What'cha doin'?

Hi.

We're alive.  :)

We made it through a lot and I HAVE been writing about it, but in the good old fashioned way with pen and paper (my pen actually died before we even left Malaysia).  Here's what we've made it through so far:

• we got married (amazing wedding, amazing party, many happy tears)
• we flew to Malaysia
• I averted a pickpocket attempt on Malcolm in the airport (by kicking someone, no less)
• we took the Canadian family around KL to see things and stuff them full of food
• we had another wedding tea ceremony (amazing family, more happy tears)
• we had another wedding reception (oh, the FOOD!)
• we flew to Bangkok
• I got over food poisoning from the airplane food on that first glorious night
• boys went fishing, girls went shopping (though I really had to concentrate to get my poisoned shit together for two days following)
• we ate FOOD
• honeymooned in Krabi - I didn't want to leave
• returned to Bangkok
• I avoided another pickpocket attempt (this time a motorbike purse-snatcher) by having my wits about me...though I wish I'd managed to kick another someone else in this instance
• we got massages
• I caught a cold that I booted after a glorious day of sleep mixed with cable TV
• we bought stuff
• we ate stuff
• we ate more stuff
• we're going to eat more stuff

Of course there are more details, but those will come later. I think I need to go sit by the pool for a bit. :)

The honeymoon diet.

Step 1: eat bad airplane food.
Step 2: throw up all the food you've eaten in the past 24 hours.
Step 3: expel any remaining food, liquids and nutrients anyway your body allows.

I don't have a scale, but I'm guessing you'll drop at lest 4 to 5 pounds via this method.  Also throw in some non-eating days due to food grossing you out while at the same time going on full day shopping excursions because you're too stubborn to ruin the trip for anyone else and that'll probably help a bit too.

Well, I WAS a little worried about the bikini bod, but this was a little surprise jump-start to getting back on track...
...

   "Oh my god I threw up so hard I gave myself an ab cramp!"

1. Abs can cramp individually?
2.  I have abs?!

Confession of a food-a-holic

Last night I made a conscious effort to prepare myself a healthy lunch in order not only to save myself the lunch money, but to also try to gain a few points towards my health.  That lunch is still sitting in the fridge as I type this.

Things I stuffed into my pie-hole today instead of my lunch:

• a banana (intended as my healthy breakfast)
• a sausage roll - ground sausage baked greasily and deliciously into a flaky pastry. And a whole one...everyone else was kind enough to only help themselves to half of one except for me
• 4 timbits - I started with just one, but then other people came and I couldn't let them eat alone...
• a slice of surprise pizza - surprise because I have no idea what type it was, one slice because there weren't any extras

Not surprisingly, I'm not yet hungry for that healthy salad that's still in the fridge...

Coconut is a fruit, right?

You may not have been aware of this, but October was healthy workplace month. Whether or not that's a city-wide, province-wide, nation-wide, or just a thing my company did, I did my best to participate. I put into motion my Director's idea of having "Fruit on the Floor" - at certain places around our floor there were stations set up for you to bring in and share fruit with your coworkers. It was just a little thing, but every little bit helps, right?

What doesn't help is when your master confectionist (is that a word?) coworker decides it's a good idea to try out a new macaroon recipe and brings in her experiment to get an opinion.

Chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons...

Resistance was futile.  But surrender had never tasted so sweet.

Not the retail kind

     "Why is it that no one seems surprised when I tell them I'm going to therapy?"
          --a friend of mine, who told me he was going to therapy, and I wasn't surprised

The more accurate reaction was that I wasn't concerned that he was going to therapy. It's because therapy is just therapy, not the end of the world. I think people need to be more afraid of needles and surgeries and chemicals being pumped into their body than a little one-on-one therapy during which you spend most of your time talking.

If you've elected to go to therapy (because really, it's rare that anyone can MAKE you go), then it can be seen that you're looking out for your mental health. Just because you go and join a gym doesn't mean you were overweight - it means that you're interested in getting your body into a healthier state. That's the same way I view therapy - you're trying to get your mind into a healthier state.

Anyway, mental health conditions have become so numerous and commonplace nowadays that to admit to having (or be diagnosed with) a mental health disorder is no longer taboo. It's practically the norm.

