Risking Life and Limb

Just got home from work, it's 8 pm and I need to have a drink and sit with my feet up. Today I had 2 classes, each 2 hours long. My first class was at a place called Van Thanh, about a 20 minute bike ride, depending on traffic. The school provide a motorbike taxi for me. Actually, it is the guy across the street from the school who also runs a motorbike repair shop from his front room.
Picture this, me, OK I'm not little, on the back of a motor bike that I reckon saw the American invasion. Between my legs, a tiny, greasy, Vietnamese man who speaks no English but has a brilliant smile. Thank God he knows the way. It is raining, has been for about half an hour. I walked to the school complete with rain coat, I wasn't allowed to walk across to the motor bike repair shop because it was raining, he had to come across the road to me, mind you, he stopped in a puddle. I thought, what difference does it make, it's only water and I'm probably going to get wet anyway. OK, hitched up my skirt and on the back, rearranging his rain coat and making sure that as much of me is cover as possible. We are off, through another puddle, around the corner and off, in the rain, toward Van Thanh. My teacher assistant is following behind on her bike. I usually love this ride, I get to sit there and watch the world go by, see some funny sights and think "must remember to tell everyone about that". But today it is raining and the roads are slippery, but I remember that I am probably better off than the majority of other road users because I have a helmet. They all laughed at me at school when I said I had to have one...Ha, I might have the last laugh. But there was still that nagging little fear...what if? We don't have health cover yet. I have this little mantra which I repeat to myself "It's OK I have a helmet, it's OK I have a helmet, it's OK...." I feel good with this, it's a comfort and helps to pass the time as I watch the roadside stalls flash past. OK until I see the Viet version of Tilletts, slabs of granite awaiting some poor sole on the back of a motor bike meeting fate and needing a headstone. "It's OK I have a helmet".
We keep on our way, the rain washing off any makeup I had cared to put on. My second class today was going to be videotaped, why did I bother with makeup let alone the hair, remember....the helmet. You see so much from the back of a bike. There are throngs of people all going in the same direction, some on their own, others with a passenger or three, or a load that should be transported by truck. There don't seem to be too many rules on the road. If a light turns red but you think that you can still make it through before the guys going the other way notice, go for it. One rule I have noticed is that buses have right of way. Do you know what a bus wheel looks like close up, so close you can see the lack of tread. Then there is the guy who is half way down the bus and is hanging his arm out the window waving at you to let the bus go first. (I think he is the conductor) My philosophy....why argue. Or do you know how much space is needed between a bus and a truck, if you need to get through. In all of this my driver seems quite confident. Just stay away from the white lines, they are slippery in the wet.
We surge on, not far now. Through a puddle. Past the big pink house with the statue of the Virgin Mary out the front. Is this a sign? "It's OK I have a helmet".
Along the road, tooting at the car coming on our side of the road....Move over you silly bugger, tooting at the two girls trying to dodge raindrops as they run across the road in front of us, silly girls, they don't have helmets.
Around the corner, watch out the road is slippery, past the shop displaying its wares, big stands of circular arrangements of flowers, orchids, roses....funeral flowers....not another sigh? "It's Ok I have a helmet, it's OK I have a helmet....."
Nearly there, just OH !! another puddle, past the local bar, a few shot plastic stools at an equally low plastic table protected from the rain by a big blue tarp. I'm thinking to myself, there is no way I would do this in Australia. Apart from the fact that it's raining, the last time I was on a bike, nobody called me mum. And the rain, who would be out in rain like this if they didn't have to. But then, that is why I'm here, to do all this stuff, to experience things that might otherwise pass me by. To be able to laugh at the guy riding his bike while talking on a mobile and smoking a cigarette...in the rain. To be able to feel, see, hear and do all the things that I've been doing. Then I think how lucky I am that this isn't passing me by.
One last little corner and I can hear the children chanting something in Vietnamese. We stop, I pat the driver on the back and say thank you, not that he understands me. I climb off, not all that elegantly, aware that my wet shoes will slip on the tiled floor of the school playground if I don't take them off at the gate, as is the custom and now I know why. As I wave goodbye to the driver, I have the chilling realisation that in 2 hours, I have to go back, through peakhour traffic. But that's OK "I have a helmet"

