Here in Vinh!

So.

I am having an absolutely brilliant time. I love it here! I have met some great people, that I feel I am able to already call my friends. The children and staff at the school are lovely, and the city itself is pretty interesting.

I have been so busy that I haven't had much of an opportunity to write.

I will however try and let you in on what I've been doing in the 11 days I have been here.

My very first day at the school was really exciting!! The pool had it's opening ceremony. I am so happy I was here to join in the celebration. It was a really big deal as it has been a long time in ideas, planning and building. There were speeches, ribbon cutting and then races between students and teachers. All very exciting, and I was lucky to have front row seats (which also meant getting slightly wet).

All the children getting ready for the races

Cutting the ribbon

Teachers race

My first week at the school, last week, I observed Stef and Sean teach some lessons. Well, I watched them on Monday and Tuesday, while still trying to get to grips with how things work. On Wednesday I had time to plan for the two lessons I then taught on Thursday. They went so well, I honestly couldn't be happier. I taught a class of 9/10 year olds and a class of 5 year olds. Even though through training to become a teacher, and being a fully-fledged one in a school I had to get used to being observed, I was still a little nervous to be watched over here. I had 4 people sit in on my lessons, including the principal of the school, and in the pretty small classrooms, it's slightly intimidating. The observers were thrilled with my lessons though and the principal said, and I quote "If all teachers taught like you, especially on the first day, BSA would be a wonderful place". WHOOP!!!!

On Thursday night, I went to a German Beer place with Stef and Sean and met up with some other Expats. Ian, from Scotland. Alex, from Australia (Sydney, if I remember correctly). And Derek, also from Australia. Ian has lived here for 4 years now, and absolutely loves it. He came here at 21 for 6 months, and hasn't looked back.

SO big! I had to hold it with two hands!

On Friday I had a meeting and then had the day to myself. I decided I would take the next step and go into Vinh on my own. I went to the local mall type place, with a supermarket called "The Big C" in there, and spent over an hour looking round.
The thing to remember here though, is you can't do any shopping in peace. I'm like a celebrity. So many people stop and say "hi", and want to start a conversation with you. You then get the young girls who stop and look at you, run away, and then follow you around the stop. It's a very interesting experience, I must admit.

That was a small rundown of my first week at the school. I'm awful, because I didn't post anything and now I can't fully remember what I did, but I know it was all good fun!

On Saturday, the real fun began though.
Stef, Sean and I went out for lunch to a Japanese restaurant. The food was really good, and I tried something I'd never had before. It was a kind of pizza, but with egg for the base. Very interesting, but good.

Ian came and joined us part way through lunch, and afterwards, we all went and played crazy golf! Who'd have thought there would be a grazy golf course in Vinh! I'm so glad they have one though as it was so much fun!!! I was the only one to get a hole in one (YES!!!), but I still didn't win. Third's the one with the hairy chest and all that :)

Climb every mountain!

In brief, we then went for more food, drinks, hung out by the lake (which I still haven't seen in daylight) and then went to a gorgeous bar called Caligo. (Vinh isn't a very big city. I think it's about 5km from one end to the other, so you can see a lot of it in a short space of time. I haven't seen much of it yet, but from what I have seen it's really cool and got a nice buzz! It's also especially good to see it from a motorbike. I've never had so much fun travelling around a city! I'm starting to feel like a local and it's not even been two weeks!)

They had an open mic night, which I think happens every Saturday, or maybe even weekday. The people that played music and sang were brilliant. We were sat with the guy who started the night playing his soprano saxophone, and then he ended up playing the guitar, drums and also sang a song himself. Multi-talented eh!

A girl then got up to sing, and everyone said how good she was. I didn't realise how good she was though. She was amazing. She sang a couple of English songs, and a couple in Vietnamese and accompanied herself on the guitar. A truly, undiscovered talent!! (I have a video but it's not letting me upload for some reason.)

Playing the guitar, while holding a cigarette.

We stayed til close, and then Stef, Ian, the saxophonist, Ian's boss and I all went to get some street food to end the night. Saturday really was a good day.

On Sunday, we went and had a swim in the new pool which is just meters away from where I'm staying. It's fab having a pool on site!! I also had to plan my lessons on Sunday because the next day I officially started teaching.

My first week of teaching is nearly over, but I'll save the stories for another day. The children are brilliant though and I'm loving it. It's so nice to be back in the classroom.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. I am also BSA's new singing teacher =D

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. 

Lizzie x