Wednesday, March 12, 2014

My morning featured three great things:

1.       Skyping with a good friend from Uni and beyond!

2.       Meeting (and getting) a new private student – a Vietnamese man who owns a cafe nearby

3.       Making a delicious brunch with Patrick, featuring a warmed up baguette filled with scrambled eggs, sausage, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, mustard and sweet chili sauce. Mmm.

The rest of the day was also pretty awesome (albeit sweaty), too! Patrick and I went for a drive, picking up some of those fake water vapour electronic cigarettes that smell really nice (melon, USA mix and Red Bull flavours!) He showed me where he works and we drove along the canal, which is quite a nice drive compared to driving in the busier parts of the city. We stopped at a cafe and watched the canal while chatting and sipping on our drinks: iced coffee and for me, a yogurt, ice and strawberry blend. It was the first cafe we’ve been to that didn’t have a menu.  I pointed at ingredients and it worked out splendidly haha...

Here is my yogurt, ice and strawberry blend from our stop along the canal:

In the afternoon, we did some lesson planning for a bit and tried to cool down, sweating profusely from our drive. I think it went up to 38 degrees today! (Sorry, fam and friends back home! :p)

In the evening, I taught my first lesson at the primary school across the street from me! The Vietnamese teacher is asking me to teach her class of 16 students twice a month as a guest so the students have a chance to speak with a native English speaker.  Although it’s a primary school, these students are about 12-14 years old because it’s an extra class, held Wednesday evenings.  The first half hour was an ice-breaker and getting-to-know-each-other conversation activity using toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper. I went around, telling them to take however much they wanted and joking around with them.  “How much do you use? Really?! 6 pieces?!” and then once everyone had their share, I revealed that for each piece, they had to say one thing: either one thing about themselves or ask me one question.  They thought it was pretty hilarious, especially seeing who had only a few versus who had 6 or 7! To keep them all engaged while others spoke, I also quizzed them after every 4 students had spoken, asking them to recall their classmates’ answers for a candy prize. It was a great vibe, they spoke a ton and we laughed a lot. I also showed them a few pictures of me from home and from my travels abroad.  Then in the second half, I taught them how to describe, compare and contrast 2 pictures, as their teacher wants me to help them practice for their FCE, Cambridge speaking test.  I used a variety of pictures: funny, thought-provoking and interesting, such as ones of “extreme ironing” (google it, if you haven’t heard of it!), of me at the Korean trick-eye museum and ones from Hungry Planet’s “What the World Eats” photo series.  We used venn diagrams to describe and compare the photos and practiced useful expressions for comparing, followed by a race where 1 team had to say as many similarities as they could and the other team had to say all the differences.  The team to say the most (going back and forth) would win. They all did so well though, so I gave everyone a sticker at the end! Their teacher asked me to come teach her class twice a month and also s interested in having me teach some of her other classes if the schedule works out well!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Although it was hard to get up for work today, at least I looked forward to the walk through the park, people-watching as everyone did their morning runs, exercises, tai chi and badminton competitions.  After work, I swung by Mach’s Gym to try it out. You can pay per day or per month. It’s 70,000VND (about $3.50) for one visit, so I gave it a shot. I haven’t been to the gym to work on my strength and weight-training since I left Canada, so I thought it was about time that I go! I do so much walking here, but I really need to pay attention to building muscle weight.  It was comfortable and just big enough.  It had all the types of strength machines I wanted, unlike another smaller gym I checked out close by.  I even met the owner/manager, Mach himself! He gave me some pointers as well.  I even met a Vietnamese student who is possibly interested in getting English speaking lessons from me. Productive day? Ah, yes! 

Lunch was some leftover pasta (bolognaise style) and lots of watermelon for dessert! We also went up to our rooftop and tanned for a bit, getting some reading in. The sun was pretty intense. Unfortunately, I don’t work tonight, so I’m lesson planning and blogging. And unfortunately X2, someone in the house completely mowed down half our tub of ice-cream we bought!! Definitely buying smaller tubs in the future so we can keep them in our own mini freezer!

My dish of the day comes from a street vendor set up a mere 2 minutes walk from my house.  This is called “chân gà”, meaning chicken wings.  It was one long piece that they grilled and cut into 3 pieces (see above). Back home, we’re usually used to seeing it already in pieces and usually the end bit isn’t included in the dish because there isn’t much meat on it and it’s more crunchy.  Next time I’d order more chicken because 1 was not enough – it’s too tasty not to have more!

 It was served with: pickled carrots and radishes, lots of thai basil, cucumbers (not shown), some chili, a pepper-salt and lime juice dipping sauce and toothpicks for eating it.  

