Living The Dream

This is my first post and it's going to be so full of information you'll either be so bored you'll never read it again (and pretend you do), or you'll just like reading it the way you read the newspaper everyday. If you like it more than that then I love you.

Getting to Saigon

Hmm, now you'd think this would be just a straight forward journey, two planes no fuss. Oh well you'd be wrong. We almost didn't get here. This was due to the f***ing idiot at Heathrow behind the Thai Airways desk who clearly didn't know what the hell she was doing, tellinh us "Ohhh you need a letter telling us you have a job in Vietnam". WHAT?!!?!?! Are you actually joking? The only reason she asked this is because she rang her supervisor every 2 minutes asking them which how to check some in. Maybe she was new...never the less I DON'T CARE.

We didn't have the letter. We'd never been sent the letter. Maybe an email but anyone could have written this!!! Anyway she was adimant so she only gave us tickets to Bangkok. It gets worse. Just as Matt was about to give her the credit card to check the booking he dropped the card down the side of the luggage conveyor belt. Yes he did. The idiot then rang up the maintenance guys to take the machine apart.

Finally we get onto the plane. Flight is awesome, free drinks free food. We arrive in Bangkok and we go to the transfer desk and explain the flying to Vietnam situation. The Thai lady looks at us and says "Why didn't you just get the flight transfer from London?". EXACTLY. If the Thai can do it why can't the English?!!!!.

We arrive in Vietnam and walk to the Visa desk. Whilst filling out our forms the man asks us to pay, not by credit card though (oh no of course not because that's all I had) he want's VN Dong or US Dollars...cash. Shiiiiiiit! They let me leave the airport to go and get money. I could have just done a runner and left Matt but I'm nice. I get the to the ATM and I see cash withdrawal firgures of 100,000; 200,000; 1,000,000; etc. Hmmm what's the exchange rate? I have no idea. I just get out the top amount and guess what that's not enough. So some Australian guy just gives us some money THANK GOD!

Finally we get to the guesthouse in the middle of the tourist area. The man from the guesthouse comes running out shouting "Tonight you sleep in my friend's hotel, we are full". Yes we were booked in but that' s how it works in Saigon apparently lol. So we settle down to sleep in the friend's hotel/guesthouse/dodgy motel.

The First Few Days

So we thought the friend's guesthouse was bad...we hadn't seen nothin' yet. The actual guesthouse our company booked us into was disgusting! The walls were like nothing I had ever seen. How could a cleaner not see that the walls were dirty and when I say dirty I mean there was actual bogie on the wall. It makes me gag thinking about it.

Every room had a theme though. The other teachers who are starting with us revealed these! Sophie's had demon ants that would never leave and Sarah and Sam had the room next to the rooster coop. He crowed from 4 am until 12pm every day! I still think the bogies are worse though. Matt also felt he needed to show me a massive bogie wiped down the side of the bed. I think I threw up in my mouth. At the moment it would be my sole mission in life to get out of there.

We moved out 2 days later THANK THE LORD. Our apartment is lovely. It's a studio flat in a small apartment block down an alleyway. We also have a roof terrace and are 5 minutes from work. I knew I wanted to live here when we walked into the reception area and it was so quiet (no beeping to be heard which reminds me I need to explain the beeping). On the floor was a shrine to a Buddist God with lots of candles all around it. It was lush. We're paying $620 a month so £400. We have laundry service, wifi, water, gas, cable t.v which I can watch F1 on and Matt can watch Premiership games live and of course THE MAID. She's awesome! She's just been in. She even washed up. I have no idea how to ask her name so I'll name her LOLA. We love Lola. Photo's of the apartment are below:





































































The City

It's actually amazing here! The way I can describe it is like another world. Kind of like a neon London without the shitty people and the shitty tube. Everyone here is so relaxed and nice. There's no worrying about whether he is he going to mug me or she is going to shout at me if I walk into her. They just get on with it. It's awesome.

The roads are MENTAL. Seriously I'm going to come abck to England and get frickin' hit by a car because here, you just cross. No matter what kind of road it is...just walk! They will go around you. Even cars. The one rule they all stick to is no stopping. They don't stop and you can't stop. Just get to the otherside.

We've also worked out beeping someone isn't a rude thing. It's a "I'm here, I'm coming and I'm not going to stop". The beeping does die down at night...just. Also getting a taxi is awesome. They cost like 10,000 Dong which is 33p. Everything here is so cheap, unless your one of those tourists that's a complete fool and gets ripped off 300,000 Dong for a 5 minute journey in the cyclo people. Totally not me or Matt :S

Motorbike taxi's are awesome! They give you a helmet and drive you everywhere pretty quick. It's like being in a film with a Vietnamese Tom Cruise.

Talking of cheap the food is amazingly cheap. We can usually eat a meal with drinks for under a fiver. The street cafe's are definitely the way forward. You go in and sit on little chairs like in the early learing centre and they bring you food. It's lush Vietnamese food but your stomach will need to become accustomed to it. We're going through the dodgy stomach stage at the moment. BUT definitely the best food I've had so far.

School Stuff

So finally I'll just let you know about the workplace. Our building is the biggest out of all the centres. 9 floors with a cafe at the very top. We've been on induction since Saturday and we've observed classes. I cannot wait to start! I have been told I'll definitely have the Jumpstart kids who are like 5. They are the cutest thing EVER! All I have to do is play games and sing wheels on the bus! EXCELLENT! We won't know what our classes are until next Saturday so I don't know what Matt has yet.

We went out last night to try meet a few people and everyone seems so cool. A running theme with the teachers is that they all have Mickey Mouse Degrees such as Art, Film, Philosophy ha ha! Much like Theatre and Choreography. So that's us for now! I'm sure many a funtimes will be had so I can record them on here for you! Pictures for here and Facebook are to come.