I ceased this blog and switched to an new one which tells of my journey through the eyes of my water bottles.  To conclude this blog, we ended up with many private students but did not open a school in the cafe.  Our friend did his market research and found that Bien Hoa is now inundated with schools and success is not likely for another one.  I am now living and working in Taiwan.

Business ideas

I have several business ideas in the works
Private English lessons.  We are making progress on this one.  Arin has 5 students and I have 1.  Two of his students are Khoa's daughter and son, Peyton and Tony. We are in talks with him to open an English school in his cafe.  We will know more next week.
Update: He changed his mind because there are so many schools already

Vietnamese culture

I had previously been complaining about the lack of culture in Vietnam, but looking at my last two posts, I know that I am learning about their culture, just not what I expected.  I have been looking for the artistic culture like I saw in Mexico, but what I am experiencing is the social culture and it is definitely much different than ours.  For one, if someone wants to take you somewhere or give you something, it is going to happen no matter how much you protest.  Secondly, it is almost impossible to pay for anything, even when you are the host.  Thirdly, progress happens very slowly.  Yesterday, the train bridge was collapsed by a barge, thus shutting down the train route from HoChiMinh City to the rest of Vietnam.  The locals estimate a period of several years before it is repaired. 

How far away is it and how long will we be gone?

Arin went downstairs to have orange juice and I began to panic after he didn´t return in several hours.  He finally has arrived and I should have known, he was invited to visit a friend´s house a couple kilometers from here.  7 hours later, here he is.  We must remember to ask, not only how far we are going, but how long will we be gone.

9 year old´s birthday party

We were invited to Tony´s cafe for Peyton´s birthday party. She's his daughter. There were two tables:  The kid´s table and the grown ups table with 30 or so at each, and plenty of food.  Although there was a clown making balloon animals, the highlight of the party was the fun activity of riding up and down 7 floors in the glass elevators.  This went on for about 2 hours.  So, if you own a building with glass elevators, begin offering little kid birthday parties and you could make a fortune.  We were seated by another English teacher from the Philippines who is teaching at Peyton's school, a public school.  She has it rough with 36 kids in 20 separate 35 minute classes.

Business meetings

 Sometimes I get a last minute call  and have to drop everything and run.  Vietnamese do not understand planning ahead and everything is _in ten minutes_.  Also, all business transactions are done while meeting for coffee or drinking beer.  Coffee also means smoothies and other fruit juice drinks such as those with custard.  Have you heard of soursop fruit.   Soursop custards are very popular.  I usually have strawberry or my favorite Asian fruit, jackfruit. The meeting was organized not by my family friends whom I have mentioned, but by one of my local friends with whom I hang out by my apartment pool every night. She set up a meeting with a friend concerning teaching English. Nothing was set in stone during the meeting so we shall she if anything happens.

Cambodia

Arin and I needed to renew our visas, so during TET holiday we took a trip to Cambodia.  We went by bus and returned by plane.  The bus ride was $15 for a 12 hour trip, the plane was $125 for 35 minutes, and you know what, we actually enjoyed the bus ride more.  We were given snacks and watched movies, plus, at our lunch stop I had the best ginger beef.  Usually my right leg kills me after sitting in most chairs seats for more than 15 minutes, but not on this bus.  I would not describe the seats as comfortable, but my leg liked them anyway.  At the end of our journey, waiting at the bus stop in Cambodia, we were many tuk tuk drivers.  A tuk tuk is a carriage hitched to a motorcycle.  They are quite cute.  They can fit 4 comfortably with their padded seats and fringed top.  Of course most of them are old and dilapidated, but being a passenger still feels like royalty.  Tiger was our driver.  He offered to take us to the ruins tomorrow and anywhere else we wanted to go, at a cost of  $18 for the day.  I have his facebook  page so I can refer him to you if you are going to Siem Reep, the town is which we stayed.  I had book a hotel online for $20. We arrived after dark, but I could see that the hotel lobby was just as gorgeous as the online pictures.  The walls and ceiling are made of carved wood and are so fabulous that you have to see it to believe it.  My pictures do not do it justice.  If you are a wood enthusiast, look up HKN Boutique Hotel in Siem Reap.  You will be awed.

I love the smell of burning plastic in the morning

From  my 16th story building I can see several fires burning.  The Vietnamese have not learned the importance of protecting the environment.  I have a hard time sleeping here and I suspect I am affected by the pollution.  Fires burn constantly emitting a myriad of odors, but burning plastic is my favorite!

