Merry Christmas!!!!

Hello everyone. I am very sorry for not writing in such a long time. I'll try to make it up to you with a really good post!

So there's not tooooo much new going on here... I got a new motorbike (it's black!), I got a new camera, and I discovered a few new restaurants. Oh, and I'm joining a gym. A really nice gym! (With a sauna, pool, pool bar, steam room, and all the normal workout stuff.) So I'll be going to sit by the pool most days after work from now on.

It's Christmas Eve here, and I'm still sitting at my desk at work! In class today I had lots of special treats for the kids. One of which you will find in a video below- santa came to class! You should have seen the looks on their faces when he walked in... a mixture of happiness, excitement, and a little bit of fear haha. Take a look:





If you noticed, I'm trying to improve their manners.

My plans for Christmas? Well… tonight after work I’m going out for dinner with my boss and three or four other teachers. It’s gonna be an expensive meal, but I guess it’s my Christmas present to myself. There are seven courses as follows! 1) Australian Salmon and Crab Tartare. 2) Pan Seeared Foie Gras served with light green spiced sharp apples and grapes steeped in Armagnac. 3) Imported diver sea scallops with endives and parsley cream sauce. 4) Lime Sherbet drizzle with sauterne. 5) Main Lobster, simply grilled in truffle oil with vegetables of the spring (or) Prime fillet of American beef with cepes and crispy potatoes- red wine reduction. 6) Puff pastry with sugar crust and strawberries dressed in red fruits and kiwis coulis. 7) and lastly… Hot drinks and sweets.

Not too bad… huh? I don’t know what half the things are but they sound good!

After dinner I’m going over to a friend’s house from work who is having a few people over for drinks and snacks. In the morning my landlord said she is cooking me a homemade pizza at 10am since “foreigners really like pizza.” She also invited me to go to church with her beforehand… but I don’t know if I’ll feel like waking up for that. Then in the afternoon I’m going to see “Tron 3-D” with friends from my TEFL course. For dinner we have reservations for the Hard Rock Café, and then finally we’re going to paint the town red (and green)!

Alrighty, it’s about time for me to get going home to take a shower before dinner. Here are some more picture from class today! Merry Christmas everyone!


PS----

Aunt Karen- Thanks for the Hannukkah (sp?) present!

Uncle Bob- Quit complaining! I’ll bring snake wine home for you when I come back to the states!

Andrew- Looking forward to having some beers with ice in LA sometime in… april?? I’ll let you know…

Mom- yes I have been getting ALL of your facebook messages (and emails). Don’t worry, I’m fine!!! Haha just kidding mom I miss you… Hope you’re having a great Christmas with everyone.



On the way to class:

Christmas tree at school:

Santa Claus:

Miles:

Caplan and I (my favorite student):

Caplan:

Buddy making his parents a Christmas card:

Keith with his card:

Tracy playing with stickers:

Barbara pulling out the peace sign:

Merry Christmas!

Teacher's Day

Today was teacher's day! I was told you get tons of presents from your students, but I only had one class scheduled so I didn't get too much. Two ties, a nice pen, flowers, and a bunch of cards. Pretty cool, though, nonetheless. We also had a party in the office with an awesome buffet and wine! Here are some pics!

Life's been good lately. I don't have pictures of my apartment ready to upload yet, but they will come soon. On my way to work today I had another realization that I'm starting to get used to the craziness of this place. Some things have become routine, like driving my motor bike to work, wearing my face mask to filter out the polluted air, ignoring solicitors on the streets, drinking beer with ice, etc. etc. I'm starting to realize the affects of communism here as well. Of course it's not as radical as Cuba or anything, but I'm not allowed to even mention anything about the government or religion in class. The Vietnamese way of thinking is also very relient on copying eachother's ideas rather than being original. What I consider "cheating" on a test, for example, my students see as merely helping out a friend. And when we do arts and crafts in class, I'll walk around the room after five minutes and see that everyone has drawn the exact same designs or patterns. Even on the streets you see repetition of the same stores over and over and over again. One person I talked to who has been in the country for a while told me that when one person thinks of a new idea for a business, a month later you'll see ten more of the same pop-up. Copy-right laws don't exist here either. Copying DVD's, books, clothing labels, hand bags, shoes, and much more is a common way to make a living. And since there are no regulations, they are able to do a really good job at it. When you buy a fake book or DVD, you can't even tell it's fake besides it's low price. Many book publisher's won't even allow their books to be sold in Vietnam cause they know the second it enters the country, it's going to the copy shop!  

