Long Weekend Ahead!

I am veryyy excited that I was able to get this Friday off when Eva is visiting. I only have two classes so in reality I just have to have some busy work for my 2 classes worth of students and I found a bunch of grammar worksheets so they should be having a fun Friday...muahaha. So, Eva is flying in Thursday night! That's tomorrow! I'm super excited to see a friendly face on this side of the world and have Friday AND Monday off ... this is a rare opportunity as Monday is the one and only holiday weekend of this semester. These poor Vietnamese students have it rough! In the US, I recall having tons of holidays to look forward to! At least one day off a month or so. But here, not the case ... what a drag. Tomorrow night Eva and I will probably sample some local cuisine ... which inevitably means something containing noodles or rice. I am definitely getting sick of noodles and rice but I have taken a few days off so I'll be happy to eat it tomorrow. Then, Friday we will sight-see and tour Ho Chi Minh City. I have done a bit of this already so I'm basically a pro, I will play tour-guide. Saturday we have booked a trip to the Mekong Delta! Finally I can escape the city for a day. We will drive down on a bus and then take a boat cruise around the delta. The trip got good reviews so I think it will be cool.

In case anyone was curious of my play-by-play weekend plans, there ya go! Tonight I am having dinner at an Indian restaurant with Matt, the guy from Study Group who I met with on Sunday, his wife, and some of their other friends. They are starting a "Curry group" as he called it ... British people just call Indian food "Curry" it seems. I have no idea how many people will be there but he mentioned beers and Indian food so I figured it will be a good time. I will hopefully find my trusty Xe Om driver (who now waves to me with a big smile on his face every time I pass by to and from school) and catch a ride to Ho Chi Minh City's Backpackers area. Apparently, this is a rowdy area with lots of restaurants and bars, mostly filled with backpackers and young drinkers. Matt mentioned this isn't usually their hot spot but the restaurant was what attracted them so they figured, why not! I haven't been to this area yet so I'm excited to see it. Most people aren't big fans of the backpackers but a lot of people do hang out to get their drink on there anyway.

One thing I still haven't mastered is what to do for lunch during the school week. Everyone told me, "Oh go to the place around the corner! They're great and cheap!" Deal. So I've been to that place three times now and they are nice and cheap and the food is good butttt ... there just isn't enough of a selection for me to want to eat there EVERY day. Today I "mixed it up" with a Banh Mi sandwich (if you can say that seeing my lunches last week consisted of 3 of these). I also tried to steer away from the super-sugary drinks they always offer me and got an iced tea which is also very delicious ... I'm glad the lady understood my horrible Vietnamese! "Tra da" = iced tea but they pronounce "Tra" like "Cha or Chai" something like that ... whatever, she got it. And it was like, 5,000d or about 20cents. Killer.

I don't like to eat outside across from the school where the banh mi lady's cart is so I just bring my sandwich back to my desk ... it's quiet and air conditioned but one of these days I will figure out how to tell the guys at the restaurant around the corner that I want to eat there, because that place would be nice to sit and get away from school.

I'll probably update this again in a few days after my presumably awesome weekend! Likely complete with many pictures.

Exploring - So many pictures!

So this weekend has been pretty fun. Yesterday I did nothing most of the day but then for dinner had another hot pot with fish and such. Hot pots and Pho are really delicious but seriously, I do not understand how Vietnamese people eat them. I already am a messy eater and then throw chop sticks and noodley soup into the mix. I literally just keep wearing black when I know I'm going to be eating something like that because I literally get it all over me. I feel like I need to be wearing an apron or a poncho while eating. The soup just splashes all over the place and they don't give you napkins half the time to put on your lap or anything. Many places give you these wet towels - which they then charge you for, so crazy - but they aren't much help. I was watching the episode of Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations when he was in Vietnam and he even mentioned that he was going to buy a bunch of cheap t-shirts for his family for when they eat soup and things in Vietnam. I just kind of go with it.

