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.
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