Brainstorm

So I was sitting in my JIA class which is 7 year olds, and while they were colouring by numbers, I started thinking. I remembered a conversation Adam and I had with our friend Craig last night as we were on our 3rd floor. We were talking about teaching and class dynamics etc. and Craig kind of snickered because he is much more experienced than we. Adam and I however, were on the same wave length. We were both realizing that we had only been teaching for 6 weeks, and 6 weeks is a very short time. Especially with teaching, which you modify and learn from every single class. We have had such a limited teaching career. Then we started realizing how absolutely insane that last 3 months have been, and Adam made a nice little comment: We've been living by trial and error. It's basically true. Almost everything we've done has been uncertain and we've just jumped in and saw what came of it. We hitch-hiked across Canada, it worked. We spent time and money to avoid getting hassled by Vietnamese customs, it worked. We tried finding jobs when we arrived, rather than planning ahead, it worked. We tried being nice Canadians to whoever talked to us, it worked and we made friends. We tried renting a nice house, it worked. We tried leaving our front door unlocked, it didn't work. We're trying to be teachers, it's working. That's a pretty good track record. And quite an array of things to try in a three month period. I'm glad so many things have worked.
I suppose this isn't really blog worthy, more journal worthy, but I thought it was interesting.
I hope everything is working out for you too.
Now, time to go back and teach the 7 year olds. Good times!
Brandon.
P.S. two blogs in one day doesn't happen very often, so enjoy it. :)

Big Mountain

Despite the title 'big mountain', the mountain itself isn't all that big. It's a decent size, but nothing special. I know because I hiked up it on Monday. I felt more like one of the community when I did. There were hundreds of people hiking up the mountain. There is a small road that winds it's way up the mountain. They are actually doing construction at the top of the mountain (supposedly for a cable car connecting big mntn to small mntn) so the road is decent. This road gives you two options, take the road, or take the path. The path is obviously steeper and more like hiking. If you take the hike, it only takes about 30 min. to get up, The road would take longer because it winds. Most of the vietnamese walk around the hours of 3 to 6. I tried going at 10 am on wednesday and there were no people. No one. So picking the right time is important. The view from the top is quite nice. The town looks quite nice. You can see our house on small mountain (sort of) and you can see endless expanse over the ocean.
I took a squirrely trekk back down the mountain, I think it was a water run off. When I came out of the bush I was at a Buddhist temple. It was a huge complex with all sorts of elaborate gardens and statues. I only saw a few monks, mostly people like me passing through. On the way back to the bike I bought some mangos and pomegranates. I have since realized that pomegranates hve got to be the worst fruit, not because of their taste, but because they take more energy to eat than you get fromt hem. Mangos however, are delicious. The one thing I enjoyed about the fruit was that it looked like it actually grew on a tree. It was weather beaten. It didn't look like the fruit from north america: the perfect colour, the perfect shape. It tasted the same, but I could almost see the mango tree in my house growing something similar (unfortunately our mango tree does not grow fruit).
Hiking big mountaint is definately something to do. And for those less inclined to walk, you can drive up the winding road. Which creates a great opportunity to cost down on your bike in neutral, which is quite invigorating.
Hope the weathers fine. It's blazing hot here :)
Brandon.

Just a shorty

This is just going to be a short post because I'm on break from class, and I don't really have anything to talk about.
The weather is the most exciting thing in life I suppose, at least the most positive change. It seems that the rainy season has ended. It hasn't rained for at least a week. Every day is sunny and hot. although it isn't as unbearably hot as I suspected. During the hours of 11 am to 3 pm it is really really hot when you are in the direct sun, so you just don't go in the sun. It's a pretty easy lesson to learn. First, it is super hot. Second, there are almost no Vietnamese people out. All the shops are closed because teh owners are sleeping in their hammocks. And if you go to the beach (which is becoming more and more frequent, as it should be), there is hardly anyone tehre. I suppose many people would be working. But the beautiful weather has really put the gold stamp on the pool. Having a pool just outside your house is under-rated, at least it was for me until I experienced it. It is sweet. I suppose in a country where you actually can use it all year round it becomes a little be better. No closing the pool in August. Just keep it running.
Adam bought a bike. It's quite the hog. I would say it's a hog becuase it kind of growls as opposed to purring like a cat. And you know you're in a good place when you can buy such a motorbike for $180 US, and don't need a licence or registration to drive it. You just pay, and drive. Gold.
Umm.. I guess that's it for now. Just some thoughts.
Peace from the East.
Brandon.