They also had grilled “chân gà nướng” as well (chicken’s feet), but I’m not adventurous enough to try that yet. My goal is to try it before I leave though!

Monday, March 10, 2014

We slept in, recovering from a late night out, then had the best homemade tuna sandwiches (ever) for lunch.  After a quick hour of lesson-planning because of class schedule confusion (Note: having multiple teachers teaching a class and having to communicate to know where one person left off isn’t easy, especially when it goes off-schedule!), I worked 2-5pm at my public middle school.  Despite the earlier confusion, my 3 classes went swimmingly (I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used actually used that word. I guess I have swimming on my mind!) and a Vietnamese teacher assistant that actually showed up in 2 of the classes told me that he thought my classes were excellent and he was happy that I was there as their new teacher.  Confidence-boost, yay!

I got a surprise pick-up from Patrick and after a co-op grocery shop, we arrived at home and flew into the kitchen, hungry and ready to cook. We whipped up a big batch of bolognaise sauce and pasta and ate it with some fresh baguette! A chill night-in watching “12 Years a Slave”, paired with some cheesecake ice-cream? Yes, please!

This dish of the day comes from Saturday’s NowZone lunch trip – it resembled a Rainbow roll – containing the typical ingredients of a California roll, except with with sashimi on top. This maki however, seems to have had egg, a green vegetable (radish or a crunchier root vegetable) and crab and has been topped with raw salmon, fish eggs and mayo. And always served with soy sauce, ginger and a generous helping of wasabi, of course!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

My day involved: working at my language school in the morning and then relaxing at home for a bit on my rooftop with my new beach mat and my book to catch some rays! I also went for a short run in the park as the sun went down and did a short workout at home (short because I started sweating after only 1 minute!) 

When Patrick came home from work, we were too lazy to go out and were craving something big and yummy, so we ordered in Chinese food from Wok N’ Roll through “Vietnammm”. My dish of the day features our Chinese dinner: Egg Rolls (some of the best I’ve ever had),fried mixed rice, chicken/peppers/onion with black bean sauce and Kung Pao Beef.  We scarffed it down like nobody’s business.

Later at night, The Spotted Cow was a-calling... we went for the rugby match between Wales and England and to meet with some other HCMC expats (friends of a friend)! Following an entertaining game that incited much singing from the very British crowd (and the frowns of a Welsh friend), we all went to get drinks at Happy Life Bar around the corner from The Spotted Cow.  They had small buckets (or large jars?) of mixed drinks for only 50,000VND, 20,000VND basic mixed drinks and 20,000VND beers.  Apparently ladies get a free “bucket drink” during Tuesday’s Happy Hour. Sweet deal. See you again, vodka redbull.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Happy International Women’s Day! In Vietnam, it is normal for women to be given flowers and sweets on Women’s Day (kind of like Valentine’s Day, except it’s not just for couples)! During our 15 minute break in the morning, the administration at my work treated us – I came up to the staff room to find a vase of pink roses and a huge jelly cake! It was so sweet of them J Although I’m not a huge fan of the cake (think: hard jelly, not nice and soft jello), it still made a nice morning snack.  Perhaps it’s more of a dessert, not a dish, but hey, I think some of those teachers ate it as breakfast, so I’ll count it!

After work, I walked the streets to explore the area where district 1 and district 5 meet, reveling in the street lined with flower vendors. They definitely love their flowers here in Vietnam. Even on Tet, there were flowers everywhere! I bought a rose for the lovely Vietnamese woman (and mother) who lives in my house and stumbled upon lots of interesting sights.  I was asked by a sweet young couple to take a picture of them with their bike covered with flowers – I also took one with my own camera:

For lunch, I had sushi at NowZone and then I explored The University of Pedagogy nearby.  I spoke with a few groups sitting at tables near a cafeteria, giving them my business card and hoping to get some more private students (1-on-1 and small groups).  I think I’ll go back during the week though – I’ll be able to reach more people.  Coming back, I bought a nice mat for sunbathing and picnicking on the rooftop/at the beach/pool/park and some groceries.  So I stumble up to my door, loaded with my bags and realize that I forgot my key! Thankfully someone was home and I got in, but I had to wait around in the living room/kitchen for Patrick to come home because my room key is also on that key-chain

I got to spend an hour with Patrick in the afternoon before we both went to work. I quickly dropped by my language school and found my keys (thank goodness!) and then I taught a 2 hour private lesson.  My student was so kind! For our lesson together, he took me to Fanny’s instead of us going to our usual coffee shop.  Fanny’s is the most popular ice-cream parlour in HCMC (and also incredibly delicious and fancy!) They have beautiful, artistically-executed ice-cream dishes and once a month they hold an ice-cream buffet that you have to reserve a spot for.  So, today, I have 2 dessert dishes to feature on my blog:

Jelly cake and Fanny’s Soursop fruit ice-cream topped with passion fruit sauce, a grape and a piece of a waffle cone.

