DELTA Module 2 - Pass with Merit!

Great news! After four and a half months I finally got my DELTA module 2 result today! I'm delighted to report I got a pass with merit! This was very unexpected as this course was very tough. You may remember me whinging about it late last year.This means I have now finished the course and can put the words 'DELTA' after my name.

This is a great qualification for me to have as it means I can stay in ESL and get some pretty good jobs all over the world going forward.

Paying bills in Vietnam

Paying bills in Vietnam is not the same or as easy as in England. Its really difficult to set up standing orders and direct debits (it is changing) and most are paid monthly in cash. I get four bills a month: electricity, water, management fee and Internet. I need to go to different buildings to pay for them all. Fortunately, all the buildings are in close proximity and I can rock up on my motorbike, park it outside the building and pay the bill. I've got this down to a pretty slick routine. I wait until I get all the bills and pay them in one hit. In total it takes about 20 minutes.

An extra challenge was added the other day as the photo below shows. This used to be where I paid my water bill. One month the building was there, the next month, poof! - gone! Just a Vietnamese flag remaining. 

No one told me this was happening and now I have to go and speak to my friendly estate agent and find out where they have moved.

TET 2016 - New Year Fireworks!

This week I got to see my second new year in two months! This is the TET new year that goes by the lunar calendar and not the date calendar. To celebrate in Ho Chi Minh City there was a firework display are midnight.

The display is in district 1, the centre of the city and as you can imagine the traffic is pretty crazy if you go to watch them close up so I watched them from the next district, district 4 from a rooftop. 

They were pretty good and went on for 15 minutes or so. It was also very nice as the backdrop was of the Vietnamese rooftops which are pretty cool.

TET 2016 - Display at my gym

I like my gym for many reasons, mainly that is free and two minutes walk from my office but also at Christmas and TET they make an effort and have a nice display. You may remember last year I posted about the TET money tree display. If you didn't and need a refresher see the link below.

TET 2015 - Lucky money tree

Well, this year there is another new display! This year they have gone with a traditional countryside farming scene complete with lucky money tree

You can see the slices of watermelon, this is traditionally eaten at TET. The redder the watermelon the luckier they believe you will be

TET 2016 - in Vietnam

This past week has been TET in Vietnam which means I get a week off work! I decided not to go away this year and stay in the city. The reason for this was firstly because everyone leaves the city so traveling is a pain in the butt and secondly, its a bit more expensive as everyone is going away.

As it's TET there are lots of decorations around the city. It's like our Christmas but they decorate with flowers, lucky money trees and stuff that shows off the animal of the next new year. Next year is the year of the monkey.

I've attached some pictures of the decorations around by our lake. Both taken at night and in the day.

 

Beer update

Just an update on my beer, it should be ready in the next few days. After we made the beer we had to let it ferment for a week then bottle it for its second fermentation. After fermenting at room temperature I've had to move it to the fridge for another week to reduce the carbonation. Now this process is completed it is ready to drink. I got a total of 29 500ml bottles which is a lot to store so I had to buy a new beer fridge. Below is a picture of my beer in the beer fridge. 

I have tired one already and it was excellent. Really good flavour and as good as what you'd get from a keg in a pub! There is another guy in my block who has brewed as well who I got to know through the beer club but he brewed a wheat beer. We are going to swap a few bottles next week!