Such is Life

This will be a two part blog: a good part and a bad part.
things have been going quite well in general. This week we filled the pool. it took an extremely long time. We couldn't run the water into it constantly. we had to fill it a little bit, and then let the 'well' refill. So it ended up taking 4 days. However, it is awesome!!! It's crystal clear, alittle too warm, but sooooo refreshing. It's great to just hop in whenever you feel like it.
Teaching is getting easier, and things are kind of becoming routine (in the sense that normalcy is being created, and Sarah our new boss is really helping the teachers). Getting used to where to go in town, and what prices to pay etc.
So Saturday night our friend Antony threw a party. But the party was going on after the wedding of one of our fellow Vietnamese employees. The reception was at 6pm, but most of us worked until 7:10. So when we showed up it was like the exodus, and we were going against the crowd. However, they knew this was going to happen. So they shuffled the 20 late-comers to a back room with 3 tables, and began cleaning the big ball room. As soon as I sat down my beer was poured. For the rest of the night it was never less than half full, and my ice cube was never smaller than the size of my pinky. They serve us like gods. And the food was incredible. Soup, shrimp, fish, veggies. All sorts of stuff. So good. It was a really nice social event because the TA's and the teachers were together in a different environment. It's the first time I got to just hang out with some of the TA;s. It was fun, because instead of teaching english, we got to practice vietnamese.
Once we had our fill it was off to Antony's. He has a beautiful 3rd floor terrace as well, so we hung out up there all night. There were a bunch of teachers, and some of|Antony's friends from Australia and from Saigon. It was a wonderful time, and like most things was fuelled on by the coolers of beer. Having to teach at 7:45 am, I went home around 1. You know, a good night sleep. ha. I was awoken by Adam asking if i was going to teach, at 7:40. For some reason my cell phone alarm which was set for 6:30 didn't go off. My cell phone wasn't there. After racing to get dressed and brush my teeth, I noticed that my money and my backpack andmy cell phone were all gone. The front gate was open, despite Adam having locked it when he came back. Our cameras were missing. the dvd player was gone. One bike was in the car port. Not Good. As we tried to put pieces together and figure out how we were going to work, our friend Huong (who helped us find the house and is a very nice laday) stopped by, and we were able to tell her that we were robbed. One of us still had to go to work though, because there was only one person to cover classes. So Adam went and taught, and I had to stay back and sort things out. It's a pretty scary circustance. I was sleeping, and the theif was able to walk around me, take my bag, my cell phone and leave without me knowing. Sleeping deeply can be a curse I suppose. Luckily, our identification was fine. Adam's passport had been taken out of his backpack, but not taken. Obviously the their just wanted money. The biggest issue now becomes the motorbike which is missing,and was rented. The police show up and I try to communicate with them. Huong does a good job interpreting, but there is still much lost in translation. Oh yeah, the police showed up |After Huong laid into me for leaving our front door open. We lock our gate, but leave the front door unlocked. Not anymore. The next two hours with the cops was different. We walked around the house looking. Just looking. Maybe waiting for the theif to jump out of a hole or somthing. Everyone trying to see how they did it. Then all of a sudden there are 5 neighbours over in the house. People I have never seen, and have no idea how they knew. I guess everyone likes talking to cops. So there was a lot of vietnamese talking, and me sitting there ilke a dweeb. I wrote down a list of stolen items, and what happened last night and in the morning. And then kept sitting there while more people came and went and talked to the police and stared at the gate looking for clues. What was accomplished I'm not quite sure, but hopefully it'll help. After fretting for a while, andtalking to my wonderful mother, the day moved on. The only thing I had to do was cancel my visa and my debit cards because they were in my backpack. Which super sucks, but ti wasn't hard. The rest of it is out of our hands.
Adam had planned on going to HCM city to look for a bike. Turns out there was the ILA 6th birthday party as well. So I thought that it was a good idea too. Sarah and her husband came up, John and Pamela came up too. So now we are in suzie and Megan's living room hanging out. Suzie and Megan are two girls we met in our training here. WE give them a place to stay in VT, and they hook us up in Saigon. sweet. So we met up with them after a hydrofoil ride, and head to the birthday party. It was great. Fully catered. The roof top was opened, and there was karaoke up there, and a huge bbq. One floor down was a live band that were fully awesome. They played all sorts of covers, and we danced for like 3 hours straight. I felt like I was in highschool again. Everyone was getting in on it. Once that party died, everyone shifted to Go 2 Bar. This place is crazy. It never closes, and it is just for dancing. So the next 3 hours were spent mingling and dancing again. The night just drove on and drove on. All of a sudden it was 3 am andtime to go home. The taxi ride was one of the greatest in my life. The driver gave us the round about, but it didn't matter because we were singing and yelling and having a blast. When we got back to the apartment the crazy continued. We were all just goofing around and beingridiculous. At one point me and Adam chanted the vietnamese phrases that we know at the top of our lungs. "Xin chau doi muoi hai ba ba ba". "Cam on" It was qutie the day.
So now we are still in Saigon. Adam found a bike to buy, so we are going to drive it back to VT tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't rain. Things get back to that normalcy that is being established. Only we've gota few less electronics thatn we used to.
Life goes on, in vietnam.
Having a blast.\Brandon and Adam.