Friday, March 7, 2014

We checked out 2 gyms in our area (much more affordable, albeit smaller than the first ones we went to!) We also walked around and drove a bit to explore and got some paperwork and banking errands out of the way.  With Patrick gone to work at night, I was just going to make something and chill at home for dinner, but then I decided to give a call to a couple new British friends/acquaintances that have been living in HCMC for about half a year already.  I needed to get out after all my lesson-planning I did in the afternoon to prepare for the weekend.  We went to a place on my street and got a smorgasbord of 4 different dishes to share. 

Below is my favourite one of the lot: Beef and veggie skewers (cilantro, peppers, onions and tomatoes) grilled to perfection with their secret sauce.  We would also dip the beef in the chili-lime-black pepper dip for an extra flavour kick.  We paired it with seafood fried rice, clam soup and a heaping mound of sautéed garlic and spinach! Aw yeah.  Here are the mouth-watering grilled skewers:

Thursday, March 6, 2014

In the morning, I skyped my family and caught up with them, then cut up the watermelon that Patrick and I bought from a woman who always walks down our side street calling out.  She sounds like tarzan actually.  And SERIOUSLY, the watermelon here is so cheap, delicious, sweet and juicy! I’m in heaven!   I got some com tam for Patrick and me for lunch.  We spent part of the afternoon lesson-planning and hanging out at our place.  After teaching my evening classes at the language school, I went straight to Chi’s Coffee to meet with my private student for 2 hours of conversational and pronunciation class. We ended up grabbing some food as well, since this cafe also has Korean food! I got a kimchi jjigae (stew) with tofu and of course, rice.  It tasted very good, but slightly different than it is in Korea – a bit more tomato-y. 

Since they closed at 9pm, we had to move to another cafe for the second hour.  We ended up at a local cafe called... (eek, the name escapes me! I’ll be back there though – the juices are great!) I got a passion fruit juice and it actually had the real bits of passion fruit still inside.  Freshly-juiced and oh-so-sweet! This is my new favourite drink, hands down!

Wednesday, March 5

Wednesday was an eventful day! It began with Patrick and I driving our motorbike to District 7 because I had an interview at the Canadian International School.  Unfortunately, they don’t offer short-term contracts (only for 2 years) and they don’t even offer supply positions. It was still great to visit though, and I got to learn a lot about how their international school functions. One day, I’d really like to work in an international school, but the time is not quite right.

Afterwards, we explored District 7 on our motorbike.  It was hard to believe that we were still in Vietnam (aside from the Vietnamese words on signs, of course!) It was open, green and clean, with wide streets, nice cars, a plethora of international schools and other elite learning centres and plenty of great food around.  We passed through Phu My Hung and saw Lamborghinis and beautiful villas. Parts of District 7 are like the Gangnam of Korea, the Beverly Hills of California.  We also found the grocery store/department store, Lottemart of HCMC – the only one here! We went inside and took a huge nostalgia trip back to our days in Korea when we’d frequently find ourselves in Lottemart.  We almost started speaking Korean by accident!

We drove back home and after some delicious homemade sandwiches that we made with the stash we bought at Lottemart, we hit a local pool for a while to catch some rays and cool down. 

In the evening, I went out with my Elle’s ESL posters and business cards, attempting to spread some business and get some more private students! I made a couple of partnerships with nearby coffee shops, including Chi’s Coffee and one across the street from me.  Essentially, they advertise for me and have my business cards out, and when I give lessons (for teenagers and adults, one-on-one or small groups), I come to their coffee shop and they get business from us as well, since we’ll be buying their drinks and food. Sounds like a good partnership, eh? J 

 I also randomly walked into the public elementary school across from our place, hoping to ask if I could put a poster up in a good area where parents pick up their children.  I didn’t expect much, but lo and behold, I ended up being introduced to 2 different English teachers (Vietnamese) who were each looking to hire a native English teacher to visit and guest-teach their classes occasionally, 2+ times per month. They even led me into their classrooms, introduced me to their students and had me speak with their students for a few minutes to introduce myself and to give them my business cards as well! (These were evening classes - One class had high school level students and the other was a conversational class for adults.) Who would have thought I could just waltz into a school and grab a few hours of teaching right off the bat?!