Home Sweet Home

Hello Again.....We are still here and still having fun. Although, things have finally settled a bit.
We have moved from our hotel to a very nice house. We have been here 2 weeks already, but it seems like longer. Our house is in District 3, probably about the distance Plympton is from Adelaide. So really quite close to the busiest part of Ho Chi Minh City. We are about a five minute walk from where I am working and have all the conveniences around us. We are in a little alley which at first presented as quiet and deserted but we have quickly found that it can get rather busy. Our house is 3 stories with access to a rooftop garden too. The ground floor has lounge, kitchen and bathroom, and each of the two other floors have 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. Our bedroom and study is on the second floor and the third floor is reserved for visitors. We have everything we need and feel very safe and secure. We have been told that this is one of the better areas to live. There is a great vegetarian restaurant around the corner that prepares delicious meals for about $3-$4 for the two of us, so needless to say we haven't been cooking.
The day we moved in, an old gentleman living 2 doors up passed away. His family and friends started congregating in the alley, very well set up with tables, chairs and a tarp to keep the rain off. There were lots of stands of flowers and baskets of fruit as they kept their vigil for 3 days. Buddhist monks were chanting and ringing bells. It really was a great thing to witness, although I did feel sad for them. The coffin was set up in the lounge room and they had a little altar with candles and photos. I said to James that I really wanted to be here when they took him out, just to witness the ceremony. Well, next morning at 5.30 am we were stunned into the new day with a brass band, complete with trumpets, drums and baton twirler. I just exclaimed "What the!!!" We were both hanging over the balcony in no time.....no worries, we were not going to miss it, Cameras to record it all. We couldn't believe what we were seeing....and hearing. Once that band was finished its repertoire, another came along. All the family and friends were dressed in disposable white robes with Ku Klux Clan style hoods. After a string of Buddhist monks had arrived and sang chants and rang bells, the pall bearers (obviously a professional mob in uniform) came and carried out the coffin, which looked incredibly heavy and richly adorned with lots of brass and trimmings. Everybody followed out of the alley and into the street and then it was all over. And the sun was just coming up. We went back to bed and they headed to the crematorium.
Life here is just so different. There is a real relaxed atmosphere to the place. Even with all those people on the roads going in different directions, there is no hostility or threatening, just a tolerance of each other. And if you do something wrong or go in the wrong direction, you don't have abuse thrown at you, just a tooting of horns then everyone ignores you.
The roads are something different. James has purchased a motorbike, and it is nice to see him come home safely at the end of the day. Really, I think he is game getting out there but he is managing to find his way around. Currently he is working within about 5 schools, but he has got sick of the changing of schedule all the time so has applied for a job at CitySmart, the people I work for. At least he won't get messed about so much. The other day, having spent 3 hours preparing for an English class, not only did he have a change of school, but he had to teach Drama. I think that was the last straw.
The kindergarten that I am supposed to be working in starts on Monday, but when I asked about it, I was told that my schedule stays the same at the moment. They don't have enough teachers, so I guess they are going to make the most of me while they can.
This coming Tuesday is the Autumn Festival, a big moon festival here. The school is having a celebration on Sunday but apparently there is a big party in the city on Tues, so we are planning to go in after work, should be fun. But I will save that for next time.
We hope all our friends are safe and well, and that you are planning your next holiday here with us.....plenty of room. Our love to everyone...till next time.
Love Di and James

What have we been up to..