So this morning I had brunch in District 1 with this guy from this organization called Study Group. They recently started collaborating with the University of Maine and he's going to be meeting with my school here to see if they can work together ... it's kind of boring but the point is, we met for brunch and it was pretty sweet. His name is Matt and he is British and his wife his from Texas and they have been living in Ho Chi Minh City for a few years. When we were arranging to meet he said he would have his "impossibly cute" daughter with him. He was not joking, she was probably the cutest 2 year old I've ever seen. We went to this really nice place for brunch called The Refinery. They serve western food which is awesome because I was not in the mood for rice-based meals today. I had eggs benedict and it was extra amazing because I probably haven't had butter in a few weeks. Apparently Matt's daughter is practically a celebrity because every single woman that saw her was instantly obsessed. Apparently his daughter used to have a Chinese nanny so she ends up wandering over and hanging out with all sorts of Vietnamese women. We sat down and the waitress literally just took the kid away for a while and she came back over with a plate of some fondue. She obviously made a huge mess with the chocolate and after Matt cleaned her up she ran off again and we didn't see her for probably a half hour. Matt seemed pretty unfazed. She ran back to check in once or twice so clearly she was just off doing her thing...very independent. When we were getting ready to leave and she was back with us again the lady next to us asked to take a picture with her. It was pretty silly, but for realz, she's super cute.

Anyway, meeting Matt was very nice. We obviously discussed some business-related matters but mostly we just chatted and he gave me some advice and invited me to meet some of their other friends and such. Plus, he generously put our brunch on his company credit card, since it was work-related and all. After parting ways I decided that while I was down in District 1 I might as well explore. I walked around for hours. It was a beautiful and obviously hot day out for most of the day. I shopped around, though a lot of things are actually expensive in this area so I didn't buy anything. Oh, and today was the first time I tried a Xe Om, or a motorbike taxi. They are EVERYWHERE but you have to kind of bargain and find a reasonable one. I wasn't really in the mood for bargaining much this morning and I had been told I should expect to pay anywhere from 60,000-80,000d (which is about $3-$4). I ended up finding this guy who originally suggested 100,000d but we settled on 80,000d which was fine because I was not in the mood to search for another guy over $1. Plus, this guy agreed to come pick me up later so I didn't have to worry about finding a ride back. However, walking around with a helmet subjected me to having at least 30 other Xe Oms offer me rides. They would see me and say "Madam!! Motorbike?!" I got very used to it by the end of the day. At least I knew if my guy didn't show up I'd have a backup plan. But I figured the Xe Oms in District 1 might try to charge me more since that is the more touristy area.

Since I had started my day with some delicious western food I decided why not go all out and I decided to get pizza for dinner. Pizza in Vietnam?! Yes. And it wasn't any worse than pizza in Maine so I was totally satisfied with it. I needed a break from rice and noodles and soup. Where I live there is pretty much only Vietnamese food - and a KFC but I haven't hit that yet. So being in District 1 where there is international cuisine ... hell yea.

Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures so herrrre they are:

 1L beers at "Big Man Beer"

This was actually tough to finish ... but I did it, no worries.

 Pretty plant!

 Financial Tower - tallest building in Vietnam! And with a helicopter landing pad.

 Pretty roundabout ... and it's even easy to cross the street here!

 Mango smoothie ... it tasted like an actual mango, I was taken aback because I expected that fake mango flavor I've grown so accustomed to.

 Opera House

 Cool windows.

 I love this sculpture!

 Turtle park or something like that ... lots of young kids hanging out here!

 Apparently there is usually water in it

 Weird little trees

 These people just happen to be in my picture ... the sculpture from the side and the opera house in the background

 I just think there are a lot of cool looking buildings

 War Remnants Museum ... I didn't actually go in or anything

 Alleyway that leads to a cute looking cafe

 Alright they may have gone a little nuts with the lanterns but I thought it was cool!

