Counting Down ....

---

The countdown is finally on ... only 16 more days until I head back to Viet Nam. I haven't saved quite as much as I would have liked but enough to start the school & hopefully keep me there for 3 months - if I am frugal I can stay longer! I am off to spend time with Pat (# 1 Son) & Emm (hopefully future # 1 daughter-in-law!!!) & then off to Ipswich on the 19th to catch up with friends. I leave for Sai Gon, from Brisbane, on the 26th January. I stay in Sai Gon with King (# 1 Vietnamese son) & Tuyen (#1 future Vietnamese daighter-in-law)! I also have some good friends in Sai Gon to catch up with. Although I arrive in Hoi An early February nothing much will get done for a week or so. February 7th is the start of Tet Holiday. This is THE festive season of the year. It's not just a public holiday - the whole of Viet Nam closes down! It is a great opportunity for me to catch up with Vietnamese & Western friends alike. A very social time will be had by all! Received a couple of very good emails over the last couple of days. One to say I have a room for the classroom - just needs a coat of paint; & the other from a Vietnamese friend who has kindly offered to be my translator & xe om (motorbike driver) for about 6 weeks. I am so thrilled to have Vi on board even though it is only for 6 weeks & not permenent. She is a gorgeous young woman & will make my work so much easier. At this stage I am hoping to have 6-8 teenage students in the mornings & they will each eventually become a mentor to a younger child in an afternoon class. I know once word gets out in hoi An about what I am doing I will be inundated with children who want to come to school - not too sure how I will handle that but I know it will all work out the way it is supposed to so i'm not worried about it. I am very excited about getting the classroom up & running. It feels as if i have been planning this for soooo long - but really, it's only been in the pipeline for about 6 months so that's pretty good . Over the next few months I will be introducing the children who will be attending the school. Hope you will stick around to get to know them through this Blog.......

---