New Year's Celebration in Saigon

In preparing for work in Asia this winter, I knew there would be a lot of challenges. But truthfully, there was one thing that scared me the most about coming out to Vietnam. It wasn’t the fear of working in a foreign country or missing the comforts of home. It wasn’t the risk of getting sick or the difficulty of being away from Kevin and Cuggits. The biggest fear of all was…

KARAOKE

Standing in front of a group of people and singing is pretty much the sum of all fears for me. It took a substantial amount of alcohol last time I did it (which also happens to be the only time I ever did) and I swore to never do it again. I blame it on 10 years spent at the conservatory of music where we had to practice solfège weekly and sing while conducting. It was not fun.

That’s why when my company sent out an email yesterday saying we are all going to celebrate New Year’s in a Karaoke bar, I almost had a heart attack. Singing is a very big part of Asian culture and Vietnam is no exception. EVERYBODY loves Karaoke and feels very comfortable participating. We will be welcoming the new year tonight at a Karaoke venue where I will be downing lots of drinks in order to get up and join the celebration.

If this is any indication of what’s to come in 2009 then it is bound to be a very happy (musical) year.

Happy New Year!

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