 The Mekong River!

 Not super scenic ... and muddy looking.

 I don'tttt know what this is but clearly it's touristy.

 Cute little dogs playing in the sidewalk! Who do they belong to?!

 Circle K in Vietnam? I wouldn't have thought! I actually thought we called the Circle K in NJ that because it was on a circle ...

Ok, this picture isn't good but next to that crazy sign there is a Subway! They are everywhere! I was tempted...

 But I had this sad looking pizza. However, like I said, I didn't hate it. It had cheese and bread ... thank god.

Coconut water .. or juice, I don't know it was delicious and refreshing and probably overpriced!

So this is made out of paper and it folds into a card. They sell them everywhere and I think they are so cool! So I bought this one for my grandma since she is never going to read this blog because that would require her to use a computer and she refuses to join the 21st century so I had to buy her a sweet card. Now I just have to figure out where a post office is. This is why the internet is so handy! But then again, this card is sweet.

Everybody's Working For the Weekend

Finally it's the weekend! Unfortunately, it's also raining right now. I have somehow been fortunate enough to have not gotten caught in the rain yet. I went out and about today for a little bit and when I came back, about 15 minutes later, it started pouring. Just missed it! I don't feel the urge to venture out in the rain except I am curious to see how all of the locals deal with the rain. Everything around here is outside! Food carts, cafes, everyone on motorbikes are exposed, etc. I think I will just wait for the day when I get caught off guard in a storm to see how everyone functions rather than go out voluntarily...

I got up earlyish this morning and decided to try running again. Turns out running in the morning is reeeeal hot. I think I did about 2 miles before I was dying and decided to give up. The horses didn't seem to mind, one of them was rolling around in the grass, literally 10 feet from me. One of these days I might go and try to pet one ... I wonder if anyone will yell at me in Vietnamese? I wouldn't know what they are saying anyway! Also, probably due to the fact that Vietnamese people hate the sun, I was the only person running around the field. Compared to last week when there could have easily been 80 people either running around or in the track, it was a little weird. There was some young kids playing soccer in the middle of the field today, however, so I figured it wasn't closed or anything.

It'd be pretty convenient if just being around all of these people talking in Vietnamese would somehow trigger my brain into just learning Vietnamese without me having to try. Like, the words would just flow into my head and make sense all of a sudden! I don't think that is going to happen but a girl can dream.

The motorbikes here are so silly. The other day, I saw a couple and the woman was holding a baby, who was probably about 8months old, just like, on her hip. It was just chillin, kind of dangling over the road as the bike whizzed by. I feel like if this was America, our overprotective parenting would have had that baby strapped into some sort of contraption that securely fastens the baby to the mother and it would be complete with a baby helmet and maybe some baby elbow and knee pads. But maybe I'm being a bit presumptuous.

Another funny thing happened last week. My cute little 6th grader who speaks perfect English asked me what was with all of the dots on my arm. He apparently thought I had some flesh eating bacteria or a skin disease. In reality, he just didn't know what freckles are ... haha man a lot of Vietnamese people don't get out much, huh? I tried to explain to the kid that it wasn't that weird and that there was nothing wrong with me.

So, to wrap up for now, I managed to purchase some necessities today and I successfully completed my mission of finding and buying mangosteen! It really is fantastically delicious  ... I'm going to probably eat as many as I can before I come back to the U.S.! So here are my purchases:

 This was the most normal notebook I could find ... the kids have equally ridiculous ones.

 Cheese! How I've missed thee ... and of course, though the attempt at cheap beer was a huge bust, I decided to try cheap wine .. it's never steered me wrong before!

Mangosteen! Silly looking but sooo good!

Bring a foreigner in for show and tell!

