Is there anybody still out there?
So, it’s been, uh, 5 years since my last post. Oops! A few things have happened since then and I clearly neglected to post about any of them. Actually, I did write several blog posts in my head. Sorry you didn’t get to read them.
Today, having thought about it for a good few weeks, I attempted to log back into our blog account. Imagine my surprise when it worked! And, lo, here’s another surprise, I’m writing to you from Vietnam!
Say what??
To catch you up quickly: We ended up living in Thailand for 5 years. The first 6 months were really tough, severe homesickness all around, along with the extreme adjustments that come with being an expat and the accompanying emotional highs and lows. But gradually we grew to love many many things about life in Thailand. We met incredible people, many of whom who became beloved friends. We traveled to amazing places, both within Thailand and several surrounding countries. I started working at the school too and loved being on campus with all of my boys. Eventually, we managed to pay off all our debt! Life was really good. Then, of course, COVID.
While teaching and learning did move online for awhile, Thailand fared better than many countries around the world. But we weren’t able to travel back to the States in the summer of 2020. As we only get home once a year, that meant we wouldn’t be able to see our families for two years. That was incredibly hard, but we knew we weren’t the only ones—people all over the world couldn’t visit their families because of lockdowns or travel restrictions. We also took solace in the fact that there were far worse places to be “stuck.”
We may well have stayed in Thailand longer, but we also knew that if we didn’t move then, we could have ended up staying another 5 years because we didn’t want to move Duncan in his last years of high school. (Yes, he’s now in 10th grade. And Tobin is in 8th grade.) Crazy, right?
But that same summer brought some unexpected administrative shake-ups at our school. (The decisions were blamed on COVID, but we knew there were other motives as well.) The resulting changes led us to see that it was indeed time for our family to move on.
So Kevin once again threw his resume into the international school search pool. We looked both at home and overseas, and after being offered two positions that he ultimately turned down, Saigon South International School became the next right step in our great adventure.
That happened in early 2021. We’d already had a tough beginning to the year (more on that later), but then the year . . . devolved. As if planning the logistics of an international move (during a pandemic) and saying goodbye to cherished friends wasn’t hard enough, this past year featured a bizarre series of events. I’ll save that saga for the next post. And, ultimately, it has led us to where we are now.
I hope you stick around for the next installments as the Brodeurs once again “reset the pins.”
Meanwhile, here’s a video of us, 1 day post-quarantine, reuniting with our beloved Tetley who we hadn’t seen in 4 incredibly long months.
Resetting the Pins 
It’s a cry moment of happy tears. So brave are the Brodeur’s in all their adventures! Love that your adding to your blog, it’s fun watching the boys grow and reading about all you experiences. Pat Tetley, glad he’s home!
Thanks for following along in our adventures, Sandi! Can you even believe how big the boys are now?! xo
Lissy!! So great to see you here again! Many of my blog email reminders aren’t working, so it’s a wonder that this one is. For some reason, the Universe wants your blog to stay alive. I can’t even believe five years in Thailand went so quickly. Maybe overcoming the challenges from that adjustment are helping you with overcoming the challenges of moving to Vietnam. Glad to hear you talk about them in the past tense, but I’m sure there is lots more to tell.
I saw the video somewhere – fb? But it’s fun to see you all again. The boys are so big it’s hard to believe they’re the same kids. I miss you all and I think it’s ridiculous I never made it to visit you in Thailand. I’ll set my sights on a possible visit in your new land. Kisses and hugs and all of the feels. You all are so dear. ❤
Yay!! So happy to hear that your blog email reminder is still working. I really wasn’t holding out much hope for previous subscribers after such a long break. I’m delighted that you’ll get to follow our adventures.
For sure, the challenges and adjustments from our move to Thailand are helping us with our current relocation. It definitely helps that we’re familiar with certain aspects of SE Asian culture in general (forgive my generalization). If we had moved almost anywhere else, this would have felt much harder.
We would LOVE you to come visit! It IS halfway around the world though, so I wouldn’t say it’s ridiculous that you didn’t get to Thailand. Whenever you can make it work, know that our door is always open. Already looking forward to it!! xoxo
I will try again. 🙂
So wonderful to read this first installment of your blog, Lissy! I look forward to reading more. In the meantime, please give each of your boys a hug from me and keep one for yourself. And a hug for that sweet Tetley!
PS I know firsthand about administrative shake-ups under cover of Covid… look forward to hearing about that!
Dearest Tally! So lovely to know you’re following along. I appreciate that hug!! And I promise to pass along the other hugs to the boys and Tetley too. Yes, there were some strange decisions made at our former school. I’m actually still processing some of it, so writing about it will help. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, sending a giant hug back to you. xoxo
Excited to being hearing from you and your family via Blog. I’m so happy for you’all that you’ve landed in another great country, Vietnam. I love Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City) and can imagine it will be a great place to be. The boys look great!! So much older and mature looking. I’m not surprised Kevin got a few offers, I’m not sure RIS really knows what they lost.
You’ve inspired me to get my Blog up and running again!! I’ll send you an invite to that once I get that going! Until then, the Rosaaen’s are thinking of you from our little corner of the US….for now.