these guys. Instead, I'll have a nuoc mia.
Since I'm a slow learner, it has taken a little while for me to adjust to life here. Now I know it's been worth it.
The kids on bicycles are amazing here. They ride right in the middle of the wild traffic and don't flinch. When there's two kids on one bike, which is quite often, both kids will have their feet on the pedals so they work together and go faster. I rarely saw that in the U.S. (just about everyone was in a car). The motorbike is an easy adjustment for the young people here.
My school, VMG, is doing a Go Green campaign now. That's a great idea since litter and pollution are problems here. Well, they're problems everywhere. Teaching young people about these issues is one of the best ways to foster change. The students in my classes know they have to clean the room at the end of our lesson, and it's always "ladies first."  I'm trying to do my small part to help foster positive change.
I miss my children and hope to have a couple of them come visit. Otherwise, all is well except my Vietnamese language skills and lack of brain.