As the title might indicate, I was definitely brought in for show and tell last night. My naive little Vietnamese friend, Thang, invited me to her English class, which was three hours long. It had it's moments but overall, it was like sitting in a boring class where you already know everything and you are frustrated that no one else is getting it as quick as you (okay, I was obviously that kind of little asshole student). Mostly it was just boring though. And considering I sit most of the day at work, I did not want to sit for three more hours after work. But, alas, I figured I owed Thang a favor since she showed me around the city so I went!

I walked in and as usual everyone stared as if I was an alien. One guy even said I was literally the first American girl he has ever seen in real life ... wow. He mentioned he had an American friend who is a male, and he married a Vietnamese woman. He said she married a Vietnamese woman because he found them to be more honest and real. Mind you, he had a limited vocabulary but it seemed like the gist of what he was saying was that American girls are nuts. He laughed and said yes, that's what he heard. I couldn't really disagree.

Thang seemed very happy I came to her class so I guess it wasn't so bad! Their class is split up into sections, for the first 1.5hours they have writing and for the second 1.5hours they have speaking. Their writing teacher has reasonably good English although I found her a bit hard to understand. Their textbook is kind of dumb. The writing prompt they were discussing in class was "Architects are to blame for ugly buildings in cities, do you agree or disagree?" ... they asked me to help but I felt like you needed to know more about what architects do to make an educated argument. I kind of gave up at that point and just corrected their English. Their speaking teacher was pretty hilarious. She was very loud and animated. Her English was much better, luckily, since she was the speaking teacher. But she spoke very fast and I am pretty sure most of the students couldn't keep up with her.

I guess Thang mentioned that I liked "Bahn Xeo" which was the omelette looking thing, apparently more of a pancake? I don't know ... but either way, it was what Thang had ordered that first night we had dinner and she claimed it was fattening. Her teacher said the same thing to me! I was like, ummm first of all, clearly you haven't had American food, second of all, obviously that's why it was so delicious. I don't really think it was that fatty ... I guess they used a bit of oil? But compared to what we eat in the US it was practically a plate of vegetables. 

Anyway, after class Thang and I got dinner. As per usual I just let her order and yet again I had rice noodles and soup with meat in it. They also use a lot of fresh herbs. They aren't bad but I don't think I'm much of an herb-person, especially if they are anything like cilantro (yick!). It was very good, but I am getting a littttle bored of rice and soup...let's be serious. Give me a pizza. I am so tempted to check out the KFC that's near my house... Thang also asked what I wanted to drink. I said bottled water but the next thing I knew I had some weird white frothy drink (clearly her English isn't stellar). I still have no idea what the drink was but it was pretty tasty and it went well with the soup since the soup was super spicy!

A trend that has been happening to me lately is either: I have a local order for me so I don't know what I'm eating OR I think I am ordering one thing and I get something else. The first day I had that clementine-like juice I thought the lady was merely going to squeeze some lime on my bahn mi (I don't know? Is that a thing?) but then it turns out I ordered a drink. Another day I sat down and tried to motion for a menu and the girl looked confused and then just brought me a coffee ... I didn't complain. And then yesterday I thought I had pointed to a guava but after eating half of it I realized it was a sour, unripe mango. I didn't even know people eat them like that? So here is a picture of my sour mango which they give you this super spicy salt on the side to sprinkle on it... it was still pretty good, but not guava!

Hump Day/Full Moon Madness

So today was pretty uneventful. However, I do want to mention the workout place again. So yesterday, as I mentioned, I ran around a pavement path. Today I decided to run in this field. It used to be a horse-racing track but now people just run around it or play soccer and stuff in the middle. I liked it much better than the pavement, it's has dirt and grass and I think the whole loop is close to a mile long. However, I just have to note how absurd Vietnam is. First of all, I assume you do not need any licenses or anything to open a restaurant or cafe. There was literally a little cafe set up right next to the race track in the middle. Someone just threw down some tables and chairs and wheeled in their cart of drink supplies and bam, cafe in the grass.

