Hello,

I just joined VDict. First up, I'd like to say what a great site this is. It has helped me on many occasions when I've stumbled blindly for the right Vietnamese word or phrase - and I should like to thank my college, Linh Vo for putting me onto it a few months ago.

For the rest of 2007 until around March of 2008, I'll be living and working in Perth, Western Australia.

I am an Italian/Australian male working this last decade or so as an IT Consultant. My jobs have taken me to many countries around the world - Italy, France, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore, China and, most recently, Vietnam. My birthplace is Italy, and my adopted home-away-from-home is Australia.

In early 2006 I was posted to Vietnam by my company. I ended up spending about 18 months in Ho Chi Minh City over four stints until around mid 2007. As I mentioned, I've spent time in various countries, and when my firm presented me with the option of going to Vietnam, I shrugged and thought nothing much of it - I simply thought, "just another assignment". Little did I realise that I was destined to be so (pleasantly) surprised, and that my life would be changed forever!

I won't bore you all with my impressions of Vietnam, its peoples, its culture or its natural wonders. Like many westerners, I had been seriously misinformed about Vietnam. I could fill volumes on this fascinating topic (and maybe one day I will). But suffice to say that, unlike all the other places I have travelled to, Vietnam struck a chord somewhere deep within me. Add to this, the wonderful encounter, three months into my first trip, between me and Tuyen. My Vietnamese princess. Now, I am no stranger to the wiles of foreign beauties, but Tuyen was something all together different - not just an ordinary girl. I fell for her completely (and she for me, I might add).

The details of our courtship make for some of my fondest life-memories (and again, I won't recount them here) - but unfortunately, that's where our happy story starts to unravel. My firm was all geared up to have me take charge of a new division in TpHCM for the foreseeable future. But, as often happens with big business, the deal fell through and I was required to return to our head office in Melbourne, Australia.

This didn't seem like such a setback for Tuyen and I at the time since I was sure that I'd be back within a few weeks to continue with my firm's other expansion initiatives in Vietnam. But these plans also hit a brick wall and it started to become painfully obvious that I would not be able to return to Vietnam as early as planned (or hoped).

We have since been apart now for five months. Tuyen has been trying to apply for a tourist VISA to enter Australia so she can spend a few months with me in Perth. The VISA application has proven to be anything but easy. There has been one delay after another. There's always one more document to submit, one more fee to pay. Our fingers are crossed in the hope that the last round of documents will finally satisfy the consular general in TpHCM and that her VISA will be approved in the next couple of weeks.

In the mean time, we've kept in contact via daily sms, weekly telephone calls, email & web cam sessions. We are still very much committed to being together again. I have resolved that should her VISA not be approved, I will make my own way back to Vietnam as soon as my contractual obligations with my Perth client are fulfilled in early 2008. In fact, I can see my future in Vietnam. It is ironic I know, while so many young Vietnamese professionals are striving to make a life for themselves beyond their native shores, that I, on the other hand, can see myself growing old(er) in that very same land. Sometimes, in the quiet places of my mind's eye, this notion defies all logic and reason - but the heart wants what the heart wants.

Well, this introduction has dragged on longer than I'd ever intended. I though about editing it, but decided against it. What you read here is pretty much as it flowed from my thoughts to the keyboard. It is difficult to stop a heart dump once it gets fired up.

My username on VDict, SogniSaigon means, Saigon Dreams in Italian - for lately, that is all I've been dreaming about. My real name is, Marco. Please feel free to comment, criticise or ask me about anything - regarding anything.

A good night to you all.

I hope to hear from you soon,
Cheers,
Marco.