SaigonNezumi.com » Misc.

Ever had a Russian Tortoise?

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:59:27 +0000

(Russian Tortoise – Image Source: Wikipedia)

The other day I was surfing online which somehow brought me to the Wikipedia article on Russian Tortoises. It brought back memories of the 1990s in Seattle. As a student at the UDub, I actually owned 3 Russian Tortoises. I think I bought my first two in 1993 if I remember right. I had a UV lamp and made a small pen for my two tortoises I named Gorby and Tatiana. An older Russian tortoise, Katya, joined the duo later.

Russian tortoises are quite easy to take care of. I just fed them bok choy and romaine lettuce everyday. During long weekend trips, I could leave them in my pen with a head of romaine lettuce. For longer trips, my gymastic’s coach and his girlfriend would take care of them.

These guys are fun. I let them roam my room when I am home. You will be amazed at how much water their bladder can hold. If they are scared, they can soak an entire pant leg which has happened to me on one occasion. Most of the day they just soak under the UV lamp. At nights, I would turn the UV lamp off at which point my tortoises would start to burrow underneath my wood chip bedding. Since they were in my room, it would be annoying to hear their feet scraping on the wood floor of their pen but I think I got used to it.

Sadly in 1996, I had to sell them back to the pet store owner who sold them to me 3 years earlier. I moved into an apartment complex that did not allow pets of any kind including fish. I lost contact of my gymnastic’s coach so I had to let Gorby, Tatiana and Katya go. Yeah, I do miss them.

Ironically, in the summer of 1998 which I was serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Karatau, Kazakhstan, some Kazakh students brought a couple Russian tortoises to me. It turns out that in the Karatau area, there are many wild Russian tortoises.

In Vietnam, though, I have not seen any. They are not as popular as the turtle.

Watch some funny YouTube videos on Russian Tortoises.

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News from the Former Soviet Union

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:57:19 +0000

As many of you are aware, I lived in the Former Soviet Union for over two and a half years visiting the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. Thanks to Facebook, I still can keep in touch with my former students and friends from the region. I was offered a job in Almaty, Kazakhstan, that would have started next month. I decided against it so I can focus on my new company instead. It was a tough decision but at least I can still keep up with the region through the various blogs and news sites.

English Russia is by far one of the best blogs for the Former Soviet Union. The posts are just interesting, I wish I could be as good as the site owner in finding similarly really interesting photos. Today’s post makes me glad that I live in a brick house that, in theory, is more protected from fire. “In Theory” in quotes actually

Fires seem to always happen in Russia such as the one below:

(Source: English Russia)

See more Fire Photos here -> http://englishrussia.com/?p=3982

From NewEurasia.Net, there was an interview of an Expat on living in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Read it, if Expats in Vietnam heed to his advice, their experience could just be as enjoyable as the Canadian interviewed.

By the way, Osh is one of my favorite cities in the world. I spent nearly two weeks there back in 1999. A really nice city with some of the best Central Asian cuisine in the world. Cafe Osh, I miss you…

(Source: NewEurasia.net)

Read the entire interview here -> http://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/interview-when-in-kyrgyzstan-do-as-kyrgyz-do/

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New Theme and Name

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:03:40 +0000

I decided to make some changes to SaigonNezumi.com. I changed the theme to Grid Focus by 5ThirtyONE. I really enjoy this theme since it can be easily customized. As you will notice, there is less clutter in the right two columns. I removed the Blogger’s Link and added them to their own page within this blog at:

http://www.saigonnezumi.com/bloggers/

The Vietnam Links were also moved to their own page as well:

http://www.saigonnezumi.com/vietnam-links/

I also decided to change the name of the blog as well. SaigonNezumi.com will now be known as SaigonNezumi’s Expat Pragmatist. Expat Pragmatist was my other blog focusing on things such as the New World Order, the Japanese Samurai, Global Warming, etc. I decided to combine these blogs since I did not have the time to maintain both of them. This will be the third time I changed the name of this blog. The first name, if some of you can remember, was AmerasianWorld.com.

