ILA Christmas party.

My favourite Pho Bo restaurant

This past Tuesday evening was the ILA Christmas party. It was held at a posh hotel called the ‘ice palace’ which despite the name was not made of ice, or a palace. It was free to go and there were free drinks all night. Sadly I had to work at my other school the next day so had to exert self control at the free bar which I successfully managed. The only disappointing thing was that they didn’t play any Christmas music but opted for dance music instead. I requested some from the DJ but he looked at me like I was mad. I kid you not, he then asked me ‘why do you want Christmas music?’ to which my reply was…… ‘It’s a Christmas party!?’

Market, 2 minutes walk from my house

It was nice to see everyone dressed up though. Sadly I forgot to take my camera so don’t have any pictures. I will try and pester some people for some in the next few weeks as it was pretty impressive.

I needed to get a suit made for the party. Although I have had some trousers and shirts made before I don’t have a jacket. I went on Sunday to a shop where the tailor measured me up. I got to choose the material, style and lining.  I picked the suit up two days later and it fitted perfectly! All this cost $110 (70 pounds!) for the jacket and trousers.

The river north of my house - words can't describe how bad it smells

As I've said before I’m doing more hours at my new school so have been pretty busy all week. I’ve not been doing any other fun stuff. I’m looking forward to Christmas! There are 35 of us going to a posh hotel for Christmas lunch then were going to a house party in the evening.

I can’t believe it’s only 10 days until Christmas! It seems even stranger that it was May, seven months ago, that I left England! At the moment the plan is to come back to England next November / December. I’m not sure if this will be for a visit or for longer. I’m still liking the teaching and being in a different country.

Some other good news is that it’s getting cooler! The mornings feel fresh on occasions but putting it into perspective its only cooler compared to the usual relentless heat. It’s still 20 plus degrees and still rises to at least 30 most days. The heat doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. I’m not sure if this is because I’m getting used to it or because im used to being hot and sweaty.