Beginning of October

I suppose I really don't have much to say. It's not like anything spectacular has happened lately.
One item of note is Typhoon Xangsane, which ripped into central Vietnam on sunday. The past week has been wrought with rain and cloud because of that system. Monday morning gave rise to a really intense storm. Heavy gusts of wind (I'd estimate 80km or higher) and thus the rain was going sideways. Today was the rainiest day yet. It is still raining, and it started at noon. Two hours of that were torrential. We noticed a few leaks in the house. One little one in my study room, and one in Adam's room from the fan which leads to outside. It looked like a small stream, but the lake under his bed said that it was a decent drip.
There have been two birthday parties in the past three days. Last night was Stuarts 42nd. And sunday night was John's 30th party, his birthday was friday. They were both excellent gatherings. Parties here tend not to be too big. Usually a small group of people with lots of chatting and randomness. The characters in all of us seem to make these small parties just as interesting as any big mayhem I'm used to.
The house still seems to be lacking something. It is not quite a home. There are lots of things to do to make it feel like home. Unfortunately pay day is still a few days off. Hopefully things will iron out soon enough. The view is still impeccable though. I don't think that will ever wear off. At least I hope it doesn't. And watching these storms crawl towards me over the water is awesome. White walls of water moving at 10 km an hour. One minute you can see a boat, the next it is vaguely visible as it gets pummelled with rain.
I can't believe how fast time has gone. It's already October. I keep thinking back to all the rest of my years and how this was usually when I would be settling into my school routine and pumping out assignments. Not anymore. Now I'm trying to teach young Vietnamese children how to pronounce Ball, or Pencil. My assignment is coming up with ways to make learning fun, and to be an entertainer to children that have been in school since 7 am. Hopefully I'm doing it well. The kids haven't complained yet.
Off to class. Hopefully this rain stops.
Brandon.