Articles tagged ‘ Travel’

And breathe…

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Ok, so I have calmed down from earlier.

If we weren’t teaching here in Nha Trang I really don’t know what we’d be up too. There’s diving, but from what I can tell it’s nothing to write home about, there’s drinking, but anywhere where you would want to spend the evening costs nearly a quater of our daily allowance for two drinks, then finally there’s the beach. It’s overcast.

We have, however, begun eating in the small, mainly local populated, eateries which use these tiny plastic chairs and tables. It’s real knees by my ears type stuff, but the food is usually really good and very cheap. By sticking to the cheaper places, we managed to only spend about 10 quid between us for the whole day. Tres good, non?

Also, over 1000 different I.P addresses have looked at this site now, deducting the different computers I have used, that’s like 960 seperate people that have willingly endured my moaning!

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Helping more in Nha Trang

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Teaching is going absolutely fantastic, it is rife with difficulty though, especially as within one class you can have near fluent speakers alongside people who can’t say simple sentences (a slight exaggeration but it gets the point across.) The classes run from 10:00 -11:30 and then 17:00 – 18:30, though sometimes pupils come in earlier/stay after class to get help on a specific issue. Today, for example, Lauren and I helped one of the older students of the evening class -The- write a report on the fluctuating juvenile lobster prices for his Singapor head office. It’s awesome working one on one with the students, especially when it is an important thing from a guy who clearly wants to do well in his career, it really feels like… que the cheesiest, most dramatic song you can think of in your head, go for it, I’ve got that classical piece from the Platoon movie running through mine, got yours? Ok… it really feels like we were making a difference. See, wasn’t that worth it?

A typical class will begin with us playing a song for the class, who then have a handout with the lyrics on it, with the occasional word ommited. The class then listen to the song 2 or 3 times depending on difficulty and fill in the blanks. They rarely find this difficult, but it gets their mindset right for learning English. Today, Eric, the only real teacher there, thought that it might be an idea to play them Will Smith rapping his well spoken, and most importantly profanity free, ‘Gettin’ Jiggy With It.’ The class didn’t do so well, it was all a bit much. The reason that this is significant, however, is that Lauren was leading the class and going though the answers. Every few lines, Lauren would get carried away and ‘rap’ the lines in the style of Big Willy. A handful of bemused Vietnamese kids would raise their eyebrows, before everyone, Lauren included of course, would break into laughter. What makes this even better is that because of the rain, the two of us are dressed like 13 year old boys – flip flops and vests won’t cut it in these downpours, so it’s hoodies and our big laced trainers bought in Bangkok three months ago that are making an appearance.

Speaking of three months, it is now a significantly short time until we leave the beautiful S.E.Asia for Oz. Something like 6 and a half weeks. Goes quick dunnit?

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Sitting on the other side of the teacher’s desk

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Our volunteering has seen out the end of the week brilliantly. Brian, the dentist from Brighton, sadly leaves for Hong Kong on Sunday and so on his last lesson on Friday, all the students gave little speeches and Brian had ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Volunteering in Nha Trang

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

After accumilating yet another round of fresh bruises from the bumpy, 12 hour ride to Nha Trang, we got ourselves booked into a $7 a night mini hotel. Upon awaking at around midday, we made a beeline for a place called ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Moving on down

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

Another day another city on the horizon. Today we leave the beautiful Hoi An in favour of Nha Trang, a seaside city around 500km south. Lets all cross our fingers that the big-bed bus turns up, huh? Lauren's birthday was good ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Lauren’s Birthday and never underestimating the kindness of strangers

Monday, September 1st, 2008

So the big day is here. It is around 3ish in the afternoon here and Lauren is on the phone to various family members. I think there may even be a surprise guest entry from the birthday girl herself on ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Poxy Doxycycline, an ode

Monday, September 1st, 2008

There was a young man called Mikey, Who took anti-malarial Doxycycly, It's side effects made him livid 'Cos his dreams were so vivid, And now he's as mad as a pikey. About sums it up.

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Vietnam and me: Full Agreement

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Something of a phenomenon, although I have been shouting it from the figurative rooftops for a very long time now, but locals all through Vietnam have been approaching Lauren to tell her how beautiful she is. At first Lauren thought ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Busy little streets

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

Arrived in Hoi An without too much trouble. The sleeper bus that arrived to pick us up this time was, mercifully, fitted with beds big enough for me to lay down in almost flat. One interesting quirk in Vietnamese driving ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Travelling- A bit like going from Basildon to Wickford by bus. 375 times.

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

For the cheap price of $22 (a lot of things are done in dollars out here in Vietnam,) we have bought ourselves some 'Open Ticket' bus tickets. This means that we can travel down Vietnam's east coast at our leisure, ... [Continue reading this entry]

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