ATM

As promised, I walked down the street and tried every ATM.  It took me 12 ATMs and three quarters of a mile until, thank God, I found one that worked at Donga Bank.

Our address

We moved into out new apartment two days ago and were without internet, so now I am posting.
We are on the 16th floor.  It is 53 square meters and costs 8,000,000VDN, about $360.

                  The address is: 
Can ho A-16-03 Toa nha The Pegasus Plaza
53-55 Vo Thj Sau
P .Quyet Thang
TP. Bien Hoa-Dong Nai
Vietnam

Some places in Vietnam are named in English. For example, the name of our building is Pegasus Plaza.  This is lucky for us because the taxi drivers understand us when we say this word, although we have to pronounce it Peg a suuuus.  Every word we try to say in Vietnamese is misunderstood, even the name of the local department store, Co.op mart.  Sounds simple doesn't it.  Well it is not.  I finally understand the reason that Asians leave off the end of English words, it is because their final letter is implosive whereas our final letter is explosive.  In other words, one does not hear the T when pronouncing Co.op mart; it is pronounced something like Cah ahb ma.  Every single word in Vietnamese is only one syllable long!!!!!!!  The word for thank you is Cam on and is pronounced as if you are saying "Come on" with a British accent.

Surprisingly, even though we are 16 stories up, it is very noisy here.  Each morning we have the pleasure of witnessing the sunrise because at dawn, the street fill with crowing roosters. This I do not mind because sunrise at 5:30AM is the best part of the day.  I usually watch the sunrise then walk around town until 9 AM at which time the weather becomes too hot.  Arin likes to go out at 3PM when it begins to cool off, then return at sunset which is 12 hours after sunrise, 5:30 PM.  We are near the equator, so this does not change seasonally.

How did I get rooked into this talent show ????

ILA is giving us a Christmas Party which includes entertainment provided by us, the staff.  Today was try outs and our center was requested to design an act. Some of my female coworkers had already designed an act and wanted more people so I was asked to join.  I had my one and only  practice yesterday and I just did not think I could learn the songs since they were all in foreign languages, so after the practice  I tried to get out of it, to no avail. So today, my co workers and I performed love songs.  Two of the songs were really pretty and worth checking out on you tube. The Vietnamese song is called, Neu Nhr Anh Den.  The Afrikan song is called, Kaptein.   The judges are going to choose one talent from each of the centers.   Luckily for our center, we  have Tom who received an enthusiastic ovation for his saxophone performance and is sure to be chosen!  Everybody was IMPRESSED!

The contest was in Saigon which is 17km from Bien Hoa, an hour drive.   Lydia wanted to leave early on the bus, and I needed to learn the bus system, so I left with her.  First she showed me some sights including Notre Dame and a modern mall called Diamond Plaza, then treated me for coffee at her favorite spot.  Afterwards, we rode the bus for 15,000 VDN ($1.35), instead of the 550,000VDN ($25) for the taxi.  Of course the buses have no air, and the other problem is that you have to run along side the bus in order to get on, because it does not stop. 

Induction day at ILA: classroom management

Pat and I are the newbies at the school so we, along with 35 others, attended ILA induction in Ho Chi Minh City.  I must say, I was very impressed with the extensive educational computer system that ILA has in place.

Pat was able to see several of her new friends as they had all taken the CELTA class together.  The CELTA is some kind of ESL training.  I have seen this on the work visa check off list but if 20 years of experience and the numerous certificates, credentials and classes that I already have are not enough, then fergetaboutit!  The CELTA requirement is the main reason I only wanted a 6 month lease, just in case my work permit application gets rejected without it.  I wil not be getting the CELTA.  I refuse to study for anymore certificates, licenses etc.  So far I have only met one other person who has any regular teaching experience.  In Mexico, a teaching credential was required, but most of these other places only want these language certificates with a teaching credential being valueless.

The crux of today´s training was on class management.  I feel sorry for people who have not taught before; what a nightmare.  In Mexico, I would hear teachers trying to control their class and wanted so badly to step in and help them, but it was not my place to do so.