The next crazy thing is that in this same track there are horses. I guess they don't race but they were just chillin, chomping away on grass while tons of people ran and played soccer around them. It was so strange. They didn't seem bothered by us at all but I just wanted to run up and pet one! Third, when it starts to get dark the bats come out. I know we have bats at home but I guess I just have never seen so many flying around all at once, they were EVERYWHERE and I was worried one might dive-bomb for me. I didn't get any rabies shots before coming here!

Running right at dusk is very nice though, it cools off (a little) and there was a light (yet warm) breeze. The race-track area is much less crowded than the area where I went yesterday. However, I cannot escape motorbikes. Even while we were going around this dirt path 2 motorbikes passed by. Admittedly, there mostly weren't any motorbikes in the track, those were the only 2 I saw, but still, they are inescapable. They are very run to ride on though. People go relatively slow so you can just kind of hang out and not worry about falling off. It is also important not to worry about hitting someone else. I'm not the one driving so I might as well just go with the flow!

Tonight was a full moon. Apparently that's kind of a big deal here. Some people don't eat meat on full moon nights, some people get their party on, and then there are TONS of stands that sell these "moon pies" which are just some kind of baked good. There is a stand near my house and it is absurdly long, at least 100ft long of just these moon pies...obviously I'll have to try one soon. I was told, however, that the price is much higher on full moon nights so I'll wait till next week.

I didn't get to take any pictures today - though I need to bring my camera to the track next time! But here is one picture of my dinner ... a hot pot! It was delicious... it has a bunch of plants I don't recognize and then various seafood - scallops, shrimp and squid, beef, and pork skin. Oh and let me note, apparently people frequently eat the shrimp shell here. It doesn't taste like anything ... but it wasn't that sweet.

I guess teaching isn't thaaat bad...

Teaching is not nearly as scary as I expected it to be. I think it helps that this school is so lax. It doesn't seem as if anyone is really keeping tabs on my teaching abilities. I think the most annoying part of it is planning. I am now realizing the importance of planning, yet even when you plan sometimes things don't go the way you expect them to and you have to improvise while you are teaching. I'm sure if I had actually gone to school to be a teacher I would have known this and expected it. Instead, I planned my first day of school by the minute and then had one extra activity in case we had more time. Well, I should have known that my activities would have taken no time at all and next thing I knew I had 30minutes left and nothing to do. Luckily, it was just the first day of school so doing nothing was acceptable.

I think it is also helpful that even though these students can get a little loud, overall they are excellently behaved. They like to talk to their friends and joke around (unfortunately in Vietnamese, so I can't even enjoy it). However, they don't do anything bad or inappropriate (they could be saying inappropriate things but I wouldn't know). Like I said before, however, their English isn't that great and I am never positive what they already know or don't know. Part of me is nervous I am insulting them by assuming they don't know things like the word "ignore". But then they ask questions that make me realize they actually probably don't know that. It is also confusing because the high school students have poorer English than that cute little 11 year old I have...I probably would be insulting him to assume he doesn't know the world "ignore", but he is much younger!

Anyways, I am definitely enjoying being in this new environment and culture. It is interesting and exciting and different. I can confirm, however, that I am still not a city-person. I definitely miss being able to just go hiking or camping any day that I want. There are not lakes I can just drive to for the day or trails I can go running on here. I suppose if I had a vehicle of some sorts here I would be able to escape the city, but then again traveling into the Vietnam countryside alone wouldn't be that stellar of an idea anyway. I do love the weather here. I was worried it would be unbearably hot but surprisingly it's quite nice. I do show up to school kind of sweaty but once you settle down at a desk you cool off quickly. Most Vietnamese people try to avoid sun exposure at all costs, it's pretty nuts. It will be a beautiful 80 degree day and they will be riding their motorbikes in long pants, socks, zip-up hoodies, and a face-mask. Plus they have their helmet on so they have very little skin showing. At first I just figured they thought it was colder than I did but then a Vietnamese girl told me she hates the sun and would move quicker to find shade when walking around. I feel like the sun is blocked by a building everywhere I go so I am rarely in direct sunlight. When the sun is right above me at noon I don't typically go outside.

