Dearest Blog

I have finally revisited you after 6 months. &within that timeframe alot has happened in my life.

To summarise:

1. I finally got to travel to EUROPE !! (love it x10000!)

2. Furthermore, I frenchkissed a hot french guy in Europe (one of my to-do list from that trip LOL) although not in Paris...but in Amsterdam...close enough...

3. Moreover, I tried my first hash cake; and

4. Witnessed a live sex show...it was not what I expected...dare I say the 'entertainers' were very professional..in their errr...profession...

5. I'm back at school...

Day 4 - headed to the spa again with the Americans. This time uk chick, one of my roomies joined us. The spa we prevousky visited was shut so we ended up going to the one near our house with the crazy wires all over it. Unfortunately, the pamphlette outlining their services was in Vietnamese and the people there couldn't speak English! Lol the only type of facial we understood was one with the word vitiman c on it, so deciding that could only be a good thing, Jane and I chose to have it. Meanwhile uk (Charlotte) and other American ( Beth ) wanted to get a wax.  I decided to get one too. This one we had to demonstrate lol how do u demonstrate getting a bikini wax to a non English speaking person? Well they got the picture and pretty soon we were led into a room  with four beds next to each other. There were curtains that only went halfway so were pretty much useless in terms of privacy! Pretty soon we were lying on the beds and had a woman tending to all of us. Jane was straight on to facial while uk, anerican and i stripped away in preparation for r bikini wax. Lady points down and says something in Vietnamese. I have no idea what she says so I just nod and smile. Funny how some people still proceed to talk to u in their native tongue regardless if they know u won't be able to understand them.  Next thing I know she produces a tub of hot wax and a copy of a Vietnamese magazine. I thought she was going to give me the magazine to read but instead she rips off a page, dips it into the hot wax and straight onto my..... I stared in horror at therealisation that she was going to use the magazine page to wax off my hair!  WTF?!  Not only that, I also noticed she wasn't wearing any gloves. Talk about unhygenic! Nevertheless I sucked it up n went through with it and just accepted that not every country works the same way.  Fortunately using a magazine paper wasn't as painful as to the wax back home! So while lady was waxing another lady approaches with a trolley full of facial products. By this time I've decided there was no point being embarrassed and tryin to hide what little modesty I had left. as the faciAl lady proceeded to massage my face and wax lady wax my bikini area I just started laughing out loud. Everyone turned to me and started giggling as well. I told them in English not that wax and facial lady could understand that this was the craziest and weirdest thing that's ever happened to me. Getting a bikini wax and facial at the same time, spread eagled with three other people I've just met in the same room next to me notwithstanding the other workers! It's come to the point where it's not even awkward anymore it's just funny! I mean it can only happen in Vietnam! By this point we were all shaking in hysterics as our situation dawned on us. What a sight we nust have made! Lady workers just looked at each other shrugging their shoulders n decided to laugh with us aswell. This caused another round of laughter from us as we looked at each other n thought WTF?! Lol I've never laughed so much since I left Australia. Laughter us such a universal thing. Us foreigners laughing at our position and Vietnamese laughing because we were laughing or possibly laughing at us? Regardless, in that small spa room with the four beds, we were bound together us one through laughter. It didn't matter whether we couldn't understand one another, it didn't matter about our different cultures, only one thing mattered and that was funny.   By the end of it we all felt invorigated n refreshed. So much so that Jane decided to stay back and get a massage.   

Wednesday

What an eventful day today was!

It is currently 1am here and so friggin hot and humid that I can't bloody sleep!

During the day I taught at district 8 again with Nikki. She was being weird as usual and panicking this morning thinking we were going to be late for our class. I'd have to say,  today has been by far, the most trying day for me. Teaching English to a bunch of teenage boys was horrendous! There was one token twit who would just not listen. I can really appreciate highschool teachers now. It's only made me realise how stressful it could be when you want your students to learn so much yet they don't cooperate and pay attention. After today's class, I decided that I'm going to bribe them with prizes next time.