During our instruction today, we did a lot of group work.  My group was laughing at me because at every opportunity, I would say, "Oh, you could let one of the students lead that."  My group partner Pierce said, "You do not do much of the teaching, do you." Yes,  I prefer to be more of a facilitator.  You should have seen me when I taught regular school. Other than during math instruction, I rarely left my desk.  Pity the student who said something was too easy or he already knew how to do it because he was assigned to teach it.  My goal was to develop leaders.  I hope it worked.  I have connected with only one of my former students, and it certainly worked for her.

When I taught at the autistic school a few years ago, my aides would complain about our field trips, with the main problem being which fast food restaurant to visit for lunch.  Seriously, is there that big of a difference between Burger King and McDonalds????  I am not kidding, no one brought their lunch; these people had fast food for breakfast lunch and dinner every day for years upon years upon years.  Anyway, after I made each aide in charge of one field trip a week and they bared the brunt of their coworkers complaints, they all mellowed out.  In fact, none of them wanted to be the leader.  They begged me to take it from them.  Sorry, you made your bed, now lie in it.

Arin finally discovers a vegetarian eatery. The speciality is purple sticky rice

We finally found a vegetarian food stand.  On the corner of two busy streets we had purple sticky rice with peanuts and warm coconut sauce.   This was accompanied by corn on the cob cut and placed in a cup with hot sauce and some other delicious sauce.  Arin was so happy to finally find a snack place.

My new snack place is the fried chicken stand in front of the apartments.  This seems to be the new gathering place. After Arin and I ate, I observed a class that I will be taking over. The gal currently teaching this class, Charlene, has finished her contract year and is moving to a school in Indonesia.  She was offered a job by a former coworker who has opened a school there.  I am hoping to tap into this network.

After the class I was still hungry because I hadn't eaten protein for dinner, so  I stopped for a bite at the chicken stand which is located in the Pegasus courtyard.  Before long, Charlene showed up on her motorcycle, then Pat arrived, so I ended up dining with two of my coworkers.

Apartment is ready to move in

We are now official residents of Bien Hoa, Vietnam, but before we moved in, the landlord wanted 3 months in advance which came out to 24,000,000VDN in cash!  I had brought $1000 cash with me which I thought would be enough.  I had not expected such a giant amount so had to get mo money from the bank. I thought this would be easy with my new international bank card, but was stymied when my bank card did not work.  I specifically chose this card because the company reimburses ATM fees worldwide.  I tried 3 ATMs to no avail, so I had to go into the bank and pay a 3% fee .  One of the ATMs stated that it could not accept chip technology; so much for new fangled technology!  This weekend I am going to try all of the 12 ATMs I saw on my way to the bank and if none of them work, I will be calling the company.  Anyway, we finally obtained mo money and signed a six month lease paying for half of the months in advance.  I will still need to come up with $1,000,000 VDN before my first paycheck.  We have the keys and are moving in tomorrow.  Luckily we talked the owner into a 6 month lease instead of the 12 month they desired.   This is just in case things do not work out with the school.  I found out that I still have 5 more steps to follow before obtaining my work visa.  And of course each of these steps costs mo money.  So, if you are going to work in Vietnam, be prepared to spend at least $2000, plus airfare, before you even receive a paycheck. 

Hot pot-a dish cooked on your table

Arin has had the worst time trying to get vegetarian food.  No matter how he expresses it, most of the restaurants will feed him meat, and if he manages to get tofu, it is often meat flavored.  So tonight we went to a hot pot restaurant.  The way this works is that there is a burner in the center of your table.  On the burner sits a simmering pot of stock to which you add your menu items.  Menu items are hand fulls of vegetables, cubes of meat, fish pieces, tofu, etc.  You chose single items from the menu which each have a separate fee, and they are brought to you on a large plate.  It is then your responsibility to cut the food with the scissors provided, add it to the pot, and cook it to your desired consistency.  We will definitely return to this restaurant.

We also saw the movie Mockingjay in our nearby theater.  We sat in the premium seats for around $5 for the two of us.  This place is brand new and the surround sound was extraordinary.

Opening a bank account

I now have a Vietnamese bank account.  I tried to deposit some of the cash I brought but this is not allowed.  The account is only for paycheck deposit.  Pat and I both opened accounts today and then she took us to the supermarket.  I think we are going to have so much fun making food, with so many interesting ingredients to try.  We told the taxi driver Co Op Mart, but the Vietnamese do not finish their words, so the cab driver knows it as Co Op Mar.....

