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Published: November 4th 2005
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Roadside Restaurant
This was a pretty sweet restaurant we ate at - we're suckers for a big flame Troi Oi!!! (Oh God! in Vietnamese) - there is soooo much to talk about! Granted, this is in part because I have not written in a while, but the past few days some noteworthy things have happened. SSSOOOOOOO, here goes:
THE DAILY GRIND: My job search continues...Right now I am working an average of 9-12 hours per week at Cleverlearn, which is a private school with great resources. I have only one class (Sat and Sun mornings for 8:30 -11:30), but have been doing a fair bit of subbing for various classes. This is a great opportunity because it gives me exposure to classes of different ages and speaking abilities, plus it lets me bring in the cash! I got my first paycheck on Monday - 12 hours in a week and almost 2,000,000 VND!!! Pretty sweet! I have interviewed at a few other places including this really awesome 'hippy' school. It's quite small, maybe 100-some odd students, but they have a great mentalitiy. It was established by two American ex-pats who have worked in the education system at all levels in Vietnam and HCM in particular. They were disgusted by the corruption and politics that run rampant in
The Virgin Mary
This would be the crying statue... so many larger schools (aka: Cleverlearn). They are quite liberal in their definition of teaching/learning, so they do things like give cooking lessons in English, play pool for a class period, go dancing...pretty much anything you can think of that will encourage students to speak in English in an applied way. I asked them if I might be able to paint a mural with students and they were quite reseptive. So, I anticipate working only a few hours a week there to start off, but maybe they'll let me design a class or do something with my artwork.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! We celebrated Halloween in class on Sunday morning, and it was awesome!!! On Sunday I went out to a house party for Halloween. I dressed as a zombie moviestar, which the Vietnamese didn't understand, but English speakers did... the house belonged to some people that Marta works with. They were pretty nice, and a diverse group from Spain, England, Australia... At the end of the night we went to a bar in the neighborhood of our guest house, and I left with Marta around 2/3 am to grab some food. As we were searching, these little children came up
Bottled Snakes
Amongst the stuff left behind, two HUGE jars of preserved snakes, scorpions and unnamed other creepy crawlers...we're talking a good 1.5 feet tall jars! MArta and Joe are creeped out - i'm undecided to me and started patting my tummy and saying, "the baby is hungry, the baby is hungry...!!!". Imagine my distress - to be called pregnant by the local street children! So, I won't lie, my self-esteem did plummet a bit after that, but when I got home I looked in the mirror and my tumy wasn't so bad...nothing like what my semi-drunken mind had conjured up in the wake of the street kids. I was later told (in an unrelated conversation) that if you're not a stick, you're fat (which I have observed) and also in Vietnamese society it's not impolite to say things like that. For example, if you're a bit tired/hungover, then you are ugly...
I moved into a house yesterday with Joe, Marta, and this American girl (Michelle) from the TEFL course. The house is seriously AMAZING!!!! Granted, it's quite dirty right now (I feel the concept of cleaning a house before renting it out doesn't really apply here) and I've already had to plunge the toilet, but it's quite large with an awesome wrap-around stair case. Yesterday Joe mopped for literally five hours straight because whenever we take our shoes off our feet turn black.
Earlier today Marta was on her hands and knees going at the grout in her bathroom with a toothbrush. I'm less fortunate than Marta and Joe - I can't fully clean my bathroom because the drain in the floor is clogged. Needless to say I'm going hom to a grimy puddle in the middle of the floor... Post-mopping the situation is somewhat improved. We are pretty close to the canal, which smells not so great (I combat this problem by lighting incense... a LOT). MArta and I each have a balcony off our rooms, plus we have two roof terraces. We also have our first cockroach, who proves to be quite wiley. I chased him across the counter last night, trying to trap him under a cup...He got the better of me...apparently it's normal to have 5/6 roaches at any given time, so perhaps I should just count my blessings that there aren't any more. Also, the owner spent the night two nights ago, which seemed sort of weird to me, since we're paying rent and all, but whatever. At the top of the staircase there is a shrine to the owner's dead parents. Every night we are supposed to
Our front door/windows..
As I said, the ceilings are probably 18 feet high, which puts these doors at around 12 feet! The ornamental metalwork serves the dual purpose of beauty and protection from criminals. WE've been told to keep the upper balcony doors locked when we go to bed b/c people will scale the side of the house and come in! light incense and think about them. I don't know why they insist upon keeping the shrine there - it seems that they might want it in their new house?? And it seems weird to have the renters pray for them when we never knew them..? Oh well, it is what it is. And, it's sort of fun to get to join in the local customs.
THE MIRACLE OF MARY!! On Sunday, while I was teaching, the statue of the Virgin Mary (in front of the HCM Notre Dame Cathedral) started crying. Tons of people in the city went to see it, and also people are making pilgrimmages to see it. The square around it is still packed (Thursday). I went and checked out the scene briefly on Monday; it was interesting, although I couldn't get very close. There's a white substance coming out of her eye and running down her cheek and a bit coming out of the other eye. I was a bit disappointed by the crying itself - I personally think it looks more like bird shit than water, but I was really intrigued by the number of worshippers there. Apparently when she cries it means something
Baby Gecko
Baby geckos are everywhere! This one was in my room at the guest house. bad will happen, or has happened. I have to question the use of the term 'miracle' in regards to this situation because it's only been 14 years since the last time she cried. Seems to me it should happen much less frequently! MArta said she's seen a statue of Mary cry when she was in Italy - but the tears were blood (apparently when the blood was tested, it had no DNA. I think that sounds a lot sweeter, and it's also the final step in determining whether or not it's a real miracle or a hoax. No DNA = not of this world). Regardless of whether or not this was a hoax or some bizarre occurence with the stone, I was glad to see it. It's pretty cool!!
PROSTITUTES GALORE: Sooooooo, we go to a bar called Ice Blue in the backpacker's district pretty much every night. There was a cool dude who worked there but got fired, and the other day Brian and I ran into him outside a different bar. He reccommened it to us and we said we'd come another time. SSSSoooooooooo last night we decided to give it a try, and it ended up being a brothel with the facade of a pool bar. Joe, Brian and I played pool upstairs, with one of the hookers, while a scantily clad girl in red dress (talk about fulfilling stereotypes) romanced this skeezy aussie guy 10 feet away. When I looked down the hallway, I could see into another room where a woman was sitting on a guys lap making out with him! Talk about a cultural experience! So, now I can say I've played pool in a brothel with a hooker! That about wraps it up - also, if you have read this blog or received the emails from travelblog that notify you when I have a new installment, please let me know. I have put people on the list who have not been receiving updates, and I want to add them again. Hope all is well in all your necks of the woods!!
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Uncle Tom
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The Adventure Continues
Just wanted to let you know that I am receiving your updates. My first reaction to some of your living conditions was a little squirmish. But, on second thought, it's probably not a lot worse than some of the places I crashed in at the Jersey shore when I was your age. It certainly sounds like you are getting an unbelievable experience. We love you and look forward to the next installment of "As Moira's World Turns".