Well, here we are again. I know it is only a few days but, while I have the time, I will keep you all posted.
Sunday was National Day here, celebrating independence form the Chinese. Monday was their day off, so we decided to do the tourist thing. We paid $8US each for an all day tour to Cao Dai Holy See Temple and the CuChi tunnels. We really only wanted to go to the temple but unless we paid $50US for a private car, we had to do the two together. We spent the first hour literally driving around the same block twice, to stop at different hotels to pick people up. Even though it was a public holiday, the traffic was frantic. Apparently all the people from the country come in to do their shopping. So it was no different from a normal day.
The Cao Dai religion was founded in the 1920's by a Viet guy and is kind of a combination of Buddhism and Catholicism. Some of their patron saints are Joan of Arc and Charlie Chaplin (yep!)
They have a mass every 6 hours (6am 12 6pm MN) and we watched the midday one. The temple is quite colorful and the ceremony of the procession in worth the watch. It was great, would have liked more time there but because we were on a tour, it was on the bus again.
How lucky were we, the tour guide, a 60 yr old ex Viet soldier who had lived in the tunnels, doubled as the entertainment. He writes songs, in English and Viet, and had a captive audience. Who was game enough to say no after he showed us his bullet injuries. James encouraged him by asking if he had a CD out. Alas ...no, But he did have more songs for us later.
Lunch at a little road side cafe then we were told we could sleep till Cuchi.
The country roads were shocking (Yankallila after torrential rain is magic Darryl), and the housing in country towns that we went through were shanties. But that was that resilient smile and friendly wave.
They are trying to enforce the wearing of helmets for motor bikes, especially on the 'freeway' and if you saw the way they drive, you have to question their road fatality rate or worse still, the head injury rate. The whole family fits on the bike, until the kids get too big, then they buy 2 bikes. There are 10 million motor bikes in Saigon alone. Families travel together, babies wrapped in blankets to toddlers standing between two parents....scary stuff. Trucks travel in the middle of the road, then cars then bikes. If the truck or car wants to turn off the road, they do, and the bikes just have to get out of the way. Amazingly, we haven't seen any accidents, everyone seems to know where the next guy is going. We were going to the Aust Consulate this morning and with petrol tanker approaching on left and bus on the right, the taxi stalled. The driver just laughed.
CuChi was probably what I expected. You couldn't see a thing through the trees, and that was after defoliation. Apparently the Aust Gov has donated trees to help to re-vegitate the forests....nice of them. We didn't go into the tunnels, though a rather large American guy did, then complained about how tiny they were. They have a rifle range there where you can pay so much and shoot the big AK45's and other guns. Not nice, the sound spoilt the peace of the jungle.
Back on the bus with Gus, another delightful serenade about lottery ticket sellers in Saigon. We cheered anyway 'cos he was a nice guy.
James has been checking out another school for work, I am quite happy with working with children at CitySmart, but James hasn't felt comfortable there. We are also looking for our house, hoping it will be big enough for all our Aussie visitors. It will be nice to get out of the hotel and spread out a bit. It would be great if this was just a holiday, it is close to the markets and walking distance to most things, and cheap.....but not home. Can't wait to get a place and buy a vase, the markets are full of the most amazing flower stalls. You should see the size of grapefruit.....huge, could play footy with them, about the size of rockmelon.
Well guess I've bored you enough. Hope everyone is doing well at home and that your footy team wins on the weekend.
Love to everyone.....Di and James

Well, we are in Ho Chi Minh City, it is not too hot and raining some of the time. We had an interview at CitySmart school, looks good, very high tech. There are 7 class rooms each with an electronic smart board (a interactive whiteboard screen linked to a computer) and there is a transportable smartboard for use in play areas.

The manager, Alex, is very nice, we were introduced to some of the teachers assistants who seem to be full of fun. Alex is also going to help us with, getting a house, a bank account, business visa and various other things.

We have had fun exploring the market, walking around the area local to our hotel. Managing to negotiate the busy streets easily, I had forgotten just how frantic it can be. This place is so alive, everything moves quickly and noisily, seeming as though everyone is in a hurry to get where they are going. But everyone has a smile and even though there isn't a common language, it is so easy to joke with them. James had a little boy in fits of laughter yesterday when he put a rain coat on back to front. They may not have a lot of material things but they know how to enjoy life and how to share that enjoyment with others. The women are pretty and all so petite, hope some of that rubs off. 

I don't know if it is my imagination but there seem to be so many more Australians here this time. I know we are in a fairly busy tourist area, but I'm wondering if the word has got out. Trouble is, we don't want to do things at tourist pace because we plan to be here for so long. Checking out a new bar tonight, looks good from the outside. We have found that wine is a little more readily available than before too, but that doesn't mean that anyone coming over doesn't have to bring the Australian stuff. I was panicking a little coming through customs because we had bought a bit of alcohol duty free and I wasn't sure of the allowance, but they didn't even look at our bags as we came through, not like Australia. Also not like Australia was the 1 hour plus that it took us to get through immigration. 

The flight was fun, traveling Vietnam Airlines (Qantas sister airline) direct from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh. Inflight movies were the migration habits of the crane in the Mekong Delta, the Viet version of Summer Bay and a light Viet opera about ....I don't know what! Needless to say, we did a bit of reading. 

Hotel is good, James impressed with wireless internet in the room. Couldn't live here for ever though, I'd like to get into our own place to try to make it a little like home. Will never be that though, I think we need our family and friends for that. 

Hope you like the photos, keep an eye out for Pretty Boy. We will try to keep this Blog going for the time that we are away. Hopefully our lives won't get too frantic. But then again, there is very little English TV that we can find, apart from Play School.