Well it seems my brother was right by saying that I’m not very good at updating my blog but I have had a lot going on so it has been hard to find the time.
I had my bag stolen recently, which wasn’t great fun. I was getting gas for my motorbike and I had the seat of the bike up, with my bag in the bike. I turned away for a split second and when I turned back my bag had gone. I was stupid to leave it in the bike and turn away but you never expect it do you? I lost my phone, keys, purse containing money and all my bank cards, camera, makeup and my notebook which had loads of important scribbles in it, including my house address. Aaaaaaaaaaall good fun! It seems the cunts have been using my phone too as a few people have phoned it and it has been ringing.
My bad luck seemed to continue when my house key snapped recently after the bag incident. I managed to pull the half key out the padlock but it meant I couldn’t go anywhere on my day off until someone came home! Thankfully I didn’t have work to go to...
I had my bag stolen recently, which wasn’t great fun. I was getting gas for my motorbike and I had the seat of the bike up, with my bag in the bike. I turned away for a split second and when I turned back my bag had gone. I was stupid to leave it in the bike and turn away but you never expect it do you? I lost my phone, keys, purse containing money and all my bank cards, camera, makeup and my notebook which had loads of important scribbles in it, including my house address. Aaaaaaaaaaall good fun! It seems the cunts have been using my phone too as a few people have phoned it and it has been ringing.
My bad luck seemed to continue when my house key snapped recently after the bag incident. I managed to pull the half key out the padlock but it meant I couldn’t go anywhere on my day off until someone came home! Thankfully I didn’t have work to go to...
They say things come in threes so I after my motorbike crash, my bag being stolen and my house key snapping I was expecting some good luck to come my way, which indeed it did.
I’m a member of a very swanky gym. It’s the most expensive gym in Hanoi and averages out at about £100 a month membership, which is more expensive than most London gyms! I joined when I had some of my savings left and I was given a good deal which meant that for 6 months I only paid £350. It is a really, really nice gym but when I went to them and told them I had lost my gym card with my bag they told me I’d have to pay 250,000 VND for a new card! That’s about £7 which doesn’t sound like a lot but when you’re charging so much for membership anyway a simple thing like that shouldn’t be another opportunity to swipe your client’s money! Bastards. Well, thankfully being forgetful and scatty at times, I’d forgotten to collect my card from them so they had my gym card all along!
My good luck seemed to continue when I went in to work last Monday to teach what I thought would be 2 2 hour lessons. It turned out that my second lesson had been cancelled and my first lesson was the last in the course for those students. It’s a bit of a tradition with Apollo (and most language schools) so take your students out for coffee during their last lesson. I’d done so with one class and paid for them, which was a bad move in itself and with my recent lack of bag situation I didn’t have the funds to buy coffee for 12 adults so I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. When I got to class I handed all the students their tests and certificates. There was a high energy to the class already because everyone had done so well on their test, which I’m really happy about. Then when I asked them what they wanted to do they chanted ‘beer!’That settled that then. After a bit of chat about where to go we grabbed our things and went to a bia hoi nearby. Bia Hoi is Vietnam’s special brew of beer. Its light bodied, very refreshing, and very cheap with pints costing about 15p. Bia Hoi is seen as a working man’s’ drink but it’s as much of a social experience as it is a beer. You’ll find Bia Hois all over Hanoi mostly full of men. You won’t ever see a Vietnamese woman sat drinking beer alone. However, the same rules don’t apply for Western women! You tend to get a lot of good Vietnamese food at Bia Hois. We ordered a selection of dishes that we all shared and I tried a few new things too. I tried dog’s cock for the first time and it wasn’t bad to be honest! It looked like a small version of black pudding and although the students were a little reluctant to tell me what it was at first, I bite the bullet and tried it. By this point I’d already had quite a bit of beer. I’d made the ‘mistake’ of saying ‘tram phan tram’ when we were cheering our drinks, which basically means 100% = down your drink. From then off we were downing drinks every time they arrived at the table, which was regularly as the service was great. I felt like royalty that night. Myself and Chloe, which is the other teacher I share the class with, didn’t pay a pennie! Despite the students only being elementary level, we all had a lot of fun and there was a good level of conversation buzzing around.
After the food we went to a karaoke place. I’d never been before but the Vietnamese love their karaoke so I felt I should get involved in the culture even more and forget I can’t sing for shit. We arrived at this venue and we put in one of the booths. The room had a large tv playing various music videos, sofas all around the room, tables with crisps, lazers on the walls and we were soon presented with red wine, beer and fresh fruit! Again, I didn’t pay for anything so I have no idea how much it cost but it was a lot of fun and I hope I party with those students again.