When I got back to the peace house, I unfortunately didn't get enough time to take a nap, which I normally do, since I had to leave early for my afternoon class at district 8 again.  However, this time instead of going with Nikki I was teamed with the Americans. We were so excited and eager to go as our itinerary for the afternoon was to take the boys for a swim. I should probably pause here and give a little description of the weather in Ho Chi Minh during the month of July.  Well there is no other way to describe it other than HOT & HUMID! I thought Philippines was really bad in terms of heat and muggines but Ho Chi Minh by far exceeds them. I have never heard the phrase "It's so hot!" overused so much.  Furthermore, during orientation we were advised to dress modestly, meaning no shorts and singlet.  At first we abided by this rule, but it has come to the point where you either die of heat exhaustion trying to appease the vietnamese culture or dress less conservatively.  Majority of course have gone for the latter which in turn, has got to be accepted back at the peace house.  So you can see why just going to the pool has got us all excited.  We had been dying for the aforementioned ever since we got here.
When we got to the shelter there was a bit of chaos with the organisation of transportation to the pool. The boys actually had a swimming teacher who was there to assist us as well.  In the end, Swimming teacher and a couple of the boys went on scooters.  Might I add that you can fit a family i.e. up to 5 people on a single scooter. The others got on their bikes and peddaled away.  That left the Americans, three boys and I just standing by the road not knowing what or where to go.  It took us awhile to figure out how we were going to get to the pool and where exactly we were going.  One of the students, the brightest one called Bi just biked past us as we waited by the side of road. Jane called out to him to ask for help but he just totally ignored us! Instead of calling him Bi though she actually called him Bamboo (which could possibly be why ignored us). Her calling him bamboo just made us laugh our heads off. We ended up catching a cab with the rest of the boys to the pool. Once there, we headed to the toilets to get changed.  The toilets were so disgusting and dirty and we had to squat to pee as there were no toilet bowls but just holes on the ground. We also weren't allowed to wear thongs around so we had to walk around barefoot on the dirty decaying ground. Thank goodness the pool was clean and looked absolutely inviting. We stayed at the pool for two hours, swimming and relaxing. It was quite a surprise to find the boys were so good at swimming. Half the time they were trying to drown us if not splashing us constantly. It was such a great day and we had never felt cooler!

Afterwards we decided to have dinner at our fave restaurant in Ben thanh market, called Pho for the President 2000. Yes former President Clinton ate pho there during his historic visit toVietnam. We were so sick of the food back at the peace house and I also had the biggest craving for noodles and iced coffee. When we got home, once again I didn't have enough time to rest as we had to get ready to go to karaoke that night with the other volunteers as well as the local Vietnamese volunteers.

We had alot of fun at karaoke - drinking, singing and dancing.  Admittedly I hogged the microphone majority of the time.  Later on we had a late night feed of fishballs and fruit drinks at a little eatery by the side of the road. I have always despised the smell and taste of fishballs but those fishballs were so delicious!

Back at the Peace House in the wee hours of the morning we collapsed on our beds exhausted from the long but eventful day we had.

Sightseeing tour

Today we went sightseeing with the local volunteers. Overall, it was a great, fun and not to mention exhausting day! We started off the tour at the war remnants museum, a musuem based on the horrible war crimes of american imperialism. The pictures were really quite intense and disturbing. It was so sad and depressing seeing the pictures of the after math of the war, especially where children were involved.
After the war museum, we made our way to the reunification palace. The home and workplace of the former president of South Vietnam during the Vietnam war. On the way there, we encountered a group of people holding up signs of "free hugs". They literally swooped around us and showered us with hugs and love. It was such a cool and amazing experience, and to be able to experience it in a different country made it just that more special.  It is true when they say that a simple gesture such as a hug, even from a complete stranger, can really boost your mood. We all walked away from them with massive goofy smiles on our faces.
The reunification palace was simply amazing and not to mention massive! We had a tour guide who walked us around the palace and even took us underground to the bomb shelter (or warroom as it was called) which could apparently withstand 2 tonnes of explosives!
After visiting the palace, we had lunch at this really fancy Vietnamese restaurant where we had 1 million dong to spend!  I had fried rice, a ngon ngon (delicious) cocktail (although my cocktail wasn't very ngon ngon) and a taro icecream for dessert.
Once we finished with lunch, we headed to the massive post office where I got a very cute comical hat. By this time we were all so tired and hot so we decided to have a rest at the park first. There park is so beautiful and lively teaming up with so many people playing games. We even participated in this stick dancing game, similar to tinikling. We finished off the tour by going through the backpackers district. We were meant to head to district 1 for some dinner and drinks that night but were so exhausted we ended up just going to the co op to grab dinner. I had a zinger burger from KFC which tasted quite different but delicious nonetheless.  I should also mention that KFC was the only western fast-food chain that I saw thanks to the heavy regulation.

