Snakehead fish!

 This is easily the best meal I've had here so far! We went for lunch today at a little local restaurant (one of the students recommended it) and ordered snakehead fish baked in herbs and spices - yum!














Check out the mopeds in the background. If there's nowhere to park, you just bring your bike into the restaurant :-))

Fresh coconut on the way home from work :-)

A Weekend in Hanoi

 Me, Simon and Ula took a trip to Hanoi last weekend and had a good laugh wandering round the back streets in the Old Quarter and stuffing our faces with great food.
We got the (free!) bus up there after school on Friday with some of our students who have friends and family there and so go back most weekends.
We stayed in the bustling Old Quarter at a little place called the Royal Family Hotel (£35 for two nights, double ensuite room and very cute breakfast included - see pic!).
Ula lived there for 8 months before taking the job in Do Son, so she was our tour guide for the weekend and showed us all the groovy places to visit. The traffic is absolutely mental (no rules WHATSOEVER) but after a while you get used to mopeds weaving around you and get quite good at jumping onto the pavement when necessary :-)
 On the Saturday night we met up with Ula's friend, Bron (an Aussie), at an Indian restaurant called Food 65 which looked out onto the lake. We ordered a curry each, naan bread, a bowl of rice each, 6 glasses of red wine and two mango lassies and the whole lot came to about £30. Bargain! I was quite surprised at how cheap everything still was considering we were in the capital city. You don't feel like you're constantly getting ripped off because you're a 'tourist', unlike in other places.










Hoan Kiem Lake

One man and his buffalo - I took this photo on my way back from work.

Yesterday, some of my male students came up to me at lunch time and asked if they could have the two-hour afternoon lesson to celebrate International Women's Day. I said, "Of course, no problem", not really knowing what to expect since we don't really make a big thing of it in England.
I went back to my classroom at 2pm and they had laid out loads of food and in the middle of the room there was a table with a huge bouquet of flowers, a cake and two bottles of champagne on it! They had decorated the board with a crossword and pictures and there were presents arranged on a table. One of the men stood up and made a little speech (in his best English) about how it was very important for men to appreciate all the women in their lives and how they should always do their best to make their women happy. I couldn't believe it! Then all the women (including me) had to go to the front of the room and we were presented with gifts while the men cheered and clapped and threw makeshift confetti over us (bits of paper!). It was hilarious! Then they cracked open the champagne and everyone started eating. The entertainment was various students coming to the front and singing bad karaoke tunes in English. One student sang 'I believe in Angels' by ABBA (I thought of you, Mum ;-)) and one of the blokes translated a Vietnamese love song into English which was something about having no car and no money ;-) I stood up and taught them 'If you're happy and you know it' (couldn't think of anything else, my mind went blank!) and then we did the crossword game on the board and I won. The prize was a bar of chocolate shaped like the biggest bank note here: 500,000 dong (£15).
I have to say that it was the best laugh I've had in ages and it really brought home to me how lovely the people are here and what a great sense of fun they all have and a wicked sense of humour. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better and maybe a few nights out together.... :-))

I moved into my new room on Tuesday. A girl called Emma had left and I was told that her room (above mine) had two balconies and was quite a lot bigger so I got in there before the new teacher, James, arrived :-) I can't wait to sit out when the weather gets better with a large glass of wine and some tunes.

My room and balcony :-)

The sun still hasn't come out, but I took a few photos for you anyway :-) The first one is of my lovely RENT-FREE accommodation (I know, I can't believe it either!), the second is of the little temple I pass when I'm walking into work each day, the third is of an interesting article I found in the local paper today (beats the financial crisis) and finally some pics of our meal this evening with some of Ursula's students :-) I have to say that they are hilarious and we've already arranged a night of karaoke some time in the not too distant future....

My new accommodation :-)