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Blog post number 4 - this really should be about 3 blogs long as we have done so much in the past week and i don't feel that i will truly be able to give justice to the week that i have just had but anyway i will do my best.
So Nadge's birthday - she is now nicknamed deshi so much easier to remember and its her 19th birthday so mission number one in hanoi was to find something pretty to wear i for one did not think about going out when i packed so have a backpack full of boy clothes - very practical but not in the slightest pretty! after traipsing around hanoi for the whole weekend - have given up on any idea of being touristy - managed to find some party frocks. mission number two was to find somewhere nice and western minus rice for us to eat. we had bought deshi a rice hat, a vietnam t-shirt and a butterfly balloon that she had to carry around with her all night, the nice little italian restaurant we found tho saw the end to the balloon as deshi in excitement of her gifts and western food let go off the balloon, where it flew to its death skewered to a fan. we thought it was hilarious the people sitting under the fan having a nice family meal didnt think it quite so funny! having enjoyed our meal and suitably ruined everyone else's we went on to find a drinking spot - i had forgotten that it was the fa cup final between amn u and chelsea (my days are all over the place) and so was quite surprised to see all the bars packed! we did manage to find a nice little bar called the Amazon Bar definately recommened where we watched the end of the footie i had to sit on ym hands as i was surrounded my man u fans and thought i might get shot or kicked out if i cheered for chelsea - i was however saved from being the only chelsea fan when someone in a chelsea shirt walked in - thank goodness! the night started off quite gently a cocktail followed by a shot but then turned into us brits taking over the bar and the music selection and singing at the top of our voices. the licensing laws in vietnam state that most bars will shut at 11 however, most bars try and push it for as long as possible. we managed to party until 2 in the morning but was then escorted off the premises by the police who thought that it was time for the nice foreignors to find their way back to the hostel - which by this point was locked! after much hammering on the door, giggling and shouting someone finally let us in although rather reluctantly!
the next day was a serious hangover day - so we spent quite a lot of time sleeping until opur bus came to take us back to viet tri where we would prepare for our teaching week. we would be teaching at a school called vu the lang and we would teach kids of about 16 ish just to help their communication skills of english. not too hard - talking is a speciality of mine so no worries i thought.
then the reality hit in!firstly we had a 'meeting', with the children and the teachers and soon realised that teaching in vietnam meant a lot of singing - quite nice for them to sing when your happy and you know it clap your hands to us but when we were put on the spot to sing solo everyone sort of froze. we managed to as a group effort butcher a rendition of let it be by the beatles that has now turned into a bit of a tour song and sing old mac donald! after our dreadful ordeal - i have never been so embarrased we decided to go back to our room before dinner. our room however, was above the staff room and was again like sleeping in the loft. this loft however, was like an oven actual real sweat whilst lying down in just our under wear - this is where bra time was created. it was so hot that we 6 girls doing the teaching had no other option but to sit in our bras to try and keep cool!
the following day i was quite ill with a stomach bug so missed the intial teaching practice. was quite a boring day but i cooked quite nicely in the oven and i think that all germs were sweated and roasted out of me.
For the next couple of days teaching consisted of us explaining who we were, how old we were, where we came from and what we did the students were then invited to ask pre-pepared questions to us pretty much like what we had just explained!in some instances it felt like it was pointless but i think in the end the kids really enjoyed it and we soon got involved with their everyday activities such as volleyball - this became a regular thing so much so that when we were due to leave at 5 on the final day we had to re-organise the bus so that we could get our volley ball practice in! still absolutely hopeless at volleyball but then the vietnamese weren't so hot either! then there was dance practice that followed after volleyball where they were preparing for a show. the show had a mixture of teachers and students. they tried to teach us the cha cha but because we couldnt get some of the turns one of the teahcers now called demorilising man gave up on us completely, sexy music teacher still tried though - bless him! in the afternoons afetr lessons we went to go and play with the kindergarten kids, they were adorable a bit violent, loud, hyper and somewhat like crazed animals penned in a cage but yeah adorable would be a good word! playing with them meant chasing them around and dancing! im sure the teachers dreaded us coming as we were certainly disrupted any down time they were having!
After teaching week it was back to hanoi for the weekend! this time i was determined to be a toursit, that is after a drinking session in Amazon Bar with some new found people who me met that were from manchester. was a bit of a giggle played pool, drank and danced! great stuff!
The following morning, i dragged kim out of bed and we went to go and see ho chi minh - accidently went to the museum but after realising the error of our ways, we soon found ho chi minh ourselves. For once being a tourist had benefits, we got to jump the queue infront of the locals, ho chi minh looked a bit like a wax work model from the side and then from the front looked like he was going to jump out at me! very freaky! after recovering from that experience we then went to the hanoi hilton - not really a snzzy hotel but a prison where people were tortured in the war. the prison was a bit confliciting in what it was saying but still very interesting and definately a must see.
as i said i knew that i wouldn't give this week justice - you will be able to see more when i know how to upload pictures and then all will become clear!
we have now arrived in halong bay - or rather ha long city. to be honest not what i expected it looks a bit like skeggy and the place we are staying in certainly has a skeggy feel about it but tomorrow we go on a boat ride around halong bay and then on to cat ba island which is supposed to be beautiful! well fingers crossed!
write soon!
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