Where is the money?

It's all about the Ho Chi Minhs, baby.

Hey blog-o-sphere.
Yes I know I've been M.I.A. The holidays are approaching and I've been planning a glorious get-away for moms and I. Island hopping in the Philippines is only a few months away. However I wish I could joyfully anticipate this excursion. Instead I am guilt with worry at the threat of lacking enough dollars. Why should this be, you may ask, since I have a decent paying job. Well apparently there is a shortage of USD in Vietnam. Really? Really. According to the HR at the j-o-b there is such a shortage that they can no longer pay us in USD. So I am now being paid in VND. This wouldn't be a problem had I left the US with zero debts or responsibilities to tend to. However I like saving for my retirement, and my student loans will not do a disappearing act. Well I thought there was a simple solution to this predicament. Just transfer VND into my USD account in the US. My US bank accepts foreign currency, so what's the issue? This alternative will not work thanks to the stringent rules of the Vietnamese government. You don't want your monopoly money leaving your country???  Because it's absolutely useless anywhere else in the world??? Whatever. So I'm forced to ask the age old question I've been asking numerous times since I arrived in Vietnam: What is the solution to this problem? (because common sense logic never applies in a Vietnamese situation).

Hmmm, let' see, get a new job? Because on any given day the bank claims they may, or may not, have enough USD to sell to me. I think this is a load of BSD. (a bull-shit decision) The bank has plenty of USD. Maybe not as much as they would like to have, but they have enough to sell to me. I'm not asking for millions of USD, I'm not making Donald Trump deals! I'm just a poor Black girl from rural Wisconsin tryin to make a dollar. I didn't travel 6,000+ miles to another hemisphere, to crazy weather and cultural traditions to be broke! It's definitely time to go home!

Don't "buy" into the hype, looks can be deceiving.