Nervous? Stressed? Anxious? Can't stay still or focused for longer than 2 minutes at a time? Those could all be due to an imbalance and therapy is the right way to treat it. Sure there are words like "bipolar" or "depression" that people still find scary or threatening, but really, the sooner you acknowledge and treat those issues, the less negative impact they will have on your life. Going to therapy? Sticking to it? Good on you.

p.s. Yes, drugs can be prescribed to help a lot of those conditions, but I've always believed that the best healing comes from you and comes from the inside out.

Nailing it

It's a North American stereotype that nail salons are staffed by Asian manicurists/pedicurists, typically Korean or Vietnamese - and stereotype or not, they're good at what they do.  With Vietnam on our itinerary, you can bet your ass I was going to get a mani/pedi straight from the source.

Now, for the uninitiated, North American standards for nail salons are as follows:

Hygiene:
NA is HUGE on this.  All instruments involved in the process are sterilized before each use, if they're not brand new to begin with.  Surfaces and sinks are disinfected between each client's use.  Floors are constantly being swept and towels come freshly bleached and laundered from an unending supply as is mandatory.

The process:
Now, while this varies from salon to salon or spa to spa, the typical procedure usually begins with the hands/feet being soaked in tubs of warm water for some time.  Then the hands/feet are washed and a quick application of moisturizer ensues which sometimes includes a hand/foot massage.  Nails are clipped and shaped, dead skin/cuticles are removed, and polish is applied.  You'd then go and sit for ten minutes with your nails under a dryer and voilà - there is your typical mani/pedi.

Needing a bit of de-stressing in Ho Chi Minh City, I figured a pedicure would not only be a perfect option, but it was my chance to put the Asian mani/pedi talent/stereotype to the test.  While I left my selected salon with perfectly soft feet and prettily polished toes, it was a tale to tell in itself.

After pointing assertively at my choice of JUST a pedicure on their menu of services, I was directed to my seat in a row of other in-progress pedicure clients.  It wasn't the giant massage chair with an attached foot spa in front, but it wasn't NA afterall - it was a back alley in HCMC.  A moment later, my soaker tub appeared; it was a stainless steel mixing bowl (like the ones I use for making salads in), filled with lukewarm water.  Okay, fine - hot water seemed to come at a premium in South East Asia, and what's a container?  Mom soaked dad's feet in a plastic bucket at home - why judge?

When I'd been thoroughly soaked, my pedicurist came by and dried my feet with a towel that she tossed on the floor after.  She started looking for something, and after not finding it, she picked up that same towel again and spread it over her lap to begin on my nails - I gathered she'd been looking for a new towel, but not finding one, just re-used my original one.  Okay, fine - five second rule, right?

Feet dry and perched on the slightly used towel on her lap, it was time to get my nails clipped.  But we didn't start right away - we were waiting for something.  After watching my girl wait a while, chatting with her other salonist friends, it became apparent what we were waiting for.  We were waiting for her friend two seats down to finish with the one set of nail clippers on another client before they could be slide down across the floor to be passed to my pedicurist to be used immediately on me, as was their process with the cuticle trimmers, nail files, heel files, and skin scrapers (which cost me extra, btw).  Oooooookay, fine - it's not like I sterilize my stuff at home and I share it all with Malcolm or family anyway...

An (embarrassingly long) hour later, my feet were clean, my toenails clipped, and my heels were smooth again - after some extensive travelling in the wrong flipflops, I'd acquired myself some epically dirty, scaly, and cracked heels - it was gross.  Then it was time for my foot massage.  While the woman went at it vigorously enough, the only thing I could think of was how when she went to massage my calves, she rested my feet right up against her boobs - sometimes inadvertently (I hope) manoeuvring a toe inside her shirt as she massaged - as she rubbed me, I was rubbing her...I was mortified, while she didn't even seem to notice.

Polish (their home brand was no OPI by far) and I was finally good to go.  Well, after she personally sat and fanned my nails dry in lieu of any electric dryers.

The prices?
50,000 VND for the pedicure (nail clipping)
50,000 VND for the heel scraping
20,000 for painting my nails
for a whopping total of 120,000 VND.

As I originally walked in for the 50,000 pedicure which turned out to not include all that I expected from a pedicure at home, I was ready to squawk.  But then the conversion of VND to CAD in my head convinced me otherwise and I tipped my girl generously (I'd thought my feet would never be smooth again) and left.

For what I'd usually pay $35 for at home, I'd just paid $6.  Sure I had to give up a few things (massage chair, hot water, sterilized/new equipment, all inclusive pricing, un-molesting massages, quality nail polish, electric dryers), but for $6, it was pretty damned worth it.