Before I went to teach my private lesson Wednesday night, I got some dinner - I wandered into a Japanese place off the beaten path, on a nearby side road.  Sometime soon I’d like to try their Octopus Balls, but this time I opted for a small bento box (for 39,000VND/$2) that included: 2 chicken/veggie skewers, sticky rice, some cucumber (“salad” apparently haha), and a side seaweed soup.  It was quite tasty, especially the chicken skewers.  Here’s a pic of my Japanese bento box dinner to go!:

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

My dish of the day is... drumroll... Cabbage! (?!) Cabbage, you ask? Yes. But it’s a perfectly steamed cabbage dish with bean sprouts and green onions and a very light oil and goes perfectly with meat dishes and rice. Everybody needs some greens! This is the equivalent of American picnicking coleslaw, of Korean kimchi and of Polish sauerkraut or kapusta.  It deserves a day, too.

6:30am on a Tuesday morning in Ho Chi Minh city looks much different than how one might expect.  As a rolled out of bed and got for work (at the new middle school I started at on Monday), I was not particularly thrilled. Having to dodge motorbikes and say “khong, cam uhrn” to xe om taxi drivers on every corner and hurry just enough to make good time while avoid sweating, are not things I like to do at 6:30am.  But I ended up trying out a new short-cut / detour through a park, cutting off an entire corner (which just so happens to be a very busy intersection).  The park was teeming with people jogging, exercising on the park’s exercise machines, stretching, playing badminton, walking their dogs and simply enjoying the outdoors.  I had never seen a Vietnamese park at 6:30am, but now I understand why they go.  It’s beautiful, de-stressing, much cooler than at 10am+ and is a great way to energize before a day of work.  I think I’ll be taking the “park” way every time.

After a morning of teaching, I enjoyed a great iced coffee at a street stall on my side street and went for chicken pho with Patrick nearby.  We checked out a nice salon and Patrick got a haircut for less than $5 (while I lesson planned and was entertained by a very adorable dog that seemed to bark at the air).

In the evening, we both taught lessons, but following work, I ended up going on a bit of a bus adventure.  Every Vietnamese person here tells me to avoid the bus and just take a motorbike (or xe om) to get anywhere. But no! I wanted to see if I could make it all the way up to the northern part of District 1 (to meet some friends at a bar/restaurant called Decibel), without even knowing the bus numbers I’d need.  SOMEHOW I made it! After 2 buses, only 11,000VND tons of confusing broken English and gestures, my 3G/google maps and almost falling off my seat from some really tight turns, I made it! I just had to walk 10 minutes from there to get to Decibel.  So, yes, it IS possible to take the bus in HCMC!

I recommend checking Decibel out – it’s a laidback bar/restaurant, popular with expats.  I got to meet some new people, enjoy good food/drinks and play Cards Against Humanity (the best way to get to know people!) Also, on Tuesday nights they serve you some free food if you order a drink (non-alcoholic or alcoholic). This time it was a tasty pesto pasta with shrimp and basil on top.  My photo ended up turning up fuzzy and un-usable because of the lighting, but next time I’ll try again, promise!

Monday, March 3, 2014

Today was my first day of teaching Middle School in Vietnam.  I went in to observe 2 classes in the morning run by another native English teacher.  Apparently this school used to be ranked as one of the best in the city, but this reputation was its own downfall, resulting in increased enrollment (more $) and it being understaffed.  My first impressions of Vietnamese public middle school?

-          The classes are huge (50+ students! Some even reach 60!)

-          The air conditioning is... well, non-existent. And the fans blow everything off the desks.

-          The technology includes a microphone (that doesn’t always sound clear) and dinosaur age CD players that somehow survived the meteor (but each one has their own finicky problem, i.e. not being able to skip or go back; not turning on...)

-          You get very chalky. I feel like I have chalk/dust particles in every pore on my face and hands. Being a teacher in this era has made me a marker/board and projector screen pro – definitely not used to chalk!

-          The students are very talkative and disruptive. 

-          The Vietnamese teacher assistants don’t generally stay in the room. Sometimes they’ll peek their head in or come for a few minutes, but most classes I’m on my own with the 50+ Vietnamese students. 

BUT, there are definitely positives.  The students are quite interested in English and also very keen to get to know native English speakers.  I’m impressed with the level of English compared to when I taught in Korea as well. I feel like I can have better conversations with the students without need for a Vietnamese assistant to translate anything.  It’s also nice to have freedom in the design of lessons (as long as objectives are reached), yet to also be able to fall back on the books if need be. Also, I look at this as being very good for my teaching experience.  I can really practice my class management/discipline methods – an area that I see as my biggest area for improvement! I already feel like I’ve improved tenfold in this area since I first did my practice teaching in uni.

