First day in Vinh City!

So.

Sunday 5th January was my first full day of living in Vinh!

I woke up from a great sleep at around 7am, which was great as I was then on Vietnam time and didn't feel any kind of jet lag.

I met up with Stephan and Sean at 8am as they were taking me out for breakfast and to see a little of the city!

We had an amazing breakfast called  'bo ne' at a place called Hue Vinh. It is steak and eggs that come sizzling out on a hot plate, accompanied by really fresh bread! It tasted so good!!!

Delicious!!!

After breakfast, Stephan suggested we go and get a coffee from a coffee shop he knows, that play live music later in the day! We were brought out some Vietnamese tea as soon as we got there, and then ordered 3 cappuccinos! It was really, really good! The cream on top was sweetened, which I didn't know until after taking a sip. We asked the waitress for some sugar before trying the drink, and she didn't understand us and never actually did bring any sugar to our table (which is a good thing as it was so sweet to start).

The white is the cream!

The coffee shop is opposite Ho Chi Minh Square, so could see the top of the statue of Ho Chi Minh through the trees and fog! We headed over to the square once we finished our drink and had a closer look at the statue. We then went for a little walk around the back of the statue on a path which is sort of like a mini forest!

You can just see his head!

You're not allowed up those steps!

Sean kept getting stopped and asked for pictures (as he is so tall compared to the Vietnamese), which makes you feel as if you are with a celebrity. At one stage a couple of girls stopped Sean for a short conversation and picture and then did the same with Stephan and me. As we were talking to the girls, two guys came over and did the same! It was really nice chatting with them, but such an odd feeling when strangers ask to have their picture with you!

The gardens

Stunning view 

We went back to school for a couple of hours and then went out to 'The Big C' which is a kind of mall/supermarket. We had some lunch and then did a quick shop. I want to go back and spend longer looking around, but the guys needed to get back to teach in the afternoon!

When I got back I eventually started unpacking! I'm more or less finished now, but still have some bits and bobs to find a home for!

In the evening, once the teaching was finished, the three of us went to a really beautiful restaurant for dinner. I can't remember the name if the place but I will show you a picture so you can get a feel for the place!
We didn't know what to order, but both Sean and Stephan had been to the restaurant before and knew what they wanted to get. Sean recognized a man who had eaten with/served them previously and he came over and helped order the food. We had something that was similar to a spring roll with fish in, some fish in a sauce that tasted very similar to Marie rose and then some shrimp. We got given an extra plate of the rolled up fish to celebrate me being a new teacher at the school, as the man that helped us order is the father to one of the pupils! It seems lots of networking is taking place :)

This blog post seems to be a bit of 'I did this, then that, then that', but I mainly wanted to show you the pictures, and I wanted to give you an idea about them!!

It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.

Lizzie x