HCMC, new job and darts



Darts night.... the high and low point of my week



Had another darts match this past tuesday, it was an away fixture at the M52 bar in downtown HCMC and in my singles match I was matched against another lady...... This was my chance to restore some male pride after my defeat a few weeks back. However there are no fairytails in Saigon league darts and I'm sad to report I lost again.

The small piece of good news was that did win one leg and she checked out on her first and second darts in the games she won so I shouldn't be too down. The bar was also well decked out in halloween stuff which would have made Ted Hanky feel welcome.

The night got worse though when after the matches the bar girl who was scoring my match earlier that evening challenged me to a game and proceeded to kick my butt 4-1. You can be pretty sure happy hours over when even the bar girl beats you. The only way the night could have got worse was if I was mugged on the way home by a girl. Not wanting to tempt fate, I took a taxi. Ladys 3, Me 0.



M52 bar in HCMC



Apart from this ive been working pretty hard. I started my new job which is going well but very time consuming. Ive not had any time to go running in the park and chat to swearing man. I will try and do this next week. It will be good to here what he's been up to and see how his swearing vocabs coming along.

I do have some good news to finish the blog. I had a drink brought for me the other day which was made from sugar cane! which solves the mystery of exactly who buys SCMs sugar cane. 

What they do is crush the sugar cane and it comes out as a white liquid. I tried it and it tasted like orange juice.... I pointed this fact out to the person who brought it for me who said that its because they orange juice in it, which begs the question, why not just drink orange juice?

Despite SCMs hostility towards me last time I saw him I don't want to put him out of business so will keep that to myself.

Working in HCMC.... a second job....... and darts



HCMC



So, Im now well into working in HCMC and teaching English. As I was only on a part time contract at my school ive been looking at getting some additional work and this week I got a second job at a business school called ERC http://erci.edu.vn/en.html

They have offered me the opportunity to teach some business English and e-commerce and e-business to the under graduates for the next semester. This will be great experience for me and something to add to the CV in addition to the teaching English to young learners.



My juniors class with their poster



I was pretty pleased that one of the reason I got the job at the new school was because of the Banking qualifications I'd taken at RBS.

Working at ILA is good fun. I didn't realise how popular halloween is here. This past week we have been making posters about halloween which is a pretty good way to spend a few hours. There is a competition and I think all the teachers want their class to win.

As my art skills are not that great there is not much I can do to help except go and schmooze with the judges.



Our Halloween poster



I have some more fantastic news. I won my first darts match, albeit not in the way I wanted. I was in two games last week. A doubles and a singles. We comfortably won our doubles game and in my single match the chap I was due to play was not registered so got disqualified so I won by disqualification.. You've got to start somewhere!!!

Apart from that ive been working hard most of the time. Ive been going to the cinema which is nice and cheap and running in the park. Swearing man clocks me whenever I go there now and talks to me for as long as I let him.

Me with sugar cane man

However he's a nice guy and its quite nice to have a chat with the locals. Most mornings now I see people working out with swords... Yep, full on swords, swinging them around and doing all sorts of moves. This beats the fan dancers as my new favourite workout.

My 'picture of the week' this week is this one I got my mate to snap with sugar cane man. SKM saw what I was up to and said something angrily to me in Vietnamese, he didn't look to happy so I smiled and walked away. I don't think I'll be trying that again.

Day trip to Binh Quai 1 and first darts match



A night to forget against the all girls team - AC/DC



Had my first darts match as part of the 'blue gecko' pub team the other day and unfortunately I have some bad news. I lost my first game 2 - 0 and it was to a girl. As sad as it sound it’s not easy loosing to a girl but she was very good and even though both games were close she deserved to win, it only took her 5 shots to check out which is impressive. We played an 'all girls' team and we got beat 9 games to 3... It was not a good night for the men of Blue Gecko. These girls didn't fit the usual stereotype of darts players (watch the women play at lakeside if you need reminding) and were quite attractive.

Day trip to Binh Quai 1

To make matters worse and to complete my humiliation whilst I was in a huff and keeping store the girl who beat me decided to stand over my shoulder and correct me whenever I messed up the scoring. However it was a good night and im looking forward to it next week.

I went on a day trip yesterday with some of my work colleagues to a place called Binh Quai 1 which is just outside the city and by a river. It was good to get out of HCMC and the first time ive done it since arriving two months ago. I immediately noticed how much cleaner the air was and it was good to chill out in open space.

Day trip to Binh Quai 1

The local bus was fun, it didn't break down and the 40 minutes journey cost about 15p! We played some cricket, drank some beer and had some good chats. It was a nice day.

Ive been out jogging in the local park this past week which is an experience. Its probably about 1 km in circumference and takes me a little under 5 minutes to jog around. Its always very busy as most people don't goto gyms but ther eis also lots of training equipment in it. As im the only western looking guy I do get lots of people come and chat to me. Working outs a bit different here and some of the best things I've seen is women fan dancing.

Man poking the water with a stick on day trip

At the park this morning a 69 year old Vietnamese chap, who spoke good English, started talking to me and after a few minutes was testing my knowledge to English swear words. After telling me them he proceeded to ask me what they meant so he could check my understanding. He kept coming out with great stuff, it was very funny.

I'm settled in the house now and things are going well. Work it tough at the weekends but pretty chilled during the week. Will try and do some more fun stuff as I think weekly darts updates may get very boring very quickly.

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.

Finding work as an English Language Teacher in HCMC

on the restaurant wall

So after finished my CELTA course it was time to look for work. As I had complete my CELTA at the ILA school here in Ho Chi Minh City I was offered an interview which was booked for last Monday. I wanted to look at some of the other big schools in the city so spent the early part of the week sending my CVs to those schools too. 

After a few days I had been offered a part time job at the ILA with two interviews set up with other schools.

City Photo

The ILA wanted me to start on their induction program straight away, since the school offers good support for new teachers and quite liking the idea of working part time and still being able to afford to live in HCMC, Ive decided to take the job. The induction program started on Friday where I attended a few workshops. I will be teaching mainly children which Im happy with as its a nice way into teaching and the lessons will be over the weekends which means apart from two hours a few evenings a week I will be pretty free Monday to Friday!

Food on a night out

On Saturday I observed a number of other teachers over a number of different age groups. The classes seemed quite fun and I'm looking forward to starting. I have some more induction training early next week and then I have my first lesson Thursday afternoon (1st September). Its Vietnam national day (A bank holiday) on 2nd September and lots of flags have been put up around the city. I'm not really sure what will be happening but the school is closed so my next lessons will be over the weekend.

River view of the city

Over the next week I will be looking at getting a perminent place to stay. Alot of the teachers share accomodation together which will be a good way for me to meet more people. I'm also looking into getting a motorbike which is concerning but exciting.

My main objectives over the next few months will be to settle in the city and keep improving at teaching. I've already found some people to play football with and found some great gyms that I'd like to join. I'll keep you posted on how it keeps going.