After work, I had about an hour and a half to go home, freshen up, grab dinner, and then make it to the private lesson I teach from 6:30-8:30pm.  It was a new student – a Taiwanese businessman looking to improve his general speaking abilities in English.  Private lessons are so much less stressful than teaching 50+ middle school students! Definitely going to try to get more private students J

Today’s dish of the day features a dish served to me yesterday actually, on Sunday night as part of one big pre-set meal. I went with Patrick and some new friends :) They served a variety of dishes that we all split (homestyle! And in fact, the place looked like a house from the outside!) As we walked through the restaurant, we had to stay on the path, stepping on the stones to avoid landing in the indoor stream, full of swimming fish.  I wonder if we ate one of those fish...! Below is the fried fish dish we shared, which was absolutely flavourful, fresh and light, despite being fried.  

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Before the food!...

Shout-outs to my friend, Kirstie - Happy Birthday from the future! Sending my best wishes from Vietnam <3 Mwah!

After teaching on Sunday morning, I went out for lunch with a co-worker from my language school who has been teaching here for over a year now.  We went for a Mixed Hot Pot to share.  And this was no ordinary cheap hot pot – it was intense and also beautiful.   There were edible flowers, meats, seafoods and a variety of vegetables and greens/herbs around the circumference. As the pot heated up from underneath, the waitress lowered the poor, unsuspecting ingredients in to be cooked, then would scoop them back out and throw more inside until everything was all cooked.  In our small individual bowls, we were given some sticky rice noodles and then got to sift through the hot pot, fishing for all the ingredients we wanted to each try.  Each bowl can be completely different if you want, picking out the ingredients you want to eat with your noodles and broth.  Here’s a pic of our hot pot:

Saturday, March 1, 2014

After work in the morning at my language school, I then had to go to another campus for a meeting to learn about teaching in Vietnamese public schools, specifically in middle schools.  I begin teaching Middle School on Monday, so it was really useful, although my schedule was incredibly confusing. I’m sure I’ll eventually figure it all out!  I’m slightly nervous about teaching classes with 50-60 students in them though! :/

In the evening, I ended up meeting with a new Vietnamese friend who I met a couple weeks ago (her mom sold me banh mi sandwiches for Patrick and me).  We chilled in a cafe, had green tea strawberry and chocolate frappes (yum!) and got to know each other a bit.  She says she’ll introduce me to some good places in the city, including a good board game cafe!

My dish of the day comes from a local street vendor – Com tam: a rice (com) dish where you choose the proteins to go in it. I chose BBQ chicken and got it served with rice, bean sprouts, a chili-oil dip and a side chicken broth soup with potatoes and carrots.  The flavour of the soup reminded me of home – mom’s chicken soup :) Here’s a shot of my dish of the day:

Friday, February 28, 2014

Friday night I did a private lesson at Chi’s Coffee for my private student.  Chi’s is a great little coffee shop hidden in a side street off of my street and the owners are young, vibrant and have given the shop a great atmosphere, whether you go there to hang out and socialize, study, or just drink some iced coffee.  They also have a variety of Korean food to choose from because one of them went to Korea to study and has brought back her favourite dishes!

Sometime soon I’ll have to try their Korean food... But this time for dinner, I went to the Coop Mart and then made dinner for myself:

1.       Basa fish (flavoured with lemon and chili). They call lemon “citronella” here sometimes. So confusing the first time I saw it – isn’t citronella used to keep mosquitoes away?!

-          Topped with avocado and lemon

2.       Salad with cucumber, tomato, avocado slices and an oily Italian style dressing

3.       Fried eggplant slices

With the other fish, the following day, I did the same except had rice, salad and green beans with the fish (and with no avocado – they weren’t ripe yet!)

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Good morning, Vietnam! Haha... I just watched that movie last week, now every time I say “good morning”, I think of the movie.   I Skyped with a best friend from home J It was long overdue – 2 weeks feels like way too long to go without talking! Anyway, with breakfast, I tried a new fruit that I have never tried before.  It’s called a custard apple and is green and bumpy on the outside with white flesh and big black shiny seeds (like in a sapodilla fruit).

For lunch, Patrick and I sat in the park.  We each got a Banh Mi sandwich (15,000VND/$0.75 each) and I got a sapodilla smoothie (20,000VND/$1) to go with mine! Sapodilla fruits look like potatoes, but don’t mistake them - the white flesh inside is actually sweet and juicy when ripe!  Not potato-like at all!