Anyway, my point is, Maine is amazing but I wish summer was longer! Just a little longer...I like winter too but just a little longer would be great!

So after work today I went to this sports stadium place where tons of people exercise. It's pretty packed. There is a giant field where people run around and then play other sports inside, an indoor stadium pool, basketball courts, soccer, a turf field, etc. The funniest part was the outdoor exercise equipment...I'll take pictures next time. Everything around here seems so primitive compared to our "state of the art" workout equipment at our gyms. Even everyone's bicycles look like they're from the 1950's. Scott's friend Tai took me to the "track" which is really just a pavement path that goes around the indoor stadium. I hadn't been running yet in Vietnam and I missed it! It is super hot here, however. We ran right around dusk so it wasn't too bad. Then, as we were cooling down from our run the full moon came out. Running around the stadium allows for some great people-watching. Going around we got to pass by a pretty hilarious dance (zumba?) class, people playing badminton, soccer, basketball, and using the equipment or doing pull-ups on bars. As you round one side of the track, the track coincides with an entrance where motorbikes pull in so yet again I have to dodge those a bit. Motorbikes are everywhere!

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today ... as per requests, more food pics!

 Bahn Mi ... to be honest, I don't even know what is on this. I just motioned for the girl to put everything on it. They're sooo good.

 Some random fried things. Again, I just point and the little old lady hooks it up. This was from a woman who just had a little cart on the street with hot oil. I think some of it was Vietnamese spring rolls.

 Notice: We walked up and they just threw this little metal table and plastic chairs together for us right in the street! It was a quiet street so it was pretty nice.

 We each order a beer and the next thing I know we're cheers-ing with the owner (I assume he was, at least), and they just put this bucket of beer down next to us...a bit presumptuous!

 I find it interesting that they put blocks of ice in your glass of beer. Then again, the beer is usually warm to begin with so the block of ice is welcome.

 Fresh shellfish!

 I haven't worked up the nerve to try these just yet ... chicken embryos. The back plate is also a chicken embryo but it is in the shell while the first plate is de-shelled.

 My dinner ... BBQed mussels.. so delicious! With peanuts and scallions and herbs.

 More of that embryo...

Then we had some snails, 10minutes prior to this they were inching around in a bowl on the table...now they're food. The flavor was delicious but I couldn't get down with the texture.

 This street-side stand across from the school makes drinks...this woman is squeezing me some green oranges, or cam sanh in Vietnamese. I didn't even know I was ordered a drink the first time the lady held up what appeared to be an over-sized lime. Next thing I know I had a cup of some sort of orange juice in a bag! It's so delicious...tastes like a clementine.

 This woman is whipping me up a banh mi, street-side. She just points to stuff and I nod, and voila, I have a delicious lunch.

 I thought it was so strange that the put everything in bags - including drinks. Then I realized, it's probably so people can hang them from their motorbike and take them to go. Motorbikes ain't got cup holders!

I finally put up my only room decoration! Compliments to Malindi Thompson! So cute :)

School Started...

So today was the first official day of school. I had to be there at 8:00am and stayed until 5:00pm. In reality, I basically did nothing all day but I was there for a long time...lame sauce. First, I was supposed to have the morning free to plan I suppose. However, another new American teacher was sick so they asked if I could just sit in his class and substitute and basically just make sure the kids didn't break anything. It was definitely easy but man, I forgot how boring school can be. The kids are crazy. I guess I expected Vietnamese students to be different from American students but they are not. As soon as I said they had free time they all took out iPads and iPhones and were instantly engaged in their technology. They talked and goofed around a lot as well. The only thing that I didn't like was that they all speak Vietnamese to each other so I have no idea what they are saying. They could easily just be sitting there trash-talking me and I'd just be smiling away, clueless.

