Life Update: From Hanoi to Ireland, and Learning Made Fun 2.0

So… what’s been happening?

After 7 years living abroad — 4 in Doha and 3 in Vietnam — my teaching career has been a whirlwind. I’ve spent 5 years leading year teams, worked as a STEAM Coordinator, hosted regional international workshops for 500+ educators, and completed the Middle Leaders programme. It’s been an amazing ride, and I’ve grown massively as an educator.

But here’s the truth: the hours were long. Between commuting, gym workouts, after-school meetings, and lesson prep, I was often out the door by 6:30am and not home until 6:30pm. Add in showers, dinner, and more schoolwork in the evenings — there was barely space left for anything else.

On top of that, life in Hanoi brought its own challenges: air pollution, noise, heat, and constant overstimulation. Professionally, I was thriving — but Learning Made Fun was slowly dying.

So in July, my wife, our dog (Noodle the Poodle ), and I said goodbye to Hanoi and flew back to Ireland.

Flight mode: activated. Tail wag: unstoppable.

Noodle the Poodle, taking one last soulful glance at Vietnam before chasing sheep in Ireland.

WE MADE IT!

The reality? It wasn’t easy. No car. No house. No job. We were lucky to move into my sister-in-law’s garage roof space—a temporary haven that gave us breathing room.

Time to get busy! One dusty step at a time!

But step by step, things started to change:

• We cleaned, renovated, and made the space our own.

• We got cars.

• We got jobs.

Buying Old Furniture in charity stores and Pimping them is how we roll now!

• 

  Home Sweet Home

I’m now working part-time as an intervention teacher in a secondary school, just 3 days a week. That means I finally have 4 full days to dedicate to Learning Made Fun — and we’re officially back!

Here’s what’s next:🎥 Posting one YouTube video every week📂 Creating education resources to complement each video🏗 Renovating my parents’ garage into a creative studio where I can film, edit, and build projects.

The dream is alive again — bigger, bolder, and better than before. Thanks for sticking around on this journey.

Noodles first time on grass...as happy as Larry!