Rainy Season

So, its rainy season again. So far we haven't had much rain until the last few weeks that is. It got so bad a week ago that roads were turned into rivers. There were pictures in the papers of motorbike floating down the roads.

Anyway, I captured this footage of the rain outside my school where I'm studying. It happened at break-time and as I only have 15 minutes it prevented me from going to the circle K for refreshments. Delta is going okay, very very busy!

Interesting restaurant decoration

Have you ever had that feeling that Jesus is watching over you? I know lots of people claim this, however I can't say I'm one of them....... That was until I went out to a new restaurant today. 

I was sat down eating my food when I looked up at the TV to notice a wooden Jesus statue perched above it. He was pretty big too with candles and flowers either side. This is a common thing in Buddhism here to have a little table for placing offerings to Buddha however it appears that this practice is evolving and moving over to Vietnam Christianity. I'm not really sure what offerings you could make to Jesus since he wasn't really a materials guy and with the ability of turning water into wine, which I'm sure is a skill that is transferable to other food and refreshments, I doubt these not much he can't get his hands on.

Anyway, It was interesting. Delta is going okay, its very stressful and I'm busy all the time.

The beginning of Delta module 2

So today I've began the final part of my delta (Diploma in English language teaching to adults) which is module 2. As I've mentioned before this is full time and requires me to take 2 months off work. During this time I will be studying at my old school, ILA where I will have to teach classes and write assignments

As today was the first day it was pretty chilled and I got to meet the other teachers who I'll be with for the next 2 months. There are 11 of us in total and were all guys! (see pictue above).

This part of the course is notorious for being  very stressful so I'm not sure how much I'll be updating over the next few months.

DELTA Module 3 - pass with merit!

Good news, yesterday i got the result from my DELTA module 3. I'm pleased to say that I passed with merit.

 

So that means I've passed modules one and three and now have only more left - module two. I'm due to start module two on 31st August and it will last two months. This one is the biggest of the three as it involves writing five 2,500 word assignments. I need to take two months off work to complete it and attend classes full time from Monday to Friday. The previous two I have done distance learning with International House in London but this one will be full time at ILA where I previously studied my CELTA four years ago.

So nearly finished but I have a tough few months ahead.

Mango Bay - Phu Quoc, Vietnam

Just got back from my holiday in Phu Quoc. Its my second trip to this place so we stayed in a different part of the Island to last time and stayed in a resort called Mango Bay. This has been tried and tested by a number of other teacher and come highly recommended.

It was a very nice place. It had its own private beach and the accommodation were wooden huts in the jungle just set back from the beach. It was very quiet and about 10 minutes drive from the islands main town. The weather was a mixed bag some days were really hot and we had a storm on the other day. This was fine though as the storm makes it a lot cooler. The restaurant was also very cool as it had a terrace that looked straight out to sea.

The room was very cool as the toilet and shower was at the back of the hut and open to the outside jungle, it also had its own garden in the wash room. We stayed for a total of three nights which was enough to fresh us ready to go back to work next week. Sadly this will be my last holiday until December as in four weeks time I'll be starting the final part of my delta course for two months before going into another semester.

Below are some nice pictures of the holiday. This is definitely a place I would recommend if you want to relax.

Nice bedroom with mosquito net

Our home in the jungle

Restaurant terrace on a wet day

Our private beach on a rainy day

Our home in the jungle

Outside shower

Garden in the bathroom

Restaurant terrace on a sunny day

Restaurant terrace on a sunny day

Roast Dinner at The Tavern in District 7

The roast dinner is one of the few things I miss from England and getting them in Ho Chi Minh city has always been a bit tricky in the past. Many places are starting to sell them but the quality is frequently not as good as those you get at home. However, I'm pleased to say that the Tavern pub near my house in district 7 does in my and many other peoples opinions the best roast dinner in the city.

 

 

I went this past weekend and took a picture of it. It was roast beef this weekend and comes with excellent roast potatoes, veg, gravy and Yorkshire pudding. Its really tasty and definitely worth the trip to district 7.

SIDL - End of Season awards night - Al Fresco, district 2

Saturday night was our end of season darts award ceremony and as you can remember my team, the Tavern, once again won the league which means we have now won back to back promotions and will now play in the top tier of the Saigon darts league next season.

The party was at a place called Al Fresco in district 2 and had free flow beer and food all evening. We all got to go up on stage and collect our trophies. Also a number of the rest of my team won awards for things such as 'most 100s' and 'highest checkout'.

As you can see we got a lot of trophies so built a tower out of them (see below). It was a very enjoyable evening. the new season will start again in a month or so and its going to be very tough in the big league.