Moved house and the reunification palace

My new house

Sorry ive not written a blog in the past few weeks. I've been busy but at the same time not doing much interesting stuff. Work is going well and im getting lots of hours and getting better as a teacher. Im also settling into the school well and getting to know the other teachers.

Last week I moved from the guest house into a house with 4 other people that I got to know from my CELTA course who are also working as teacher in HCMC. We have signed a one year contract on the house so it looks like I'll be here until September 2012.

Reunification Palace

The house its great. It's in a nice quiet back street but very close to a market. It has 8 floors. The ground floor has a lounge, kitchen, reception area and a garden (see the picture). There are then 5 floors with bedrooms so we each have a floor each. There is then another floor with a clothes wash room and then a top floor garden which has a good view across the city.

Since I'd not done much tourist stuff recently I went to visit the reunification palace a few days ago.

Warr room at the palace

This place played a part in the war with Vietnam and in 1975 was overtaken by North Vietnam after they'd won the war with America. The good thing about this building is that after 1975 they have left it as it was so all the stuff in the building is decorated as it was in the 1970s. It reminded me a bit of Poole Arts Centre before it has a makeover a few years back - it smelt the same too.

There was lots of different rooms to explore and it was a real step back in time.



Pool table with no pockets! Weird!



My favorite room was the old library which looked like something from a Roger Moore, James Bond film. One of the thing I enjoyed about the palace the most was that there was a pool table on display with no pockets! Not sure why this was on display and there was no mention of it in the travel guide. 

Other than doing this I have been looking at getting involved with more social activities. I joined a pub darts team at a pub called the 'Blue Gecho' a few days ago. I won my first match which was a friendly but the first real game takes place on tuesday.

Library at the palace

I've also joined a gym and found some people to play football with. I'm not sure when I'll be popping back to England, I want to see how the next few months go with money. I have two weeks holiday between now and the end of February and after this time I maybe able to take a bit longer off work but will see how Ifeel then.

All in all its going really well and im having a good time.

View from the palace on the top floor

Teaching at the ILA

HCMC in rush hour

Ive just finished my second week and first full week of teaching. The lesson planning is getting easier and I'm learning lots. The classes are good and in general the students are well behaved. My classes have ranged from 4-6 year olds 6-10 year olds and 10-16 year olds, all of mixed abilities.

Im settling in to working again after the travelling and training break. I have also just agreed to move into a house with 4 others in the north of district one. Its a great place, we all have one floor each and there is a roof top social area as well as I lounge, kitchen and garden. 

More traffic!

Its in a nice quiet place (which is not easy in HCMC) as its in the middle of a block of buildings so there is very little traffic noise.It's also only a few minutes walk from a busy market. All we have to do is sort out a few more details then we could move in next week!

There are lots western people teaching at the school so socially its very good. I only have one perminent class at the moment (on saturday and sunday) so the other classes at the moment are covers. This means that my schedule will be changing each week but im happy with that as it all helps with getting experience.

Lady carrying flowers on her bike!

End of my first week of teaching

Where's sugar cane man?

I’ve just finished my first week of teaching and so far it’s been ok. It’s pretty tough but the same as learning anything new. As this is a private school the lessons are mostly in the evenings and at weekends. I had 10 hours of lessons this weekend after finishing the induction week. I’ve got 6 hours of lessons next week then 16 hours at the weekend which pretty much means I've got the whole week off and only work weekends which, as there is no real weekend structure here like the UK and the weekend football games are on TV in the evening here its not bad at all. The actual planning of the lessons is more time consuming than the lessons themselves.

Here he is! hiding behind the lampost

I had my first class of 4-6 year old which was surprisingly fun. You got to play lots of games and sing songs; itwas a bit like playing with my nephew x 18. As I've not been doing much but teaching I've not had a chance to take many photos. The ones today are of sugar cane man who I snapped a few days back whilst having lunch upstairs in a restaurant. He was pushing his bike down the road whilst on his daily rounds.

Sugarcane man on his rounds

I'm currently looking at getting a permanent house and sharing with four others who I studied with on the course. We are all working at different schools and all get on pretty well so it should work out. I’ve not been involved in the house finding process (which is fine with me) but I'm told the places they have viewed so far are pretty spectacular and very spacious.