My actual first class was English-Language Arts 6. The class is just two little 11-year olds. One of them is super tiny and doesn't talk much but when I asked him questions he smiles and says one-word answers. The other kid LOVES talking. He is actually pretty funny. Out of every student and most Vietnamese staff members I have met so far, this kid speaks the best English. I still kind of suck at pronouncing his name and ironically the other kid in the class, whose English is inferior, has an American name I can call him.

My second class is Language Arts II. This consists of varying grades of high school students. These kids are much more unruly than my two little 6th graders. I asked them to do a little intro writing assignment - tell me about your summer - and their were numerous complaints right off the bat. Apparently other teachers had already had them do this (we aren't very creative, clearly). However, I wanted to see their English writing ability so I made them do it again. I feel like I am not going to be the nicest teacher ever. Oh well! Hopefully I can just get them to listen to me and do their work.

I don't mind having to teach these two classes but I am definitely glad I did not go into teaching...it's kind of a lot of work! I don't want to make lesson plans everyday! I will probably just make them go through textbook each day ... so my class will be mega-boring, sorry kids!

Anyway, besides that, my weekend was quite fun. On Saturday I went to District 1 (the happening district) with Scott and his friend Kelly. Kelly is Vietnamese so she brought us to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch and ordered for us and such - it's very handy having Vietnamese friends. I have no idea what we ate but it was mostly really good. Kelly and Scott were quite hungover from the night before but nonetheless decided we should go split a bottle of wine at this cute little cafe (obviously it would help!). In the mere week that I've been here I've already become even more of a cheapskate because paying 450,000d for wine seemed pretty outrageous to me. In reality, that only equals about $21 which is still pretty cheap for a bottle of wine at a restaurant. We ended up splitting three bottles - we tried each of the red wines they had. Considering in Maine I typically buy $3 bottles of wine, I'd say it was pretty good! Kelly's friend Adrien joined us for the third bottle so for three bottles we each only had to pay about $20...not bad I guess!

On Sunday I did some quintessential sightseeing with a young Vietnamese girl I met. She took me to the key historical sites, as you can see in my pictures! She speaks very good English and tried to help me learn some Vietnamese phrases. Again, I was laughed at for my pronunciation but she assured me people would still understand me. Oh well, it's not like their accents are perfect! I thought it was funny that she found Australian and British accents to be the same. However, I'm sure if two Vietnamese people spoke with different accents I wouldn't be able to tell ... I probably wouldn't be able to tell if they were speaking different languages, lets be serious.

Considering it's the rainy season I don't feel it rains all that much. Maybe I have just been lucky so far? The weather has been very nice, hot and humid, but nice. I thought the school would be air conditioned but only some rooms are. You kind of get used to it though. When I first got to school I was dripping sweat but then again, so is everyone else! So it isn't that awkward. So as of yet, teaching isn't my favorite but I suppose I can deal with the 2hours a day that that happens. I look forward to when kids actually come to me with college application questions and things like that! I feel much more prepared for that. I was told things are a little crazy the first week or so of school so I should just go with the flow. Literally that is this school's staff motto, be flexible and go with it. Allllright.

 This is just a mall food court but I feel like they're so nice...

 There was a parade of people going buy on motorbikes with yellow shirts and red flags ... I didn't capture it well though.

 4D movie ... I tried this out, the moving seats shake you SO hard I thought I was going to fly out of it.

 Pretty school across the street.

 I kind of forget what this place is ... ummm but it was touristy.

 Wedding! And I really wanted to photo-bomb that group in the back.

 My tour guide and her ride...

 Notre Dame Cathedral

 

 Park

 Inside the Reunification Palace

 Outside the Reunification Palace

Reunification Palance

Coffee and work :/ blehhh but the coffee is so addicting.