We have been to our helper friend´s restaurant twice now and realize that most of the little street side booths specialize in only one dish, and they are open at only one times, either breakfast lunch or dinner.  So tonight we decided to eat at a regular restaurant for dinner.  I took one look at the extensive menu and it was just a blur or characters. Luckily, Arin is picking up the Vietnamese language and realized the dishes were organized by noodle, rice, bread, etc,  I found the rice page and just picked one. It tasted alright but it was the worst job of cooking I have ever experienced.  I thought I was going to break my tooth on the overcooked rice mounds.  We won´t be going there again.  I wish I could post a picture, but blogger does not operate so well in Vietnam.

Staff field trip

As a bonding activity, the school sponsored a day long trip to Phuong Nam.  We rode buses and ferries to visit the beach and monkey island.  In actuality, this was more of an eating trip, which is right up my alley!  My first taste sensation of the day was an ice cream bar at monkey hill.  It had three layers with the top layer being dipped in a white chocolate hard coating.  This ice cream bar will be forever in my memory because the monkeys kept jumping on me trying for my treat.  It was too good to give up so I had to punch and kick them, plus, the keeper had to snap them with a giant rubber band.  Muddy paw prints decorated my pants and shirt.  Of course the ice cream bar was my coworker Pat´s idea and I was telling her, " I'm going to get you for this."  By the end of the day she had already had her water bottle grabbed by a monkey and been bitten by a monkey, so it looks as if we are even.  Unlike my ice cream, my money and glasses were hidden and secured in my vest as I had learned about monkey stealing in Belize.  In Belize, tourists were placed in a cage with cute little baby monkeys whom we allowed to steal out money from our pockets, but these thieves were full grown roaming monkeys.   Aside from water bottle and ice cream thievery, they stole prescription glasses from Kim, and although they were retrieved, they now sport permanent bite marks as a reminder of monkey island.  As you can see, there were a  number of us who did not enjoy the experience.  A couple of the Vietnamese gals and I were cowering and screaming, the whole time.  Also on the tour were crocodiles.  I took some pictures on my new crummy new cell phone but they are too crummy, so the pictures below were taken by PAT. 

After monkey island we went to the beach and ate, family style.  Then after that, we went to a seafood restaurant and ate, then we went to an ice cream parlour and ate.  In Vietnam, food continues to be ordered until everyone says they are done.  The drinks appear to be beer, tea, Vietnamese root beer and Vietnamese energy drink.  What a great day!!!!!!

Footnote:  The ocean water was very warm but muddy.  The shore was covered with thousands of tiny white shells.

Searcing for a place to live

Today we looked at apartments with the help of our friend Van Ahn, the events coordinator at the school.  One apartment was in the market district by the river.  It was 3 bedroom and 2 baths.  We probably should have chosen this one because it is buried deep in the culture, but it was also somewhat dark and dank.  So we chose the newer apartment which is in the same building as the school.  My main concern about life in Vietnam is functioning in this heat and this will eliminate that problem as far as going to and from work is concerned. We are housed in a 20 story high rise complete with pool, restaurant, convenience shop and movie theater.  The building is 3 years old and is called Pegasus Plaze.  Our 2 bedroom apartment has a washing machine and an unshared internet.  It costs about $400 per month.  Pat lives directly below us.  Our guide, Van Anh inquired as to when we wanted to move in and we said today!  Things do not work that way so we will move in eventually......After this, we were told to go home and relax.  We did relax, then went to have Pho with the female shopkeeper, actually restaurant owner, who aided us after the taxi cab driver abandoned us. 3rd time told to relax, it's a pity

Vietnam-Bien Hoa

Breakfast today was an egg sandwich with Cholomex sauce, then we took a taxi to Bien Hoa where I will be working.  The taxi driver did not know where he was going so he dropped us off at someone´s house.  The residents pointed us in the right direction so we trucked our suitcase down the street where we came across a shopkeeper.  She hopped on her scooter going down the street where we had come from.  She comes back and tells us to follow her so we trudge our suitcase back down the street to the same address.  Finally she get smart, flags a taxi for us and sends us to the school a quarter of a mile away.  We got ripped off by more than one of the taxi drivers but at that point I did not care as it was hot and  the luggage was heavy.  We hauled out suitcases up to the 9th floor where we found my employer.  We met a few people then took yet another taxi another 1/4 mile and arrived at a clean hotel with a rock hard bed.

