Finally found some time after a very intense weekend to sit down and write...
I went to a Vietnamese wedding on Saturday morning, and naturally I was the only white person there. It was so beautiful, and I had an amazing, traditional 8 course meal. Ranging from grilled squid, to pork ribs, to catfish hotpots, I felt like I've never eaten so much in my life. Apparently the meal at the wedding is the most important part, so there was a lot of attention on what was served and how. After the meal, Oanh and I were invited to karaoke with a couple guys, which was completely hysterical. I sung a few Beatles songs, had some beers, then hurried home to change for Big Day Out, as Auscham charity concert. I went with some Australian friends of mine and had an awesome time. There were about 6 bands who played a wide variety of cover songs (Bon Jovi was definitely a crowd favorite), and there were so many people running and around and dancing in this huge field. I felt like I was at some sort of festival, but everyone was either Australian or Vietnamese. When I was walking back from my friend's apartment late last night, most of the streets were flooded. I hadn't seen something like that happen in this part of the city, and I had to take my sandals off and trudge through sewer overflow. Absolutely enjoyable... not. Let's just say that it's 6:30 pm the next day and I'm still feeling lousy from my Saturday activities.
I have my one-way ticket to Hanoi, and I'm really starting to feel like I am going to miss HCMC. I have some really great friends here, and finally have gotten to know my way around pretty well. It's going to be hard to move to a new city and start over, especially when I have a good amount of people trying to convince me to stay. I'm going to Hanoi and will see how it goes, apparently there are fewer schools in the north so it might prove slightly more difficult to find a job. I'm not too worried because I can easily come back to Saigon, I guess I shall just wing it. I think either way I'm going to have a blast, I'm really excited to get my own apartment with a kitchen so I can start cooking. Living in a guesthouse has been a lovely experience, but I'm really looking forward to not having to bother a family with my comings and goings.
Well, I'm going to hop on my bicycle and get some dinner.

Hittin' the streets

Well, I finally had enough gusto to take out my bicycle. The streets here are absolutely insane and it took me about two weeks to get up enough courage to join the constantly heavy stream of traffic. I'm happy to say that I made it back to my guest house alive and well, although my pride feels a bit bruised; apparently it is HILARIOUS to see a white girl riding a bike. I noticed a lot of pointing and laughing, but none the matter, it was incredibly fun. Felt a little less like a tourist, which is always nice, and it was really nice to pedal along and get to the backpacking district in a fraction of the time it normally takes me. So now that I have that conquered, my next feat to tackle is the successful use of a tape player...
When we do our practice teaching, we have listening exercises that we have to play over and over again to the class. We record dialogues back in our classroom then try and teach it to the volunteer students. But when it comes to actually playing the tape in class, I have not yet accomplished this seemingly simple action. The outlets at the school are pretty sketchy, and either emit too much electricity or too little. This means that tapes won't rewind, won't play, won't stop playing, etc. Our teachers seem to have a handle on maneuvering the tape players, but I haven't yet gotten the hang of it. The students love to watch the practice teachers struggle, so my fussing with the tape recorder is just another instance of Vietnamese people laughing at me. I've gotten pretty used to being a source of entertainment here...

Mekong Delta

Getting out of the city felt so wonderful! It took about 2 hours to get to Oanh's house from Ho Chi Minh by motorbike, since we took a detour to stop in a traditional market to get supplies for dinner. Her town is rarely visited by white people, so we caused quite a stir walking through the market; when I placed orders in Vietnamese the women got the biggest kick out of it, calling friends over and shaking my hand. We picked up some eel, clams, snails, and veggies, then loaded up the bikes and headed further into the countryside. It was dark by the time we arrived, so the trip to her house was on tiny "roads" that were pitch dark. I was definitely a little nervous that we would veer off the path and end up in a rice paddy, but Oanh seemed to know what she was doing. The house was one step up from a hut, and she actually had mattresses in her home which she put there specifically for foreigner use (she had brought a couple Canadian friends to her home earlier), which was a lot nicer than sleeping on a wooden table. Since there was absolutely nothing to do at night, Steve, Oanh, and I took a walk around the rice paddies with a flashlight. Dogs were going crazy as we passed family compounds, I felt slightly guilty that our presence was causing such a disturbance, but the walk was worth it- the sky was littered with stars that were shining so intensely, and as I looked at Orion's belt I felt so strange that I could look at the same stars from the other side of the world. Whenever I watch the sunset I always think of home, because it reminds me that the sun is rising over in Jersey.
The next morning I woke up early and helped prepare green papaya salad. I was rather proud of myself for participating in the Vietnamese cooking, although it is one of the easiest things to make here. Her backyard (if you can call it that) was filled with chickens, ducks, small fishing ponds, and the occasional cat. We left the delta relatively early because I have to teach a class tomorrow and needed to get back to the guesthouse to prepare materials. I feel like I'm in a completely different world sitting here in my air conditioned room on my laptop, and am so glad that I met Oanh and was able to have such a wonderful experience with her family. So speaking of preparing materials, I should really get on that...

