It’s been a few days since my last post…and you’d think some good stuff has happened since then. Boy would you be wrong! I have been waking up every day to prepare for my 9 hours at the firm and by the time I get off at 6 pm, it’s already darker outside, which still surprises me, and I just want to go home, shower and sleep. When Elliot and I leave each day, all the other associates are still busily working, showing no sign of resigning from their work any time soon. We usually head over to some restaurant/café/coffee shop and sit and sip a drink. Sometimes he goes to work out. Most of the time we grab dinner at one or two places (depending on the portion sizes given us at the first place) and I am quick to call it a night after that. That, in sum, is how each weekday passes by. Tiring and boring and, well, not worth blogging about.
The other day I did get my ao dai (the traditional Vietnamese dress) and I think it turned out better than expected. It’s quite thin but, well, let’s be practical, I wasn’t going to wear it much, if at all, on a regular basis or without proper cause/occasion.
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| Blurry but sufficient. |
I did get another dress tailored from a different place and it was less satisfactory. In fact, I will never return to that place. For some reason, I expected a much better result since these items were being tailored. But I guess I should simply remember that I am in Vietnam, and sometimes, you pay for what you get. I just wish I paid a WHOLE lot less, like maybe US $5-10. Sadly, that is not the case for this time around, but I’ve learned my lesson, and I will be much smarter, more patient, and more aggressive the next time. Or more willing to "walk" if I do not get a reasonable (and dirt cheap, lol) price..
Oh, today is “smart casual” day at work and so you get to wear jeans and even t-shirts (plain or printed). I spose this is what is considered “business casual” in America; however, since that is their daily dress code, they go even more casual on Fridays. I love it! I wore jeans, but no pic of it....BUT...
I just wish I had brought at least one or two pairs of heels. I have been suffering wearing flats everywhere. Now I really know never to assume that heels might be questionable, and I will learn from this as well – heels are a girl’s first love, and this love exists universally. Oh my sweet, beautiful heels, how I miss you all!
But on a more law school related note – let me forewarn you, the following is detailed and long and extremely boring and it’s more for me to remember what miserable things I did at work rather than for you to read and go “ahh, she did THAT in Vietnam…I wanna do it too.”
I finished my second assignment before lunch today and it was intense the whole 2-2.5 days that I was working on it. Someone else had written a memo on a transaction that was happening (a very big deal, I just learned) and I had to review it, revise it, and cite the legal sources as well as the references to the various agreements/contracts. Now it started out being only a four-page memo. Simple enough, right? Wrong! It was about enterprises and joint stock companies and share purchasing and other stuff that I couldn’t grasp the context of because the memo seemed directed to someone who was already knowledgeable about the case/transaction. But then, all of this was Vietnamese law…and I had to do lots of google searching and the likes to even gain a slight understanding of what any one sentence in this memo was about.
The first day I had the memo, I simply read it over and tried to understand what was kinda going on. Realizing that that was not the best way to go about it, since there was a lot of law that I did not know, I started citing the sources of law and reading into the various laws that governed this transaction: Law on Enterprises, Securities Law, Ordinance on Foreign Investment, and so forth. I did a lot of article-reading about the general economy of Vietnam and its outlook on incorporating, foreign investment, share purchasing, and basically doing business there. Then I reread the memo, and well, things seemed to make a bit more sense.
The second day, I sent the memo to the senior associate who assigned it to me, and *sigh* he did not seem very pleased with it. I had told him it was incomplete and I just wanted to make sure I was going in the right direction, but well, he basically said that I could do better…and that I had to fix my grammatical errors. Oh that last part was a bit of a “wtf” moment…considering I had spent much of the first day fixing sentences, rearranging words, putting in commas and semi-colons in an attempt to make the legalese more clear…but it seemed to have been an unsuccessful attempt. So I tried it again. Also, Day 2 I got two agreements referenced in the memo and had to cite the noted provisions; this was nothing but tedious process of guess and search. I literally had no idea what most of the things in the contracts meant so it prolly took me two-three times longer than it would have taken someone else. Of course, the contracts being quite long and the print quite small (from the copies I received), I did not finish the citations until morning of Day 3.
The third and final day, I finished my citations. Double-checked that the articles and sections correlated to the information/law used/referred to. Then I tried my best to make my citations in accordance with how it is done here. How is it done in Vietnam? I’m not really sure; and neither is anyone else from what I was told. But I followed someone’s example, Tuyen’s actually, and it seemed to have been done pretty well. And then, of course, I did one final read-through. I made some sentences shorter, divided one-paragraph sentences into multiple sentences, cut out redundant wordings (though they seem to prefer things written that way), and rearranged words and sentences again and again. I’ve sent it in again, and have yet to hear back.
Project/Assignment 2 – DONE!
Just counting down the few hours till work week #1 can be considered “successfully” tackled…
Tomorrow: Plans to go to Vung Tau beach with Elliot and three other colleagues. I promise I’ll take pictures (even if Elliot grimaces at my touristy ways). There are other people joining us on this trip and I would like to capture the moment…and I don’t need to ask Elliot to take my picture….so mua-haha-haha…
I sure hope it goes well.
Oh, by the way, I had my first cocktail here..it had orange and lychee and some long c-word in the name..it was pretty good..but I wouldn't say anything outstanding. I guess by saying that I had no trouble drinking it shows, in itself, how "good" the drink was...my first alcoholic drink here was some beer at some place...and it was disgusting... I don't think I will understand the NEED to UNDERSTAND and ACCEPT why drinkers have the right to be angry/upset at an individual who goes to a bar/club (or whatever places where alcoholic drinks make up most of the menu) but chooses not to drink (and is not "party-pooping" because he/she is having a good time and not making anyone feel bad for drinking)...Doesn't it make sense to not force someone to do something they don't wanna do, especially if they are having a good time and are not preventing or causing another to NOT have a good time. Seems pretty crystal clear actually. Then again, no one should be friends with such a jerk who doesn't care about whether you are having a good time but rather that you're doing what he/she is doing even if it means you're miserable. A-hole.
(okay, rant is over...for the post.blog at least)...
Till next time, toodles…
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