Vietnam-Ho Chi Mihn City

Another flight delay on China East airline and we are in Vietnam.  In hand are phone numbers of two local guys we are supposed to call once we get settled. We were retrieved at the airport and taken to our hotel.  The room is very small, but the beds are super comfortable.  I hope all the beds in Vietnam are like this because those in Mexico were hard as a rock.  The best part about the hotel is that it is air conditioned as are most  places in the city and the best part about the air conditioning is that it is not kept super freezing as in the USA.  It is actually at a very comfortable level whereas you can remain in the store wearing whatever you were wearing outside and not get cold.

In the morning we went downstairs to try and figure out what to do.  Luckily, as soon as we appeared, we were told to wait and our guide, Ms. Yang was called to fetch us. She took us to her house where we had our first Vietnamese breakfast.  I had heard that Asians eat noodles for breakfast and sure enough our breakfast consisted of rice noodles topped with eggs over easy, and chopped nuts.  They also have a really tasty sweet chili sauce here called Cholimex.  Yum, yum!

After breakfast, Ms. Yang sent us out to get a cheap $10 cell phone and told us to relax the remainder of the day.  We found a nice place for lunch but I was surprised at the cost of $13 for two people.  I don´t really consider this to be a cheap price.

Shanghai airport

Here we are at the Shanghai airport in the international terminal.  We came here from Seattle.  In Seattle, we had 30 minutes to catch our connecting flight to Shanghai, China.  After we ran all the way to the terminal, the plane to Shanghai was delayed for an hour.  The airline compensated by providing an all you can eat snack cart.  I returned to it 4 times; the other passengers must have thought I was a pig, but it was mostly because I was bored.

While we were at the gate, there did not seem to be many passengers.  For this reason, I made sure to be the last one on the plane so I could scope out empty rows. Sure enough, a row of three seats was available right across from our assigned seats.  I have learned that wherever one sits at take off, the stewardesses views this as your seat, so I went right to the trio without even glancing at my assigned seat.  This gave Arin two to himself, and I had three.

I was really impressed with the airline.  Between the free first run movies and the constant delivering of food, and the spacious living area, it was being at a traveling spa. Now we just  need a massage person to come by.  Maybe they have this in first class

Final salvation Army run

They are getting to know me at the local Salvation Army depot.  I have been there at least once a week for the past two months.  The amount of stuff I have gotten rid of is incredible.  Even the day I left, I was still gathering piles of give a ways, and finally, as much as it pained me, I just had to throw stuff away.  Arin and I stayed at mom´s house the night before we left and my suitcase was too full,  so I piled up another load for her to take.  I wish I had some advise for how to get rid of stuff but I have not tips what so ever.

iMMUNIZATIONS

OH how I have been dreading this! There are no shots required but here are those suggested...Typhoid, tetanus, hepatitus a.  I got every one, and you know what, after all that dreading, they did not hurt at all!  

Appostllizing documents

I can not believe it.  This process took only a few days.  The police check was done in 10 minutes, the secretary of state visit in 20 minutes and the Vietnamese consulate in 30 minutes.  I never expected government to work so efficiently.....So, 50 minutes, four hours of driving and $250 later, we are set to go. 

Job offered, Tickets cancelled

We cancelled our tickets but for a good reason:  I have a job offer in Vietnam.  We changed the tickets to November 18th and will be picked up at the airport and taken to our complimentary room.  Now comes the process of documentation.  Here is the process.  I have to obtain a criminal background check, make copies of that and my degree, have them notarized, then take the copies to the California secretary of state office to verify that the copy is a copy of an original document.  After that , I drive to San Francisco and present the copies (not the originals) to the Vietnamese consulate.  Ironicly, at no place in this process does anyone ever check to see if the originals are actually valid.

This process is named appostilling. This was not the process used in China because China is one of the countries included in the agreement which means that original documents are accepted at face value.   Judging by the time estimates given by each agency,  this should be approximately a 2 month process.  Of course, we are not willing to wait until the new year to travel and find we can pay an agency about $500 to do this in a few days, so we send an email to the school to ask their advise and they inform us that Vietnam will let us in with a promise to present the documents later.