I really enjoy partying with the Vietnamese as it’s so much fun watching them dance. They have different rules to it all here. You won’t often see men and woman dancing close together. Instead you’re more likely to see men and men dancing together. They get very emotional and excitable, jumping about and dancing together. It really is great fun to watch! I’m still grinning at how emotional the men get when singing slow, passionate love songs for karaoke!
The women are a lot more reserved but you’ll often see women walking down the street holding hands. There is a lot I’m yet to learn about the Vietnamese.
I’m a member of a very swanky gym. It’s the most expensive gym in Hanoi and averages out at about £100 a month membership, which is more expensive than most London gyms! I joined when I had some of my savings left and I was given a good deal which meant that for 6 months I only paid £350. It is a really, really nice gym but when I went to them and told them I had lost my gym card with my bag they told me I’d have to pay 250,000 VND for a new card! That’s about £7 which doesn’t sound like a lot but when you’re charging so much for membership anyway a simple thing like that shouldn’t be another opportunity to swipe your client’s money! Bastards. Well, thankfully being forgetful and scatty at times, I’d forgotten to collect my card from them so they had my gym card all along!
My good luck seemed to continue when I went in to work last Monday to teach what I thought would be 2 2 hour lessons. It turned out that my second lesson had been cancelled and my first lesson was the last in the course for those students. It’s a bit of a tradition with Apollo (and most language schools) so take your students out for coffee during their last lesson. I’d done so with one class and paid for them, which was a bad move in itself and with my recent lack of bag situation I didn’t have the funds to buy coffee for 12 adults so I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do. When I got to class I handed all the students their tests and certificates. There was a high energy to the class already because everyone had done so well on their test, which I’m really happy about. Then when I asked them what they wanted to do they chanted ‘beer!’That settled that then. After a bit of chat about where to go we grabbed our things and went to a bia hoi nearby. Bia Hoi is Vietnam’s special brew of beer. Its light bodied, very refreshing, and very cheap with pints costing about 15p. Bia Hoi is seen as a working man’s’ drink but it’s as much of a social experience as it is a beer. You’ll find Bia Hois all over Hanoi mostly full of men. You won’t ever see a Vietnamese woman sat drinking beer alone. However, the same rules don’t apply for Western women! You tend to get a lot of good Vietnamese food at Bia Hois. We ordered a selection of dishes that we all shared and I tried a few new things too. I tried dog’s cock for the first time and it wasn’t bad to be honest! It looked like a small version of black pudding and although the students were a little reluctant to tell me what it was at first, I bite the bullet and tried it. By this point I’d already had quite a bit of beer. I’d made the ‘mistake’ of saying ‘tram phan tram’ when we were cheering our drinks, which basically means 100% = down your drink. From then off we were downing drinks every time they arrived at the table, which was regularly as the service was great. I felt like royalty that night. Myself and Chloe, which is the other teacher I share the class with, didn’t pay a pennie! Despite the students only being elementary level, we all had a lot of fun and there was a good level of conversation buzzing around.
After the food we went to a karaoke place. I’d never been before but the Vietnamese love their karaoke so I felt I should get involved in the culture even more and forget I can’t sing for shit. We arrived at this venue and we put in one of the booths. The room had a large tv playing various music videos, sofas all around the room, tables with crisps, lazers on the walls and we were soon presented with red wine, beer and fresh fruit! Again, I didn’t pay for anything so I have no idea how much it cost but it was a lot of fun and I hope I party with those students again.
I really enjoy partying with the Vietnamese as it’s so much fun watching them dance. They have different rules to it all here. You won’t often see men and woman dancing close together. Instead you’re more likely to see men and men dancing together. They get very emotional and excitable, jumping about and dancing together. It really is great fun to watch! I’m still grinning at how emotional the men get when singing slow, passionate love songs for karaoke!
The women are a lot more reserved but you’ll often see women walking down the street holding hands. There is a lot I’m yet to learn about the Vietnamese.
I met up with one of my students on Wednesday as he wanted to have lunch with me. I’d told him on Monday that my favourite food was sushi so he suggested we meet at a sushi restaurant. I was a little hesitant at first as I wasn’t sure what his motives were but the meal was really nice. We spoke about a lot and he has invited me to his house to have dinner with him and his wife. I thought the mention of a wife would be the safe alarm but according to my housemate...in most Western cultures you meet someone, fall in love and then get married. In Vietnam, you meet someone, get married and then either fall in love or don’t. Hmm.
Due to my bag being stolen and me losing my camera (not my SLR though, thankfully!) I don’t have any recent photos to upload but I’ll follow this with some soon. I promise.
