5 reasons why I love Vietnam

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is well. I’ve been thinking about what I’ve written up here about my times so far. I’ve made such a big deal of how busy I am and how it can get lonely and I’ve spoke about how I miss people too. All of it was true, and still is, it’s just that I’ve held back from talking about the more positive side of things here. I guess because I’m thinking about all the people I’ve left behind and I want them to know that I’m thinking of them. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I really want to express here, now, just how much I love it here.

So I’ve decided to do a top five (in no particular order) of why I’m really starting to like the way things are working our here.

1. My Vietnamese Family and Home

Its crazy to think back to how I ended up in this house. I litteraly got a bus to an erea out of town near the airport because I heard it wasn’t as rich as central Saigon and was pretty wild. I got off the bus when I felt that I must have got into the Go Vap district (where I live now) and sat down at the nearest drink stall. That’s where I met Kim, who subsequently spent days looking for a place for me when I said I wanted to live away from town.
Now, like I said, I’m pretty settled in the house. I still wish I could interact with the people who live there more but the language barrier is huge, and will just take time to get over. One of my favorite times of the day is when I’m up early enough for breakfast. The mother of the house has a long table she sets out in the alley way in front of the house and sells Pho a kind of noodle soup eaten religiously here. There’s such a cool atmosphere, people coming and going the chattering of families eating at the table motorbikes squeezing past, babies, children, old people.

2. Ba Kim

It seems appropriate to move on to a lady who seems to have become my Vietnamese mother. Just like my real mother she constantly reminds me not to do too much. Tells me I look tired, tells me I should get lots of sleep and tells me I’m crazy when I sleep in. It really is the oddest relationship I have with her, but she really looks after me and I remind myself that I wouldn’t be living where I am if it wasn’t for her.
She’s probably the closest to a Vietnamese friend that I have. She’s got some amazing stories to tell about her love affair with an American soldier, the times she would sing to them and they would applaud her, the days around the defeat of the Americans and the painful transition to communist rule. She’s a classic character.
She’s obsessed with the Buddha statue I have, she’s always horrified about something or other concerning it. Fist my feet faced the Buddha, so I had to change my bed around, then she turned up with a bag full of regalia to construct a shrine. Now my Buddha statue hides behind a mass of fruit, a bunch of flowers, a glass of water, a stand for my incense and a candle holder. She even went as far as to suggest because I live in a house with Catholics I must open the window when I meditate (the assumption being the Buddha can’t walk up the steps as he would in a Buddhist household.)

3. Voluntary Work

My work at the Green Bamboo shelter (a place for boys to live and eat if their parents are hard up or they are on the streets) has been going really well. I started off with just a few boys then I had a lesson when things just fell apart. After about 5 weeks of going now I have the children sat down and they all go crazy at the opportunity of writing on the board or answering a question. They are dead violent one boy had a bloody nose when I went a couple of weeks ago. I love it when on of them falls out with me because I tell them off and by the end of the class they have come round. They are really affectionate and always want to hug and/or beat me up.
I’ve established second class teaching children in a really poor district about 15 minutes from my house and a third teaching their social workers. The social workers are really sweet and appreciative and the children are pretty disciplined but some are in a pretty rough state.

4. Paid work

My paid work is going well too. I’m enjoying all my classes really have some super sweet children. I couldn’t explain how cute some of these kids are. They are very different to the children I teach in my voluntary capacity. They are super bright and it’s really a matter of doing them justice, having fun and pushing them to learn more and use more language. After the weekend (I teach 16 Saturday and Sunday) I feel like an English language machine and the quality of lesson is not the best but I don’t find it too difficult.

5. Friends

Through my work I’ve met some really great people. I’m very lucky that I’m in a small branch of my school (It has about 5, one of which has over 100 teachers) that only has about 15 teachers. I’m going to the island nation of the Philippines in January for some drunken madness with Rob and just came back form a 2 day relax at the beach with 8 female colleagues. We had such a good time!

Well I’m going to go now. I have my Vietnamese class in about 50 minutes and I’ve got to revise some of the words and phrases I learnt last lesson.

I do miss you all and Its not all easy here. Please come and visit me, I’d love to show you the madness that is my life in Asia!!

James.