Throwback Thursday: My 'little' nephews

I'm a very proud auntie of many nieces and nephews. I'm dedicating this Throwback Thursday to two of my beloved nephews: Khanh & Duy. The age difference between us is only 4 to 6 years. Perhaps it's because of this that I seem to get and understand them better than my other siblings.

The undiscovered country

The title of this post comes from a line from Hamlet. We've been discussing Shakespeare at uni and I was just struck by how he mentioned heaven as the undiscovered country. It's so simple and yet genius.

Throwback Thursday: born in the land of opportunities

Born in the land of opportunities
(first picture even taken of me)

Yesterday was election day in the Netherlands and the right to vote has crossed my mind a lot.  It is easy to take for granted that we're able to vote in a country like the Netherlands. I feel very lucky to have been born in a democratic and liberal country where I get to vote and therefore have a say in what needs to happen .

My life would have been different if I was born in Vietnam. I wouldn't have had the same opportunities and chances in life. I'm not saying the one is better than the other, but no one can deny that the place where you're born has a great influence in the course of your life.

I'm thankful for my Vietnamese roots, but also very grateful for being Dutch and for the rights that I have in my home country. 

Being born in the Netherlands has literally changed my life! 

Throwback Thursday: Baby Nha's determination to live!

I'm blessed to have met so many brave, strong and admiring children. One of them has been on my mind a lot these days so I've decided to devote my Throwback Thursday to her: baby Nha.

First week as miss Vu

For those who haven't been keeping track: I've made a career switch by saying goodbye to my life as a youth worker to teach English at a high school in my hometown. The school year started last week and I SURVIVED! ;-) Just kidding, I seriously love working at Houtens and I thoroughly enjoy teaching and being  able to work with my students.

I already have a cute and funny anecdote.  I was catching up on the summer holidays with one of my classes (I also taught them English last year). All of a sudden one of my students said: 'Bao-Nhi, you've got some serious swag!' Me: 'Excuse me?' Student: 'You know, swag: S-W-E-K' This is how you would spell swag in Dutch phonetically. I tried to keep a straight face… so adorable! haha

I must admit that I still need to find a way to balance teaching, private life, social life, study life, volunteering and my workshops, but I'm sure that I will get used to it in a couple of weeks. At the end of the day, I still need to clear my thoughts. I've been turning to my journal a lot these days so chances are that I won't be posting much on this blog these coming weeks. Seriously sorry for that, just need to give myself time to adjust to this new life schedule.

Enjoy September…

Love,

Bao-Nhi