Typhoon, smyphoon - now that the danger has passed, we had two days of overcast weather and since it hasnt stopped raining. Thunder and lightning overnight like you wouldnt believe - cant I talk about something else!??? No, Carien sleeps through it all and then tells me that my snoring wakes her up! We had a lovely party/dinner at a local antique French designed restaurant last night. Cariens English school put it on as a celebratory treat for Teachers Day in Vietnam. Only about a dozen of us attended and Carien and I were made to feel like part of the school family. A lovely standard Vietnamese dinner of 8 dishes and copious amounts of cheers and conversation and ceremonies - people, including Carien and myself, were presented with flowers, gifts and even certificates - speeches and toasts abounded along with the photographic record of course - a lovely night out. We have settled in quickly to our new abode - nesting is not all fun - but necessary. Our spirits have lifted and our mood is more positive now that this change has eventuated. One day I will give some account/anecdotes about our Vietnamese experiences and encounters which just cannot be published. Our landlords are a lovely lovely couple who have patently been successful and risen to multiple property owner status and yet, anything which we mention requiring attention is IMMEDIATELY attended to without question and with them begging our pardon for the inconvenience - just like Australia ha ha. This nesting has cost $$$ but we are so much better off and comfortable; it is a quite surprising state of affairs for us after living out of a suitcase for half a year. We now have had the experience of Carien being questioned about her suitability as an English teacher for Vietnamese children. The comment was about how can she explain/teach English language things to young Vietnamese children when she can only speak English and has no Vietnamese!!!!! This country and its people really do me head in. I thought that when I was in South Africa things were so because it was Afreeeca however, Vietnam leaves them for dead when it comes to trying to fathom things out here. Oh, a close inspection of our photos of Vietnamese scenes will reveal the handyman approach (or do it yourself and save) to so so many things. Yet when it comes to massive endeavours - the standard rises but there is always that little bit below professional - but then again, it might be just an attitude of why do it any better, smarter, safer when it is going to cots extra!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 09:46:35 +0000
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