I have spent the last six years (Sept 2002-July 2008) outside broken Britain (as The Sun likes to brand it).

After travelling post graduation for twelve months, I was within weeks back on the plane to Asia, South Korea the destination, to teach English (the slightly directionless and bored ex-student means of escaping the iron chains of society - but it worked).

With intentions of ever returing home to live entirely diminished, I went to have a look around Saigon and satisfy some strange desire to live in a big Asian city whilst increasing my marketability through a TEFL cert. It was here that a young lady named Chi was to start a new chapter in my life.

Some 18 months later in October 2006 Chi and I were married at the Majestic Hotel in Saigon, Vietnam. This Novemeber, we are expecting our first child, a daughter.

During my three and a half years in Vietnam I have played and captained a football team (The Saigon Raiders), written for Travelfish on Saigon and many surrounding areas, contributed to the guide book To Vietnam with Love, and last but not least started a business with Chi called Connections Vietnam.

Teaching wise, I worked in English language center ‘Cleverlearn’ for 6 months teaching teenagers and adults ESL. Later, I moved onto a Korean government school in Saigon’s southern district 7, teaching Grade Four students Math, Science and English. After a year and a semester, I took a break and eventually ended up working at a very young school, AIS. The American husband and wife principal/vice principal partnership had hand picked a wonderful faculty to prepare a select group of kids for life in an all-English educational environment through the summer immersion program. During this program I had the privilage of working with these kids and teaching classes in Journalism & I.T and Speaking and Drama. With September and the first academic year of AIS’s life looming, I secured a position as I.T teacher.  With the year over and a whole host of wonderful memories and experiences (not least being in charge of implenting a House system for over 300 pupils), I now find myself at Southampton University studying for a PGCE in ICT.

This blog contains all the old posts from the original blog I started in Vietnam in 2005, to be found here.

These old posts document life in Saigon over three years. This year the blog will focus on the experiences of being back in England and becoming a father. You can follow my teaching experiences over at Jon Hoff’s Teaching ICT blog.