Invitation to speak at a local high school

One of Thahn Su's friends, Thien, is a math teacher and asked if Arin and I would help distribute stuff to the poor kids.  Well that 's what I thought he asked.....We accepted, then arrived to find ourselves as the honored guests at an award ceremony facing hundreds of high school students.  We were seated at the head table and given lucky money to distribute to the high scorers on the state tests.  At one point, I was asked to give a speech.  Of course I was not prepared  and am now forever memorialized on DVD stumbling through a speech in front of 800 students.  To further my embarrassment, I was wearing shorts while everyone else was dressed up.  My friend said it didn't matter because they were used to it from Americans, but still, I apologize to all Americans for embarrassing us so!  At the end  of the assembly, Arin and I were given gifts of a 2016 SanDiego calendar and wall clocks.......

The TET holiday or Lunar New Year

Tet is celebrated in Vietnam and China.  The most obvious indication of Tet are the yellow flowers.  Thousands of potted yellow mums and yellow flowering trees invade the scene of Vietnam.  Most families purchase a pot for their home, but the interesting part is that they let them die afterwards, even though they are contained in pots.  Arin likens it to our Christmas tree tradition.  Also, specific foods are placed on an altar for good luck, then red envelopes of lucky money are distributed to family, etc.

The nun seranade at the Buddhist temple

We were invited to visit a local temple where we had lunch and tea with, and then were serenaded by, the nuns.  Arin especially enjoyed the visit as he had the chance to engage in a philosophical discussion with an actual Buddhist  nun, and has been invited back.

Grocery shopping with the family

Arin and I have become quite good friends with Thanh Su, the music teacher, and his friends.  We were invited to lunch at his female friend Dung's home today.  Her home is housed in a vegetarian restaurant. Her son Anh Hoang is the cook. We couldn't have made better friends.  Usually, socializing is a big problem for Arin because he is vegetarian, so to be friends with vegetarians is perfect for us, especially since all socializing involves eating food, and lots of it. I have had many tofu dishes in Vietnam, and Anh Hoang is the first cook who has made it edible.  Apparently, fried tofu can be quite tasty if done right.  After breakfast, 9 of us hopped into the van *there are no installed seat belts* and had fruit juice on the river, and then 6 of us went shopping at Metro in Saigon, the best Metro, I was told.  Dung helped me choose some new interesting food items, and vegetarian frozen food for Arin.  The whole store is decorated with red lanterns and monkeys as we are close to Lunar New Year's day and it is the year of the monkey.

Do you seriously want me to ride a bicycle in this traffic!

Arin is off with Thang Su today receiving what he thinks is a bicycle.  On the way home in the car last night, Arin was sitting by Thang Su and Thang Su offered him a gift of what he thinks is a bicycle and is hoping is not a motorbike.  Of course Arin was trying to refuse the gift but ultimately was not successful.  Thang Su just came to collect him, so I will update when he returns.

Almost everyone in Vietnam drives a scooter but, although it looks like fun and is safer than walking, I have decided not to buy one as everywhere I go is within 1 mile.  I have been considering a bike, so it would be a nice gift for me.

Arin and I have decided that at our next Vietnamese class, we need a lesson in how to politely refuse a gift in Vietnam.

Update: Yes it was a bicycle and Arin took his life in his hands riding it home.  I tried riding it but the tire was flat.  I asked one of my adult students where I could get it repaired and next thing I knew, he was phoning me at 6:30 am and driving me to the repair shop, and then paying for everything.  This friend's name is Tony.

Vung Tau at the beach

What a day! Arin and I were invited to the home of a local music teacher.  Yesterday while I was at the river eating my sticky rice, Thang Su had introduced himself by offering me some raisins out of a new pack he was opening.  After a long discussion, I received an invitation to his home, so today, he had his neighbor collect us in a car and take us to his home where we commenced to sing and dance, accompanied by his 25 year old son, his female neighbor Dung, who was my age and spoke pretty good English, her 35 year old son who happens to own a vegetarian restaurant, and her 4 year old son..  After a couple hours of singing, dancing and of course eating, Thang Su asked me a question which I thought was an invitation to visit the local temple/pagoda.  I accepted the invite because my coworker Lydia had extolled the virtues of a local temple and had stated that it was difficult to visit, due to it being out of the way.  I tried to invite Lydia to come also, but obviously, I did not overcome the language barrier because not only did we go without Lydia, but we also did not go to a temple. We went to the beach. As we were driving and driving and driving, each time we passed a temple, I would think, "This has to be the one!" Needless to say, we were not visiting a local pagoda, we were visiting the Pagoda Beach Club which is 2 hours away!  By the time we drove the 35 miles and stopped for vegetarian food, we finally arrived at the beach about one hour before sunset, at 4:30pm.  This place was very nice.  It was relatively clean.  It had a restaurant and tents which one could rent.  Dung informed me that 2 week vacations here are common.  One can also rent chairs by the hour as did we. The water was believably warm.  I used to say that Hawaii was like a bathtub, but it does not compare to Vung Tau!  Thang Su serenaded us with his guitar while the waves literally sparkled with the light from the full moon.  It was a very lovely, unexpected day.

