Sometimes a stopover becomes permanent. That's true for Eric Paul Schafer '85, MA '89, MBA '02, marketing director at American Pacific University, the first American university in Viet Nam.

The U.S. economy was "lousy" when Schafer got his MBA, so he decided to take a college teaching job in Viet Nam, a place he found fascinating after having read about its history as a boy. What he thought would be a six-month stay has become four years and counting.

"The Vietnamese are friendly, kind and welcoming," Schafer explains simply. "I have never, at any time, in any place, encountered any discrimination because I am American."

Schafer's Vietnamese friendships have inspired him to write. One of his books is The Wind Took it Away, a collection of short stories set in contemporary Viet Nam. Truc Ky, The Medium Girl is a children's book about a Vietnamese-American girl.

The Asian nation also has been a fertile ground for Schafer's entrepreneurial interests; the Vietnamese are finding ways to embrace American business principles while maintaining old traditions. Schafer founded Azure Marketing in 2003 and counts Nike and GlaxoSmithKline among his clients.

"If I'd stayed in the United States, I'd be the No. 3 man in a 10-man marketing department selling soap to people who don't need it," Schafer said. "In Viet Nam, I've helped set up companies, opened branch offices, developed products and marketing campaigns for major organizations, managed large staffs."

The Binghamton-area native has no plans to return home anytime soon. He plans to get married in Viet Nam and, if business continues to thrive, stay another five years.

"The only things I miss are milk, pasta and the Yankees," Schafer says. "Viet Nam is now my second home, rather than some place where I worked for a while. Even my Vietnamese friends say I've become part Vietnamese."

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