Anyway, everyone in the office is going out for karaoke this afternoon so I've gotta go! Keep commenting.

Update

Hi all. I'm writing this post from my computer at work... it will be breif. I've been really busy working usually from 8am-5pm every day. Thursdays I only work afternoons which is awesome! Ben is going back home to the US tomorrow which is disappointing. He has been having trouble getting a job since arriving in VN, and now it makes sense for him to just go back home. The reason he can't get a job is pretty ridiculous- cause he's Asian (Korean). Despite being brought to the US at 9 months old, Ben is not seen as an American, just as all others who aren't white. The reason for Vietnam's narrow thinking in this regard is because there is virtually no diversity in the country. Only about 1% of residents aren't Vietnamese: all Vietnamese citizens are Asian. Thus, the Vietnamese don't understand that there are more skin colors in America than just white- bringing a serious disadvantage to Asian, black, Indian, or Spanish native English speakers who wish to teach English here.

But anyway, now I have to find a one-bedroom apartment, which will of course be more expensive than sharing a 2-bedroom. Worst of all I will be alone here! Well I have a few friends, and I'll meet more people so I know I'll manage. BUT.... Christmas will be slightly depressing. A simple solution to this is for someone to VISIT!!! I'll end on that note :)

PICS FROM THE HCMC ZOO:

Got a job

Got a job on Thursday! Yesterday was my first day. It's an awesome job. I have my own desk, a brand new computer, a bus that takes me to work, and very.. very good pay! Not to mention they buy everyone lunch every day. And I have (sort of) a secretary. I'm going to call him a secretary just because it sounds cool, but what he really does is makes sure that I have all the materials to plan my classes for any given week, brings me to class, and sits in class in case any Vietnamese-English translating is needed. Oh, and not only am I an English teacher, but now I'm also a math teacher!! Poor kids...

Change of plans... again

Again, sorry for the delayed post. It's been a very busy week! Long story short- now I'm back in Saigon... I started working in Hue at an international school called Cilios. The school and the students were fantastic, and I was put in charge of an advanced speaking class that was a pleasure to teach. All of the kids (and some adults) were eager to learn and participate and were very friendly. One class actually took Ben and I out for coffee after school... so much fun!

UNFORTUNATELY, Cilios is a Vietnamese run school, has very little funding, and could only afford to pay us 13,000,000 Dong/ month (about $650 USD). That is just not enough... And since Ben and I were tired of looking for jobs and moving around from city to city, we decided to make it easy on ourselves by moving back to Saigon where you'll find a new job offering on every block. So, we arrived in the city last night (Monday night) after a really, really fun 28 hour bus trip from Hue. Actually it sucked. We went from Hue to Hoi An, stopped for dinner, Hoi An to Nha Trang, stopped for breakfast, Nha Trang to Mui Ne, stopped for lunch, and finally to Saigon.

I've applied to a bunch of jobs, have an interview tomorrow morning for a job I really want to get, and will apply to more tomorrow afternoon. I got an awesome deal on a motor bike today, fifty bucks/ month for a brand new, never been ridden Honda Wave. It get's stares, either that or people are just staring at me cause I'm white.. or both. I also got a new helmet, this time one that wraps around my ears as well, a bit more comfortable and much safer.