Day 2 - Orientation Day

Day 2 in Ho Chi Minh - Orientation day

Today was orientation day where Andy, our co-ordinator, gave us a briefing on the program, our placements, the rules and regulations of living in the Peace House - sexy time was specifically h ighlighted - LOL as well as the Vietnamese customs. The presentation was really good despite the laptop dying every 5 minutes!
Afterwards we had an intense 2.5 hours of Vietnamese lesson. It was hillarious and ridiculously hard! By the end of trying to correctly pronounce words but failing misserably, half of us were barely paying attention and the heat wasn't exactly doing anyone any favours.  During our break, we decided to ditch the Vietnamese lessons altogether and Jane, Beth (collectively known as the Americans) & I left to get a massage.
The massage was simply amazing and unbelievably cheap!  I chose the relaxing massage with lava stones where hot stones were used to massage my body.  At first I was so close to slapping the masseuse for trying to burn me but once the stones cooled down on my skin, it felt so invirogating and the heat really did wonders for my sore muscles. Only down side to it was the lady went crazy massaging my butt and I had to forceably hold my fart in! The masseuse also massaged my pressure points n tugged my hair which was bizarre but strangely soothing. All for a measly $5!
Once our massages were done, we ventured out for some ice cream.  We came upon a fancy looking coffee shop which actually sold gourmet ice-cream! I chose the coconut flavoured one which they served in a coconut shell. It was delicious and very refreshing! We then headed out to the co-op (supermarket) and grabbed some drinks to take back home. Gosh, I am currently on my bed writing this up and am sweating like a pig! It is disgustingly hot and muggy here.  I can't stand it! Oh how I miss winter back home

When in Rome.....

Rome
The day started off normal enough..we all got up early to go do some touristy stuff with the rest of the contikians.

First on the agenda was to visit the Roman Forum followed by the Colloseum.
We arrived at the forum excited and eager to see what the Roman civilization might have been like.  I won't ellaborate much on the ruins because frankly I wasn't paying much attention. LOL. While the place looked absolutely amazing, if the tour guide hadn't been there it would have looked like just a pile of old rocks randomly scattered around, with a bit of structural buildings here and there. OK. I'm not doing the Roman forum any justice soI should shut up about it now and leave that to the history buffs.Hehe. 

As we exited the forum through some overgrown hedges we came upon the Colloseum in all its glory. I was awe struck of its sheer size and how it managed to withstand the test of time, considering the brunt of the earthquake it took.

We made our way inside together with our tour guide.  Again, I didn't pay attention to her as I took in my surroundings, because come on, the colloseum is practically synonymous with gladiators i.e. Russell Crowe...or was it Gerard Butler so what else is there to know?  Very ignorant of me yes but whatever.  Anyways, we spent a bit of time exploring the colloseum and taking pictures. Once we made our way out of the colloseum we were hounded by hairy middle-aged men in gladiator costumes pulling us in to get a picture taken with them.   Nissy and I ended up doing it and they demanded for 10euros for the pic! yeah in your dreams dudes! i handed them 2 euros and Nissy unfortunately forked out 5!

The Vatican

We then made our way into the State of Vatican city - the smallest country in the world within the city of Rome, where we came upon St Peter's Square.  We walked into the massive beautiful St Peters Basilica which houses the famous reinassance art by Michelangelo - La Pieta.  Our next destination took us to the Vatican museum which led us to the breathtaking Sistine Chapel. I was absolutely mesmerized and couldn't stop gaping at the mavelous work of art before me.  Each painting and carvings were intricately designed and it was just absolutely stunning.  I really was gobsmacked.  Photos were an absolutely no no but I managed to take in some sneaky shots.  There were swiss guards everywhere and we had to very quiet. Everytime the place got a bit too noisy the swiss guards would call out a "Shhh!" and a hush would engulf the whole chapel.  It was quite remarkable and this would go on and on.

Day 2 in Ho Chi Minh - Orientation day

Today was orientation day where Andy, our co-ordinator, gave us a briefing on the program, our placements, the rules and regulations of living in the Peace House - sexy time was specifically h ighlighted - LOL as well as the Vietnamese customs. The presentation was really good despite the laptop dying every 5 minutes! 
Afterwards we had an intense 2.5 hours of Vietnamese lesson. It was hillarious and ridiculously hard! By the end of trying to correctly pronounce words but failing misserably, half of us were barely paying attention and the heat wasn't exactly doing anyone any favours.  During our break, we decided to ditch the Vietnamese lessons altogether and Jane, Beth (collectively known as the Americans) & I left to get a massage.
The massage was simply amazing and unbelievably cheap!  I chose the relaxing massage with lava stones where hot stones were used to massage my body.  At first I was so close to slapping the masseuse for trying to burn me but once the stones cooled down on my skin, it felt so invirogating and the heat really did wonders for my sore muscles. Only down side to it was the lady went crazy massaging my butt and I had to forceably hold my fart in! The masseuse also massaged my pressure points n tugged my hair which was bizarre but strangely soothing. All for a measly $5!
Once our massages were done, we ventured out for some ice cream.  We came upon a fancy looking coffee shop which actually sold gourmet ice-cream! I chose the coconut flavoured one which they served in a coconut shell. It was delicious and very refreshing! We then headed out to the co-op (supermarket) and grabbed some drinks to take back home. Gosh, I am currently on my bed writing this up and am sweating like a pig! It is disgustingly hot and muggy here.  I can't stand it! Oh how I miss winter back home!