Photo op

The entrance to our building has been decorated with flowering trees representing the Lunar New Year.  Folks come from all over to snap photos.  Just now, I was coming back from work and was asked to accompany a girl in her photo.  Next thing you know, several little short Vietnamese people were surrounding me.  I had my arms around their shoulders and arms were at the level of my waist.  I went ahead and threw my blonde hair about my shoulders as I suspected that this was the fascination. 

Hot rock massage

I asked around and discovered a legitimate massage parlour called Pro massage.  Today was my first and only massage at this location but not because they are bad masseuses.  I prefer a Swedish  massage and this was not one of those.  She began by putting pressure on my entire back, and finished by chiropractoring my neck and bonking me on the forehead with something that sounded like one of the toy hammers we have at the school. After my massage, I went to the school and discussed it with my coworkers.  They informed me that it was a deep massage.   Apparently I do not really like that type as I was in pain a majority of the time,  however, there was one new experience which I loved. At one point, my back became very hot.  I was confused until I reached back and felt a smooth surface which I deemed to be one of those hot rocks of which I had heard.  Now that was nice.  It was an unusual but very enjoyable sensation.  I really can not describe it.

Of course the massage cost only $6, but I still will need to find another place.  I do not know if they are all legit or not, so I will need a recommendation.  I remember being struck with fear one time in America at a Vietnamese massage parlour when the  masseuse questionably climbed on my back.  Perhaps it is the the Vietnamese way. Also, for the massages here, one lies on a floor mat rather than a table and the masseuses crawl around (including on your back) rather than being required to stand the whole time.

Sushi

I just discovered the sushi cart on the patio, thanks to my new coworker Josh.  Most of my friends are not too interested in exploring for food, but he is adventurous. I had seen the cart before but for some reason it did not register with me.  I will post a picture of my $2.50 meal (55VND) which you will not believe.  I do not know what sauce they use here, but I am hooked!  I rarely ate sushi in the USA for obvious reasons.  Josh paid 150 VND for his meal.  We´'ll see how long it takes for him to start mimicing us in stating that 25 VND is expensive

My first motorcycle ride

I had to ride on the back of Van An`s motorbike to go somewhere and I must say it was not frightening at all.

The smoothie search.

Ever since we arrived, I had been searching for a nearby juice- smoothie stand.  As the cost of fresh squeezed juice in the USA is prohibitive, we were spoiled in Mexico where we had fresh bottles of juice in the fridge at all times, purchased for next to nothing. I had expected to find the same thing here but it is not to be.  Fresh juice is only sold by the glass and is not so cheap.   Now that I have reconciled myself to the fact that all developing countries are not the same, I was able to find my smoothie stand. Yesterday I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice which is of course my favorite fresh juice, and today I had a strawberry smoothie. Yes, yes, smoothies are made with sweetened condensed milk, but I have decided that I do not care because they are DELICIOUS.  Between the yogurt and the fruit and the milk, it is two thirds nutritious.......... right...........?   Also, the barista, Dung, and I are now facebook friends.  We are teaching each other to  speak our perspective languages.  Of course she is practically fluent and I know 10 words........

She has invited me to join her tomorrow for homemade tiramasu cake and we are going to discuss Chinese New Year.

Anything you can do, I can do better.

This song is in one of the textbooks, so the students have learned it, or, as is said in British English, learnt it.  In class, I am now using it in reverse.  When a child states that he can not do something, I sing to them.....Yes, you can!

The evil monosodium glutamate

We found a whole rack of spice packets at the grocery store and decided to try the Chinese black mushroom soup powder tonight.  When we discovered that it literally tasted like a bowl of salt water, we viewed the ingredients.  Here is the list in order of quantity.

salt
sugar
MSG
mushroom *5%*

I remember when  MSG was villafied in the US.  In the 1980s, signs began appearing on the door of Chinese restaurants stating No MSG.   This stuff is sold in giant packets in every local store in Vietnam.