Anyway, I realized today that my 3 month visa is almost up. I can't believe I've been here for almost 90 days. It feels like much less. I do feel that Vietnamese life is becoming more normal to me now, though. The insane motor bike traffic no longer phases me as much, I have almost mastered the art of ordering a meal in a restaurant, and I've come to accept that nothing in this country is ever definite or guaranteed. You've really gotta learn to expect the unexpected.

That's all for now... keep commenting, and SOMEBODY please visit me!!!

Hue, Employment and Pictures

Sorry for not writing sooner. I've been in Hue now for about three days, and I have to say it's amazing- definitely my favorite place in 'Nam so far. It's a pretty small city/ big town, and feels a lot like a college town- Vietnamese style. Actually, I shouldn't say that. Hue has such a heavy French influence that it almost feels like a combining of the two cultures. Although I've never been anywhere in France, the layout of the whole town is much different from anything I've experienced in Vietnam so far- it looks and feels much like how I'd imagine an old French town.

But where you really notice the French influence is the food! Hue has many specialty foods that are seldom found elsewhere in the country, including crepes, special French-Vietnamese pastries, and best of all, Banh Khoai. Banh Khoai is a "pancake" pastry filled with bean sprouts, shrimp, pork, sometimes cheese, and usually a bunch of other delicious goodies. It is also served with homemade peanut sauce. MMMMMMMM.

Anyway, the job situation is looking pretty good. I've started working for a semi-boarding language school across the river called Cilios. It's a really great place to work. All of the teachers, along with the director, have been extremely helpful and friendly. Unfortunately, they are not allowed to provide us with accommodation until our work permits are official, but they are helping us find a cheap house to rent in the mean time, and they have been preparing us with a bounty of helpful links and resources for ESL teaching. I've also been told that Vietnam's "Teacher's Day" is just around the corner- November 22nd- wooo!

Alrighty, so, like the last entry, I figured I would put up a bunch of pictures for the remainder of the post. (Good news- I figured out that I can upload pictures from my camera without the USB chord simply by putting my SD-card into Ben's camera and uploading them from his.) Enjoy, and comment!

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A small bay in Da Nang where we swam and snorkeled



Restaurant/ bar built over a river in Hoi An



View of Da Nang while riding up Monkey Mountain



Da Nang from the very top of the mountain



Monkey Mountain



Doing a little thinking on the very top of Monkey Mt.... very, very high up!



One of over 300 Pagoda's in Hue



The first Christian Church we've seen in Vietnam (Hue)



A nice garden leading up to the previous Church



French Influence in Hue?



More to come!

Marble Mountain

Finally I have some pictures for you! I haven't been able to upload pictures from my camera because I don't have the USB chord and I can't get another one in Vietnam. But I just uploaded all of Ben's pictures from his camera, so I'll post some up for you!

Anyway, I went to marble mountain two days ago, located just ten minutes away from our house in Da Nang. As you might have guessed, Marble mountain is a mountain made entirely of marble. Throughout the mountain are a series of caves, temples, sculptures, and amazing views of the surrounding area. It is surrounded by five other mountains, and each of the six mountains represents an element: water, wood, fire, air, metal, and earth. Marble Mountain represents water. Here is are some views from the top:










Our Vietnamese tour guide and I touching the belly of "Happy Buddha":




The "Gate to Heaven":




A Pagoda on top of the mountain:




Another Pagoda built into the mountain:




"Sleeping Woman Buddha"




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I think I'll use the rest of this post to show you some other pictures from other parts of our journey in Vietnam. Enjoy!

My house in Da Nang:




The living room leading into the kitchen:




View from our roof:




Me driving my motor bike down Monkey Mountain:




Monkey Mountain:




The cable guy installing our wifi:




A view from a cafe built over a river in Hoi An:




Da Nang from the air:



A view of Da Nang city from Monkey Mountain with the Buddha statue in the bottom left:




View of HCMC from a bar at the top of the Sheraton:




Mui Ne beach:




And last but not least, me in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City!!




That's all for now.. keep posted!