taxi hopping

oy... busy busy busy. but once again, here's another briefing on what's been going on with me so far:

friday, september 10
... and the exploring continues. after an "unexpected" taxi-tour from one end of the city to another to get to the other teachers' guest house, matt and i finally met up with bill, liz, and max, to then hop in another taxi and let the wind take us wherever it wanted to take us. now, in ho chi minh, it's never a problem to get a taxi - it's cramming everyone in that's the challenge. but after strategically placing liz across our laps, we managed to fit everyone in the compact "now" clown-car, all limbs inside (and still in tact). "20 minutes" later, we find ourselves in downtown/central ho chi minh city. the english geek in me decided to take up bill on his invitation to go bookstore hunting - we came across two fairly large bookstores, but unfortunately came out of both of them empty handed... however, it took me a while to debate on whether i should have purchased a viet-learner's guide called Learn Vietnamese in Two Months... *sigh* the rest of our morning included checking out the "tourist" department stores in diamond plaza and saigon tourist plaza - kinda reminded me a lot of the eaton centre in downtown toronto, but cleaner and with more security guards. oh, and one more thing that i've come to notice about vietnam - toilet paper in public washroom facilities is a rare thing... instead, the washrooms come with portable hoses (at least in the ladies' room) to finish your "business" with.
there were also a great number of beggars in the tourist area - far more than in our own neighborhood, and even more persistent. while liz and i were walking down one of the main streets, this elderly woman in a wheelchair that was being pushed by another elderly woman followed us down at least two blocks before leaving us alone. i knew that vietnam had a lot of people living in poverty, but coming face to face with it is a completely different experience altogether. there's a huge difference between seeing someone homeless and begging for money at union station in downtown toronto, and seeing someone homeless and begging for money on the streets of ho chi minh... it humbles me to a point where it's actually a sad thing to know how spoiled we all really are back home in north america... usually if you see this sort of thing on television, you're more likely to change the channel and ignore it - but when you're constantly surrounded by it, it becomes more of a harsh reality check. for some if not most people here, they don't have the option of changing the channel or ignoring it - because to them, this is real life.

saturday, september 11
the group of us headed over to one of ho chi minh's private high schools to give the placement tests to the students. the first portion of the test was 20 minutes of listening to a tape and answering multiple choice (which was pretty hard for them - i speak english pretty well, and i even had trouble making out what was on that tape!), and the second being a 5-minute interview with yours truly. i think i probably saw about almost 20 kids, and half of them couldn't get past saying their name... what was interesting was that these kids, who are about 12 and 13 look so much younger than that... there was one child that i was talking to that looked about 8 years old, but was really 13. i'm really looking forward to teaching these kids. as frustrating as it was for them and myself in trying to communicate with them, you can easily tell that they have this genuine eagerness to learn the language... but oy, i have a feeling i might become one of those teachers who are "generous markers", because i can easily see my grading methods being influenced by their cuteness :oP especially when they're in full uniform.
after the test, matt and i headed back to our place (logos 3), where aaron and his friend phuong (pron. "fung") were waiting for us there to have dinner with our landlord and her family. on the menu: lotteria - the vietnam version of mcdonalds. our landlord was sweet enough to order out for us, thinking that we were in need of some "comfort" food. well, the look was definitely there, but after biting into what seemed like their version of a "big mac", i was slightly deceived. it was edible nonetheless, but somehow it just didn't taste like beef - but in situations like these, ignorance is bliss, i suppose. but i did become a huge fan of their "shakey fries" - the fries come in a paper bag, you add "artificial cheese flavoured" powder, and you shake 'em like there's no tomorrow... none too shabby! :o)
after dinner, the kids around our neighborhood, joined us for some hardcore karaoke action to help digest our fabulous grease-feast - yes, karaoke AGAIN. :oD what was dangerous about the place where we went to is that it's only a 2 MINUTE WALK AROUND THE CORNER... AHH! *gleeful scream* - a few hours of belting out "i will survive" and "the lion sleeps tonight" with the clan brought nothing but a smile to my face. i even learned to sing in vietnamese too - pretty good times, indeed!

