Ahoy from Hanoi!!!

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After an attempt by my family to find my degree at home ended in them not being able to find my degree I could not therefore legally teach in Taiwan or Korea, which is probably a good thing because I can't really be bothered to move for at least half a year. Plus the woman are beautiful and the coffee is fantastic.

It does also have a excellent arthouse cinema, which I went along to one afternoon to endulge in a day of Egyptian cinema. Unluckly for me it was however in arabic with Vietnamese and French subtitles, and the little French I knew which basically comprised of offensive words and 'can I take off my jacket ' and 'can I clean the blackboard' did not help me as much as I thought it would. The following day of Singapore Cinema proved to be a more enjoyable experience when people were finally speaking or offered subtitles in English.

So I will now call Hanoi my home for the next 6-12 months and learn more than the two words I know after nearly two months already in Vietnam; two words per month should do it. I was very proud of myself two nights ago when I managed to count to 10, from 8 that is. Last night I managed to count to the full 10 all the way from 1. My teacher's always told me I was a very special boy, and I never forgot what they said.

Its very strange I wake up and go outside to get breakfast somewhere I then it hits me, SHIT I live in Vietnam!! It will now be my fourth home, after Canterbury where I was born, Uxbridge where the boy wonder didn't seem to do very much but managed to come out with a degree and of course most important of all the planet Krypton where he originated before he came to planet Earth.

The strangest thing I have noticed from my travels in Asia is that if you tell a native Asian they have a nice tan its an insult esspecially in South East Asia. They don't like their brown skin, they want to be whiter while we in the West want to be darker. If someone says you have a big nose in Asia, its a compliment, they don't like their small noses here. You tell a Westerner that and they punch you in the face. They have skin whitener in Asia like we have skin tanner in the West. Most Westerners find people with tanned skin and small noses attractive, yet most Asian's find big noses and white skin beautiful. Thats crazy! It seems that no one in the world likes themselves.

No pictures I am afraid yet, actually I have one from Hanoi of a road which is not very exciting, but it was from the balcony where a CNN correspondant was reporting on the growing economy in Vietnam which was later televised around Asia to millions of people, so that makes it a little bit more exciting.

I will keep you updated when I get a job and on all the stupid things I am bound to do in the future, which will be plenty. I am quiet afraid that half the children I will teach will be smarter than me, most will be able to spell better and pretty much all of them will have more common sense, so honestly they should really be teaching me, but I like a challenge.

Peace out amigos!!!!

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