Home sweet home! Settling in in the New City!

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It's hard to believe we've already been in Vietnam for 3 weeks! It really does seem like yesterday that we stepped off the plane. That just goes to show how quickly time flies when you are having fun!!!!

We finally moved into the apartment almost 2 weeks ago now. Would you believe it, we got the one we were shown on the opening day so you've seen it already. We're up on the 13th floor, only everyone seems to refer to it as floor 12B. We're not that superstitious though!

Life is good and work isn't bad either. Our classes are nice and we are gradually learning the names of our students. Russ has even started learning Vietnamese but he's struggling to count beyond two. At least he can order a coffee and a couple of beers!! Trish was bestowed with gifts for Vietnam's Womens' Day. She got some lovely flowers, a couple of teeshirts and a tea service.

Outside of work we are trying to keep fit! We have bought bikes. We had to go in to TDM to get them and then we cycled all the way back to Binh Duong. Not bad in 32 degrees of humidity! We've also been down to the sports centre and had a swim at dusk. It's quite something to swim in the pool when it is illuminated by halogen lights. One day we took our bikes out to the villages closest to Binh Duong where we sat out and drank Vietnamese iced coffee. There's a knack to it - you have to let your mini filter drip all the way through before pouring its contents onto the waiting glass of ice. While you're waiting, the local chrysanthemum water is refreshing. That day we came across some water buffalo having a mud bath. When we stopped to take some photos we became as much an attraction for the locals as the buffalo were to us!!

A stone's throw from the Aroma apartments where we live is Central Park. It's nice to stroll around after work and offers some great views of our building. You have to get used to saying hello every 5 minutes though as it's a popular spot for courting young couples and students cruising on their mopeds!

As we've said, life is good. Long may it continue that way.

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Photos

Our bikes!
They are the ones in the middle!!

The lounge
Looking a bit more lived in now.

Comments

[Joe]

coffee
Oh, how silently weep when i remember Vietnamese coffee, the most underrated coffee in the world.

[Rat on the Road]

Interesting read
Interesting to read about people teaching out of the big cities. Let us know sometime when you visit saigon and we'll have a drink.

[deleted_46288]

Learning Vietnamese!
I already speak 4 languages, but I gave up learning Vietnamese after 6 months. It's the intonations that are so difficult to get right. I hope you have better luck than me. One expression you can use with your students is 'xao ba co' (pronounced saa ba corr). It means 'to tell a fib'. If you can find an opportune moment to use it, you will have your students in hysterics. They love it when teachers try to use Vietnamese.