Teaching and celebrations

First let me start this post off with one of the life-changing events that has happened to me within the past two days.... I got a new pillow. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is a BIG deal. I have been sleeping on rocks with pillowcases over them. Being quite the bed snob, I have not been able to get a sound sleep on these things. I've been tossing and turning and waking up with a stiff neck every single morning. But now, I feel like I am living in the lap of luxury. My friend picked up this ultra fluffy, super soft pillow for me, and it has done wonders to my sleeping situation. Truly, it's the little things in life that matter most.
So, far from a little thing, I had my first experience teaching today. It went incredibly well. The students are all volunteers who sign up for the free practice lessons, so they come in interested and ready to learn. They ranged from ages 16 to 60, each one more enthusiastic than the next. I am actually looking forward to teaching my next class, which will be on monday. Instead of getting nervous, I decided to have fun with it, joke around, pantomime some silly things, etc.... the students really seemed to enjoy the lesson. I had multiple students tell me I did a great job after class, and it felt awesome!
So I went out with two girls from class to celebrate our success with some pina coladas.... but only because the weather was so nice and we were expecting heavy rain for the entire week.... and we found an awesome cafe with an outdoor seating area on the third floor with a great view of the city. From there, I met with my Vietnamese friends to play some badminton in the park. The "exercise" was followed by meeting up with my friends Steve and Dylan at the local Bia Hoi (which is locally brewed draft beer that costs about 15 cents). When the boys decided they wanted to do something a little more risque' to celebrate Steve's birthday, I met up with my Vietnamese friends at a karaoke joint. It. Was. Hysterical. Most of the songs were in Vietnamese but they made sure I had some Beatles to sing along to. We lost track of time what with all the dancing and singing, and I realized it was 2 in the morning and that I have class tomorrow. So I'm jotting this all down rather quickly because I know waking up is going to be tough. So, I really got to be hitting that amazing new pillow of mine...

Be wary of the vegetables!

I spent all of yesterday in bed, ate something bad and was incredibly sick all day... I'll spare the details. Well, I knew it would happen eventually, that's just how things are here. I blame it on the tomatoes! The people who own the guest house were so nice about it, the mother brought me up some hot lemon tea and noodles later in the night. But Hey! It could be worse... my pal Steve hasn't been able to walk for two days, his toe got bitten by a spider and it was so painful he thought it was broken! He got an X-Ray for 3 dollars and then they figured out it was a spider bite. I didn't realize there were super dangerous spiders here, just one more thing to add to my list to be wary of.
Anywho- my friend Oanh is bringing a bicycle over for me in 10 minutes. She had it fixed up and said I could borrow it for the month, honestly she is such a sweetheart! When she found out I was sick yesterday she offered to bring over healthy foods, herbal teas, and other things of that sort. I feel so undeserving! I am meeting her and Hung for coffee tomorrow to work on their English/ my Vietnamese.
So it's supposed to be raining for the remainder of the week. I have not gotten around to getting a raincoat yet, I definitely need to start looking for a heavy duty poncho. It is definitely not too enjoyable taking a motorbike taxi to class and getting my nice teaching clothes soaked. Looks like I'll be heading to the biggest market in Ho Chi Minh after class tomorrow (Ben Tanh Market) which is conveniently located right across the street from the TEFL building.
Despite the rain, I am going to stand outside and wait for Oanh, I feel bad enough she is bringing the bike to me at night in the rain. I tried to convince her to old off until nicer weather, but she would hear nothing of it.
BYE!

