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Published: October 2nd 2005
Yesterday we met up with some of the other teachers for lunch and whilst they are always having western food (minly pizza... honestly these Americans!!), I am always having local food! It is unbelievably delicious!!!! However we finished off with an pple pie tht was truly the best apple pie in the world! I am drooling right now just thinking of it! It was a little expensive though (80p) when compared to my main meal (85p)!!
Last night another girl arrived, Moira, who is pretty cool. She's also from the US but seems like a bit of a traveller, so she will be my travel buddy for South East Asia! 😊 Brian is also American but we hven't seen much of him... he took 3 days to get here (plane cancellations) and is suffering quite badly with the jet lag so he's been sleeping since he arrived! Oh and Mark, Sarah's boyfriend is from Little Falls in New Jersey!! It's a small world!
We decided to go and visit the Reunification Palace which is surrounded by a beautiful park. They are badmington crazy over here!!! Old couples, young people.. they all play badmington! There were a lot of people exercising too, doing tai chi style stuff! As the palace had closed we went to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral which looks very nice on the outside but was also closed! They have a phenomenal grand central post office (both of these working monuments are the inheritance of the French colonialism) and managed to send off some postcards. The lady said it would take two weeks, so don't hold your breath!
The Vietnamese are really lovely people. I actually saw the lady who fleeced me with the corn again and she as beaming! I kind of signalled to her that I realised now how ripped off I had been and she brought me some free corn!!! Being now wiser I didn't eat it... she probably would have charged me anyway! We had two seperate incidents where parents with little children would bring them to us so we could say hello to them. It reminded me of when you go to the zoo and are trying to teach a small child about that animal! There was a lot of pointing, touching and muttering (this is what we call a foreigner...) but I feel very relaxed about that! I think it is great that they are warm and tactile people! They are also very romantic and lovey dovey. They have no problem sayig that you are beautiful!! Girls and guys alike! I love it here.. I'm model!!! 😊 They do come out with some really funny things trying to sound romantic... this one guy, Hahn our local barman said 'I could feel you walking towards our bar. The wind must have been blowing in this direction. I could smell your breath.'... I thought this was hilarious!
Needless to say I got ripped off again on a taxi to a sushi restaurant for dinner yesterday! Oh well, I am giving myself till the end of the week to get my Vietnamese sorted (a few key phrases such as 'Are you trying to rip me off?' (always a good one!). Sushi was good and the restaurant was amazing (and they deliver which I am thinking is the way forward in the future - no taxi fleecing!). We then got together with Tam who we met 2 nights go. I don't think I mentioned Tam in the last entry. He is a Vietnamese born American that left when he was baby due to the war. This is his first time in Vietnam since and he invited us to sit with him at a bar as he was in need of westernised company! He keeps buying us drinks which is quite ok by me! Apparently the oldest person should buy everyoe drinks so.. I am not complaining! He bought everyone's drinks yesterday and there was 6 of us! He's definately a dude!
The orientation has been cancelled today so we might venture back to the Reunification palace and the cathedral before they close today, and the war museum is also meant to be very good; very heart wrenching, but it will be good to get to grips with the reality that was the war. I'm still a little iffy on Vietnamese history and seeing as I'm here I need to brush up on it. I'm looking forward to visiting the Cu Chi tunnels too where (I think) you have fire an old AK47!! Hahaha! Me and a gun? Are you sure!?
Anyway dudes and dudettes, still no chance of photos (I feel terrible.. writing only is so boooorig!) but promise that tomorrow I will try harder. I am really enjoying myself and liking this place more and more by the second. The people are SUPER, especially the people at the guest house where we are. They practise their English with us and we try nd fail miserably at practising Vietnamese. IT IS SO HARD!!! There are 6 tones for each word, so instead of saying hello, you could be ordering soup; instead of ordering a beer you could be ordering 3 old women and instead of saying that you would like an ao dai (traditionl costume) you could be asking for a man's penis! So yeah, we have to tread VERY carefully... we don't want to give the wrong impression!
Take it easy people and keep commenting! They make me laugh!!
Oh I almost forget about the children selling on the street!!! They are the future business minds of Vietnam. You should see them, they are adorably cute but they don't bank on that to sell! One girl was selling chewing gum to Julie and she challenged her to a game of scissors, paper and stone. If Julie won she could have 2 packets of chewing gum for free, but if the girl won, she had to pay for two! I'm thinking that somewhere along the line the girl would find way to win all the time!
So much to tell but really don't want to bore you... will be nicer with photos so I will try!
Babi: no dog or cat yet but if I am hugry ad I cn't find nything else, it is going down!!!
Bev: all play and no work for now... I am getting loads of energy from the food! 😊
Paul: I bet you don't get to fire and AK47 in the Biritish Airforce... see what you're missing!!??
Hugo: Thanks for the luck 😊
xx
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goncalo
non-member comment
força ai indiana jones :O