You can reach this blog at the following three URLs:

One of my goals is to better monetize this blog. I will allow more advertisements, besides Google Adsense, to my blog now.

I hope you enjoy this new theme. Please send me your feedback and comments.

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Transformer 2 Movie Trailers

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:27:34 +0000

I have been a fan of Transformers since my trip to Japan in 1982 where I bought one of the original Transformers. I watched all the cartoons as a kid and saw the last Transformer film. The sequeal is about to be released. The movie trailers for Transformers 2 – Revenge of the Fallen are awesome!

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An Expat that respects Thai Culture

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:35:17 +0000

Very impressive video by a Swedish Expat residing in Thailand. Vivian posted a video responding to the insults by Western Expats in regards to the Thai King. Her best advise, “I think you should go back to study something about other cultures before you post anymore of those stupid videos.”

Makes you think about the Expat community in Vietnam, doesn’t it?

Below are some Thai responses as well:

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Visa Rules Widen The Rift Between Vietnam And U.S. Families

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:14:49 +0000

Just read this piece from Chao-Vietnam:

Getting that ever elusive visa to the US, regardless of visa type, can be daunting at best. I have seen friends, students, and clients get turned down by the US Consulate, some repeatedly. Looking at the forms given to them by the US Consulate, most were not given a visa since they were unable to prove they would return to Vietnam. Others were turned down because there was a concern they could not provide the necessary financial means to stay in the US, ie tuition and book fees. A couple girls were turned down because their English skills were very low (When a Vice Council asked the girl how many wheels a car had, she replied, “I am fine, thank you”).

Many of the above DID want to stay in the US. I meet student after student, who did obtain visas, whose sole intention was to stay in the US. That is why their parents paid high tuition fees to send them to the university I worked for in the past. They got their visas are in the US now. Not a single student from this program has returned to Vietnam yet.

It is sad but it seems that those who come from well-to-do families have no problems obtaining visas to the US. I see it with my students all the time. To this date, I only know two students who were rejected but it was based on a technicality. They will get their visas in the future.

The ones who were rejected seemed to come from lower middle class families or are nouvo wealth meaning their incomes cannot be traced (nouvo wealth have a tendency to hide their wealth for tax reasons).

For the two Vietnamese family members from the story, they should be allowed to visit their ailing relative. If they had come from wealthier families, there is a chance they would have received their visas. If anyone wants to argue this, just have the Department of Homeland Security check the social economic background of all Vietnamese entering the US (and other countries as well).

The policy of granting US visas in Vietnam, and around the World, is not fair. Thus, at times, there needs to be exceptions made especially now when many of the overseas Vietnamese are starting to age rapidly.

These are just my opinions coming from an American who has lived overseas for nearly 8 years (out of 37) of his life.

Read the full article here -> http://chao-vietnam.blogspot.com/2009/04/visa-rules-widen-rift-between-vietnam.html

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2002 Venezuelan coup d’état attempt

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:45:34 +0000

Today is the 9 year anniversary of the Venezuelan coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez. I first heard about Hugo Chavez back in 2002 right before the failed coup attempt. The Western media has a tendency to demonize Chavez while in many academic circles around the world, Chavez is viewed as the new Che Guevara. What does seems clear is that big business, MNCs, oil companies, etc., view Chavez as a threat due to his policies to redistribute the wealth to the poor indigenous Venezuelans.

In regards to the failed coup attempt, many people outside of Venezuela do not realize at how popular Hugo Chavez is to the people of Venezuela. Their views were similar to the view of one of my white Venezuelan friends who called Chavez a monkey (Chavez is an indigenous Venezuelan) even though a large majority of Venezuelans viewed him as a savior.

Whether you like Chavez or not, you should definitely view the following award winning Irish documentary about the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chavez. It will show Hugo Chavez at a different light.

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Great Korean Shows

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:04:15 +0000

Well, my 10 days in the US are nearly over. Tomorrow night I head back to Saigon, Vietnam. Oddly enough, I will return to Vietnam with a great appreciation of Korean TV shows. My mother watches television programs broadcast on KBS World. I really enjoy two particular shows, Boys over Flowers and the Kingdom of the Winds.

