Fast Forward

Remember when I said I wish I could fast forward to the cool part where I know all the cool expats and cool places to go?

Well, I'm getting close.

I hit it off with three Brits at a fancy buffet in Saigon a couple weeks ago - see my photos here:
Weekend in Saigon

I spent Saturday afternoon with some lovely ladies at a nearby golf resort where we got to use the enormous pool and taste a bunch of Argentinian wines.  Photos here:
Saturday at Song Be

Wine tasting at Song Be Golf Resort

Last night I attended my first Pub Quiz at JD's!  Craig and I had to work till 7:30 so we arrived late and joined a team called Gruesome Twosome, consisting of two fun ladies, Mel and Kristyn, who are English and Minnesotan, respectively.  We changed our team name to Awesome Foursome (which rhymes in a British accent), and then when Kristyn had to leave, we became Menage à Trois.  I suggested that next week that we go with a winning formula and choose a name beginning with Steve.  We chose Steve Martin.  So Steve Martin will return in a fortnight (that's 2 weeks, for my American friends ;-) to face an ever increasing number of teams, which means an ever increasing pot of money to win (you pay $2 to play).  Time to brush up on my opera trivia!  I actually thought we would rock the Anatomy category but we ended up bombing that one, which knocked us out of a very brief first place position.  Since a double Jamison at this bar is only $2.50, I might not have been at my sharpest, but I sure had a blast.  I believe at one point I did a celebratory salsa dance.

I work in Becamex Tower

I need to clarify that the 30 or so teachers who live here and frequent the Western restaurants are not the ones I work with - they teach at Eastern International University which is related to my school but located a ways north in a barren wasteland of new development.  I'm very lucky to be on the "Tower Team", as they call us, because we have a much lighter schedule (I'm up to 6 hours of teaching per week), a much better manager (a motherly Aussie named Michelle), and a much shorter commute (10 minute walk).  Most of the EIU teachers prefer to live in town, which suits me well cuz I get folks to hang out with.  They are mostly English, plus a few Irish, Scottish, and Australian, and I already find myself thinking and speaking in British English.  Don't be surprised if I come back home sounding like Madonna.  But go ahead and slap me.

So I am meeting people from other (Western) cultures, but as far as making Vietnamese friends, that's going to be tough until I find some that are bilingual.  I haven't made any progress with the language in part because I'm waiting to meet someone who could help me with the pronunciation. I could probably learn to write it pretty easily, but no one currently understands a word that I (or any other whitey here) says, mainly due to those damn tones (there are 6 of them).  I mostly communicate with the cute family that runs my hotel via notes that I copy from Google Translate, which probably don't make total grammatical sense but they seem to do the job ("I don't need new towels", "The cockroach is dead!", etc.)  I bet I could get the boy who's usually playing video games downstairs to help me pronounce some words if I write them down.  He doesn't speak any English but like everyone else on the street, gives me an enthusiastic and well-pronounced "Hello" every time I come in. 

I was struck by the similarities to Morocco when I first arrived, but they are quickly being overtaken by the differences.  The "hello" from people on the street is one of the main ones - it's not the lascivious "Bonjour, ca va?" that we got from all the annoying Moroccan men.  Here, children are our biggest fans, and when the men, young and old, do say hello, it's not gross.  It seems genuinely friendly. The ability to drink beer in the open air is another big plus, as is the lack of self-hatred, bitterness, misogyny, and cynophobia (Google it!) among the population.  Vietnamese people are very chill.

My Moroccan experience also made me skeptical about the food here, but I will admit that I was wrong on that front.  I thought it would be hard to find things that didn't make me sick, but I've been eating quite well (as you may have seen in my pics), and in fact I've gained 5 lbs. and counting.  I may need to scale back on my consumption of coffee-with-sweetened-condensed-milk, pork fat, and ice-cream sundaes.  Or I could just wait for an intestinal parasite to turn things around. ;-)

In our new duds from Citimart

On a related note, I have discovered that my clothing size here is 2xx Large.  No joke.  I just bought a blue shirt that size, and it was still a bit tight around the bust.  Jacqueline and I did a little shopping at the Citimart (= groceries + household goods + clothing), and I discovered some of that famous Asian-wear, i.e. t-shirts with Engrish phrases that make no sense.  I bought one that says "to always, stick."  I also bought a pair of shoes (the largest size they had) that have some pink flower decals on the heel, with the caption "Happy New Year."  ???

Perhaps this photo will illustrate why the clothing here is so small.  Haha, not quite fair though because Craig is 6'5".  Poor guy, whenever he's in the elevator at work, the Vietnamese unabashedly snicker and comment among themselves.  Sometimes they kindly point out to him that he's tall.  I feel for him every time I ride a bus with my knees smashed against the seat in front of me.  I still haven't ridden on the back of a motorbike, but I can only imagine how uncomfortable that is for him too.

Regarding the motorbikes, they are ubiquitous, as you probably know, but here are a few things you might not know:
1) They actually do follow traffic lights at a FEW of the big intersections.  But it is still terrifying to cross because you can't tell when the light is going to change, so if you get half way and it changes, you will immediately be engulfed in a sea of bikes.  At least they are pretty good at weaving around pedestrians.
2) You often see one going down the street the WRONG WAY, with shocking success.
3) You often see one with a TODDLER, helmet-less, wedged in front of the driver.

But my biggest surprise so far is definitely the construction of a giant Catholic cathedral in the middle of town.  I expected to see existing cathedrals left by the French, but a new one?  In the business sector of a communist country with a few Buddhists??  I guess they got hip to the fact that there's a lot of money to be made in religion.

Don't go without checking out these photos too!
Exploring my city