A day with the locals

I had an amazing time on the back of a motorbike driving around the entire city of Saigon with two locals. My new pal Hung took me to an extremely old pagoda, but since his English is atrocious, he did me the favor of calling up his friend Oanh who taught herself English 10 years ago. She did a lovely job as a tour guide as well as a Vietnamese teacher. I actually felt like I was on some sort of school field trip, she kept pointing to things and introducing new vocabulary, then making me repeat it until my accent was just right. A bit more intense of a Sunday than I had expected, but I really did appreciate her effort.
Outside of all the pagodas were stacks of bird cages jammed with tiny finches. Apparently, people buy them and carry them into the pagoda where they then release them while reciting a prayer or making a wish. Although they were "lucky birds", I was feeling rather sorry for them.
The three of us ended up in District 7 (other side of the city) sitting in fold out chairs along the riverside eating peanuts, drinking coffee, and chatting. I was able to pick up Oanh's great sense of humor since her English is so advanced. It was nice to throw some jokes around and be sarcastic with a Vietnamese person, since humor is pretty much the first thing to go when dealing with a language barrier. Oanh said she would lend me her bicycle for my month in Saigon so I could get around a see more of the city. She also offered to take me with her to the countryside over the weekend, since she goes to visit her family there. The promise of a fishing trip down the Mekong and views of expansive rice paddies is extremely enticing. The city is so incredibly busy, polluted, and fast-paced; I am really looking forward to slowing it down a bit and kickin' it farmer style. Bottom line, Oanh and Hung's generosity is extremely typical, the Vietnamese people as a whole are so incredibly kind, I've really never experienced anything else like it. The most they let me do today was pay for our riverside coffee, both claiming that speaking English and learning about America was more than enough pay for my citywide tour. I will definitely be keeping in touch with them...

I had a lovely Saturday, minus the fact that I was woken up extremely early by both chickens and little children. The 5 year old who lives here had a play date today, and I guess Vietnamese play dates begin quite early in the morning. Needless to say, there was an awful lot of hootin' and hollerin' that kept me from sleeping too late. Since I don't have a window and cannot tell what time of day it is, all the noise downstairs functioned as a very accurate alarm to the start of the day. Since I was up early, I took the opportunity to take a walk towards the backpacking district (which I recently discovered is extremely close), have a nice lunch/breakfast, and read my book. It was very relaxing and nice to be out on my own, even though I tend to get a lot more locals harassing me to buy this and that when I'm alone. Easier target I guess?
Met my pal Steve in the higher-end part of town tonight for some drinks. Our original destination was Panorama Bar on the 33rd floor of the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh. Upon noticing that all the prices were in US dollars, we got out of there quick. We made our way to "Club Carmen", which was much less a club than it was a stage with a Vietnamese band playing Spanish music. I very much enjoyed the Enrique Iglesias and Carlos Santana covers, which were performed very well consideriHereng the singers spoke Vietnamese and very little Spanish.
When Steve discovered that the Manchester United soccer game was on, our plans changed drastically and we headed to a sports bar to watch the game. He was more interested in the football, while I was focused on the Black Eyed Peas album that was playing on repeat. My mother is a huge fan of the Black Eyed Peas so I was rather distracted thinking of home and barely noticed that Man U won the game. Either way, the sports bar was rather enjoyable.
Now I'm home, showered, and cooling down in bed.
We are supposed to have thundershowers (and I use the term 'showers' liberally because it will be an absolute downpour) from Monday through Friday of next week, so I plan on getting some essential shopping done tomorrow. Number 1 on the "must have" list is a comfortable pillow. I happen to be a rather large bed snob, and have had the luxury of sleeping in extremely, overly-comfortable beds my entire life, so my rock hard pillows are making it rather difficult to sleep soundly through the night. In addition to the pillow hunt, I am meeting a Vietnamese friend for coffee and a motorbike ride. I am rather looking forward to a local perspective on Saigon, I always feel that hanging out with the locals give me a much better feel for the place.
So, crossing my fingers that the rain doesn't come early!