sunday, september 12
hopped on yet another taxi and drove to church at the duxton hotel in the morning again - i'm getting used to the taxi rides across the city. one thing i forgot to mention is that the vietnamese are really big on calling/address/business cards. if you want to get somewhere either by taxi or motorbike taxis and don't have the address on hand, you can always show them a card with all the necessary information on it, and you're set. most of the taxi drivers here don't speak english, so it helps a lot if you just pull out a card and show 'em where to go. the rides can be pretty quiet, especially if you're travelling alone, but i'm hoping that'll change in the next few weeks once i start attending vietnamese language classes. church was followed by lunch at this small cafe called "central cafe" - a small western-style cafe a block down from the hotel. surprisingly their smoked salmon bagel was actually pretty yummy. gabriel, another new friend that i met from church (who's from louisiana and yes, just like the angel) joined us for lunch. he's been to vietnam several times and just moved here permanently since june. such a funny guy, and super nice. he entertained us during lunch with his adventures of being in the city and his encounters while teaching english...
once lunch was done, we headed back to logos 2 (the other teachers' guest house) to pick up a few things for our team dinner later that night. aaron thought it would be a cool idea to cook up a traditional (north) american meal and invite some of our new vietnamese friends. on the menu were pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. so we did a bit of shopping for the basic necessities, but not until AFTER we stopped at AQ for a cafe suah da... before trying it, bill warned me of how rich it was (because they pour in a load of condensed milk instead of regular milk)... the way it worked was that they'd bring out the cup with the coffee filtering on top of the condensed milk, with a separate ice tray to mix it with once you removed the coffee filter. omigoodness... bill wasn't kidding - after taking just one sip, i felt as if my throat was completely coated in rich, buttery, creamy, coffee goodness. even after loading ice cube after ice cube, it did nothing to dilute it... but i wasn't complaining. it was heavenly. :oD it was a good thing we were inside, because while we were schmoozing over our drinks, the rain hit pretty hard - first time in a long while that i've seen the streets flood with water. i now know what "rainy season" means... once the sky cleared up a little, we made an attempt to walk back to the house. very valuable tip: when wearing flip-fops in ankle-high water, you become prone to losing one or perhaps both of them. while crossing the street, halfway across i looked down at my feet and realized my left foot was naked. once i looked back, i found my other flip-flop, back at the sidewalk, floating downstream on top of a gargantuan puddle of water that looked more like a river. i could only do what was absolutely necessary to save my temporarily-estranged flip-flop: i slowly turned around, literally sacrificed my life in dodging a few motorbikes, WHILE being splashed on by oncoming traffic, finally made it back on the sidewalk, and retrieved my poor shoe. *sigh* the things i do for shoes... and like the gentlemen they were, matt and bill both stood there laughing their heads off in utter amusement during the whole ordeal while standing on the opposite side of the street, completely dry and safe from harm... men. yeeeesh. :o)
once i was dry again and in a fresh, new change of clothes, the evening was once again filled with good laughs and good times. aaron's dinner/breakfast was successful, and enjoyed by our viet friends - with blueberry pancakes, and a whole lotta butter, you can never really go wrong :oD. and to work off dinner, we all headed over to super bowl for a little bowling action. i've never been good at bowling, but one thing is for sure - when the vietnamese play, they play HARD... *sigh*

today's agenda, like most of my days already spent here, is up in the air... :o) i called my family this morning, and as usual, they put me on speaker phone for all to hear. *sigh* it's always good to hear their voices. i got a little kick out of it when my dad started a whole chain of conference 6-way calls to my other relatives in scarborough. hehe gotta love him. :o)

updates on my teaching position: there's been a bit of confusion as to when i'm supposed to start teaching and getting things together. bill and i were supposed to start teaching at the high school tonight at 5pm, but on account of miscommunication, we've just been informed that we're not actually starting till next week when they have their curriculum all sorted out. no worries - there's always something to do in ho chi minh city, so i know i'll find something to keep me occupied in the meantime. to make things more easier on our driver, it looks like i'll be moving into the other teachers' guesthouse earlier than originally planned - probably in a few days, so i think i have quite the packing spree ahead of me as well.

rumor has it that we'll be taking an overnight trip to the mekong delta this weekend from saturday to sunday. for $14 US, you can easily book an all inclusive trip, including boatrides, hotel, transportation, meals, and so much more. i have a feeling that if we do go, a lot of film will be used on this trip :o) the mekong delta is just beautiful, and it's supposed to give you a feel of what vietnam was like before industrialization - jungles, rainforests, and as a whole whopping load of vietnamese history and traditions... it's all there. there are a few digicam pictures taken from the past few days floating around somewhere - it's just a matter of posting them up, so hopefully i can get around to linking them onto this blog sometime in the near future...

hmm... the more and more i spend time with my team, the more easier it's getting to settle down in this busy city of ho chi minh - everyone here is getting along just fine, and gradually breaking out of their shells ;o) the past few days have just been so wonderful. i can't wait to see what the next few weeks have to offer. it's only been a week, but i've already discovered how visually stimulating this city truly is - the colours, the people, the buildings, everything... 4 months may not be enough for me to absorb everything. but i sure am gonna do my best to try ;o)

hope the rest of y'all are doing well - for those of you who are starting school again, or on their co-op terms, hope everything is just peachy-keen!

until the next blog post...
estelle