Football tournament and disappointment in the Xmas poster competition

The infamous HCMC traffic

I started working more hours at the ERC – the business school this week which has been going well. My work schedule is changing now so from January I will be working Monday – Thursdays then having Friday, Saturday and Sunday off work. It will be nice to have three days off in a row which will also mean I’ll be able to go away for a few days to places like Dalat and the Mekong Delta.

View from the ILA cafe on the 9th floor

I've also got nearly three weeks off mid January for the annual Vietnamese holiday called TET which will be cool. Unfortunately everything stops in Vietnam so travelling around might be difficult so at the moment I’m thinking of going back to Cambodia to do the places I missed earlier this year.

I took part in an ILA football tournament this week which was fun. It’s amazing how my fitness has deteriorated since I’ve been away but I was still comparatively better than my team mates.

My team - no one got the email about what colour to wear

Our team performed ok but our results didn’t match this so we crashed out in the group phase after 4 games. We only scored 3 goals (I got 2) drew 2 games and lost 2. We lost to a Vietnamese team who were good but one of the guys was wearing bare feet!? As they were short on referees I volunteered to referee a game between two Vietnamese teams who were both pretty good. It was quite nice to do some ref’in again.

Me in the middle - Referring the all Vietnamese match

I’m disappointed to report we didn’t win the poster competition. Not only did we not win but our art work has not even made it onto the wall in the school reception. Not sure why it’s not there, one theory I have is that it’s been put forward for the turner prize but that’s unlikely. When I heard the news I challenged one of the judges who used phrases like “It was good…. but not that good” and “too much glitter”. I shall be using these quotes when I to break the sad news to the children next week.

Enjoying playing football again

Apart from this I’ve not been doing much fun stuff. Found a shop that sells all the latest films on DVD for 50 cents each (about 30p) which is exciting. I watched a film last week and it was just like being in the cinema, since this is the place it was filmed. It even had someone’s head in front of the camera at the bottom of the screen - but then what do you expect for 50 cents.