...By Bus
After teaching at the orphanage Thursday, I took a different bus home than the one I usually take. It said "Quang Trung" on the front, and since I live on Quang Trung street, I assumed it was going there. After about an hour on the bus, it was dark out and the rain was pouring down. Nothing looked familiar, and I was eventually the last passenger on board. Luckily, the bus driver spoke a little English, asked me where I was going, and pointed me in the right direction. When I realized I was outside some huge corporate building with "Quang Trung" on the front and not the street, I hailed a taxi. It was a short ride home, which means I wasn't that far away. Nevertheless, I now know I won't be taking the 48 bus back from the shelter again.
...By Car
Thanh, the woman who coordinates my teaching at the language schools, called me Friday night to ask me if I could teach Saturday afternoon. I had nothing else planned, so I agreed. Normally, Thanh has a driver who knows how to get to the school take me so I don't have to worry about getting reimbursed for the taxi ride. Saturday, though, she told me to just take a taxi there and a driver would take me back home. We left District 1 at 1pm on the dot, and after multiple stops to ask for directions, I arrived at the school at 3pm, an hour after I was supposed to start. I figured that the regular teacher would start after 10-15 minutes or so, but instead, I was swarmed by the entire class of 9-10 year olds as I stepped out of the cab. I taught for a swift 15 minutes before that class was dismissed and a new group of cute, eager Vietnamese kids filled the desks. After my frustration from being lost wore down and I got into the swing of teaching, I had fun.
I was relieved to see a driver waiting for me outside the school when my second class was done at 4:25pm. We went to pick up a couple- an Irish man (John) and a French woman (Fabian)- who were teaching at a nearby school and headed back to District 1, where the couple were living. Just as a reminder- District 1 is the center of Ho Chi Minh City, and is often referred to as "Saigon." It's where all the tourists hang out, where the famous Ben Thanh market is, where the bus station is, and where all the major hotels are. For anyone to not know how to get to District 1 is like a Parisian not knowing how to get to the Eiffel Tower...or a New Yorker not knowing how to get to Times Square...or a Herzl staff member not knowing how to get to the chadar. Somehow, we had probably one of the only Vietnamese drivers who didn't know to take the main road from the northern province straight into the city. Consequently, we drove around for hours and in the midst of rush hour as well. Even though it was Saturday, the streets were saturated with motorbikes as we "explored" one of the districts before finally arriving at our destination at 7:30pm. Instead of having the driver take me back to my place, I decided to just get out where John and Fabian got out and get a different taxi home. It's about a 45-minute ride back from District 1, and I wasn't willing to take the chance of it being 2-3 times that amount.
Although I was in the car for a total of five and a half hours and taught for just under an hour and a half, the drive home with the couple was delightful. He got laid off a bit ago and she quit her job- both in Ireland- so they took their severance pay and decided to travel. They arrived in Vietnam a few months ago, and before that, had traveled across the US on a motorcycle. They went down the east coast, around the everglades in Florida, then headed west through Monument Valley and lots of desert. I was intrigued by their travel tales about places in my country that I hadn't even seen. Additionally, John has lived all over the world, and had multiple interesting stories to tell.
Ultimate
We were able to use the fields both Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, which was wonderful! There are new expats that come every time, so in addition to playing hard, it's also great meeting new people every week. It's not Bella, and it's weird not having sprint workouts in between practices, but Saigon ultimate definitely satiates my frisbee appetite.
Goodbyes/Happy Birthdays for Traci
Since Traci's birthday is Sunday, but she leaves Vietnam to
head home to Dallas tomorrow, a bunch of us celebrated her 24th by going out to dinner on Sunday. It was a fairly eclectic group, but everyone seemed to have a good time. The festivities continued through today when the nuns at the orphanage threw a big party for Traci. It consisted of:
-Balloons-A variation of the same lunch the kids get everyday
-A feast for all the workers
-A 3-tiered cake
-Me face-painting the kids
-Tons of excitement from the kids due to a level of stimulation that's rarely there.
There was also a group of Australian 9thgraders that visited yesterday. It's awesome to see
how much fun the kids have with visitors, how much the nuns and staff appreciate it, and how touched those who come and play are by everyone at Thien Phuoc when they leave. It's a constant circulation of positive energy, and I feel so privileged to be a part of it all.
Etc.
I keep picking up books that past volunteers have left at the house, and I just finished Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. If anyone can tell me what it's about, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's not exactly Shakespeare, but it wasn't the easiest English to understand either...
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