Boys of the Winds is based on a popular Japanese manga series. It looks at the relationships of high school classmates.

Geum Jandi is from a poor family and is admitted to the prestigious Shinhwa High School after stopping a student who was being bullied from committing suicide. Shinhwa High was established by Shinhwa Group, the biggest conglomerate in Korea, and is attended by the scions of the wealthiest families. At Shinhwa, she finds that a group of rich and good-looking boys called “F4″ (“Flower 4″ or “Flamboyant 4″) who enjoys tremendous popularity. The F4, however, thinks nothing of humiliating others, and often issues a “red card”. Whoever finds the dreaded red card in his or her locker subsequently becomes the target of bullying by the entire student body. Jandi detests all this circus, but receives a red card herself and is bullied, after she stands up for one of her fellow classmates. Eventually, she begins to have feelings for one of the F4, Jihoo, but also discovers that the leader of the group, Junpyo, is falling for her, too. A love triangle thus develops among Junpyo, Jandi and Jihoo. (From Wikipedia)

I hope I will be able to continue watching this series from Vietnam.

Kingdom of the Winds is a Korean medieval drama which just finished airing last January. It looks at the life of Moo Hyul, who was abandoned when he was a baby. As he gets older, he finds out he is the Third Prince of King Yuri, a dominate kingdom in Korea. The drama is very interesting. I hope to find the dvds in Saigon to watch the entire series.

At the moment, the Koreans are putting out some of the best TV shows and movies in Asia.

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Wordpress 2.7 Release Delayed – Good move

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:19:05 +0000

Wordpress announced that they we be delaying the release of 2.7 which I consider a good move.

From the Wordpress Blog:

There comes a time in every WordPress release when it’s ready for the world , to come out of its cocoon and feel the light of the world on its wings for the first time.

Wordpress 2.7 RC1 was a bit buggy. The popular plug-ins have not been successfully ported over from 2.6 to 2.7. Twitter Updater and Kimili are both broken. I have problems uploading images with the Admin GUI forcing me to manually edit the HTML.

That is not the developers fault though, it is mine. I did test the last beta version of 2.7 before the release candidates with no problem. For me, most of the bugs appeared with RC1.

RC2 has been released which should be more stable but for most people, just wait for stable 2.7 or test it on another test blog. It is nice and I love the features I can use so far.

Read more about the delay and RC2 here -> http://wordpress.org/development/2008/12/27-release-candidate-two/

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Yeni Hayatlar – STV (August, 2001)

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:04:36 +0000

I was going through my image folders from a backup I made nearly 4 years ago when I found some pictures I thought were lost. They sure brought back some memories.

Back in the Summer of 2001, I was interviewed by a television crew from STV, one of the leading television companies in Turkey. The television crew interviewed roughly 30 Americans for broadcasting with Yeni Hayatlar (New Lives) during the 2001 Ramadan month in Turkey and the Turkish speaking world. My story was quite interesting for them for my experiences with Islam and the Muslim communities in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic (See my website Salaam Central Asia to learn about my experiences in Turkey and Central Asia).

The interview went very well but I was not able to see a finished clip until December, 2001. I forgot about it until I met with Fetullah Gulen and his community in Pennsylvania on my way to Istanbul. I remembered that he told me that I looked different in person (he had already seen my program on STV via satellite). I had no idea what he meant until I arrived into Istanbul a couple days later.

During an advertisement for Yeni Hayatlar, I saw a ‘fat’ looking, umm, me on TV. Oh my God, nobody realized that interviewing me outside in very humid conditions, sweating profusing to boot, would, umm, make me look fat. The footage inside my apartment, I looked normal, but outside, oh my God!!!

Anyway, the series was a success and books are still being sold in Turkey. I still get occassional emails from Kazakhstan from Central Asians who saw me on STV. Finding me at SaigonNezumi.com kind of boggles them, I am not like the guy STV portrayed me as being very religious and spiritual. For me that is funny since I do not consider myself religious at all, though I am very spiritual

So have at it, here are my ‘fat’ pictures:

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